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Antoine-Joseph Reicha (1770-1836) published this work, the second of his Six Quintuors Op. 91, with the House of Simrock in 1818-1819, the plate number being 1610. Nikolaus Simrock indicates that this is Quintet No. 8 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 D 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
Compared to the first quintet in this opus, the structure of this work is a fairly conventional sonata form with slow introduction, still sounding very much like the music of Franz Schubert. There are four slightly unusual areas: first of all, the very substantial Theme 1 is heard twice in both exposition and in recapitulation: after Theme 2 in the exposition and after Theme 4 in the recapitulation; secondly, the most-excellent Theme 5 of the exposition is not heard again in the recapitulation, probably because of the attention it is given in the development; thirdly, two new themes (Themes 6 and 7) are introduced in the development; and finally, during the recapitulation, the reappearance of Theme 2 necessitates a change of key signature to A Major. Also, the horn is busier here than it was in the first quintet.

It must be said that Reicha lavished a good deal of his contrapuntal art on this movement. The playing time runs a full 13 minutes, extraordinary by any account for the first movement of a wind quintet.

Second Movement
Placed into the subdominant, the second movement is a set of variations on a theme in binary form. After the oboe states the theme itself, three‘characteristic’ variations follow for flute (florid), horn (lyrical), and clarinet (wide ranging). Two additional variations feature the full ensemble, the second being quite expansive.

Third Movement
Reicha’s scherzo begins as a rounded binary form with canonic imitation, pairing oboe and horn and then flute and clarinet. (Reicha calls this section a canon!). The closing thematic material applied to both sections of the binary form is most-Slavic in its sentiment. The trio is set out over an eight-measure ostinato in the bassoon which is heard 12 times, after which time the‘canon’ returns. This is an outstanding movement in every way, coming, as it does, from one of the Paris Conservatoire’s great professors of counterpoint.

Fourth Movement
The finale is yet another outstanding example of sonata form. I am reminded that Reicha was the man who actually created the terms ‘exposition’ and ‘development’, concepts that we use until this very day to describe two of this structure’s primary features. There are three primary themes and four tonicizing closing themes in the exposition and recapitulation of this movement. The development utilizes motives from Theme 1, and the coda contains two additional closing themes.

In a word, this is a wonderful movement, filled with eccentric themes. To be sure, Reicha wanted a light ending, and he found a way other than the usual rondo to get it! Oh yes, it is 12 minutes long.