He published two collections of organ music in the tradition of the
South German school, intended for use with the
Catholic liturgy; these consist of short
toccatas,
fantasies and
fugues written using the
psalm tones and
plainchant melodies. The first collection is entitled
Octi-tonium novum organicum, octo tonis ecclesiasticis, ad Psalmos, & magnificat (Augsburg, 1696), and contains 89 pieces. The second collection is in two parts of 34 pieces each, entitled
Prototypon longo-breve organicum; (part I, Nuremberg, 1703; part II, Nuremberg, 1707). Both may be found in
Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Bayern XXX, Jg.xviii (1917). There are other keyboard works in the
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek,
Vienna, and the
Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Like
Operis Organici Tripartiti Pars Secvnda Complectens Arias octo, cum annexis ad maiorem Delectationem diversimodis Variationibus nec non Pro Tempore Natalis Domini Cantilenas aliquot sive Arias Pastorales, compluribus aeque Variationibus luculenter amplificatas et diductas Authore Francisco Xaverio Murschhavser Opus Septimum (1714), for harpsichord or organ. A surviving accompanied vocal work,
Vespertinus latriae et hyperduliae cultus (Ulm, 1700), contains ten
psalms and one
laudate. He also published two works on the subject of
music theory, designed for instruction in the art of
composition:
Fundamentalische kurz- und bequeme Handleitung sowohl zur Figural als Choral Music (Munich, 1707), and
Academia musico-poetica bipartita, oder Hohe Schul der musicalischen Compositions, part I [there is no part II] (Nuremberg, 1721). These treatises are conservative and distinctly 'old-fashioned' in their treatment of the subject, and were strongly attacked by
Johann Mattheson in his
Critica musica due to their firmly being founded on the
contrapuntal practice of late-
16th century sacred music, while Mattheson was in favour of the 'modern',
Italian opera-influenced style. ==Media==