Ferdinand Ries is not a name that jumps out of musical history, but he has a place in it that's worth recalling. For the story of Beethoven would be lacking a chapter or two were it not for the family ...
Court musician at Bonn, Franz Anton Ries [1755-1846], gave music lessons to a young boy also born in Bonn, Ludwig van Beethoven [1770-1827]. Franz Ries had a son Ferdinand Ries [1784-1838] who, in ...