From Zemlinsky's early success as a composer and widely recognized achievements as a conductor to his eventual descent into obscurity, this new biography places Zemlinsky (1871-1942) against the backdrops of Vienna, Prague and Berlin and illuminates his relationships with figures like Johannes Brahms, Alma Schindler, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg. Moskovitz's exploration of Zemlinsky's songs, operas, choral works, chamber music and symphonic compositions follows the composer's search for a distinctly personal sound, revealing an artist caught up in the music of his time yet unwilling to abandon his 19th century roots.
Alexander Zemlinsky: A Lyric Symphony includes an Afterword by conductor James Conlon and a complete discography of Zemlinsky recordings.
MARC D. MOSKOVITZ is principal cellist of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, Ohio and has written for various music journals and the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Reviews
Moskovitz has supplied a bibliography that is lively, encouraging, and informative. [...]
Alexander Zemlinsky: A Lyric Symphony is a worthy introduction to a composer worth knowing. Zemlinsky's wait has been much too long. If his time has still not come, it is long overdue, and Moskovitz's book should help to hasten its arrival. THE TRIANGLE
This book goes a long way towards filling a gap in the Zemlinsky literature, while also raising interesting questions that suggest further work needs to be done. [...] Moskovitz's contribution will undoubtedly inspire future interest in Zemlinsky's life and music, among music lovers and scholars alike. NOTES
Marc D. Moskovitz's work, blessed with such primary source material as the Zemlinsky-Schoenberg correspondence, is [a] milestone. ... Moskovitz constructs a lively presentation of his subject and his time. ... [and] does this composer, whom he clearly reveres, the honor of a concise, shapely and objective biography. OPERA NEWS
Dans cette biographie attrayante et abordable, Marc D. Moskovitz situe très bien le personnage dans son époque [...] et consacre son chapitre final à la redécouverte tardive de ce génie oublié. Toutes les ouvres importantes sont commentées [...] cet ouvrage se lit avec un intérêt qui ne décroît jamais. FORUM OPERA
[A] painstaking and generally elegant written monograph. MUSICAL TIMES
Readers interested in the history of modern conducting, Austrian and German musical culture in the first half of the 20th century, musical modernism, and the relationship between modernism and Nazism will find this book especially useful. Recommended. CHOICE
[A] splendid biography [...] Moskovitz lays down the narrative of Zemlinsky's life in prose that is clear, direct, and engaging. He expertly describes Zemlinsky's music, from the Brahmsian Clarinet Trio [...] the Lyric Symphony. Like any capable biographer, Moskovitz ties in political history. QUARTER NOTES
[Moskovitz doesn't idealise his hero's character and gives... a sense... of the strengths and weaknesses of someone so close to many high modernism's most active and challenging personalities. His use of unpublished letters from Zemlinsky to Alma Mahler, and of Zemlinsky's second wife Louise... provides additional colour and content. ... [Moskovitz's] book leaves us in no doubt of just how complex and how crucial Zemlinsky's personal and professional relations were. GRAMOPHONE
