With his choral composition In monte Oliveti Franz M. Herzog has succeeded in setting this Bible text in an impressive manner. The melodic figure of the female voices intonated continuously in an imitative staggered fashion creates a meditative atmosphere before the male voices enter as the voices of Jesus and dramatically intensify the musical development. From bar 27 Herzog takes up the atmosphere of the beginning once again, but this time the roles are reversed: The male voices provide the sound background with a continuous repeated circling melodic figure performed in imitation. This inspired choral work represents a great enrichment to choral concerts at Passiontide.
