326 Years of Gottlieb Muffat (1690-1770)
Monday, April 25, 2016
Today we are celebrating the 326th anniversary of the day that Gottlieb Muffat (1690-1770) was baptized, the closest we have to a date of birth. “The Famously Little-Known Gottlieb Muffat” is the name of an essay by Alison J. Dunlop that nicely sums up the contradiction between the fame of Muffat’s works and the largely unknown circumstances of his life (Bach Perspectives 9 [2013]: 77-119).
Even if you haven’t heard of Gottlieb Muffat, you might be able to recognize a melody or two by him: George Frideric Handel borrowed thematic material by Muffat in numerous works, including the Concerti grossi (op. 6) and some oratorios.
Although his appointment as the Viennese imperial court organist in 1717 would have required him to be active in church music activities as well as play the continuo accompaniment in chamber music and operas, his own works are almost entirely limited to pieces for organ or harpsichord. As Dunlop’s recent The Life and Works of Gottlieb Muffat informs us, there are only five known works today that were not written for a single keyboard instrument: three concertos, a Sonata pastorale for strings and organ, and a Salve regina for two voices, strings, and organ.
More than two thirds of Muffat sources in RISM are fugues or toccatas. Berlin is home to 110 of the 143 manuscript sources. Of the three printed editions in RISM, two appeared during Gottlieb Muffat’s lifetime: 72 Versetl Sammt 12 Toccaten besonders zum Kirchen-Dienst bey Choral-Aemtern und Vesperen dienlich (A/I: M 8133) and Componimenti musicali per il cembalo (A/I: M 8134). The third print, XII Kleine Fugen sammt 2 Toccaten (A/I: M 8135), offers a small selection from the 72 Versetl. While there are 18 and 25 extant copies of Muffat’s versets and Componiementi, respectively, thereby documenting the broad dissemination of Muffat’s works, the 12 kleinen Fugen is only preserved in a single copy in Vienna (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde).
Below, enjoy Componimenti musicali performed by Naoko Akutagawa.
Image: Title page of Componimenti Musicali per il Cembalo (Augsburg: Johann Christian Leopold, 1726), digitized and available from the Austrian National Library.
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