Karl Weigl, born in Vienna in 1881, studied with Alexander Zemlinsky and later with Robert Fuchs at the Vienna Music Academy.
Composer Biography
Gustav Mahler, impressed by Weigl's audition, offered him a position as a répétiteur and vocal coach at the Vienna Opera.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Arnold Schoenberg, a contemporary and friend, considered Weigl one of the best composers of the old school who continued the brilliant Viennese tradition.
Historical Context
Weigl, who was of Jewish descent, fled to America in 1938 after Hitler's rise to power led to anti-Semitic cultural policies and a halt to performances of his works.
Composition History
Weigl's Sixth Symphony, his final orchestral work completed in 1947, remained unperformed for nearly sixty years until this recording.
Performer Biography
Thomas Sanderling, conductor on this album, was asked by Dmitri Shostakovich to give the German premieres of his Thirteenth and Fourteenth Symphonies.
Compositional Technique
The work Old Vienna is an 'exercise-in-style' that avoids the ironic historical distancing found in Stravinsky's neoclassical works or the cultural destruction mirrored in Ravel's La Valse.
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