The new edition Johann Joseph Fux – Werke started in 2015 as OeAW long-term project. The critical edition presents a reliable musical text for music research and performance practice alike. Each volume contains a scholarly introduction, literary-historical explanations of the libretti, and a critical report.
Johann Joseph Fux (c. 1660–1741) was a highly influential figure in music history as the author of the theoretical work Gradus ad Parnassum (Vienna 1725). Generations of composers learned the basics of counterpoint according to his method. Until the 20th century, Fux was regarded as a composing theoretician, given that only a few sacred works in the historicising stile antico were known.
This simplified image, however, was only formed after his death. For the contemporaries, by contrast, as imperial court chapel master he was the highest-ranking musician in the Holy Roman Empire, whose music contributed significantly to the representation of the Habsburg dynasty. With more than 600 surviving works, covering all the secular and sacred genres of his time, Fux is the most important Austrian Baroque composer. Notwithstanding his humble social background, Fux systematically worked his way up from various engagements as organist and chapel master at St Stephen’s Cathedral and at court, and finally to that of a Hofkapellmeister. In the latter position, as the composer and “manager” of court music, he left his mark on the Viennese, Austrian and Central European music history for over a quarter of a century.
In 2015, the new edition of Johann Joseph Fux – Werke has been installed at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, where the staff unit was formed in 2008. The critical-historical edition very much considers the fact that the Fux transmission is often complex due to a wide range of sources or uncertain chronology. Moreover, there are only a few extant autographs; sometimes the diverse reception history is reflected in multiple recensions. In addition to the previous focus on liturgical music on the one hand and operas on the other, the genre of (sacred) oratorio, which was just as important for Fux, has recently been included in the new edition of works (start of sub-series B/II from 2023). At least two more extensive volumes will be prepared and published in 2024–26: the oratorios La cena del Signore and Santa Dimpna. Church music will be considered for further collaborations with music practice, for example with the mass “Pro gratiarum actione” (K 27) for the Cathedral Music of St Stephen. The publication of instrumental works is also being considered, in particular the frequently performed cycle Concentus musico-instrumentalis. Co-operation with the catalogue raisonné of Fux's works being compiled at the Mozarteum University and with the FWF project on Pietro Pariati, Fux's most important librettist, will support this project, as will the impetus from numerous concert and opera performances in Austria and abroad.
The platform Fux Online offers comprehensive information on the life and work of Johann Joseph Fux. The website provides an overview of digital sources and other materials. Furthermore, there are references and additions to the print edition Johann Joseph Fux – Werke as well as to other editions. The bibliography is constantly updated. A special focus is on performance material (open access) in the series Fux concertato. Thus, concerts with church music and an oratorio in Vienna and especially the opera performances of the styriarte Festival in Graz (2018–23) are realised on the basis of the material prepared at the OeAW, which subsequently shall be made available on Fux Online. A database on the works and the sources of the church music, based in part on the team' s own research, will provide practical musicians and scholars with an overview of the composer' s extensive oeuvre. Current news about Fux reception complete the portal.
The department has a source and microfilm archive, a reference library, as well as scores and recordings. Further research focuses on the life and work of Fux in the dynastic context at the Habsburg court. In addition, the acoustic representation of the edited works through targeted promotion of reception is a further focal point. The research group welcomes all artistic and scholarly questions.
Im Jahr 1714 begann am Wiener Kaiserhof die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Johann Joseph Fux (ca. 1660–1741) und dem Dichter Pietro Pariati: Als deren erste gemeinsame Oper wurde zum Geburtstag von Karl VI. die Geschichte von Daphne und Apollo aufgeführt. In dieser Version des bekannten Mythos verwandelt sich die tugendhafte Nymphe in einen Lorbeerbaum, der letztlich zum Symbol der vorbildlichen Herrschaft des Habsburgers wird. Fux gelang mit Dafne in lauro ein Meisterwerk der barocken Opernliteratur, das zuletzt 2019 im Rahmen des Musikfestivals styriarte szenisch aufgeführt und zu einem Publikumserfolg wurde. Die wissenschaftliche Neuedition dieser Oper bietet einen Notentext nach den Richtlinien der historisch-kritischen Fux-Werkausgabe. Auch das italienische Libretto wird erstmals kritisch ediert.
Noe, A. (Speaker) & Rausch, A. (Speaker)
Abbado, E. L. A. F. (Speaker)
Rausch, A. (Speaker)
Rausch, A. (Speaker)
Rausch, A. (Speaker)
Hocker, R. (Speaker)
Hocker, R. (Speaker)
Rausch, A. (Speaker)
Rausch, A. (Speaker)
Hocker, R. (Speaker)
OeAW long-term project
2015–2027
Katholischer Medien Verein Privatstiftung
City of Vienna
Hollitzer Wissenschaftsverlag
Mozarteum University, Salzburg
