Gottlieb [Theophil] Muffat

(1690 - 1770)

Composer and organist. Georg Muffat's son, studied with Fux in Vienna from 1711, was appointed court organist in 1717, and assisted in the performance of Fux's opera Costanza e fortezza in Prague. His students included several young members of the royal family, among them the future empress Maria Theresia; he was promoted to second organist in 1729 and first organist in 1741 and apparently stopped composing music after this final promotion.

Muffat's output is confined almost entirely to keyboard music, all within traditional Baroque genres (toccata, ciaccona, etc.). His ability as a contrapuntist is evident in the fugues of the 72 Versetlsammt 12 Toccaten(Vienna, 1726-1), often cited in fugal treatises. His second publication, Componimenti musicali per il cembalo (Augsburg, ca. 1739) includes an explanatory table of ornamentation symbols. Many of Muffat's compositions remained unpublished, raising questions of chronology and authenticity; a few of his works were previously attributed to Handel and Frescobaldi.



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