From 1698 until his death, Fux was in the service of the imperial family in Vienna, as court composer and subsequently as Kapellmeister. He also served as Kapellmeister of St Stephen’s Cathedral. He is now remembered rather for his instructional Gradus ad Parnassum, an important and thorough study of counterpoint that for long provided a basis for tuition and for later writings on the subject.

Operas

Fux, in the course of his duties, provided a number of operas for the court theatre. The last of these, Enea negli Elisi (Aeneas in Elysium), was written in 1731 with a text by Metastasio, the most important of contemporary librettists in Vienna, to celebrate the birthday of the Empress.