Antoninus - Joseph Reicha is a great polyphonist

The purpose of this monograph is to characterize the creative path of the great Czech-French composer, music theorist, teacher, long forgotten and in our country not known at all - Antonin-Joseph Reich; to describe his environment, with many composers with whom he was friends, with whom he studied and who studied with him. The work uses methods of historical and cultural, theoretical and genre-stylistic analysis, which allowed to illuminate the peculiarities of Reich's creative individuality formation. Reich's creative activity turned out to be as if an intermediate link between polyphonists of baroque epoch and following centuries, because basics of their thinking were absorbed and in many respects anticipated future of polyphonic musical language of XX-XXI centuries. Reich-Professor's theoretical works for many years became the basis of the teaching process in conservatories in Paris and throughout Europe. The polyphonic cycle 36 fugues for piano, a unique work directed towards the future, is considered. An analysis of the individual samples of the cycle's fugues is offered.