Ferdinand Ries

Ferdinand Ries (baptised 28 November 1784 – 13 January 1838) was a German composer. Ries was a friend, pupil and secretary of Ludwig van Beethoven. He composed eight symphonies, a violin concerto, nine piano concertos (the first concerto is not published), three operas, and numerous other works, including 26 string quartets. In 1838 he published a collection of reminiscences of his teacher Beethoven, co-written with Beethoven's friend, Franz Wegeler. Ries' symphonies, some chamber works—most of them with piano—his violin concerto and his piano concertos have been recorded, exhibiting a style which, given his connection to Beethoven, lies between the Classical and early Romantic styles.

Ries was born into a musical family of Bonn. His grandfather, Johann Ries (1723–1784), was appointed court trumpeter to the Elector of Cologne at Bonn. Ries was the eldest son of the violinist and Archbishopric Music Director Franz Anton Ries (1755–1846) and the brother of violinist and composer (Pieter) Hubert Ries (1802–1886) and violinist Joseph Ries. He received piano lessons from his father and was instructed by Bernhard Romberg, who also belonged to the Bonn Hofkapelle as a cellist. At the end of 1798 he went for further training in Arnsberg to meet an organist friend of his father; a year later he went to Munich. There he worked hard as a music copyist.

The French dissolved the Electoral court of Bonn and disbanded its orchestra, but in the early months of 1803 the penniless Ries managed to reach Vienna, with a letter of introduction written by the Munich-based composer Carl Cannabich on 29 December 1802. Ries was then the pupil of Ludwig van Beethoven, who had received some early instruction at Bonn from Ries's father, Franz Ries. Together with Carl Czerny, Ries was the only pupil whom Beethoven taught during these years. Beethoven took great care of the young man, teaching him piano, sending him to Albrechtsberger for harmony and composition and securing for him positions as piano tutor in aristocratic households in Baden and Silesia. Ries was soon also Beethoven's secretary: he had correspondence with publishers, copied notes, completed errands and provided Beethoven the beautiful apartment in the Pasqualati House where the composer lived for several years. Ries made his public debut as a pianist in July 1804, playing Beethoven's C minor concerto, Op. 37, with his own cadenza, which he was allowed to write. His performance received glowing reviews. Ries spent the summers of 1803 and 1804 with Beethoven in Baden bei Wien, as well as in Döbling.

Ries' work as a secretary and a copyist won Beethoven's confidence in negotiations with publishers and he became a fast friend. One of the most famous stories told about Ries is connected with the first rehearsal of the Eroica Symphony, when Ries, during the performance, mistakenly believed that the horn player had come in too early and said so aloud, infuriating Beethoven.

Ries feared conscription in the occupying French army (though he was blind in one eye) and so he fled Vienna in September 1805. He stayed in Bonn for a year with his family, and this is where he wrote his first piano concerto in C major, now known as Concerto no. 6 for piano and orchestra. While Ries was living in Bonn, his two piano sonatas, op. 1, dedicated to Beethoven were published by Simrock.

Starting in 1807, Ries spent the next two years in Paris before returning to Vienna. Here Ries quickly expanded his catalogue of works (mainly to chamber and piano music, such as the later popular Septet op. 25). Ries had great difficulty succeeding in the capital city of the French Army and was at times so discouraged that he wanted to give up the profession of music and seek a position in the civil service.

On 27 August 1808, Ries arrived back in Vienna, where he again made contact with Beethoven. Ries helped Beethoven with the premieres of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and other works for the benefit concert held on 22 December 1808. In July 1809, Ries left Vienna for the second time; this time he was threatened by the call-up to the Austrian military, which mobilized all forces against the threat to Vienna by Napoleon. Again he took refuge in his paternal home of Bonn and spent the next one and a half years composing a series of larger works: his first Symphony, his second Piano Concerto in C minor (later known as Concerto no. 4 op. 115) and his Violin Concerto (unpublished during his lifetime) in E minor op. 24.

In January 1811, Ries left for Russia with the goal of an extended concert trip via Kassel, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm to St. Petersburg. There, he met his old teacher Bernhard Romberg, with whom he played concerts in Western Russia. He composed two piano concertos for this tour, No. 2 in E flat major, op. 42 and No. 3 in C sharp minor, op. 55. However, in the summer of 1812, with Napoleon advancing on Moscow, Ries left Russia to tour across Europe, arriving in London in April 1813.