John Zorn: Tradition and TransgressionFollowing his English edition of Alma Mahler-Werfel's Diaries 1898-1902, Antony Beaumont presents both the first comprehensive biography of the composer and conductor Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942) and a critical assessment of his works. "Zemlinsky--all hail to you!" wrote the young Alma. "All hail to you and your art." When she first met him, Zemlinsky was the most promising Viennese composer of his generation. In 1901, when Alma abruptly ended their passionate love affair in order to marry Gustav Mahler, the crisis served to transform Zemlinsky's talent into mastery. Only long after his death, however, did his music begin to receive its due. Zemlinsky was central to the musical life of Vienna and Central Europe, and this brilliant biography illuminates a social and cultural milieu that disappeared forever with the triumph of Hitler's Reich. The author details the composer's early years as a protégé of Brahms and Mahler, his complex friendship with his brother-in-law Arnold Schoenberg, the influence of his teaching on the boy-prodigy Erich Korngold, his kindly and helpful attitude toward the hypersensitive Anton Webern, and his heartfelt friendship with Alban Berg. Zemlinsky was one of the leading conductors of the interwar period, considered by both Schoenberg and Stravinsky the finest they had ever heard. The author charts Zemlinsky's career from Vienna to Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Prague, providing insight into his Catholic-Sephardic background and investigating his keen interest in esoteric aspects of music, including color symbolism and numerology. The author's analyses of Zemlinsky's major scores are accessible and fully contextualized. |
Contents
Magick and Mysticism in Zorns Recent Works | 40 |
Tradition Gifts and Zorns Musical Homages | 79 |
Aporias and the Prisms of Tradition | 118 |
Copyright | |
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Aleister Crowley and/or Aporias appears arco artists artwork Asian American Asmodeus associated avant-garde Bataille's block Books Bürger cello chapter compact disc compact disc TZ complex composer compositions consider Cornell's cultural derived described essays example Eye of Night fantasy figure film Georges Bataille gift Gnosticism heard Hisama Ibid images included individual Japanese jazz John Zorn Joseph Cornell Kabbalah Kenneth Anger Left Hand Path liner notes Magick manga Mauss Maya Deren measure melodic Misterioso movement mystical Naked City Necronomicon ninth chords notion occult opening perceived piano pitch class pitch material pizz possible postmodern practices present reality recording relation Requiem Canticles sense sexual solo sonority sort specific Stravinsky's Requiem Stravinsky's score string surrealism symbolic techniques thought tion Torture Garden tracks tradition of transgression trans Tuba Mirum Tzadik Tzadik compact disc Tzadik TZ understood unity Untitled viola violin writes York Zorn's musical poetics Zorn's reference materials