Gottlieb Muffat

Gottlieb Muffat (25 April 1690 – 9 December 1770), son of Georg Muffat, served as Hofscholar under Johann Fux in Vienna from 1711 and was appointed to the position of third court organist at the Hofkapelle in 1717. He acquired additional duties over time including the instruction of members of the Imperial family, among them the future Empress Maria Theresa. He was promoted to second organist in 1729 and first organist upon the accession of Maria Theresa to the throne in 1741. He retired from official duties at the court in 1763. Compositions Muffat’s compositional output is primarily limited to keyboard music. He shows considerable skill as a contrapuntist in the short liturgical fugues published in his first collection 72 Versetl sammt 12 Toccaten (Vienna, 1726). These pieces reflect a conservative approach to liturgical music in that they are organized in the order of the church tones with an introductory toccata and a regular number of versets for each tone. His second publication, Componimenti musicali per il cembalo (Augsburg, ca. 1736), is more progressive in its outlook. This collection of six suites, while maintaining the traditional Allemande, Courante and Saraband format