Marc-André Souchay

Marc-André Souchay was born on 4 February 1906 in Stuttgart (Germany). He started to play the piano from an early age and attended music lessons during his schooldays in Stuttgart with Anton Enz, Johann Theodor Wiehmayer and Hermann Keller. After finishing school Marc-André Souchay moved to Berlin and studied music at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität under Hermann Abert and Johannes Wolf. He continued his studies with Oscar Rees (singing) and Paul Juon (composition).

Marc-André Souchay first worked as a concert singer but soon had to quit his singing career due to health problems. In 1933 he was the winner of the composition competition of the Württembergische Staatstheater with his opera Das Stuttgarter Hutzelmännlein. In the following years he continued to compose, mainly for the stage and two operas saw successful performances, Alexander in Olympia in Köln and Faust und Helena in Halle. In the years of World War II he was the dramaturg of the Württembergische Staatstheater. From 1953 on Marc-André Souchay was the head of the orchestral class at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover (Germany). In 1963 he retired and devoted himself completely to his work as a composer. In 1981 he moved to Norwich (England) where he died on 21 February 1991.

Violin concerto

The violin concerto by Marc-André Souchay was composed in 1943 and first entitled Musik für Violine und Orchester in einem Satz. The composer revised the piece in 1956 and also changed the title. The first performance took place on 17 December 1956 in Hannover (Germany) by Vittorio Brero (violin), the orchestra of the Nordwestdeutsche Rundfunk under Willy Steiner. In different documents related to the violin concerto one finds the information that the concerto was composed for Vittorio Brero and is dedicated to Ernst Lothar von Knorr, who was the head of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover at that time. But neither these two names nor any other name is mentioned in the final manuscript.

Souchay Library

I am happy that the daughters of Marc-André Souchay kindly provided manuscripts of other unpublished compositions to me. I created again pdf-scores of these autographs which can be downloaded below:

Geige Solo d

A small composition for violin solo from 1965

Suite for 2 pianos in f minor

Präludium und Fughetta, for viola solo

Only a few of the other compositions of Marc-André Souchay were published commercially and most of them were destroyed in World War II. Therefore I would like to build a "Souchay Library" and also collect other sheet music of the composer to preserve them from getting lost. So if you have a score to offer, please let me know.

So far my "Souchay Library" consists of:

• Stabat Mater. Geistliche Oper in sieben Bildern. 54 pages. Printed 1948 by Ernst Klett Verlag, but published privately. Contains only the libretto of the opera.
• Faust und Helena. Oper in einem Vorspiel und 3 Aufzügen nach Goethes "Faust II. Teil". 50 pages. Published 1940 by Kommissionsverlag W. Kohlhammer in Stuttgart. Contains only the libretto of the opera.
• Alexander in Olympia. 125 pages. Printed by Kohlhammer in Stuttgart. Piano reduction.
• Alexander in Olympia. 68 pages. Printed 1939 by Kommissionsverlag W. Kohlhammer in Stuttgart. Contains only the libretto of the opera.
• Das Stuttgarter Hutzelmännlein. Heitere Oper in sechs Bildern nach Eduard Mörike. 171 pages. Private release by the composer. Piano reduction
• Das Stuttgarter Hutzelmännlein. Heitere Oper in sechs Bildern nach Eduard Mörike. 54 pages. Printed by Kommissionsverlag W. Kohlhammer in Stuttgart. Contains only the libretto of the opera.
• Kampfwerk 39. Szenische Kantate. 48 pages. Printed 1939 by Kohlhammer in Stuttgart. Piano reduction.
• Cello sonata. Copy of the original autograph manuscript.

Beside that I also own sound recordings of the Cello Sonata and the song cycle "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts", for baritone and orchestra by Marc-André Souchay.