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Alexander Zemlinsky (1872-1942)
composer & Alma´s composition tutor and lover
The Austrian composer, who in recent years has come back into
fashion, was Alma Schindler´s composition tutor from 1897
onwards. Under his guidance, the musically gifted young woman
composed a whole number of songs after poems by Rilke, Heine
and others. Zemlinsky was a teacher without parallel; he taught
Arnold Schönberg too, with whom he was also friends. After
Gustav Klimt had stolen a first kiss from Alma in Genua, Zemlinsky
became his successor in Alma´s heart. She allowed him
to kiss and caress her, permitting him every intimacy but the
ultimate, thereby almost driving him to madness. For his part,
he knew how to arose Alma´s wakening sexuality with a
passion which allowed her never to forget his »virtuoso
hands«. The relationship was an emotional roller-coaster,
and Alma tortured Zemlinsky for two years until, in 1902, she
decided against him and in favour of marriage to Gustav Mahler,
who was twenty years her senior.
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Alexander
Zemlinsky |
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