Franz Xaver Anton Murschhauser (1 July 1663 – 6 January 1738) was a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

theorist A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

. He was born in

Saverne Saverne (, ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is situated on the Rhine-Marne canal at the foot of a mountain pass, pass ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

, but he is first mentioned as a

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and instrumentalist at

St Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church. He appears repe ...

's School in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, in 1676. He studied music with the Kantor, Siegmund Auer and, from 1683 to his death in 1693,

Johann Caspar Kerll Johann Caspar Kerll (9 April 1627 – 13 February 1693) was a German Baroque composer and organist. He is also known as Kerl, Gherl, Giovanni Gasparo Cherll and Gaspard Kerle. Born in Adorf in the Electorate of Saxony as the son of an organist, ...

. Murchhauser was appointed music director of the

Munich Frauenkirche The Frauenkirche (Full name: , ) is a church in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, that serves as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Archdiocese of Munich and Freising and seat of its Archbishop. It is a landmark and is ...

in 1691, where he remained until his death.

Works

He published two collections of organ music in the tradition of the South German school, intended for use with the

Catholic liturgy Catholic liturgy means the whole complex of official liturgical worship, including all the rites, ceremonies, prayers, and sacraments of the Church, as opposed to private or collective devotions. In this sense the arrangement of all these s ...

; these consist of short

toccata Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virt ...

fantasies Fantasy is a genre of fiction. Fantasy, Fantasie, or Fantasies may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Fantasia (music), a free-form musical composition * ''Fantasie'' (Widmann), a 1993 composition for solo clarinet by Jörg Widmann * ...

and

fugue In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...

s written using the

psalm The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of H ...

tones and

plainchant Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ; ) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. Plainsong was the exclusive for ...

melodies A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of pitch and rhythm, while more figuratively, the term ca ...

. The first collection is entitled ''Octi-tonium novum organicum, octo tonis ecclesiasticis, ad Psalmos, & magnificat'' (Augsburg, 1696), and contains 89 pieces. The second collection is in two parts of 34 pieces each, entitled ''Prototypon longo-breve organicum''; (part I, Nuremberg, 1703; part II, Nuremberg, 1707). Both may be found in ''Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Bayern'' XXX, Jg.xviii (1917). There are other keyboard works in the

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek The Austrian National Library (, ) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of Vienna. Since 2005, some of the collection ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and the

Sing-Akademie zu Berlin The Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, also known as the Berliner Singakademie, is a musical (originally choral) society founded in Berlin in 1791 by Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, harpsichordist to the court of Prussia, on the model of the 18th-centu ...

. Like ''Operis Organici Tripartiti Pars Secvnda Complectens Arias octo, cum annexis ad maiorem Delectationem diversimodis Variationibus nec non Pro Tempore Natalis Domini Cantilenas aliquot sive Arias Pastorales, compluribus aeque Variationibus luculenter amplificatas et diductas Authore Francisco Xaverio Murschhavser Opus Septimum'' (1714), for harpsichord or organ. A surviving accompanied vocal work, ''Vespertinus latriae et hyperduliae cultus'' (Ulm, 1700), contains ten

s and one ''laudate.'' He also published two works on the subject of

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

, designed for instruction in the art of

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

: ''Fundamentalische kurz- und bequeme Handleitung sowohl zur Figural als Choral Music'' (Munich, 1707), and ''Academia musico-poetica bipartita, oder Hohe Schul der musicalischen Compositions'', part I here is no part II(Nuremberg, 1721). These treatises are conservative and distinctly 'old-fashioned' in their treatment of the subject, and were strongly attacked by

Johann Mattheson Johann Mattheson (28 September 1681 – 17 April 1764) was a German composer, critic, lexicographer and music theorist. His writings on the late Baroque and early Classical period were highly influential, specifically, "his biographical and the ...

in his ''Critica musica'' due to their firmly being founded on the

contrapuntal In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous Part (music), musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and Pitch contour, melodic contour. The term ...

practice of late-

16th century The 16th century began with the Julian calendar, Julian year 1501 (represented by the Roman numerals MDI) and ended with either the Julian or the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian year 1600 (MDC), depending on the reckoning used (the Gregorian calend ...

sacred music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as a ritual. Reli ...

, while Mattheson was in favour of the 'modern', Italian opera-influenced style.

Media

Sources

*George J. Buelow, 'Murschhauser, Franz Xaver', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2007-06-10), http://www.grovemusic.com/

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murschhauser, Franz Xaver 1663 births 1738 deaths People from Saverne German Baroque composers Organists and composers in the South German tradition German music theorists 18th-century German keyboardists 18th-century German classical composers German male classical composers 18th-century German male musicians German male classical organists