Ferdinand Ries was just one among many once-famous and significant composers who had the misfortune of occupying the same chronological space as Ludwig van Beethoven. The personal association between Ries and Beethoven was particularly close; he was also born in Bonn and Ries' father was one of Beethoven's music teachers. A child prodigy, Ries' election to the court orchestra in Bonn at age 11 was interrupted by the French Revolution, and after a number of years spent in poverty he caught up with Beethoven in Vienna, ...
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Ferdinand Ries was just one among many once-famous and significant composers who had the misfortune of occupying the same chronological space as Ludwig van Beethoven. The personal association between Ries and Beethoven was particularly close; he was also born in Bonn and Ries' father was one of Beethoven's music teachers. A child prodigy, Ries' election to the court orchestra in Bonn at age 11 was interrupted by the French Revolution, and after a number of years spent in poverty he caught up with Beethoven in Vienna, becoming a valuable copyist for him and a handler of Beethoven's affairs. Apart from a stint conscripted in the French Army and its immediate aftermath, Ries continued in this role off and on until his retirement from music in about 1825. Ries came out of retirement to lead the Singakademie in Aachen just a few years before he died in 1838. Ries was by all accounts a brilliant pianist, and at one time his fame spread from London to Moscow.Artaria Editions, the Hong Kong-based publishing...
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