FUX MASS IN ST. STEPHEN'S CATHEDRAL
The ÖAW long-term project "Johann Joseph Fux - Werke" (director: Alexander Rausch) is working on a historical-critical edition of the works of the Austrian composer and theorist J. J. Fux (ca. 1660-1741). In addition to operas, oratorios and instrumental music, special emphasis is being placed on church music, preparing not only printed volumes of music but also performance material for music practice.
In the case of the Mass in G major entitled "Pro gratiarum actione" (K 27), it is an exciting and honourable task to re-arrange the orchestral parts for a High Mass at St. Stephen's. After all, Fux was Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna for ten years (1705-1715), and his Mass K 27 for smaller instrumentation (without trumpets) is still popular, even though no direct reference to Vienna can be made from the surviving sources (in Kremsmünster and Prague). Whether this mass was a commissioned work cannot be judged at present.
The challenge for a practical edition lies, as elsewhere, in the philological problems on the one hand and in the needs of practice on the other. A sensible and aesthetic layout of part material cannot be achieved 'at the push of a button' even today, in the age of computer notation. The music material must be arranged in such a way that the turning of pages (i.e. the turning of pages by the orchestra musicians) is practicable. The contemporary copies did not always take into account whether there was enough time to turn the page: even in the middle of the bar, the indication "volti subito" ("turn immediately") is given at the end of the page! This and many other problems of the original sources are cleared up for today's musical practice in the editions of the series "Fux concertato".
Event:
15.10.2023, 10:15 am, Vienna, St. Stephan https://www.wiener-dommusik.at/
Live on Radio Klassik Stephansdom https://radioklassik.at/