Zemlinsky Lyric Symphony

At the start of the Twentieth Century, many people in Europe turned to the East for both inspiration and consolation during such emotionally charged times. Orientalism often found its way into European culture. Artists like Matisse and Kandinsky, writers such as Kipling and Flaubert, and musicians Rimsky Korsakov and Debussy all relished the opportunity to express the exotic in their work, even if more often than not they did so as a reflection of Western fantasies and stereotypes rather than authentic cultural representations.

One of the more famous pieces to take its source from Asia was Mahler’s The Song of the Earth. This multi-movement orchestral song cycle is the obvious precursor to Alexander Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony. But where Mahler had used Ancient Chinese poetry for his texts, Zemlinsky looked to the Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore for his. Tagore was born in Kolkata in 1861 and in 1913 won the Noble Prize for literature. In 1921 he gave a poetry reading at the Charles University in Prague. Zemlinsky was working there as a conductor at the time, and went to listen. Though he was clearly inspired by Tagore declaiming and singing in original Bengali, it was another member of the audience, the composer Leos Janack, who wrote about the performance in the local newspaper. ‘We did not understand, but from the sound of his words, from the melodies…could recognize and feel the bitter pain of his soul.’

Zemlinsky started writing his Lyric Symphony the following year choosing poems from Tagore’s anthology The Gardener for the seven movements of the piece. Despite the Indian origins of the work, Zemlinsky only occasionally references that part of the world in the music. He is far more interested in expressing the universality of the human emotions in the poems. In fact, the connection between the Lyric Symphony and Mahler’s The Song of the Earth is rather superficial. Mahler expresses a nostalgic view of the eternal bliss of nature, Zemlinsky tells a far more sensual tale of yearning, fulfilment, and loss.

1 Ich bin friedlos (I am restless). Baritone: Longing.

2 Mutter, der junge Prinz (Mother, the young prince). Soprano: Innocence.

3 Du bist die Abendwolke (You are the evening cloud). Baritone: Seduction.

4 Sprich zu mir, Geliebter (Speak to me, beloved) Soprano: Anticipation.

5 Befrei mich von den Banden deine Süße (Free me from the bonds of your sweetness) Baritone: Rejection.

6 Vollende denn das letzte Lied (Then finish the last song) Soprano: Farewell.

7 Friede, mein Herz (Peace, my heart) Baritone: Acceptance.

Zemlinsky’s life spanned a period in which music evolved faster than at any other time in history and it is not surprising that his own compositions underwent considerable change too. His earliest works bear the imprint of Brahms (an early admirer) and Bruckner (a one-time teacher) whilst his later pieces sound more like Hindemith and Weill. In many ways Zemlinsky’s music is the bridge between Romanticism and Modernism and as his list of pupils included Schonberg, Berg, and Korngold, Zemlinsky can be seen as that bridge in a very real sense. The Lyric Symphony is an apex of expressionist intensity, with lush lyricism, and highly charged, vivid, and detailed orchestral colours. The sensory overload is so gorgeously thrilling it is like listening to a Mahler Symphony and a Strauss opera at the same time – one of the more sophisticated ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ deals on offer!

Back to writings