František Xaver Brixi (2 January 1732 – 14 October 1771) was a Czech
classical 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 Defi ...
of the 18th century. His first name is sometimes given by reference works in its Germanic form, Franz.
Biography
Brixi was born in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
,
the son of composer
Šimon Brixi Šimon Brixi (28 October 1693 in Vlkava – 2 November 1735 in Prague) was a Czech composer. He was the father of František Brixi.
Life
He was born in Vlkava. In 1720 he began to study law in Prague. He did not complete his studies, devoting him ...
.
He received his musical education at the
Piarist
The Piarists (), officially named the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools ( la, Ordo Clericorum Regularium pauperum Matris Dei Scholarum Piarum), abbreviated SchP, is a religious order of clerics regular of the ...
''Gymnasium'' in
Kosmonosy
Kosmonosy is a town in Mladá Boleslav District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,800 inhabitants. The town is known for its psychiatric hospital.
Administrative parts
The village of Horní Stakory is an administ ...
.
His teachers included , a significant composer himself.
In 1749 Brixi left Kosmonosy and returned to Prague, where he worked as an
organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
at several churches.
In 1759 he was appointed ''Regens chori'' (choir director) and ''Kapellmeister'' of
St Vitus Cathedral, thus attaining, at age 27, the highest musical position in the city;
this office he held till his early death. He wrote some 290 church works (of the most varied type),
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of ...
s and
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
s,
chamber compositions, and orchestral compositions. He was a prolific composer of music for the liturgy, and wrote more than 100
mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
es,
vespers
Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern), Lutheranism, Lutheran, and Anglican ...
and
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...
s, among others. He also composed secular music such as
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
s and
incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...
,
concerto
A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...
s and
symphonies
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
.
His organ concertos, which have been recorded several times each, are his best-known pieces today.
Brixi died of tuberculosis in Prague in 1771, at the age of 39.
Style
Brixi was an important composer at the junction between
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
and the
Classical period.
Brixi's style is distinguished from that of his contemporaries by its fresh melodic writing, vivacious rhythm and lively bass lines, and from that of his predecessors by its simple yet effective instrumentation. During his lifetime his music was widely disseminated in
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
and
Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The me ...
.
Influence
Brixi's music made
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
's people receptive for
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's music (where Mozart was in high esteem even during times where he was shunned elsewhere).
Compositions
Brixi composed 500 works, in which sacred music dominated.
None of his compositions were published during Brixi's lifetime.
Source:
* ''Missa di Gloria'' in D major (c.1758)
* ''Missa integra'' in D minor
* ''
Missa brevis
Missa brevis (plural: Missae breves) is . The term usually refers to a mass composition that is short because part of the text of the Mass ordinary that is usually set to music in a full mass is left out, or because its execution time is relati ...
'' in C major for soloists, choir orchestra and organ
* ''
Missa aulica
The ' (Court mass) is a missa brevis in C major composed by František Xaver Brixi. The work is a setting of the Latin mass for SATB soloists and choir, trumpets, timpani, violins, organ and continuo. It was published by Carus in 2003.
History
...
'' in C major
* ''Missa pastoralis'' in C major
* ''Missa pastoralis'' in D major
* ''Missa solemnis'' in D major for soloists, choir, orchestra and organ
* ''Missa Dominicalis'' in C major
* 8 Organ Concertos
* Sinfonia in D major
* Oratorio ''Opus patheticum de septem doloribus Beatae Mariae Virginis''
* Oratorio ''Crux morientis Jesu Christi''
* Oratorio ''Filius Prodigus'' (
Osek
OSEK (''Offene Systeme und deren Schnittstellen für die Elektronik in Kraftfahrzeugen''; English: "''Open Systems and their Interfaces for the Electronics in Motor Vehicles''") is a standards body that has produced specifications for an embedded o ...
1755)
* Oratorio ''Judas Iscariothes – Oratorium pro die sacro Parasceves'' (Osek c.1770)
* ''Litanie de seto Benedieto''
* ''Confiteor tibi Domine''
* ''Bitevní sinfonie''
* Fuga in A minor
* Pastoral in C major
* ''Preludium In C major''
* ''Regina coeli''
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
External links
František Brixi
*
IMSLP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brixi, Frantisek
1732 births
1771 deaths
18th-century Bohemian musicians
18th-century classical composers
18th-century keyboardists
18th-century male musicians
Catholic liturgical composers
Czech Classical-period composers
Czech classical organists
Czech male classical composers
Male classical organists
Musicians from Prague