Beaumont - zemlinsky

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FRÜHLINGSBEGRÄBNIS

A Brahms Memorial

In April 1896 Zemlinsky composed «Frühlingsbegräbnis» for soprano and baritone soli, chorus and orchestra, to a poem by Paul Heyse. Judging by the textures of the first manuscript sketch, he conceived the work for small forces and with piano accompaniment, perhaps for performance at the Polyhymnia. But by the time he had penned the exultant closing bars of the coda, it must have become clear to him that larger forces would be required.

The first version, composed between April and July 1896, orchestrated the following year and dedicated to the memory of Brahms, was scored for a classical orchestra with double woodwind; later (c. 1902-3), at the behest of the Suddeutsche Musikverlag in Strasbourg, Zemlinsky revised the work and enlarged the orchestra to include triple woodwind and two harps.

Heyse is best remembered for translations and paraphrases, such as those immortalized by Hugo Wolf in the «Italienisches Liederbuch». But «Frühlingsbegräbnis», an original work, is no comparable masterpiece (the poet omitted it from the collected edition of his works). The story is allegorical: a funeral cortege of animals and fairies bears Spring, a comely youth transfixed by the first rays of Summer's sun, to his last resting place; a woodpecker preaches a sermon on eternity and rebirth; as the funeral draws to a close, the elfin mourners are blasted away by a violent thunderstorm. Zemlinsky did what he could for the text, with expressive melodic lines and sumptuous colours, and by moulding it into a through-composed symphonic form (dead march, scherzo-waltz, andante, allegro-finale, coda), he imposed a semblance of order upon its unbalanced structure.

The principal theme, a double-motif of falling triads and a rising 4th, owes allegiance to the second movement of the «Deutsches Requiem», but otherwise there is less influence of Brahms than of Wagner. By introducing a brief fugato in the storm scene, lip service is also paid to the conventions of nineteenth-century choral-society tradition.

Frühlingsbegräbnis, which may have been considered unsuitable for the official Brahms memorial concerts, remained unperformed until February 1900. But then, at a concert of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in the famous 'Golden Hall' of the Musikverein, it was given in style. Zemlinsky himself presided over the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the three hundred voices of the Singverein. The critic of the Neues Wiener Journal complained of 'a lack both of melody and overall unity' but granted, if grudgingly, that 'the handling of the chorus and orchestra is ingenious and sometimes truly astounding.' The public and most of the press were firmly on Zemlinsky's side. Following only three weeks after the triumphant premiere of «Es war einmal...» at the Hofoper, this performance marked the zenith - alas, too soon - of his Viennese career.

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