Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (March 19, 1873 – May 11, 1916) was a German
composer,
conductor,
pianist,
organist, and
teacher.
Born in Brand, Bavaria, Reger studied music in Munich and Wiesbaden with Hugo Riemann. From September 1901 he settled in Munich, where he obtained concert offers and where his rapid rise to fame began. During his first Munich season, Reger appeared in ten concerts as an organist, chamber pianist and accompanist. He continued to compose without interruption. From 1907 he worked in Leipzig, where he was music director of the university until 1908 and professor of composition at the conservatory until his death. It was during one of his weekly trips to Leipzig in 1916, to teach at the Conservatory, that he died of a heart attack at age 43. He was also active internationally as a conductor and pianist in that period of time. Among his students there were Joseph Haas, Jaroslav Kvapil, Ruben Liljefors, and George Szell.
Reger was the cousin of Hans von Koessler.
During a composing life of little more than 25 years, Reger produced an enormous output, nearly always in abstract forms, although few of his compositions are well known today. Many of his works are fugues or in variation form, including what is probably his best known orchestral work, the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (based on the opening theme of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata, K. 331). He also wrote a large amount of music for organ, including the Fantasy and Fugue on BACH (this piece, based on the BACH motif, is considered one of the most difficult and demanding in organ literature). He was particularly attracted to the fugal form his entire life. Once he remarked "Other people write fugues - I live inside them". He created music in almost every genre — opera and the symphony being the two exceptions.
