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Austrian composer, teacher, and administrator.

Career Summary

Trained at the University of Graz, Marx was a professor of theory and composition at the Vienna Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst (= Conservatory) 1914-52. Involved in the troubles there in 1918/19, during which the then Director and President were forced out of office, he served as its Director 1922-25; known as the "father of the Hochschule idea," he served as the first Rector of the institution with its elevated status as Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst 1925-27. He was music critic of the Neues Wiener Journal 1931-38. After 1947, he taught at the University of Graz, and served as the music critic of the Wiener Zeitung.

Joseph Marx and Schenker

Schenker's dealings with Marx concerned firstly the transfer in 1924 (against Schenker's wishes) of discretion to award the Sofie Deutsch composer stipends from Schenker to the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst; and secondly Marx's ultimately abortive plan in 1933 to produce a "school" version of Schenker's Harmonielehre for use by Akademie students, which Schenker saw as a possible entrée for himself to the faculty of the Akademie (see OC 18/49 to Furtwängler)--which Hitler's appointment as Chancellor on January 30, 1933 prevented.

Correspondence with Schenker

Correspondence between Marx and Schenker exists as OJ 5/25 (Schenker to Marx: 1927-33: 2 items) and OJ 12/51 (Marx to Schenker: 1924: 1 item), OC 16/34 (Schenker to Marx: 1931: 1 item), and OC 18/15, 18, 19, 23 (Marx to Schenker: 1933: 4 items).

Additionally, OC contains clippings of thirty-five articles and reviews by him dated between December 1931 and June 1934, with one from June 1926, all from the Neues Wiener Journal.

Marx's Writings:

  • Über die Funktion von Intervall, Harmonie und Melodie beim Erfassen von Tonkomplexen (diss., University of Graz, 1909)
  • Harmonielehre (Vienna: F. Bayer, 1934)
  • Kontrapunkt-Lehre (Vienna: F. Bayer, 1935)
  • Betrachtungen eines romantischen Realisten (Vienna: Gerlach & Wiedling, 1947)
  • Weltsprache Musik (Vienna, 1964)

Sources:

  • Tittel, Ernst, Die Wiener Musik Hochschule (Vienna: Lafite, 1967), pp. 51, 57-61, 84, 97
  • MGG
  • Baker's1971
  • NGDM2 (2001 and online)
  • OeML Online

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Correspondence

Diaries