ALEXANDER ZEMLINSKY
- selected works for cello -
Three Pieces for Cello and Piano
Sonata for Cello and Piano
- selected works for cello -
Three Pieces for Cello and Piano
Sonata for Cello and Piano
Three Pieces for Cello and Piano - Alexander Zemlinsky
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Sonata for Cello and Piano - Alexander Zemlinsky
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Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942)
Alexander von Zemlinsky was born in 1871 in Vienna. His mother was half Jewish, half Muslim, and his father converted to Judaism. Zemlinsky studied the piano beginning at age four. When he was thirteen, he was recommended to study at the Vienna Conservatory Preparatory Program with Wilhelm Rausch. He graduated to the senior division, continuing his piano studies with Anton Door, a pupil of Czerny, and studying harmony and counterpoint with Robert Fuchs.
Zemlinsky grew into an exceptionally talented pianist. He won the annual Conservatory piano competition, being recognized as “Best Pianist of the Conservatory.” Although he clearly had the potential to be a soloist, Zemlinsky lacked the virtuosic and extroverted temperament. Upon graduation, he decided to devote himself to composition. He worked with Johann Nepomuk Fuchs, brother of Robert Fuchs, for two years. He quickly garnered composition prizes, and his first opus was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1892.
Zemlinsky lived in Prague from 1911-1927 before moving to Berlin. He held many positions in the years following his studies, including teacher of orchestration at the Schwarzwald School, Kapellmeister at two operetta houses, chief conductor of the Volksoper, and music director of the Neues Deutches Theater in Prague. He founded his own ensemble, Musicalische Verein Polyhymnia, in order to gain even more conducting experience.
He was supported and encouraged by Brahms and Mahler, and his own students included Berg, Webern, Korngold, and Krása. Additionally, he was Schoenberg’s only formal teacher, and when Schoenberg married Zemlinsky’s sister, Mathilde, they became brothers-in-law.
Like many other Jews, he was forced to leave Germany in 1933. He moved back to Vienna. In the 1938 Anschluss (Nazi invasion of Austria) he immigrated to New York, where he lived relatively unknown until he died of pneumonia in 1942.
Zemlinsky grew into an exceptionally talented pianist. He won the annual Conservatory piano competition, being recognized as “Best Pianist of the Conservatory.” Although he clearly had the potential to be a soloist, Zemlinsky lacked the virtuosic and extroverted temperament. Upon graduation, he decided to devote himself to composition. He worked with Johann Nepomuk Fuchs, brother of Robert Fuchs, for two years. He quickly garnered composition prizes, and his first opus was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1892.
Zemlinsky lived in Prague from 1911-1927 before moving to Berlin. He held many positions in the years following his studies, including teacher of orchestration at the Schwarzwald School, Kapellmeister at two operetta houses, chief conductor of the Volksoper, and music director of the Neues Deutches Theater in Prague. He founded his own ensemble, Musicalische Verein Polyhymnia, in order to gain even more conducting experience.
He was supported and encouraged by Brahms and Mahler, and his own students included Berg, Webern, Korngold, and Krása. Additionally, he was Schoenberg’s only formal teacher, and when Schoenberg married Zemlinsky’s sister, Mathilde, they became brothers-in-law.
Like many other Jews, he was forced to leave Germany in 1933. He moved back to Vienna. In the 1938 Anschluss (Nazi invasion of Austria) he immigrated to New York, where he lived relatively unknown until he died of pneumonia in 1942.