Austrian musicologist and collector of autograph manuscripts and early printed editions.

Career Summary

Fuchs studied philosophy and law at the University of Vienna (1816‒23), becoming a civil servant. In 1836 he was also appointed a bass singer in the Vienna Court Chapel. In 1829 he was elected to the Board of the Gesellschaft der Musifreunde in Vienna.

Fuchs compiled catalogues of the works of Gluck, Haydn, and other 17th- and 18th-century composers, and wrote biographical sketches of Gluck, Mozart, and other composers, and numerous other scholarly articles.

His library, comprising over 1,400 items, was built from 1820 onwards, and included an important collection of Mozart autograph manuscripts and printed editions, several Beethoven sketchbooks, and sketch materials for operas by Gluck, and manuscripts of members of the Bach family, Handel, Haydn and other composers, as well as theoretical works by Forkel, Gerber, Kirnberger, Marpurg, and Mattheson. Many of the items went eventually to the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, others to the Benedictine Monastery of Göttweig in Austria, several were given by Fuchs as presents to friends, others have since been sold through the antiquarian trade to libraries and individuals.

Source: