Gottfried Reiche (; 5 February 1667 6 October 1734) was a German

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

player and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

of the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

era. Reiche is best known for having been

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

's chief trumpeter at Leipzig from Bach's arrival there in 1723 until Reiche's death.Nyphil.org
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Biography

Reiche was steeped in trumpet playing from an early age – he was born in the town of Weissenfels,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

which had a long tradition of trumpet music at its court. He went to

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

in 1688, eventually succeeding trumpeter Johann C. Genzmer there as ''Senior Stadtmusicus'' in 1719. Reiche was a musician of great skill, if one can judge from the trumpet parts written for him by Bach. They are among the most florid, creative, and difficult trumpet parts of the Baroque era, quite clearly intended for a player of great virtuosity. He is the subject of a famous

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

of the era, which was made by Leipzig artist E.G. Haussmann for the occasion of Reiche's 60th birthday in 1727. In the portrait, Reiche holds a coiled

natural trumpet A natural trumpet is a valveless brass instrument that is able to play the notes of the harmonic series. History The natural trumpet was used as a military instrument to facilitate communication (e.g. break camp, retreat, etc.). Even before th ...

(Ger. Jägertrompete, trans. hunting trumpet) in his right hand. In his left hand, he holds a sheet of manuscript music on which is written a short ''Abblasen'' or

fanfare A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets, French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introduction to an instrumental perfo ...

. The musical notes are depicted accurately in the painting, and the fanfare has been transcribed and performed by several artists. It has also served for many years as the theme music to the American television show ''

CBS Sunday Morning ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (normally shortened to ''Sunday Morning'' on the program itself since 2009) is an American news magazine television program that has aired on CBS since January 28, 1979. Created by Robert Northshield and original host ...

''. While Reiche himself composed many such ''

Abblasen Abblasen is a trumpet fanfare attributed to Gottfried Reiche. In Haussmann's famous portrait of Reiche, he is seen holding a scrap of paper with two lines of melody written on it. ''Abblasen'' is a reconstruction of what appears to be on the manu ...

'' and other "tower music" (''Turmmusik'') (most of which is lost), some scholars believe that the style of the music in the portrait hints at possibly being composed by J.S. Bach himself, perhaps as a birthday gift for his chief trumpeter. BWV215

Reiche died of a stroke in

, collapsing in the street while walking home one night. A contemporary account attributed the stroke to the strain of having played trumpet the previous evening, with "his condition having been greatly aggravated from the smoke given off by the torch-lights", when he participated in the performance of Bach's congratulatory cantata '' Preise dein Glücke, gesegnetes Sachsen, BWV 215''. After his death, Reiche was succeeded by Christoph Ruhe.

Literature

* Don Smithers, ''Gottfried Reiches Ansehen und sein Einfluß auf die Musik Johann Sebastian Bachs'', ''

Bach-Jahrbuch The ''Bach-Jahrbuch'' ("Bach yearbook" or according to the publication's website "Bach Annals") is an Periodical literature, annual publication related to the composer Bach. It is published in German by the Neue Bachgesellschaft in Leipzig. It is t ...

'' 73, p. 113-150, 1987 * Don Smithers, ''Bach, Reiche and the Leipzig Collegia Musica'', Historic Brass Society Journal 2, p. 1-51, 1990 * The Ewald Brass Quintet's recording of the complete ''Vierundzwanzig neue Quatricinien'' (1696): Hungaroton HCD 32451

References

External links

Musical score and sound files of the "Abblasen"Did Bach actually compose the famous "Abblasen?"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reiche, Gottfried 1667 births 1734 deaths People from Weißenfels German classical trumpeters Male trumpeters German Baroque composers German multi-instrumentalists 18th-century classical composers German male classical composers 18th-century German composers 18th-century German male musicians