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/

The so-called Kaiserrequiem K 51-53 was performed on 23 June 2022 in the Peterskirche Basel under the direction of Lukas Wanner. An impressive live recording exists on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiPbo5P510A&list=UUG-YbX8mKMa0I_zepeM2Axw .

Further performances took place on the following dates / locations in Switzerland:
18 June 2022: Church of St. George, Sursee
19 June 2022: St. Ursanne Monastery Church
10 June 2023: Grossmünster, Zurich
11 June 2023: Heiliggeistkirche Bern

We are pleased that materials of the Fux-Arbeitsstelle have been used for these concerts.

Am Mittwoch dem 19.4.2023 sendet Ö1 den Mitschnitt der Produktion von "La corona  d'Arianna", styriarte 25. Juni 2022.

In the print series Johann Joseph Fux - Werke the third opera volume has been published:

Gli ossequi della Notte FuxWV II.2.9 (K 305), edited by Alexander Rausch,
with a literary historical introduction by Alfred Noe,
Vienna: Hollitzer Verlag, 2022 (= Johann Joseph Fux Werke B/I/3)

Further information on this publication

With the rediscovery of the Festa teatrale La corona d'Arianna, the fifth Fux Opera Festival of the styriarte 2022 became another success with the audience. In addition to the imaginative direction and costumes, the refreshing interpretation of the music, heard for the first time, contributed to this: as usual, professional and inspired conductor Alfredo Bernardini with the Ensemble Zefiro, the soloists and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir (rehearsal: Erwin Ortner).

The video of this production can be seen on the homepage of the styriarte.

Review of the Fux.Opernfest vol. 5