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Die Seejungfrau
 Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid) is a fantasy for large orchestra in three movements by Austrian composer Alexander von Zemlinsky, based on the folk-tale "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen. BackgroundIn April 1901, Zemlinsky began a romantic liaison with his pupil Alma Schindler. However, Alma broke off the relationship in November after meeting Gustav Mahler whom she subsequently married in March 1902.[1] Die Seejungfrau was, in part, an expression of the heartbreak and sense of rejection that Zemlinsky felt as a result.[1] The work was begun in February 1902 with the orchestration completed in March 1903.[2] The work was first performed on 25 January 1905 at the Musikverein in Vienna with the Wiener Konzertverein Orchester conducted by the composer in a concert that also included the premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande.[2] The critical response was largely favourable.[2] Further performances followed in Berlin in December 1906, conducted by Walter Meyrowitz, and in Prague in November 1907, conducted by Artur Bodanzky.[2] Withdrawal and rediscoverySome time after the Prague performance, Zemlinsky withdrew the work. Later, he gave the score of the first movement to his friend, Marie Pappenheim, as a gift.[2] The second and third movements he took with him to New York after fleeing Austria in 1938.[3] These were eventually deposited, along with the rest of Zemlinsky's manuscripts, with the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.[2] For many years after the composer's death, the score of Die Seejungfrau was presumed lost or destroyed.[2] The second and third movements were assumed by Zemlinsky's widow Louise to be the surviving fragments of a symphony in E-flat major.[3] In the early 1980s, two British Ph.D students, Keith J. Rooke and Alfred Clayton, working separately, compared the items in Vienna and Washington and established that they belonged together.[2] The first modern performance of the work was given by the Austrian Youth Orchestra conducted by Peter Gülke in 1984.[2] Since then, the work has become one of Zemlinsky's most frequently performed and several recordings have appeared. A critical edition of the score, edited by Zemlinsky scholar Antony Beaumont, was published by Universal Edition in 2013.[2] This includes a passage of 88 bars in the second movement, depicting the Mermaid's visit to the Mer-witch, which Zemlinsky expunged from the score before the première.[2] Instrumentation
StructureThe work consists of three movements:
The total playing time is around 47 minutes for the critical edition. RecordingsBased on the critical edition (2013)
Older recordings
References
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