Napoléon Henri Reber

Napoléon Henri Reber. c. 1865

Napoléon Henri Reber (21 October 1807, Mulhouse, Alsace – 24 November 1880, Paris) was a French composer.

He studied with Anton Reicha and Jean François Lesueur, wrote chamber music, and set to music the new poems of the best French poets. He became professor of harmony at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1851 and succeeded Fromental Halévy as professor of composition in 1862, was inspector of the branch conservatories from 1871, and was elected to George Onslow's chair in the Académie française in 1853.

Among his works are a ballet, Le Diable amoureux (written jointly with François Benoist, 1840); the comic operas, Le nuit de Noël (1848), Le père Gaillard (1852), Les papillotes de M. Benoist (1853), and Les dames capitaines (1857); four symphonies, and much chamber music. He wrote a Traité d'harmonie (1862), which went through many editions.

His instrumental arrangement of Frédéric Chopin's Funeral March from the Funeral March Sonata was played at the graveside during Chopin's burial at Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris on 30 October 1849.

He was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1855, and an officer in 1870. On his death, he was succeeded as a member of the Institut by Camille Saint-Saëns.

Reber's compositions include a string quintet (his opus 1; with extra cello)^[1], a string quartet^[2], a piano quartet (1866) and seven piano trios^[3], and the four symphonies mentioned above^[4]:

• Symphony no. 1 in D minor
• Symphony no. 2 in C (published by Richault of Paris^[5])
• Symphony no. 3 in E♭ (apparently by 1850; published by Richault of Paris ^[6])
• Symphony no. 4 in G (apparently by 1850; published by Richault of Paris ^[7])

• This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.

References

1. ^ Reber's string quintet. OCLC 18698671
2. ^ Reber's string quartet, opus 4. OCLC 18671454
3. ^ Randel, Don Michael (1996). The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music at Google Books. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Page 731.
4. ^ Rosenkranz, A. (1902). Novello's catalogue of orchestral music: a manual of the orchestral literature of all countries at Google Books, New York: Novello, Ewer & Co., page 60. OCLC 13278734.
5. ^ Symphony 2. OCLC 19684291
6. ^ Symphony 3. OCLC 23368331
7. ^ Symphony 4. OCLC 23062314

External links

• Free scores by Napoléon Henri Reber at the International Music Score Library Project

Persondata
Name	Reber, Napoleon Henri
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	21 October 1807
Place of birth
Date of death	24 November 1880
Place of death