Franz Xaver Murschhauser

Franz Xaver Anton Murschhauser was a German composer and theorist.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Franz Xaver Murschhauser.

From the period sources

Franz Xaver Anton Murschhauser, born in Zabern, Alsace, around 1668 or 1670, came early to Munich where he studied under Johann Caspar Kerl, remaining with him until Kerl’s death in 1690, according to Grove’s Dictionary (1904). Murschhauser later served as Capellmeister of the Frauenkirche in Munich, a position he held from 1691 (The New Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians, 1924). His preserved works include organ pieces in the eight Church Modes, “Octitonum novum organum” (1696), and “Prototypon longo-breve organicum,” which featured preludes and fugues for organ (Dictionary of Music, 1896). He also published a theoretical work, “Fundamentalische Anleitung sowohl zur Figural- als Choralmusik” (1707), and sacred vocal music, “Vespertinum latriae et hyperduliae cultum” (1700), for four voices, two principal, and four ripieno violins (A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1880).

Murschhauser’s most important and best-known work was the “Academia Musica-poetica bipartita, oder hohe Schule der musikalischen Composition,” the first half of which appeared in 1721 (Grove’s Dictionary, 1904). This treatise notably contained an incautious attack on Mattheson, with Murschhauser using the words “to give a little more light to the excellent Herr Mattheson.” Mattheson, described as an “irascible musician,” responded with a “crushing reply” in his pamphlet “Melopoetische Lichtscheere,” causing Murschhauser to relinquish the publication of the second part of his “Academia” (Dictionary of Music, 1896; Grove’s Dictionary, 1904). An “Aria pastoralis variata” by Murschhauser is also preserved in Pauer’s “Alte Klaviermusik” (A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1880). He died in Munich, with sources variously citing 1724, 1733, or 1738 (Dictionary of Music, 1896; Grove’s Dictionary, 1904; The New Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians, 1924).