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Alexander Zemlinsky | |
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 Zemlinsky c. 1900 | |
| Born | (1871-10-14)14 October 1871 |
| Died | 15 March 1942(1942-03-15) (aged 70) |
| Education | Vienna Conservatory |
| Occupations |
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| Organizations | |
Alexander Zemlinsky orAlexander von Zemlinsky (14 October 1871 – 15 March 1942) was an Austriancomposer,conductor, and teacher.
Zemlinsky was born in Vienna to a highly diverse family. Zemlinsky's grandfather, Anton Semlinski, emigrated fromŽilina, Hungary (now in Slovakia) to Austria and married an Austrian woman.[1] Both were from staunchlyRoman Catholic families, and Alexander's father,Adolf von Zemlinszky [de], was raised as a Catholic. Alexander's mother, Clara Semo, was born inSarajevo to aSephardicJewish father and aBosniak mother. Alexander's entire family converted to the religion of his maternal grandfather, Judaism, and Zemlinsky was born and raised Jewish. His father added an aristocratic "von" to his name, though neither he nor his forebears were ennobled. He also began spelling his surname in Hungarian[2]"Zemlinszky".[3] He was also afreemason.[4]
Alexander studied thepiano from a young age. He played theorgan in hissynagogue on holidays, and was admitted to theVienna Conservatory in 1884. He studied piano withAnton Door, winning the school's piano prize in 1890. He continued his studies until 1892, studyingtheory withRobert Fuchs and composition withJohann Nepomuk Fuchs andAnton Bruckner.[5] At this time he began writing music.
InJohannes Brahms, Zemlinsky had a valuable supporter. In July 1892, on the invitation of Zemlinsky's teacher Johann Nepomuk Fuchs, Brahms attended a performance of the first movement of Zemlinsky's Symphony in D minor at the Conservatoire.[6] In March 1896, Brahms attended a performance of Zemlinsky's String Quintet in D minor by theHellmesberger Quartet.[7] Impressed with Zemlinsky's music, Brahms recommended the younger composer'sClarinet Trio (1896) to theN. Simrock company for publication.[8]
Zemlinsky also metArnold Schoenberg when the latter joined the amateur orchestra Polyhymnia as a cellist;[9] Zemlinsky had founded this group in 1895.[10] The two became close friends and later mutual admirers and brothers-in-law when Schoenberg married Zemlinsky's sister, Mathilde. Zemlinsky gave Schoenberg lessons incounterpoint, thus becoming the only formal music teacher Schoenberg would have.
In 1897, Zemlinsky composed hisSymphony No. 2 (chronologically the third he had written, and sometimes numbered as such) for submission to the Beethoven Prize, a competition inaugurated and sponsored by Brahms. Zemlinsky won joint first prize, sharing the honours with Robert Gound. His reputation as a composer was further helped whenGustav Mahler conducted the premiere of his operaEs war einmal (Once Upon a Time) at theHofoper in 1900. In 1899 Zemlinsky secured the post ofKapellmeister at Vienna'sCarltheater.
In 1899, Zemlinsky converted toProtestantism.[11][12] He alluded to theChristian cross and toJesus in the text ofTurmwächterlied,[13] and included verses fromPsalms in several of his compositions.[14]
In 1900, Zemlinsky met and fell in love withAlma Schindler, one of his composition students.[15] She reciprocated his feelings initially; however, Alma felt a great deal of pressure from close friends and family to end the relationship. They were primarily concerned with Zemlinsky's lack of an international reputation and by an unappealing physical appearance. She broke off the relationship with Zemlinsky and subsequently married composer Gustav Mahler in 1902. The episode inspired Zemlinsky's orchestral fantasyDie Seejungfrau, completed in 1903 and first performed in 1905.[16] Zemlinsky married Ida Guttmann in 1907, but the marriage was an unhappy one. Following Ida's death in 1929, Zemlinsky married Luise Sachsel in 1930, a woman twenty-nine years his junior, and to whom he had given singing lessons since 1914. This was a much happier relationship, lasting until Zemlinsky's death.[17]
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In 1906 Zemlinsky was appointed first Kapellmeister of the newVienna Volksoper, from 1907/1908 at the Hofoper in Vienna. From 1911 to 1927, he was conductor atDeutsches Landestheater in Prague, premiering Schoenberg'sErwartung in 1924. Zemlinsky then moved to Berlin, where he taught and worked underOtto Klemperer as a conductor at theKroll Opera.
