Lyric Symphony Explained

The Lyric Symphony (German: Lyrische Symphonie), Op. 18, is a musical work for soprano and baritone soloists and large orchestra composed between 1922 and 1923 by Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky.

Composition and performance history

The work was begun in April 1922. In a letter to his publishers of 19 September 1922, Zemlinsky described the work-in-progress as "...something along the lines of [Mahler's] Das Lied von der Erde". The orchestration was completed in August 1923.^[1] The sung texts are taken from The Gardener by Rabindranath Tagore in a German translation by Hans Effenberger.

The work received its premiere in Prague at the New German Theatre on June 4, 1924, under the composer's direction. The vocal solos were sung by Tilly de Garmo and Joseph Schwarz.^[2]

Structure

The work is in seven connected movements, sung alternately by the two soloists:

("I am restless. I am athirst for far-away things")
("O mother, the young Prince")
("You are the evening cloud")
("Speak to me, my love")
("Release me from the bonds of your sweetness, Love")
("Then finish the last song")
("Peace, my heart")

The performance duration is approximately 45 minutes.

Alban Berg quoted the third movement in his Lyric Suite for string quartet.

Instrumentation

Woodwinds

4 flutes (3rd and 4th doubling piccolos)

3 oboes (3rd doubling cor anglais)

3 clarinets in A/B-flat (3rd doubling E-flat clarinet)

3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon)

Brass

3 trumpets in C

Percussion

Keyboards

Voices

Strings

1st violins

2nd violins

References

Notes and References

[Antony Beaumont]
Signale für die musikalische Welt No. 28, July 9, 1924, p. 1106