FUX, JOHANN JOSEPH (1660 - 1741)
From 1698 until his death, Fux was in the service of the imperial family in
Vienna, as court composer and subsequently as Kapellmeister. He also served
as Kapellmeister of St Stephen's Cathedral. He is now remembered rather for
his instructional Gradus ad Parnassum, an important and thorough study of counterpoint
that for long provided a basis for tuition and for later writings on the subject.
Operas
Fux, in the course of his duties, provided a number of operas for the court
theatre. The last of these, Enea negli Elisi (Aeneas in Elysium), was written
in 1731 with a text by Metastasio, the most important of contemporary librettists
in Vienna, to celebrate the birthday of the Empress.
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