Karneval op. 9 (1929)

In this demanding composition for male choir from 1929, Haas set to music, in an original way and with great creative imagination, a text by the poet Dalibor Chalupa from Brno which portrays the colourful medley during a lively carnival night. In contrast to the high-spirited displays of the dancing masks, avid for entertainment and pleasure, is the personal tragedy of a desperate man who, intent on taking his life, staggers through the milling crowd which makes no sense to him. The choral work is right on the threshold of the composer's most productive period in which he composed his most successful works, such as the Wind Quintet, the Suite for Piano, the opera Scharlatan, or String Quartet No. 3.