Die Rolle des Symbolismus in der Dekonstruktion der Kunst um die Jahrhundertwende : Alexander Zemlinsky: Der Triumph der Zeit / einger. von Eike Rathgeber

• VerfasserIn: Rathgeber, Eike
• Place / Publishing House: Wien
• Language: German

eng: This text relates Alexander Zemlinsky to the most avantgarde artistic movement of his time by retracing Hugo v. Hofmannsthal's roots in French Symbolism. He is the author of Zemlinsky's ballet 'Der Triumph der Zeit' (1901-1904), which was never finished as a whole. The manuscript remained a particell, only the manuscript of the second act: 'Ein Tanzpoem' was completed and first performed in 1992 in Zuerich. In order to understand the symbolist idea of the piece it was necessary to analyze the change of paradigm in Modernism, thus the philosophical, historical and cultural changes which had taken place in this period. Zemlinsky, often referred to a being late romantic, actively took part in a process that initiated the cultural achievements of 20th-century-art. He tried to transform symbolist ideas in his composition of the ballet: specifically the synaesthetic challenge - a drama with allegorical traits free of any mimetic functionalism. Hofmannsthal had written a piece which came close to Mallarme's absolute aesthetic and the composer tried to incorporate those ideas into his music. The process of the ballet composition can be clearly pursued in the correspondence of Hofmannsthal and Zemlinsky. In their attempt to realize Mallarme's ideas in their work Zemlinsky and Hofmannsthal encountered many of the same empirical obstacles; Mahler refused to perform the ballet at the Hofoper. Too far from theatrical realism, its ideas remained intransformable. The theories that had initiated the fundamental change were Nietzsche's and Mach's philosophy, Wagner's music and Mallarme's poems. While Debussy and Ravel composed works to symbolic lyrics, Zemlinsky set Hofmannsthal, Baudelaire and Dehmel into music. The Art Nouveau/Symbolism-movement provided the basis for Expressionism. Zemlinsky's last song-cycles op.22 and op.27 represent his way to abstraction. The Zemlinsky-bibliography is to the author's knowledge the most comprehensive one at this time.