František Xaver Brixi

František Xaver Brixi was a Czech classical composer. He was the son of composer Šimon Brixi.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on František Brixi.

From the period sources

František Xaver Brixi, born in Prague in 1732, received his musical education from his relative, Pierre-Simon Brixi, an organist at Kosmonos, according to the Biographie universelle des musiciens (1883). He pursued literary studies alongside his art, completing his humanities and philosophy courses at Kosmonos. His career as an organist began at St. Gallus in Prague, followed by a position at St. Nicholas, before he became choirmaster at St. Martin’s. In 1756, he was appointed Kapellmeister at the Prague Cathedral, succeeding Jean-François Nowack, who resigned in his favor, as noted by the Biographie universelle des musiciens (1837).

Brixi was renowned as both an organist and composer, and his prolific output was particularly remarkable given his death at age 39. The Biographie universelle des musiciens (1883) records that he left fifty-two solemn masses, twenty-five shorter masses, numerous vespers, litanies, offertoires, graduals, and several oratorios, including one for the jubilee of Benedictine monk Friederich, which spanned over 400 pages. However, the same source offers a critical contemporary assessment from Leopold Kozeluch, who, upon hearing Brixi’s masses, quipped, “I believe I am in a tavern.” This suggests a perceived lack of solemnity in Brixi’s church music, despite his acknowledged strength in fugal style on the organ, an instrument for which he left many esteemed manuscript pieces. He also taught composition to notable Bohemian musicians like Joachim-Antoine Cron, a celebrated organist and harmonium virtuoso, as documented in the Biographie universelle des musiciens (1837), and was a pupil of Joseph Ferdinand Norbert Seegr, an eminent organist and composer, according to Grove’s Dictionary (1908).