Following his English edition of Alma Mahler-Werfel's
Diaries 1[zasłonięte]898-19, Antony Beaumont presents both the
first comprehensive biography of the composer and
conductor Alexander Zemlinsky (1[zasłonięte]871-19) and a critical
assessment of his works. ''Zemlinsky-all hail to you!''
wrote the young Alma. ''All hail to you and your art.''
When she first met him, Zemlinsky was the most promising
Viennese composer of his generation. In 1901, when Alma
abruptly ended their passionate love affair in order to
marry Gustav Mahler, the crisis served to transform
Zemlinsky's talent into mastery. Only long after his
death, however, did his music begin to receive its due.
Zemlinsky was central to the musical life of Vienna and
Central Europe, and this brilliant biography illuminates
a social and cultural milieu that disappeared forever
with the triumph of Hitler's Reich. Beaumont details the
composer's early years as a protege of Brahms and
Mahler, his complex friendship with his brother-in-law
Arnold Schoenberg, the influence of his teaching on the
boy-prodigy Erich Korngold, his kindly and helpful
attitude toward the hypersensitive Anton Webern, and his
heartfelt friendship with Alban Berg. Zemlinsky was one
of the leading conductors of the interwar period,
considered by both Schoenberg and Stravinsky the finest
they had ever heard. Beaumont charts Zemlinsky's career
from Vienna to Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Prague,
providing insight into his Catholic-Sephardic background
and investigating his keen interest in esoteric aspects
of music, including color symbolism and numerology. The
author's analyses of Zemlinsky's major scores are
accessible and fully contextualized. |
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