Before becoming an employee of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne at his residence in Bonn, Joseph Reicha (1752-1795), a cellist-composer, was a member of the musical establishment of the Öttingen-Wallerstein Family in Harburg. His tenure under Prince Kraft Ernst lasted from 1774 until 1785; and it was there in Harburg that he and his wife first took charge of their young nephew Antonín, who would someday become the great French theorist, Antoine-Joseph Reicha. Of course, wind players know Antoine-Joseph as the composer of 24 famous woodwind quintets, among the first in the repertoire.

The parts of the Joseph Reicha's Bb Major Oboe Concerto are contained in the Öttingen-Wallerstein Collection, and were copied at Harburg about 1770. Structurally speaking, this concerto is a well-controlled if conservative work, but it is musically attractive and the oboist will have much work to do to master the passagework and cantilena. The color of the four winds is an essential part of the concerto. In addition, the writing for the two violas is often quite 'real'; they do not simply double the basso at the octave all the time, as in many other concertos of this era.

The initial movement is thematically well-integrated. The structure itself is set in ritornello-sonata form without any surprises. Likewise, the slow movement is the usual ritornello form with two episodes, but about midway into the Episode II, there is a recapitulation of Episode I. The finale is an engaging rondeau containing but two couplets for the soloist. The second of these is a complete rounded binary form.