fame, and others achieved it in after years. In this collection of
geniuses the attrition of mind on mind must have been of benefit to
each. The conductor, Joseph Reicha, had a nephew, Anton Reicha, whom he
adopted, who played the flute in the orchestra. He and Beethoven were
intimate, and the prominence which Beethoven gives to the flute in his
orchestral works may in part be explained by this intimacy. Reicha
afterward joined Beethoven at Vienna, remaining there until 1808, when
he took up his residence in Paris. He was a prolific composer and the
author of numerous theoretical works. Many of his operas were produced
in Paris during his lifetime. He taught at the Paris Conservatoire, and
was a member of the Institute. Then there was Bernhard Romberg, and his
cousin Andreas Romberg. The latter was a musical prodigy, having played
the violin in concerts as early as his seventh year. At seventeen, his
virtuosity was such that he was engaged for the Concerts Spirituels at
Paris. Some years later he journeyed to Bonn to be near his cousin
Bernhard, with whom he was intimate, and accepted a position in the
Elector's orchestra as violinist. He later went to Vienna, then Hamburg,
and afterward became Kapellmeister at Gotha. He composed all kinds of
music, instrumental and vocal, symphonies, operas, etc. His setting of
Schiller's "Song of the Bell" is well known at the present day, as well
as the oratorio, "The Transient and the Eternal." He was made Doctor of
Music by Kiel University. Bernhard Romberg was a distinguished
violoncellist. When his connection with the Elector's orchestra ceased,
he made a professional tour to Italy and Spain with his more famous
cousin Andreas and was very successful. In 1796 they came to Vienna and
gave a concert at which Beethoven assisted. Bernhard afterward was a
professor in the Paris Conservatoire and later became Kapellmeister at
Berlin. He was a composer of operas, concertos, etc. While he and
Beethoven were not in accord on the subject of musical composition, each
disliking the other's works, there is no question but that his