Our Perception Our perception of the Viennese fin de siècle often remains imprecise. While this period was characterized by artistic and cultural awakening, a pronounced conservative attitude prevailed at the same time. Despite the presence of innovative figures such as Mahler, Schoenberg, Freud, Schnitzler, Hofmannsthal, Loos, Klimt, and Schiele, who broke new ground with their ideas, traditional views continued to dominate in many Viennese institutions. The academies that had produced these artists, in particular, clung to the established status quo and met innovations with reluctance. Many representatives of literature, music, and art therefore found the intellectual climate oppressive, as the conflict between preservation and innovation led to radical experiments.
Vienna's musical life was under the influence of the Society of Friends of Music, which ran both the Conservatory and the Musikverein. Instruction there was solid, but strongly oriented toward tradition and not very open to innovation. Society favored established composers like Brahms and marginalized contemporary musical movements, such as those of Wagner and Liszt. It was in this divided atmosphere that Alexander Zemlinsky began his career, shaped by a wide range of musical influences.
Zemlinsky's studies at the conservatory were characterized by rigorous formal training, particularly under his teacher Robert Fuchs, who was known for his conservative approach. Nevertheless, Zemlinsky's early works reflect his creative engagement with the learned rules and his openness to new influences. His first symphony, in D minor, premiered in 1893 under Fuchs's direction, also attracted the attention of Brahms, who attended the concert.
Subsequently, Zemlinsky continued to follow Brahms's style and composed his Symphony in B-flat major in the year of Brahms's death. This work combined various compositional influences with Zemlinsky's own distinctive style and simultaneously marked a significant artistic development. The symphony was awarded the Beethoven Prize and exemplifies Zemlinsky's gradual transformation.
As Zemlinsky increasingly came into contact with new musical currents, he came to appreciate the importance of his traditional training and the influence of Brahms more and more, while simultaneously moving toward the avant-garde. The Viennese music scene was in flux, and the previously dominant conservative stance was beginning to crumble. Zemlinsky's two early symphonies offer insight into this period of transition and reveal the artistic upheavals of that time.