With the rise of theNazi Party, he fled to Vienna in 1933, where he held no official post, instead concentrating on composing and making the occasional appearance as guest conductor. In 1938, the Zemlinsky couple managed to escape via Prague to New York. Their property was confiscated to pay for the "Reich Flight Tax" imposed on Jews.[18][19] Their collection, which included "a work bySchiele, various engravings, carpets" was, according to the German Lost Art Foundation, "released and presumably exported to the USA."[20]
Although fellow émigré Schoenberg was celebrated and feted in the Los Angeles of the 1930s and 40s – teaching at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles and theUniversity of Southern California and gaining a new generation of acolytes – Zemlinsky was neglected and virtually unknown in his adopted country. He fell ill, suffering a series ofstrokes, and ceased composing. Zemlinsky died inLarchmont, New York, ofpneumonia in 1942.
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Zemlinsky's best-known work is theLyric Symphony (1923), a seven-movement piece forsoprano,baritone and orchestra, set to poems by theBengali poetRabindranath Tagore (in German translation), which Zemlinsky compared in a letter to his publisher to Mahler'sDas Lied von der Erde. The work in turn influencedAlban Berg'sLyric Suite, which quotes from it and is dedicated to Zemlinsky.Other orchestral works include the large-scalefantasy,Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid), based on the tale of thesame name byHans Christian Andersen. It premiered in 1905 at the same concert asSchoenberg'sPelleas und Melisande. Zemlinsky withdrew the work, which was thought lost until two separated portions of the score were found to belong together in the 1980s. It was performed again in 1984 in Vienna and has become one of Zemlinsky's most frequently performed works.[21] A three-movementSinfonietta written in 1934, admired by Schoenberg and Berg, is written in a style comparable to contemporary works byPaul Hindemith andKurt Weill.
Zemlinsky composed eight operas, includingEine florentinische Tragödie (1915–16) and the semi-autobiographicalDer Zwerg (The Dwarf, 1919–21), both based on works byOscar Wilde; chamber music, including four string quartets, and an unfinishedballetDer Triumph der Zeit (1901). He also composed works for chorus and orchestra including three psalm settings as well as numerous song cycles, both with piano and with orchestra, of which the Sechs Gesänge, Op. 13, to texts byMaurice Maeterlinck is the best-known.
While the influence of Brahms is evoked in Zemlinsky's early works (prompting encouragement from Brahms himself), an original voice is present from the first works on, handling dissonances in a much freer manner than Brahms. Later works adopt the kind of extendedharmonies thatWagner had introduced and also reflect the influence of Mahler. In contrast to his friend Schoenberg, he never wroteatonal music, and never used thetwelve-tone technique. However, some of his late works such as theSymphonische Gesänge,Sinfonietta and the third and fourth string quartets move away from post-Romanticism towards a leaner, harder-edged idiom that incorporates elements ofNeue Sachlichkeit,Neoclassicism, and evenjazz.
As a conductor, Zemlinsky was admired by, among others,Kurt Weill andStravinsky, not only for his notable interpretations ofMozart, but also for his advocacy ofMahler,Schoenberg and much other contemporary music. As a teacher, his pupils includedErich Wolfgang Korngold,Hans Krása andKarl Weigl.
Notes
Beschlagnahe des gesamten Vermögens zum Zwecke der vermeintlichen „Reichsfluchtsteuer" des Ehepaares Zemlinsky. Die Sammlung wurde freigegeben und vermutlich in die USA ausgeführt.
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