The Choral Works of Joseph Marx
Choral Music
June 2008: The BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, the Apollo Voices and the Trinity Boys' Choir conducted by Jiri Belohlavek during a rehearsal session of the world premiere recording of Marx's choral works at Watford Town Hall. Nearly 260 musicians were part of this non-public recording of the label Chandos. The CD is to be released in January 2009 as DISK OF THE MONTH. It will include all orchestral songs for high voice, performed by the soprano Christine Brewer.
Joseph Marx who is generally considered »the most significant lyric composer of 20th century Austrian music«, made a name for himself not only as one of the father figures of Austrian tonal music, but also as an ingenious vocal composer who wrote a huge number of famous songs which earned him an international reputation.
At the climax of his career as one of Austria's most celebrated, internationally acclaimed song composers (1910-14), Marx wrote six magnificent choral works that are available in different arrangements at Universal Edition, Vienna:
The mythologically inspired, impressionistic single-movement cantata Herbstchor an Pan (Autumn Chorus to Pan) for mixed chorus, boys' chorus, orchestra and organ (after Rudolf Hans Bartsch), the symphonically powerful miniature Berghymne (Mountain Hymn) for mixed chorus and orchestra (after Alfred Fritsch), Morgengesang (Morning Chant) for male chorus and orchestra (after Ernst Decsey), Abendweise (Evening Melody) for male chorus, brass orchestra, timpani and organ (after Ernst Decsey), Gesang des Lebens (Song of Life) for male chorus and organ (after Otto Erich Hartleben) and, as the culmination of his choral music period, the highly romantic masterwork Ein Neujahrshymnus (A New Year's Hymn) for mixed chorus and orchestra (after Joseph Marx) which can also be performed as a sacred work.
These gems of choral music literature were performed frequently by the leading Austrian choral societies before they unjustly fell into oblivion after Marx's death.
© Joseph Marx Society
The Choral Works