Our featured music is taken from a piano, oboe horn trio, composed by Carl Reinecke in 1886, when he was 62 years old. The oboe part is set in the lower register of the oboe using some of the lowest notes on the instrument. The piano part reflects Reinecke‘s brilliance and skillfulness at the keyboard. Thus the piano score is challenging and quite difficult.
Reinecke was born in 1824 in northern Germany, which at the time was under Danish rule. He learned the language of his village, Danish, and very soon the language of the greater community, which was German, then later the language of the international educated elite, French. Reinecke grew up in a musical family, receiving his instruction from his father. Initially a violinist, Carl’s most devoted efforts were at the piano keyboard. His first public appearance was at age 12. He traveled internationally, performing and composing. Reinecke settled in Leipzig, Germany for much of his life. He studied under Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Franz Liszt. Mendelssohn was director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra which was established 100 years earlier being one of the oldest symphony orchestras in the world. Carl Reinecke held that same position (=Gewandhauskapellmeister) for a long tenure of 35 years until 1895.
In 1851 when Europe was writing with inkwells and using tallow candles or whale oil for illumination, Reinecke became a professor at Cologne Conservatory at age 27. He never married, or fathered children, but was devoted to his students. As an academic and teacher, he served for 35 years. Reinecke delayed retirement until age 78. His students include Edvard Grieg, Charles Villiers Stanford, Leos Janacek, Isaac Albeniz, and many others. In 1904 at age 80, he made recordings on piano roll for the Welte-Mignon Company, making him the earliest born pianist to have his playing preserved in any format.
