Ferdinand Ries place of burial Frankfurt Main Cemetery
Ries wrote his Symphony No. 2 in D minor (numbered as Symphony no. 5), inspired by the quality of the Orchestra of the Philharmonic Society. His compositional work is effectively split in two at this time. Ries composed most of his orchestral works during his time in London: six of his eight symphonies (as well as two of his five concert overtures) were created for concerts of the Philharmonic Society. On the other hand, he wrote now increasingly light fare for the piano: fantasies, rondos, variations, adapted divertimentos and others, mostly about well-known opera arias or popular folk song melodies. the production of chamber music (string quartets, violin sonatas) and intermediate piano music (sonatas) came almost to a standstill. After 1820 he had disagreements with his fellow directors of the Philharmonic Society; Ries was of the opinion that his works were not adequately taken into account in the programming of concerts. In 1821, he resigned his position of Director and began to increase his contacts with continental Europe with the idea of a return. On 3 May 1824 he gave his farewell concert in London, at which he dedicated a Piano Concerto (Concerto no. 7 in A minor for piano and orchestra op. 132).
In July 1824 Ries retired to Germany with his English wife and three children, but returned to musical life in Frankfurt am Main as composer and conductor. His reputation as an instrumental composer and bandleader had strengthened now in Central Europe. In 1834 he was appointed head of the city orchestra and Singakademie in Aachen, for which he wrote two oratorios, Der Sieg des Glaubens (1829) and Die Könige in Israel (1837), both of which have been recorded. In addition, he was festival director of the Lower Rhenish Music Festival eight times — between 1824 and 1837. The first year he was the director of the festival he took the opportunity of performing Beethoven's 9th Symphony, which was the German premiere of this work. In Godesburg during 1825 and 1826 Ries wrote five string quartets (op. 150, no. 1–2; op. 166, no. 1; WoO 34 and 36). String quartets were a genre that Ries had barely touched. For his entire time in London he only wrote three works of this genre.
Beginning in April 1827 the Ries family moved to Frankfurt am Main. In Frankfurt the existence of a renowned Opera House attracted him. Since 1826, he had had plans to write operas, which he brought to fruition in the years 1827/28. On 15 October 1828, his first opera, The Robber Bride, was premiered in Frankfurt with great success. To the direction of the Dublin Music Festival in 1831 he used a month's stay in London, where he composed his second opera, The Sorceress (published in Germany under the title Liska or the Witch by Gyllensteen). It was premiered on 4 August 1831 at the London Royal Adelphi Theatre. His third opera was composed in 1834 (Die Nacht auf dem Libanon WoO 51), which for many years remained unperformed. In 1832/33 Ries and his wife made a several-month journey through Italy for a concert tour (which would remain his last), which led to Venice, Milan, Rome and Naples. During the trip, Ries wrote his last Piano Concerto (in G minor op. 177), his last Piano Sonata (A flat major op. 176) and his last String Quartet (F minor WoO 48, during his lifetime, unpublished). In the summer of 1834, Ries was briefly Director of the Aachen Theatre Orchestra in conversation; but he rejected the offer. In the winter 1836/37 Ries stopped in Paris; there, he composed his last work for orchestra (the overture dramatique L'apparition WoO 61) and briefly went to London, where he succeeded in the world premiere of his new overture in a concert of the Philharmonic Society (13 March). Ries returned to Frankfurt and he accepted an offer in August 1837. Ries was not able to fulfill the offer since he died on 13 January 1838 after a short and unexpected illness. When Ries died, he was so forgotten that no leading music magazine wrote an obituary for him.
Ferdinand Ries is buried in the Tomb (No. 45) of the Klotz family in the Frankfurt am Main cemetery.
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