The name of
Johann Joseph Fux is familiar to music theory students who have used his Gradus ad Parnassum (1725) as their primary textbook on Renaissance counterpoint. However,
Fux's own music languished in obscurity until a minor revival around the millennium at last made some of it available on CD. This Deutsche Harmonia Mundi recording by soprano
Hana Blaziková and
Accentus Austria, directed by
Thomas Wimmer, provides examples of
Fux's sacred vocal music, interspersed with his church sonatas, organized around the theme of devotions to the Virgin Mary. Such religious music was an essential part of worship in the Habsburg court of Emperor Leopold I, who hired
Fux as court composer on the strength of his masses, oratorios, and other works. This collection of Marian antiphons and single-movement sonatas for two violins, organ, and bass re-creates the quietly joyful feeling of Viennese liturgical music, which allowed considerable time for musical meditations and a remarkable freedom of expression, despite the extreme piety that prevailed at court.
Blaziková and
Wimmer present period-style performances with exceptional polish and transparent textures, and the recording in the Albertus Magnus Gymnasium in Vienna is resonant without blurring the voice and instruments.