Alexander von Zemlinsky

Alexander von Zemlinsky or Alexander Zemlinsky, (October 14, 1871 - March 15, 1942) was an Austrian composer of classical music, a conductor and a teacher.

Alma Mahler and in his later career

In 1900, Zemlinsky met Alma Schindler (later Alma Mahler) and fell in love with her. He helped her to work on some of the songs she was writing. His love was reciprocated, though Alma felt a great deal of pressure from close friends and family to end the relationship. They were primarily concerned with Zemlinsky's lack of a significant international reputation and what some believed to be an objectionable physical appearance. Eventually she caved to the pressure, and broke off the relationship with Zemlinsky. She met Gustav Mahler in 1901, and convincing herself that she loved him, married him in March of the following year. Zemlinsky later married Ida Guttmann in 1907, though the marriage was an unhappy one, and Zemlinsky had many affairs. Following Ida's death in 1929, Zemlinsky married Luise Sachsel on January 4, 1930, a woman twenty-nine years his junior to whom he had given singing lessons to since 1914. This was a much happier relationship, lasting until Zemlinsky's death.

Related Topics:
Alma Schindler - 1907 - 1929 - 1930

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In 1906, Zemlinsky was appointed first Kapellmeister of the new Vienna Volksoper before leaving to work at the Deutsches Landestheater in Prague from 1911 to 1927, where he premiered Schoenberg's Erwartung in 1924. Zemlinsky then moved to Berlin, where he taught and worked under Otto Klemperer as a conductor at the Kroll Opera. With the rise of the Nazi Party, he fled to Vienna in 1933, where he held no official post, instead concentrating on composing and making the occasional appearance as guest conductor. In 1938 he moved to the United States and settled in New York City. He never learnt English, became ill, suffering a series of strokes, and stopped composing. He died in Larchmont, New York of pneumonia.

Related Topics:
1906 - Vienna Volksoper - Deutsches Landestheater - Prague - Erwartung - 1924 - Berlin - Otto Klemperer - Nazi Party - 1933 - 1938 - United States - New York City - English - Stroke - Larchmont, New York - Pneumonia

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