František Xaver Brixi (1732-1771)
- Concerto ex F Organo Principale
Performers: Ales Bаrtа (organ); Virtuosi di Prаga; Oldrich Vlcеk (conductor)
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Bohemian organist and composer. Son of Šimon Brixi (1693-1735), he
received his musical education at the Piarist Gymnasium in Kosmonosy.
His teachers included Václav Kalous, a significant composer. In 1749 he
left Kosmonosy and returned to Prague, where he worked as an organist at
several churches. In 1759 he was appointed Regens chori (choir
director) and Kapellmeister of St Vitus Cathedral, thus attaining, at
age 27, the highest musical position in the city; this office he held
till his early death. He wrote some 290 church works (of the most varied
type), cantatas and oratorios, chamber compositions, and orchestral
compositions. He was a prolific composer of music for the liturgy, and
wrote more than 100 masses, vespers and motets, among others. He also
composed secular music such as oratorios and incidental music, concertos
and symphonies. Brixi died of tuberculosis in Prague in 1771, at the
age of 39.
