Octet (from the Nonet, Op. 139)

Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger was an eminent German organist, conductor, composer, and pedagogue who lived from 1839 until 1901. He spent most of his life in Munich, studying at the Munich Conservatory and serving as principal conductor of the Munich Choral Society. He also taught organ, piano and composition at the Munich Conservatory. His reputation as an organ teacher was remarkable and students from around the world came to study with him. His students included Humperdinck, Wolf-Ferrari, Thuille, Sandberger, Kroyer, Trunk, Chadwick, and Furtwängler. Few of Rheinbergers compositions are performed today. Yet he composed 20 organ sonatas, 2 symphonies, 2 organ concerti, and a large number of vocal works. His wife Franziska was a poetess and Joseph set much of her poetry to music. His chamber music output included 3 string quartets, a string quintet, a piano quintet, 4 piano trios (one of which was arranged by the composer as this sextet for piano and wind quintet, RFE 42), 2 violin sonatas, a cello sonata and this octet which was later enlarged to his nonet (RFE 70) and which has been arranged by John Wilcox as a septet (RP 105).