Napoléon Henri Reber
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Napoléon Henri Reber (October 21, 1807, Mulhouse, Alsace – November 24, 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 Academie Française in 1853.
Among his works are a ballet, Le Diable amoureux (written jointly with Francois 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 Chopin's Funeral March from the Funeral March Sonata was played at the graveside during Chopin's burial at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris on 30 October 1849.
He was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1855, and an officier in 1870. On his death, he was succeeded as a member of the Institut by Camille Saint-Saëns.
- This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
