Johann Joseph Fux (1660 - 1741)

Johann Joseph Fux (German pronunciation: [ˈfʊks])

(1660 ? 13 February 1741) was an Austrian

composer, music theorist and pedagogue of the late

Baroque era. He is most famous as the author of

Gradus ad Parnassum, a treatise on counterpoint,

which has become the single most influential book

on the Palestrina style of Renaissance polyphony.

Almost all modern courses on Renaissance

counterpoint, a mainstay of college music

curricula, are indebted in some degree to this

work by Fux.



Fux was born to a peasant family in Hirtenfeld in

Styria. Relatively little is known about his early

life, but likely he went to nearby Graz for music

lessons. In 1680 he was accepted at the Jesuit

university there, where his musical talent became

apparent. From 1685 until 1688 he served as

organist at St. Moritz in Ingolstadt. Sometime

during this period he must have made a trip to

Italy, as evidenced by the strong influence of

Corelli and Bolognese composers on his work of the

time.

By the 1690s he was in Vienna, and attracted the

attention of Emperor Leopold I with some masses he

composed; the emperor was sufficiently impressed

by them to assist him with his career after this

point. In 1698, Leopold hired him as court

composer. Fux traveled again to Italy, studying in

Rome in 1700; it may have been here that acquired

the veneration for Palestrina which was so

consequential for music pedagogy.

Fux served Leopold I until his death, and two more

Habsburg emperors after that: Joseph I, and

Charles VI, both of whom continued to employ him

in high positions in the court. He was famous as a

composer throughout this period, his fame being

eclipsed only later in the 18th century as the

Baroque style died. Although his music until

recently never regained favor, his mastery of

counterpoint influenced countless composers

through his treatise Gradus ad Parnassum (1725).

Haydn largely taught himself counterpoint by

reading it and recommended it to the young

Beethoven. Mozart had a copy of it that he

annotated. The Baroque age in music in Austria

ends with Fux. (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
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