Johann Joseph Fux

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Johann Joseph Fux

Johann Joseph Fux (* around 1660 in Hirtenfeld near Graz ; † February 13, 1741 in Vienna ) was an Austrian composer and music theorist .

Life

Plaque in memory of the young musician Fux in Graz, Färbergasse 11

Fux was born around 1660 as a farmer's son in Hirtenfeld, which at that time belonged to the parish of St. Marein , but is now part of the parish of Langegg near Graz and the parish of Nestelbach near Graz . His parents were Andreas and Ursula Fux. All that is known about his early life is that he studied at the University of Graz around 1680 and at the University of Ingolstadt from 1683 to 1687 .

On June 5, 1696 he married Juliana Clara, daughter of the Lower Austrian government secretary Johann Josef Schnitzenbaum. In the same year he was appointed organist at the Schottenstift in Vienna. He kept this post until 1702. This made the imperial court aware of him and in 1698 appointed him “court composer” . From 1701 he became Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's Cathedral . In 1712 he became vice- court conductor of the Viennese court orchestra , and after the death of Marc'Antonio Ziani in 1715, he became court conductor, one of the most important positions in European musical life at the time. At the same time he worked from 1713 to 1718 as court conductor of the Empress Dowager Wilhelmine Amalie . In addition, Fux also taught composition . His students included Georg Christoph Wagenseil , Gottlieb Muffat and Jan Dismas Zelenka .

His marriage was childless. His wife died on June 8, 1731. He himself died at the age of 81 on February 13, 1741 in Vienna. The Johann Joseph Fux Conservatory in Graz is named after him.

Works

Fux's most influential work was Gradus ad Parnassum's composition theory (1725), a textbook on the basics of counterpoint . The work, written in Latin , was translated into German in 1742 by Lorenz Christoph Mizler , a student of Bach. It had a decisive influence on the Vienna School and served as a textbook on counterpoint well into the 20th century.

Fux's wide-ranging musical work includes operas , church and instrumental music. In his instrumental music, like Georg Muffat before him, he combines Italian and French influences into his own style. The Concentus Musico-Instrumentalis collection, published in 1701 as op. 1 , is well known and consists of seven partitas for a wide variety of instrumentations.

An example of his stage work is the birthday opera for Emperor Karl VI. from 1715 Orfeo ed Euridice , which is based on a libretto by Pietro Pariati . Also based on a libretto by Pariati, he composed his perhaps best-known opera Costanza e fortezza (with ballet music by Nicola Matteis the Younger ), which was published in Prague in 1723 on the occasion of the coronation of Emperor Charles VI. was listed as King of Bohemia. In 1731 he composed the festa teatrale Enea negli Elisi overo Il tempio dell'eternità for the birthday of Empress Elisabeth . He composed a total of 18 operas, around 50 masses , three requies , 57 Vespers and psalm settings as well as ten oratorios and 29 partitas and sonatas .

A first attempt at a systematic compilation of the works by Fux was made in 1835 by the Viennese autograph collector Aloys Fuchs with his Thematic Catalog of all compositions by Joh. Jos. Fux . In 1872 the music historian and Mozart researcher Ludwig Ritter von Köchel published his standard work Johann Josef Fux, which is still used today . Court composer and court conductor of the emperors Leopold I, Joseph I, and Karl VI, from 1698 to 1740 . Various additions by Andreas Liess , Hellmut Federhofer , Friedrich Wilhelm Riedel and Thomas Hochradner brought important additions to the sources and corrected the work inventory through new discoveries and the discovery of incorrect attributions. The current thematic directory of the works of Johann Joseph Fux, newly developed by Thomas Hochradner in 2016 (volume I: music theory and music pedagogical works, dramatic works, instrumental works, Vienna 2016; volume II: church music vocal works, secular vocal works, appendices) replaces the previous directories and offers for the first time a uniform, systematic numbering of all known and preserved Fux works.

Some of Fux's works have been published in the Monuments of Music Art series in Austria since the beginning of the 20th century by Guido Adler , Johann Evangelist Habert , Egon Wellesz and Erich Schenk , among others . In 1955 the Johann Joseph Fux Society was founded, which initiated the Fux Complete Edition in 1959. By 2010, 37 volumes with a total of 143 works had been published. In addition, some practical editions of spiritual works, especially masses, appeared in Germany towards the end of the 20th century. The 2015 newly founded historical-critical edition Johann Joseph Fux - Works published by the Institute for Art and Music History Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences under the edition management of Gernot Gruber and Herbert Seifert aims to use the composer's oeuvre for music research (critical editions) like make (voice material) accessible again for music practice.

effect

In contrast to the Gradus ad Parnassum , his musical works were quickly forgotten. Fux was only "rediscovered" by Ludwig von Köchel , who published a biography and a catalog raisonné.

The coronation opera Costanza e fortezza , which has not been staged since its first performance in 1723, was performed for the first time as a stage work at the Festival 9 Týdnů Baroka 2015 ( 9 Baroque Weeks 2015 ) as part of the events of the European Capital of Culture 2015 Pilsen . The premiere took place on July 31st in the Windisch-Grätz riding school in Světce, a district of Tachov .

Since 2018, the Styriarte in Graz has hosted the Fux Festival, during which various operas by the composer are performed again (2018: Julio Ascanio )

literature

Web links

Commons : Johann Joseph Fux  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The New Catholic Encyclopedia . Second edition. Catholic University of America Press, ISBN 0-7876-4010-7 , Vol. VI, p. 50.