A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Fuchs, Aloys

by Carl Ferdinand Pohl

FUCHS, Aloys, bass-singer in the Imperial chapel since 1836, and government employé in the war department at Vienna, born June 23, 1799, at Raase in Austrian Silesia, remarkable as an ardent collector of autographs. His collection of music, books, portraits, etc., purchased out of a small salary by dint of rigid economy, has often been described in detail. It contained specimens from all nations, though the Italian and German masters were most fully represented, and especially Mozart. These materials were partly used by Otto Jahn in his Life of that Master. Fuchs contributed articles to several musical periodicals, and took a keen interest in everything connected with the history and literature of music. Severe illnesses compelled him to part with his treasures one by one, and thus his whole collection was scattered. Thalberg bought the remaining autographs; the Mozarteum a fair copy of Mozart's works; Grasnick of Berlin the collection of portraits; the ecclesiastical institution of Göttweig the library; and Butsch the bookseller of Augsburg the rest of the papers and biographical articles. Fuchs died at Vienna March 20, 1853.

[ C. F. P. ]