This Week in Classical Music: October 4, 2021.Johann Joseph Fux.The great German composer of the early baroque, Heinrich Schütz was born this week in Köstritz, a town in Thuringia, on October 8th of 1585 (we’ve written about him here and here).Also, Giuseppe Verdi was born on October 9th of 1813 and Camille Saint-Saëns, on the same day in 1835.Both are very popular (Verdi being a much bigger talent), and we’ve featured them many times.One composer who somehow escaped our attention is another German, Johann Joseph Fux.While Schütz was enormously influential as composer, Fux is more famous for his theoretical opus Gradus ad Parnassum (Steps to Mount Parnassus).It shouldn’t be confused with Carl Czerny’s Gradus ad Parnassum, a collection of study piano pieces familiar to most pianists.Fux’s Gradus is completely a different thing, and we’ll get to it in a minute.
Fux was bon in 1660 (the exact date isn’t known) in a village outside of Graz, in Austrian Styria.He probably studied music in Graz, and later served as organist in Ingolstadt, Bavaria.It seems that around that time he visited Italy and was influenced by Arcangelo Corelli and Bernardo Pasquini.Fux moved to Vienna in 1690 and several years later was hired as the court composer to the Emperor Leopold I.Leopold was a music lover, a patron and composer himself: some of his music survives, for example, an ordinary mass titled Missa angeli custodis and the Requiem Mass for his first wife (here on YouTube). Love for music ran in Leopold’s Habsburg family: his father, Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, was also a music benefactor and composer; 100 years later, Joseph II would become Mozart’s patron.Leopold thought highly of Fux and in 1715 made him the Hofkapellmeister, the leader of Wiener Hofmusikkapelle, an ancient musical institution established in 1498; abolished in 1922, it was the predecessor of the Vienna Boys’ Choir.At the Hofmusikkapelle Fux was assisted by Antonio Caldara, a well-known Italian opera composer.When Leopold I died in 1705, his son Joseph became the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, and, upon Joseph’s death, the title went to Leopold’s other son, Charles, who ruled as Charles VI.Both continued to employ Fux, who lived in Vienna the rest of his life, dying in 1741.As the court composer, Fux was required to write masses and other church music; he also composed operas, oratorios and Tafelmusik (Table music), music for feasts and banquets.Here is Fux’s Overture in D major, No. 4, performed by the Freiburger Barockorchester.
Back to Gradus ad Parnassum: Fux wrote it in 1725, in Latin, but soon after it was translated into German, French and English.The first part of the book talks about intervals and their relations to number.But it’s the second half that made it famous: it presents the theoretical discussion of counterpoint, instructions on how to write sacred music and other musical techniques.It’s written in the form of a dialogue, with one person, the teacher, representing Palestrina, and another, the student, Fux himself.A copy of Gradus ad Parnassum was in Johan Sebastian Bach’s personal library.Haydn used it to teach himself counterpoint and later recommended it to his student, Beethoven.Mozart had an annotated copy.The book was used continuously from the day it was published and is still used and cited today.
Johann Joseph Fux
This Week in Classical Music: October 4, 2021. Johann Joseph Fux. The great German composer of the early baroque, Heinrich Schütz was born this week in Köstritz, a town in
Thuringia, on October 8th of 1585 (we’ve written about him here and here). Also, Giuseppe Verdi was born on October 9th of 1813 and Camille Saint-Saëns, on the same day in 1835. Both are very popular (Verdi being a much bigger talent), and we’ve featured them many times. One composer who somehow escaped our attention is another German, Johann Joseph Fux. While Schütz was enormously influential as composer, Fux is more famous for his theoretical opus Gradus ad Parnassum (Steps to Mount Parnassus). It shouldn’t be confused with Carl Czerny’s Gradus ad Parnassum, a collection of study piano pieces familiar to most pianists. Fux’s Gradus is completely a different thing, and we’ll get to it in a minute.
Fux was bon in 1660 (the exact date isn’t known) in a village outside of Graz, in Austrian Styria. He probably studied music in Graz, and later served as organist in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. It seems that around that time he visited Italy and was influenced by Arcangelo Corelli and Bernardo Pasquini. Fux moved to Vienna in 1690 and several years later was hired as the court composer to the Emperor Leopold I. Leopold was a music lover, a patron and composer himself: some of his music survives, for example, an ordinary mass titled Missa angeli custodis and the Requiem Mass for his first wife (here on YouTube). Love for music ran in Leopold’s Habsburg family: his father, Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, was also a music benefactor and composer; 100 years later, Joseph II would become Mozart’s patron. Leopold thought highly of Fux and in 1715 made him the Hofkapellmeister, the leader of Wiener Hofmusikkapelle, an ancient musical institution established in 1498; abolished in 1922, it was the predecessor of the Vienna Boys’ Choir. At the Hofmusikkapelle Fux was assisted by Antonio Caldara, a well-known Italian opera composer. When Leopold I died in 1705, his son Joseph became the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, and, upon Joseph’s death, the title went to Leopold’s other son, Charles, who ruled as Charles VI. Both continued to employ Fux, who lived in Vienna the rest of his life, dying in 1741. As the court composer, Fux was required to write masses and other church music; he also composed operas, oratorios and Tafelmusik (Table music), music for feasts and banquets. Here is Fux’s Overture in D major, No. 4, performed by the Freiburger Barockorchester.
Back to Gradus ad Parnassum: Fux wrote it in 1725, in Latin, but soon after it was translated into German, French and English. The first part of the book talks about intervals and their relations to number. But it’s the second half that made it famous: it presents the theoretical discussion of counterpoint, instructions on how to write sacred music and other musical techniques. It’s written in the form of a dialogue, with one person, the teacher, representing Palestrina, and another, the student, Fux himself. A copy of Gradus ad Parnassum was in Johan Sebastian Bach’s personal library. Haydn used it to teach himself counterpoint and later recommended it to his student, Beethoven. Mozart had an annotated copy. The book was used continuously from the day it was published and is still used and cited today.