Essential Ries
Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838) is best remembered today as Beethoven's pupil and secretary, and for the memoir he wrote about his teacher. Like Beethoven, he was born in Bonn, and his music includes a number of symphonies, piano concertos, violin sonatas and string quartets. Later, resident in London, he was instrumental in the commissioning of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Read more…Perhaps the most famous story about Ries concerns rehearsals for Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony. Ries mistakenly thought the horn player had entered too early and said as much, earning a furious rebuke from the composer. The two became close friends and colleagues nevertheless, with Ries acting as Beethoven's copyist and corresponding with publishers and impresarios. He made his Vienna debut as soloist in his teacher's Third Piano Concerto and perhaps it is his own concertos that show him at his strongest. His music takes its cue from Beethoven's style, as might be expected, but with a distinct lyrical strain inherited from Mozart. "He imitates me too much," was supposedly Beethoven's verdict on Ries music, but Ries was clearly his own man, with a piano style that was markedly different from Beethoven's. As Beethoven abandoned performing due to his deafness, Ries (who was blind in one eye) continued, adopting the new bravura styles which came into fashion as the century wore on.