Johann Joseph Fux: Requiem

Jörg-Steffen Duit (Performer), Thomas Schaller (Performer), Johann Joseph Fux (Composer), René Clemencic (Conductor), Clemencic Consort (Performer), Peter Widensky (Performer), Elizabeth Dobie (Performer), Pamela Mildenhall (Performer), James Curry (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Jörg-Steffen Duit, Thomas Schaller, Clemencic Consort, Peter Widensky, Elizabeth Dobie, et al.
• Conductor: René Clemencic
• Composer: Johann Joseph Fux
• Audio CD (April 12, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Arte Nova Classics
• ASIN: B0007X9TQ6
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #446,985 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sonata a tre ex d per due Violini K. 342 (violoncello & basso continuo): Allegro-Grave-Presto-Grave-Presto

2. Ciaccona for keyboard in D major, K403

3. Sonata a tre ex d per due Violini K. 342 (violoncello & basso continuo): Grave

4. Media vita in morte sumus. Chorale, after a version of the 'Gross Catholisch Gesangbuch' of David Gregor Corner, Nuremburg 1625

5. De profundis K. 130, motet

6. Adagio per organo K. 400 (Sonata terza)

7. Requiem No. 7 for soloists, chorus & ensemble ('Kaiserrequiem'), K. 51-53: Kyrie Eleison

8. Requiem No. 7 for soloists, chorus & ensemble ('Kaiserrequiem'), K. 51-53: Dies Irae

9. Libera me, Domine K. 54, motet

10. Canon a due E. 66 (2 trombones, organ, violone): Largo

11. Requiem No. 7 for soloists, chorus & ensemble ('Kaiserrequiem'), K. 51-53: Domine Jesu Christe

12. Requiem No. 7 for soloists, chorus & ensemble ('Kaiserrequiem'), K. 51-53: Sanctus

13. Adagio per organo K. 400 (Sonata terza): Adagio K. 400

14. Requiem No. 7 for soloists, chorus & ensemble ('Kaiserrequiem'), K. 51-53: Agnus Dei. Lux Aeterna. Requiem Aeternam.

Editorial Reviews

The 'Emperor’s Requiem' was composed by the Emperor’s court Kapellmeister Johann Joseph Fux (1660–1741) on the occasion of the funeral rites of the widow of Emperor Leopold I, which took place on March 5, 1720 in Vienna. Fux employs a group of instruments that excludes ceremonial trumpets and timpani, adapting his compositional style to the solemn occasion.

René Clemencic is a composer, conductor, recorder virtuoso, musicologist and founder/leader of one of the most renowned early music groups, the Clemencic Consort. Clemencic was born in Vienna in 1928, and studied philosophy and musicology in Paris and Vienna. During this time he also studied the recorder, harpsichord and early music performance practice in Vienna, Holland and Berlin, as well as music theory and composition in Vienna. Clemencic and his Consort give concerts all over the world and have won international awards – including the Edison, the Grand Prix du Disque, the Diapason d’Or, and the Prix Cecilia – for their numerous recordings.

Customer Reviews

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Last But Not Least!, February 3, 2009

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This review is from: Johann Joseph Fux: Requiem (Audio CD)

Johann Joseph Fux ( 1660-1741) is possibly the only major Baroque composer whose music I haven't reviewed at least some time. This is not a sign of disregard; I'd rank Fux alongside Pachelbel, Carissimi, and Buxtehude, and very close even to Alessandro Scarlatti and JS Bach. Nationalism, however, is alive in 'early music', and Fux more than others is identified by his nationality as the Austrian court composer par excellence. Thus the only strong performances of his music available are by two Austrian ensembles, the Clemencic Consort and the Wiener Akademie. In fact, there are only four CDs worth hearing of Fux's vocal music, and I plan to review all four very soon.

The so-called Emperor's Requiem was composed for the funeral of the widow of Emperor Leopold I on March 5, 1720. It was performed again three times, in 1729, 1736, and 1740, always for imperial funerals. Unlike other requiems of the early 18th C - the one by Hasse for instance - Fux's Requiem is not a statement of pomp and grandeur, but rather a somber portrayal of mourning, a musical confrontation with death itself. In spirit, it's far closer to Mozart's unfinished Requiem of 1791 than to any liturgical music composed close to 1720. In this and in other works, Fux was clearly a herald of the Austrian pre-eminence that would emerge with Haydn and Mozart. In particular, Fux's use of trumpets, trombones, and chalumeaux, not as 'color' but as integral components of his orchestra, marks him as a forerunner of symphonic composition.

The Clemencic Consort, with René Clemencic conducting, performs the Requiem with both power and suppleness; I can hardly imagine a braver statement of Fux's significance. The Requiem is introduced by an elegant sonata for two violins and a vigorous Ciaccona for organ. Two 'a cappella' polyphonic motets, in a chaste almost Palestrinan style, are inserted in proper places in the Requiem, to good effect. Only the two brief (one minute) sonata movements played on trombones and organ fall short of brilliance to my ears.

The other Clemencic recording of Fux is the 2-CD performance of the operatic oratorio Dafne in Lauro. That's an exciting work as well, but less 'progressive' and distinctive than the Requiem. If you've never heard, or heard of, Johann Joseph Fux, this CD is where to start.