Zemlinsky: Der Seejungfrau, Schreker: Der Geburtstag der Infantin

Featuring

Vasily Petrenko
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Alexander von Zemlinsky
Franz Schreker

Did you know?

1/7

Critical Reception

Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid) by Zemlinsky received its first 'modern' performance in 1984 after scholars reunited all three movements of the suppressed work in the 1980s.

Composition History

Schreker completed the dance pantomime Der Geburtstag der Infantin (The Birthday of the Infanta) in just ten days.

Composition History

Zemlinsky began composing Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid) in February 1902, just days before Alma Schindler's marriage to Gustav Mahler.

Composition History

Zemlinsky effectively suppressed his work Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid) after its premiere, not including it in his 1910 worklist and taking only parts of the manuscript with him when he left Europe.

Composition History

Franz Schreker, then an unknown composer, was commissioned by dancer Grete Wiesenthal to write the dance pantomime Der Geburtstag der Infantin (The Birthday of the Infanta) in early 1908.

Historical Context

Alexander Zemlinsky and Franz Schreker, the composers on this album, enjoyed greater success than Arnold Schoenberg and Gustav Mahler before their music was banned by the Nazis in the 1930s.

Composition History

Zemlinsky's Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid) was inspired by Richard Strauss's tone poem Ein Heldenleben and his own heartbreak after Alma Schindler, his composition pupil, left him for Gustav Mahler.