composers who were indebted to him for their first chance of being heard, and of much music which but for him would probably have slumbered on the shelf till now. He was one of the founders of the 'Beethovenstiftung,' and an earnest supporter of the Wagner performances at Bayreuth in 1876. His own compositions are chiefly part-songs for men's voices, but he has edited several important ancient works by Prætorius, Franck, Eccard, and other old German writers, especially a 'Passion' by Heinrich Schütz, for which he selected the best portions of 4 Passions by that master—a proceeding certainly deserving all that can be said against it. [App. p. 772 "date of death, June 4, 1888."]
RIEM, Wilhelm Friedrich, born at Colleda in Thuringia, Feb. 17, 1779, was one of J. A. Hiller's pupils in the St. Thomas school at Leipzig. In 1807 he was made organist of the Reformed church there, and in 1814 of the St. Thomas school itself. In 1822 he was called to Bremen to take the cathedral organ and be Director of the Singakademie, where he remained till his death, April 20, 1837. He was an industrious writer. His cantata for the anniversary of the Augsburg Confession 1830 (for which Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony was intended) is dead; so are his quintets, quartets, trios, and other large works, but some of his 8 sonatas and 12 sonatinas are still used for teaching purposes. He left 2 books of studies for the PF., which are out of print, and 16 progressive exercises.
RIENZI DER LETZTE DER TRIBUNEN (the last of the Tribunes). An opera in 5 acts; words (founded on Bulwer's novel) and music by Wagner. He adopted the idea in Dresden in 1837; two acts were finished early in 1839, and the opera was produced at Dresden Oct. 20, 1842. 'Rienzi' was brought out in French (Meitter and Guillaume) at the Théâtre Lyrique, April 6, 1869, and in English at Her Majesty's Theatre, London (Carl Rosa), Jan. 27, 1879.
RIES. A distinguished family of musicians.
1. Johann Ries, native of Benzheim on the Rhine, born 1723, was appointed Court trumpeter to the Elector of Cologne at Bonn, May 2, 1747, and violinist in the Capelle, Mar. 5, 1754. On April 27, 1764, his daughter Anna Maria was appointed singer. In 1774 she married Ferdinand Drewer, violinist in the band, and remained first soprano till the break-up in 1794. Her father died 1786 or 7. Her brother, Franz Anton, was born at Bonn, Nov. 10, 1755, and died there Nov. 1, 1846. He was an infant phenomenon on the violin; learned from J. P. Salomon, and was able to take his father's place in the orchestra at the age of 11. His salary began when he was 19, and in 1779 it was 160 thalers per annum. At that date he visited Vienna, and made a great success as a solo and quartet player. But he elected to remain, on poor pay, in Bonn, and was rewarded by having Beethoven as his pupil and friend. During the poverty of the Beethoven family, and through the misery caused by the death of Ludwig's mother in 1787, Franz Ries stood by them like a real friend. In 1794 the French arrived, and the Elector's establishment was broken up. Some of the members of the band dispersed, but Ries remained, and documents are [1]preserved which show that after the passing away of the invasion he was to have been Court-musician. Events however were otherwise ordered; he remained in Bonn, and at Godesberg, where he had a little house, till his death; held various small offices, culminating in the Bonn city government in 1800, taught the violin, and brought up his children well. He assisted Wegeler in his Notices of Beethoven, was present at the unveiling of Beethoven's statue in 1845, had a Doctor's degree and the order of the Red Eagle conferred on him, and died, as we have said, Nov. 1, 1846, aged 91 all but 9 days.
2. Franz's son Ferdinand, who with the Archduke Rudolph enjoys the distinction of being Beethoven's pupil, was born at Bonn Nov. 28, 1784. He was brought up from his cradle to music. His father taught him the pianoforte and violin, and B. Romberg the cello. In his childhood he lost an eye through the small-pox. After the break-up of the Elector's band he remained three years at home, working very hard at theoretical and practical music, scoring the quartets of Haydn and Mozart, and arranging the Creation, the Seasons, and the Requiem with such ability that they were all three published by Simrock.
In 1801 he went to Munich to study under Winter, in a larger field than he could command at home. Here he was so badly off as to be driven to copy music at 3d. a sheet. But poor as his income was he lived within it, and when after a few months Winter left Munich for Paris, Ries had saved 7 ducats. With this he went to Vienna in October 1801, taking a letter from his father to Beethoven. Beethoven received him well, and when he had read the letter said, 'I can't answer it now; but write and tell him that I have not forgotten the time when my mother died'; and knowing how miserably poor the lad was, he on several occasions gave him money unasked, for which he would accept no return. The next three years Ries spent in Vienna. Beethoven took a great deal of pains with his pianoforte-playing, but would teach him nothing else. He however prevailed on Albrechtsberger to take him as a pupil in composition. The lessons cost a ducat each; Ries had in some way saved up 28 ducats, and therefore had 28 lessons. Beethoven also got him an appointment as pianist to Count Browne the Russian charge d'affaires, and at another time to Count Lichnowsky. The pay for these services was probably not over-abundant, but it kept him, and the position gave him access to the best musical society. Into Ries's relations with Beethoven we need not enter here. They are touched upon in the sketch of the great master in vol. i. of this work, and they are fully laid open in Ries's own
- ↑ See the curious and important lists and memorandums, published for the first time in Thayer's 'Beethoven,' i. 248.
