Josef Venantius von Wöss (13 June 1863 – 22 October 1943) was a Viennese church musician, composer, teacher of harmony and music publishing lector. He is known for piano transcriptions of large-scale works by

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

for

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-base ...

Life and career

Wöss was born in

Cattaro Kotor (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian: ), is a coastal town in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative c ...

Kingdom of Dalmatia The Kingdom of Dalmatia ( hr, Kraljevina Dalmacija; german: Königreich Dalmatien; it, Regno di Dalmazia) was a crown land of the Austrian Empire (1815–1867) and the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918). It encompassed the entir ...

(now

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

), the son of an Austrian army captain (''

Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian, and Swiss armies. While in contemporary German means 'main', it also has and originally had the meaning of 'head', i.e. ' literally ...

''). The family moved to Vienna in 1866, where he received his first piano instruction from his mother and his uncle, Richard Löffler. He studied music from 1880 at the Konservatorium der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde with

Franz Krenn Franz Krenn (26 February 1816 – 18 June 1897) was an Austrian composer and composition teacher born in Droß. He studied under Ignaz von Seyfried in Vienna, and served as organist in a number of Viennese churches, becoming Kapellmeister of St. ...

. From 1882, he worked as choral conductor of several men's choruses. He was a music teacher at the Militär-Oberrealschule in Mährisch Weißkirchen from 1886 to 1889. He then worked in Vienna as ''Korrektor'' for the Notenstecherei Waldheim-Eberle, a music publisher, until 1907. He also taught harmony at the Kirchenmusik-Vereinsschule of the

Votivkirche The ''Votivkirche'' ( en, Votive Church) is a neo-Gothic style church located on the Ringstraße in Vienna, Austria. Following the attempted assassination of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1853, the Emperor's brother Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian inaug ...

in 1892 and 1893. Wöss worked for

in Vienna from 1908 to 1931, where he focused on piano reductions and arrangements. These included Mahler's symphonies with vocal parts (3, 4 and 8), ''

Das klagende Lied ''Das klagende Lied'' (''Song of Lamentation'') is a cantata by Gustav Mahler, composed between 1878 and 1880 and greatly revised over the next two decades. In its original form, ''Das klagende Lied'' is the earliest of his works to have survived ...

'' and ''

Das Lied von der Erde ''Das Lied von der Erde'' ("The Song of the Earth") is an orchestral song cycle for two voices and orchestra written by Gustav Mahler between 1908 and 1909. Described as a symphony when published, it comprises six songs for two singers who alte ...

''. For the latter, he also wrote a thematic analysis, including complete referencing of the texts. He also worked on publications of works by

Anton Bruckner Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Germ ...

and

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

. He was church musician at the and the in

Hernals Hernals (; Viennese German: Hernois) is the 17th district of Vienna, Austria (german: 17. Bezirk, Hernals). Hernals is in northwest Vienna.Statistik Austria, 2007, webpagestatistik.at-23450. Wien.gv.at webpage (see below: References). It was anne ...

, and as music teacher. In the 1899/1900 season, he conducted a concert of the

Wiener Singakademie The Wiener Singakademie is a choir in Vienna, Austria. History As the first mixed choir in Vienna, the Wiener Singakademie was founded in 1858 to establish a "Singübungsanstalt" - an institution for the training of voices. It aims to promote th ...

. He was also reporter for the trade journal ''Musica divina'', and a member of the society Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich. He was awarded the title professor in 1926. Wöss died in Vienna at age 80, and was buried in the Hernalser Friedhof where he was granted a grave of honour.

Work

Wöss composed mainly sacred music and chamber music. His sacred music followed the ideas of the

Cecilian Movement The Cecilian Movement for church music reform began in Germany in the second half of the 1800s as a reaction to the liberalization of the Enlightenment. The Cecilian Movement received great impetus from Regensburg, where Franz Xaver Haberl had a ...

. Choral sacred compositions by Wöss include:

Masses

* ''Missa in coena Domini'', Op. 3g, in

F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consis ...

for mixed choir

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

* ''Missa in Honorem Beatae Mariae Virginis'', Op. 32a No. 2, in

C minor C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E major and its parallel major is C major. The C natural minor scale is: : Cha ...

* ''Messe zu Ehren der Hl. Cäcilia'', Op. 32a No. 3, for mixed choirand organ, in E minor * ''Missa in adorationem Ss. Trinitatis'', Op. 45, for soloists, mixed choir, wind instruments and timpani (or organ) * ''Missa in honorem Ss. Innocentium'', Op. 62, in

E major E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...

, for mixed choir and organ

Other major works

* Te Deum in

C major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...

, Op. 3a * ''Requiem breve'' in

G major G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor. The G major scale is: Notable compositi ...

, Op. 3f, for mixed choir and organ * Te Deum in

E minor E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major. The E natural minor scale is: : Changes needed ...

, Op. 57, for mixed choir, organ and orchestra (or only organ)

Hymn melodies

Two of his

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

melodies, both to texts by

Guido Maria Dreves Guido Maria Dreves (27 October 1854 – 1 June 1909) was a German Jesuit, hymnologist and hymnwriter. He was the son of the notary and poet Lebrecht Blücher Dreves. Life Dreves was born in Hamburg. He already had contact with Jesuits at schoo ...

, are contained in the German Catholic hymnal ''

Gotteslob ''Gotteslob'' ("Praise of God") is the title of the hymnbook authorized by the Catholic dioceses in Germany, Austria, South Tyrol, Luxembourg and Liège, Belgium. First published in Advent 2013, it is the current official hymnal for German-speaki ...

'': "

Gelobt seist du, Herr Jesu Christ "Gelobt seist du, Herr Jesu Christ" (Praised be you, Lord Jesus Christ) is a Catholic hymn, addressing Jesus as the King. The five stanzas, composed in 1886, was written by the German Jesuit and hymnologist Guido Maria Dreves, and the melody was ...

" (GL 375) and " Ein Danklied sei dem Herrn" (GL 382).

Mahler transcriptions

Wöss published many piano arrangements for Universal Editions, including: * ''

'': vocal score with piano reduction * Symphony No. 3: arrangement for piano duet * Symphony No. 4: arrangement for piano duet * Symphony No. 8: piano arrangement/s * ''

'': vocal score with piano reduction (1912) * Symphony No. 9: arrangement for piano duet (1912)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woss, Josef V. Von 1863 births 1943 deaths Austrian male composers