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177), his last Piano Sonata (A flat major op. 176) and his last String Quartet (F minor WoO 48, during his lifetime, unpublished).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;