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Antoine-Joseph Reicha (1770-1836) published this work, the first of his Six Quintuors Op. 91, with the House of Simrock in 1818-1819, the plate number being 1608. Nikolaus Simrock indicates that this is Quintet No. 7 in his series. The quintets themselves are entitled in Italian (Quintetto) within the parts, and in French (Quintuors) on the Frontispiece.

The instruments are given French names on the frontispiece: flûte, hautbois, clarinette, cor and bassoon; but again, Italian pervades the actual parts: flauto (traverso), oboe, clarinetto, corno, and fagotto. There is no score. Clarinet in C, and horn crooked in G and (for the slow movement) in F, are specified for this work; but throughout this opus the clarinetist will need  Bb and A clarinets in addition to the C instrument, while the hand-horn player will use the following crooks: D, E, Eb, F, and G. I have supplied alternatives for the clarinet in C and made special parts for the horn to replace the multiplicity of crooks which would have involved transposition at sight by the modern F horn player.

The Op. 91 Quintuors are set in the following keys which alternate major with minor works:

No. 1 (7) Ut majeur
No. 2 (8) Là mineur
No. 3 (9) Ré majeur
No. 4 (10) Sol mineur
No. 5 (11) La majeur
No. 6 (12) Ut mineur

In the preface, which is signed by the five members of the original group which played these quintets, it is made clear that these wind players sought, through performing Reicha's works, to remedy the overwhelming interest awarded to string instruments in chamber music of the day, at the expense of wind ensembles.

The original quintet for which this work was composed consisted of the following members:

Joseph Guillou (1787-1853) flute
Gustave Vogt (1781-1870) oboe
Jacques-Jules Bouffil (1783-?) clarinet
Louis-François Dauprat (1781-1868) horn
One Monsieur Henry was the bassoonist in the ensemble.

First Movement
Overall, the sound of this movement is akin to the music of Reicha’s great contemporary, Franz Schubert (1797-1828). After a false start of what will become Theme 1, several slow phrases of an Italianate melody emerge in the parallel minor, after which a most-engaging sonata form with two major contrasting themes begins in earnest. The two primary themes are connected by a lengthy episode in two sections, the first part involving Reicha’s masterful use of imitation. There are no repeat marks for the exposition in this movement; but there is a good reason for this, as the development section begins in the tonic, utilizing Theme 1 once again in its unadorned form. The listener is tricked into thinking that the exposition is actually repeating! This is followed by a virtuosic section for the flute with much modulation, after which the imitative section of the episode heard in the exposition is utilized again. In a surprise move, the recapitulation reverses the order of the two main themes. One suspects that the slow interruption heard at the head of this movement will appear later as part of another movement, but it never does. The often-confusing second half of this movement which follows upon the heels of the exposition is, in reality, an excellent example of Reicha's unique concept of Recapitulation/Development. For example, in what I have termed the recapitulation, the second part of the lengthy episode heard in the exposition is sandwiched in between two appearances of Theme 2. In addition, the second half of Theme 1 precedes Theme 1 proper.

The high tessitura of the flute part is remarkable; of course Reicha being a flutist himself, might have wanted to test the steel of Monsieur Joseph Guillou. Also, this is a substantial movement, 261 measures in length (9 minutes), a long blow for wind instruments; and there are still three movements to go! Fortunately, the flute gets the bulk of the thematic material, taking the pressure off of the other four instruments. The range of the oboe tends to be low and contains far fewer notes than those of the flute: already it has been stereotyped into the instrument that plays the sweet melodic ideas!

As to the C clarinet: from the outset it seems to be a viola part, with Alberti-bass figuration in the chalumeau register pervading. The bassoon part with its slow harmonic movement puts a real Classic Era stamp on this work, as if the ornamentation in the other voices is not enough. Tenor clef is involved at times.

The crook for the hand horn is specified as G (en Sol) in order to favor the dominant tonalities in the movement. The first thing one notices is how few notes the horn actually gets to play, despite its chromatic possibilities. Also, there are a few remnants of the days when all that was available to the horn player, pitch wise, was the overtone series.

Second Movement
We now move to the subdominant for the slow movement, a rondeau with two wonderful couplets built up from identical thematic materials. As for the refrain, Reicha has created its first part by taking full advantage of the clarinet’s wide range. This melody encompasses over two octaves from low A to Bb2. The horn is now crooked in F, and it has much more participation in this movement in comparison to that seen in the first. Its solo at the end of the refrain is outstanding, but we wait for it in vain for it during the final refrain as Reicha teases us with the possibility of its return.

Third Movement
The pyramid opening of this scherzo is reminiscent of the initiation of Franz Rosetti’s Partia (the one with the three oboe parts) which Reicha could have heard in his youth at the Court of the Öttingen-Wallersteins. The structure consists of two rounded binary forms, the second (Trio in the relative minor) of which is written out in full before a return to the initial one. The recapitulation of the A theme in the Trio is set out in Klangfarbenmelodie.

Fourth Movement
Reicha pulls out all the stops, compositionally speaking, in this movement. Set in rondo-sonata form, it is a grand tour de force for the performers with its cascades of rushing triplets, some of which involve triple-tonguing technique. Reicha’s counterpoint, his life-time work, is heard to good advantage throughout the movement. Some of the fermatas certainly indicate places where the original players improvised solo cadenzas. Students making an analysis of this movement will notice that Refrain III is missing; this is common in rondeaux of the Classic and Romantic Eras.