Johann Joseph Fux (c.1660 – 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
Palestrinian 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. He was born to a peasant family in
Hirtenfeld, Styria, ...(+)
Johann Joseph Fux (c.1660 – 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
Palestrinian 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. He was born to a peasant family in
Hirtenfeld, Styria, Austria. 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 he 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. Fux was famous as a composer throughout
this period, his fame being eclipsed only later in the
18th century as the Baroque style died out. 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.
Fux also composed church music (Missa canonica, Missa
Christi Corporis, Requiem K 51–53, Magnificat K 98,
De Profundis), oratorios (Il Fonte della Salute),
operas (Julo Ascanio, re d'Alba, 1708; Orfeo ed
Euridice, 1715; Angelica, vinditrice di Alkina, 1723
– an example of the Colossal Baroque style; Costanza
e Fortezza, 1723), and instrumental pieces (collected
in his Concentus musico-instrumentalis, 1701). For the
clavier, Fux composed five Partitas, a 20-minute
Capriccio, a Ciaccona, an Harpeggio Prelude and Fugue,
an Aria Passaggiata, and a set of twelve Minuets. Fux
frequently worked with theatrical engineer Giuseppe
Galli Bibiena and poet and librettist Pietro Pariati.
Fux's compositions were catalogued by Ludwig Ritter von
Köchel.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Joseph_Fux).
Although originally composed for Baroque Opera, I
created this Interpretation of the Overture to the
opera Pulcheria (K.304) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, English
Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).