Georg Muffat

2025-09-09T17:28:37Z

2001:14BB:670:9D7E:835:7FF2:FC82:585F: /* Works */

{{Short description|German composer and organist}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| background = person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Georg Muffat
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1653|06|01|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Megève]], [[Duchy of Savoy]]
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|1704|02|23|1653|06|01|df=y}}
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| genre = [[Baroque music|Baroque]]
| occupation = Composer, organist
| instrument = [[Pipe organ|Organ]]
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'''Georg Muffat''' (1 June 1653 – 23 February 1704) was a [[Baroque music|Baroque]] [[composer]] and organist. He is best known for the remarkably articulate and informative performance directions printed along with his collections of string pieces ''Florilegium Primum'' and ''Florilegium Secundum'' (First and Second Bouquets) in 1695 and 1698.

==Life==
Georg Muffat was born in [[Megève]], [[Duchy of Savoy]] (now in France), of André Muffat (of Scottish descent) and Marguerite Orsyand. He studied in Paris between 1663 and 1669, where his teacher is often assumed to have been [[Jean Baptiste Lully]]. This assumption is largely based on the statement "For six years ... I avidly pursued this style which was flowering in Paris at the time under the most famous Jean Baptiste Lully."<ref>{{cite book|last=Muffat|first=Georg|title=Florilegium Primum|year=1695|publisher=Jakob Koppmayr|pages=Foreword}}</ref> This is ambiguous (in all of the languages in which it was printed) as to whether the style was flourishing under Lully, or that Muffat studied under Lully.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=David K.|title=Georg Muffat on Performance Practice|year=2001|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, IN, USA|pages=3|display-authors=etal}}</ref> In any case, the style which the young Muffat learned was unequivocally Lullian and it remains likely, though unevidenced, that he had at least some contact with the man himself.

After leaving Paris, he became an organist in [[Molsheim]] and [[Sélestat]]. Later, he studied law in [[Ingolstadt]], afterwards settling in [[Vienna]]. He could not get an official appointment, so he travelled to [[Prague]] in 1677, then to [[Salzburg]], where he worked for [[Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg|the archbishop]] for some ten years. In about 1680, he traveled to Italy, there studying the organ with [[Bernardo Pasquini]], a follower of the tradition of [[Girolamo Frescobaldi]]; he also met [[Arcangelo Corelli]], whose works he admired very much. From 1690 to his death, he was ''[[Kapellmeister]]'' to the [[bishop of Passau]].

Georg Muffat should not be confused with his son [[Gottlieb Muffat]], also a successful composer.

==Works==
His works are strongly influenced by both French and Italian composers:
*[[Sonata (music)|Sonatas]] for various instruments (''Armonico tributo'' 1682);
*Orchestral [[suite (music)|suite]]s (''Florilegium primum & secundum'' 1695);
*12 [[concerto grosso|Concerti grossi]] (''Auserlesene... instrumental Musik'' 1701) re-using some thematic material from ''Armonico tributo''
*12 [[Toccata]]s for the organ as well as other pieces : passacaglia, chaconne, air with variations (''Apparatus musico-organisticus'' 1690);
*some partitas for the harpsichord, kept as a manuscript
*several religious works (notably three masses, Salve Regina, etc.) from which only ''Missa in labore requies'' for twenty-four parts is preserved;
*3 operas, all now lost ("Marina Armena"; "Königin Marianne die verleumdete Unschuld"; "La fatali felicità di Plutone").

Muffat was, as [[Johann Jakob Froberger]] before him, and [[Handel]] after him, a cosmopolitan composer who played an important role in the exchanges between European musical traditions. The information contained within the ''Florilegium Primum'' and ''Secundum'' is nearly unique. These performance directions were intended to assist German string players with the idiom of the French dance style, and include detailed rules for the tempo and order of bow strokes in various types of movement, as well as more general strategies for good ensemble playing and musicianship. These texts remain extremely valuable for modern historically-interested musicians.

==Media==
*{{Audio|Georg Muffat Toccata prima.mid|'''Toccata prima'''}}
{{listen
| filename = Muffat - Suite 2 - 1. Ouverture.ogg
| title = Suite 2 - 1. Ouverture
| description = Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra
| format = [[ogg]]
| filename2 = Muffat - Suite 2 - 2. Ballet.ogg
| title2 = Suite 2 - 2. Ballet
| description2 = Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra
| format2 = [[ogg]]
| filename3 = Muffat - Suite 2 - 3. Bouree.ogg
| title3 = Suite 2 - 3. Bouree
| description3 = Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra
| format3 = [[ogg]]
| filename4 = Muffat - Suite 2 - 4. Rondeau.ogg
| title4 = Suite 2 - 4. Rondeau
| description4 = Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra
| format4 = [[ogg]]
| filename5 = Muffat - Suite 2 - 5. Gavotte.ogg
| title5 = Suite 2 - 5. Gavotte
| description5 = Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra
| format5 = [[ogg]]
| filename6 = Muffat - Suite 2 - 6. Menuet 1 and 2.ogg
| title6 = Suite 2 - 6. Menuet 1 and 2
| description6 = Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra
| format6 = [[ogg]]
}}

==Recordings==
*''Armonico Tributo'' by [[Les Muffatti]] (Ramée RAM0502)
*"Armonico Tributo & Florilegium Primum" by [[Ars Antiqua Austria]] & [[Gunar Letzbor]]
*''12 Concerti Grossi 1701'' Musica Aeterna Bratislava ([[Naxos Records]] 8.555096, 8.555743)
*"12 Concerti Grossi 1701" by Capella Savaria & Pál Németh
* ''Toccate - Concerti da Chiesa'', Martin Gester, Le Parlement de Musique, (Radio France - France Musique: Tempéraments TEM 316013)
*"Concertos I-VII" by Holland Baroque Society & Matthew Halls
*"Florilegium Secundum, Fasciculus I-IV" by [[The Academy of Ancient Music]] & [[Christopher Hogwood]]
* ''Apparatus musico-organisticus'' (Complete) by [[Adriano Falcioni]], ([[Brilliant Classics]] 94493)
* ''Apparatus musico-organisticus. Douze toccatas pour orgue'' by [[René Saorgin]], ([[Harmonia Mundi]] HMU966-967)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{IMSLP|id=Muffat, Georg|cname=Georg Muffat}}
*{{MutopiaComposer|id=MuffatG}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muffat, Georg}}
[[Category:1653 births]]
[[Category:1704 deaths]]
[[Category:German people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:People from the Savoyard state]]
[[Category:German Baroque composers]]
[[Category:German classical composers]]
[[Category:German classical organists]]
[[Category:Organists and composers in the South German tradition]]
[[Category:Pupils of Bernardo Pasquini]]
[[Category:18th-century German keyboardists]]
[[Category:German male classical composers]]
[[Category:German male classical organists]]

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Georg Muffat