Alexander von Zemlinsky was an influential Austrian composer of the early 20th century known for his emotionally intense style. He was also a respected conductor and an important teacher to Arnold Schoenberg, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Karl Weigl. He was born in 1871 in Vienna to a Hungarian father and Sephardic Jewish mother. By the age of four, he was already an impressive pianist, and he played the organ at his synagogue. After completing his general education in 1884, he enrolled at the Vienna Conservatory, where he studied with Anton Door, Franz Kren, and Robert and Johann Fuchs. He also studied composition with Anton Bruckner, and he composed his first pieces in 1892. After attending the premieres of Zemlinsky’s Symphony in D minor and String Quintet, Brahms became a supporter of the young composer and helped him get his Clarinet Trio published in 1896. This was also around the time when the cellist Arnold Schoenberg joined Zemlinsky’s orchestra Polyhymnia. Schoenberg also studied counterpoint with Zemlinsky, and they became friends and brothers-in-law after Schoenberg married Zemlinsky’s sister. Zemlinsky’s Symphony in B flat major won the Beethoven Prize in 1899, when he conducted its premiere with the Vienna Philharmonic. That same year, he was also appointed kapellmeister at the Carltheater in Vienna, and he converted to Protestantism. He left the Carltheater in 1906 for the same position at the Vienna Volksoper, followed by an appointment at the Hofoper from 1907 to 1908. After his contract with the Hofoper ended, he returned to the Volksoper and conducted a very successful premiere of his Kleider Machen Leute in 1910. He conducted at the Prague State Opera from 1911 to 1927, where he premiered several works, including Schoenberg’s Erwartung. While in Prague, he composed some of his best-known pieecs, like the Lyric Symphony, Op. 18, Eine florentinische Tragödie, Op. 16, and his second and third String Quartets. From 1928 to 1931, Zemlinsky served as an assistant to Otto Klemperer at the Kroll Oper in Berlin. He also taught at the Musikhochschule, and he was in high demand as a guest conductor in Italy, Spain, and France. However, the Nazi presence in Berlin drove Zemlinsky and his family to Vienna in 1933, and they escaped to New York in 1938. There, he earned a living by composing pieces for children, but a debilitating stroke in 1939 left him unable to compose. He suffered additional strokes and declining health in his final years, and he died of pneumonia in 1942. ~ RJ Lambert, Rovi

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Alexander von Zemlinsky

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