The art of choral composition had become an estab-lished tradition in Switzerland by the 19th Century at the latest. It is no wonder, therefore, that the genre accompanied Frank Martin throughout his creative life, from the motetPourquoi voient-ils le jour?written in 1909 when he was just 19 years old, until his final cantata,Et la vie l'emporta, composed in 1974, a few months before his death. It inspired some of his most notable masterpieces (the Mass for Double Choir,Le vin herbe,In Terra Pax,Golgotha, among others), but he also produced a wealth of exquisite small-scale choral works.