GEORG MUFFAT  

Born in Savoy of Scottish parents in 1653, Georg Muffat, was sent as a boy to Paris to study for six years, the great Lully among his mentors. He was later to move to Bavaria where he graduated in law. His return to his family in Alsace was soon ended with the imminent war, and he fled to Vienna. There he found a patron in Emperor Leopold I, and in 1678 moved to Salzburg to take up the appointment of organist. There he was granted leave to go to Italy, where he was greatly influenced by Corelli. He returned to Salzburg two years later, but found the atmosphere uncongenial. In 1690 it is recorded that he was in Augsburg for the coronation of Emperor Leopolds eldest son, Joseph, as Roman king. He was to remain in that part of the world as Kapellmeister at the court of Johann Philipp of Lamberg, Bishop of Passau, and tutor to the pages in the court. As a composer he was to marry the Italian, French and German school of composition in a number of orchestral and instrumental works. The orchestral suites of the Florilegia are considered among the finest scores written in Germany in the second half of the 17th century. His influence on music in his native country was considerable, his son, Gottlieb, becoming the finest organist of his time, and one of the outstanding composers of the German Baroque period.