Lyric Symphony, op. 18
Alexander von Zemlinsky’s caliber of music can be compared to his masterful contemporaries, such as Mahler, Strauss, and Schonberg. He was known for being Schonberg’s only composition teacher, although he never took credit for it. He was humble man who could care less about recognition of his musical talents.
Alexander von Zemlinsky’s caliber of music can be compared to his masterful contemporaries, such as Mahler, Strauss, and Schonberg. He was known for being Schonberg’s only composition teacher, although he never took credit for it. He was humble man who could care less about recognition of his musical talents.
Zemlinsky was a notable Austrian conductor, professor, and composer born on October 14th, 1871, in Vienna. Throughout his career, he was noticed and supported by many famous composers, including Brahms and Mahler, and was very close friends with Arnold Schoenberg. He helped promoted contemporary music by conducting their works. Although he was popular with many early modernism composers, he wrote tonal music which showed little influence by the new music of the early twentieth-century. His Lyric Symphony is an example of the mastery of his tonal language; it is his most notable work which stands as an exemplary accomplishment for his talents in composition.
Zemlinsky started working on the Lyric Symphony in the summer of 1922. It wasn’t premiered immediately after it was finished due to the disappearance of the original manuscript, which reappeared in 1923. His Lyric Symphony was finally premiered in Prague for the International Society for New Music in 1924. The entire symphony lasts for 45 minutes and is written for Soprano, Baritone and orchestra. The vocal writing for Lyric Symphony is in an operatic style. It was based on the works of a notable Bengali poet by the name of Rabindranath Tagore, from his collection “The Gardener”. Zemlinsky chose seven poems from the collection and constructed them in a way that presented the dialogues of longing, hard love, and self-realization between a man and a woman. The first movement is a sad ballad of a lonely man looking for a companion to love. The second movement is more light-hearted, describing a woman’s love for a prince passing by her street on a horse drawn carriage. The preceding movements sing powerful songs of love, desire, and the pain associated with both.
Zemlinsky started working on the Lyric Symphony in the summer of 1922. It wasn’t premiered immediately after it was finished due to the disappearance of the original manuscript, which reappeared in 1923. His Lyric Symphony was finally premiered in Prague for the International Society for New Music in 1924. The entire symphony lasts for 45 minutes and is written for Soprano, Baritone and orchestra. The vocal writing for Lyric Symphony is in an operatic style. It was based on the works of a notable Bengali poet by the name of Rabindranath Tagore, from his collection “The Gardener”. Zemlinsky chose seven poems from the collection and constructed them in a way that presented the dialogues of longing, hard love, and self-realization between a man and a woman. The first movement is a sad ballad of a lonely man looking for a companion to love. The second movement is more light-hearted, describing a woman’s love for a prince passing by her street on a horse drawn carriage. The preceding movements sing powerful songs of love, desire, and the pain associated with both.
In the prelude, Zemlinsky created an enormous sound with the orchestra; the orchestra started out with a tutti and was followed by roaring timpani rolls. It is as if he was announcing that something significant was coming up. What Zemlinsky was trying to achieve was to set up the mood for his entire symphony. It was a very Romantic gesture to create such an emotional turmoil in music. The orchestration was thick in texture, a sound produced by the brass and string section. He also used chromaticism, a practice of the Romantic style, all over his music to build up the intensity. His music has good unity, much like any well-established orchestral work. The prelude opened up with a motive of the dotted eighth and eighteenth note, which kept reoccurring and getting denser. This provided a unity for the whole movement. However, though his music was full of emotional expressions, I had difficulty in deciphering the exact mood he was trying to depict. It appears as if he tried to create a mood for the sake of doing it, instead of naturally creating a mood that flowed into another person’s soul.
Regardless of his talents as a masterful composer, Zemlinsky was overlooked by the musical canon because of his place in history - he never used a modern approach like twelve-tone technique or wrote atonal music, so general interests of the early twentieth-century gravitated more towards modern techniques. Lorraine Gorrell, a music historian, said Zemlinsky’s works represented “a crucial nexus between nineteenth-century fin de siècle music and the avant-garde of the 20th century” (Gorrell, Discordant Melody, xiii). Zemlinsky was also an Austrian composer of Jewish descent who lived under the Nazi regime of Germany, so many of his works were prohibited from being performed to the public. Only until now has his music been rediscovered and appreciated for its aesthetic value.
Regardless of his talents as a masterful composer, Zemlinsky was overlooked by the musical canon because of his place in history - he never used a modern approach like twelve-tone technique or wrote atonal music, so general interests of the early twentieth-century gravitated more towards modern techniques. Lorraine Gorrell, a music historian, said Zemlinsky’s works represented “a crucial nexus between nineteenth-century fin de siècle music and the avant-garde of the 20th century” (Gorrell, Discordant Melody, xiii). Zemlinsky was also an Austrian composer of Jewish descent who lived under the Nazi regime of Germany, so many of his works were prohibited from being performed to the public. Only until now has his music been rediscovered and appreciated for its aesthetic value.
Zemlinsky once stated: “As long as I live, I do not expect my music to be recognized, but after my death it will be (Gorrell74).” In a sense, he was quite aware his own musical talents, but he didn’t care of becoming famous during his lifetime. His humbleness, although a great virtue, failed to serve his right of becoming a star. I am confident that his music will be revived, as great music shall never cease living. It will be a testimony of his statement for his music.
Reference:
Gorrell, Lorraine. Discordant Melody: Alexander Zemlinsky, His Songs, and the Second Viennese School. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002.
