At the end of the alphabet: Zemlinsky

[Maestro267]

Youtube premiere I assume? The work is over 100 years old and has multiple recordings.

[brewski]

Youtube premiere I assume? The work is over 100 years old and has multiple recordings.

Ah, thanks, my bad for using the word "premiere," which I changed to "broadcast."

-Bruce

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Ah, thanks, my bad for using the word "premiere," which I changed to "broadcast."

-Bruce

Thanks for the heads up.  I have it on now (missed first 8 minutes).

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Well, that was lovely...very romantic...at times made me think of "The Sea" (perhaps the swelling and lush sound of the strings).

Sad that his music wasn't more appreciated (unlike his brother-in-law's Schoenberg)

PD

[Lisztianwagner]

Well, that was lovely...very romantic...at times made me think of "The Sea" (perhaps the swelling and lush sound of the strings).

Sad that his music wasn't more appreciated (unlike his brother-in-law's Schoenberg)

PD

Agreed; it also shows a rich and varied orchestral colour similar to Richard Strauss. Die Seejungfrau is such a wonderful piece, one of the most beautiful Zemlinsky's works.

Unfortunately he is a quite underrated composer (alas, Zemlinsky was the worst champion of his own music), but undoubtedly a great one!

[Roasted Swan]

Well, that was lovely...very romantic...at times made me think of "The Sea" (perhaps the swelling and lush sound of the strings).

Sad that his music wasn't more appreciated (unlike his brother-in-law's Schoenberg)

PD

The context of it being written as a kind of love-letter to Alma Mahler who Zemlinsky taught before she married Mahler is significant.  He was besotted with her - they got secretly engaged - but she left him.  The result in this work is the most yearning passionate score Zemlinsky ever wrote.  Compare it to his late quite objective and indeed stern works and the difference is striking.  It was only when Chailly recorded Seejungfrau for Decca (still one of the best versions I think) that most modern listeners  became aware of him as a composer in his own right rather than as just a footnote in Mahler's life.