At 9:30 p.m. December 21 st, 1978, Josef Marx, oboist and musicologist, died at Beekman Downtown Hospital in New York. Josef Marx was born September 9, 1913 in Berlin. His family moved to Cincinnati in 1927. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1935 with a degree in comparative literature. He studied oboe with Marcel Dandois at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and later with Leon Goossens in London. He was intimately associated with the composer Stefan Wolpe, first as a student and later as friend, champion and publisher, until Wolpe's death in 1972.
Josef Marx was one of the best oboists of his time. He played, recorded and was soloist with major symphonies and chamber ensembles in America and Palestine, including the Palestine Orchestra (at the invitation of Toscanini, 1936-37), the Ballet Theater in New York (1940-42), the Pittsburgh Symphony (1942-43), the Metropolitan Opera Company (1943-50), the New York Philharmonic (adjunct, 1948-present). He performed under the conductors Dorati, Klemperer, Fritz Busch, Toscanini, Perlea, Beecham, Mitropoulos, Reiner, Szell, Sargent, Walter, Stravinsky, Boulez, and Mehta.
The intensity of his playing inspired the composition of a totally new literature for the oboe. Works by Edgard Varese, Stefan Wolpe, Elliott Carter, Raoul Pleskow, Charles Wuorinen, Harvey Sollberger, Gunther Schuller, Howard Rovics, Isaac Nemiroff, Don Martino, Ursula Mamlock, Charles Whittenberg, Warren Cytron and many others were dedicated to him, and many of which he premiered.
His involvement with performance practice of all periods led him to play extensively with many varied chamber music groups, including the Adolph Chamber Players, the Bernard Krainis Baroque Ensemble, the Hartt Chamber Players, the Friends of Music in Brattleboro, Vermont (where he appeared with Marcel Moyse), the Blue Hill Troupe (for 25 years), the Canterbury Choral Society (also for 25 years), and since 1963 with the famous Group for Contemporary Music at Columbia University, of which he was manager for a number of years. This organization was the first in America committed exclusively to the performance of twentieth-century music, and more particularly the performance of new works.
An equally passionate involvement in Baroque music motivated him to found the Josef Marx Baroque Ensemble which, since its inception in 1950, has been dedicated to the performance not only of the major works in the literature, but also to valuable forgotten works which Josef Marx, through his continuous researches was able to uncover. In the Ensemble he played not only the oboe, but also his oboe d'amore, English horn, baroque oboe, and other instruments he had collected which he mastered in his exploration of authentic Baroque practice. He formulated many of his ideas on performance practice in articles which were published in various music journals.
In 1946, at a suggestion of Professor Alfred Einstein, he founded the publishing house McGinnis and Marx whose publications of primarily Baroque and twentieth-century wind music are internationally distributed and very highly respected. His publication of many contemporary works gave early recognition to many composers who were later to become well known, including Stefan Wolpe, Isaac Nemiroff, Don Martino, Harvey Sollberger, William Sydeman, Mario Davidovsky, Gunther Schuller, Morton Subotnick, Thomas Briccetti, and John Harbison.
In 1964, he was appointed to the faculty of C. W. Post College as Associate and later Full Professor of musicology. He also taught oboe there and conducted the chamber orchestra.
Josef Marx drew to him and was the nurturing influence for an entire generation of musicians and artists, to whom he opened his home for the last 25 years for chamber music, discussion, and the fruitful exchange of ideas about music and art.
He is survived by his wife Angelina and his four children, Maggie (by his first marriage), Deborah, Alexander and Ida. There was a private interment on December 26. A memorial service was held in January, 1979.
Editor's Note: These photos were made in November, 1978 during a visit Tom Stacy and I paid to Josef Marx in which we discussed many of his ongoing projects, including an article on Zelenka intended for these pages. His collection of antique instruments, surely one of the largest privately owned ones in the world, is really awe-inspiring. And his enthusiasm for the work of the Society from its inception has been a source of inspiration to this editor. The officers and the membership join me in sincere expressions of sympathy to his family.
