The father George Christoph Marx was a master carpenter in Ballenstedt. Ernst Marx had been employed in the workshop of
Johann Peter Migendt in Berlin since 1753/55 at the latest. It is doubtful whether he lived to see Joachim Wagner, who died in 1749. Marx worked together with Migendt (
in Companie) and married a sister of Migendt's wife, Maria Louisa Balke, in 1756. After the death of Peter Migendt in 1767, he continued the workshop alone. Pupils included
Johann Simon Buchholz, son-in-law
Johann Friedrich Falckenhagen, and son
Friedrich Emanuel Marx, who took over the workshop after his father's death in 1799. Marx was the youngest of the organ builders who carried on the tradition of Joachim Wagner (even though he was not to have known him personally) and who passed it on to his pupils. He died in Berlin,
Kingdom of Prussia at the age of 70. == List of works (selection) ==