Thread: Johann Joseph Fux {1660 - 1741}.

What the Fux! No thread about him in almost two decades of this site being up... here we go:

Johann Joseph Fux: the greatest, most celebrated and widely read music theorist of all time - studied by almost all of the greatest composers the world has seen; J.S Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn - among many others, and teaching many composers such as Gottlieb Muffat and Georg Christoph Wagenseil.. but most notably Jan Dismas Zelenka, who studied with him for 3 years and as anyone that is familiar knows, is the only equal to Bach in terms of innovation and talent in that era.

Yet little does anyone know that he was in the most prestigious musical position in 18th century Vienna - and considered the greatest composer of the Holy Roman Empire, who served 3 different Emperors: Leopold the I, Joseph the I and Charles the VI.

He has a surviving output of over 600 works, secular and sacred in almost every style at the time - French, Italian, stile antico, stile moderno, and everything other form - mastered.

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I merely offer a humble playlist of 2 compositions of his I edited and recorded some time ago; my personal favourite being the Missa Purificationis, K.28 in his catalogue of works; which has a simple but profound beauty to it - and the Ouverture in D Minor, being exemplary of the French style, with a fantastic Fugue and gigue contained therein:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...QI_D72piYXFbBH

Yes, Fux was a great Baroque composer. He was prolific, influential in his theoretical works.

This is as good as any from the Baroque:

Usually when Fux gets discussed it's because of his study of counterpoint. There is this thread on him Favorite works by Johann Joseph Fux

He is a bit like Marc Charpentier, both cherished the less embellished aristocratic italianate style of Giacomo Carissimi and also being prolific at the same level of production. It will be very illuminating to listen and compare the two.