Alexander Zemlinsky

Alexander Zemlinsky was born on October 14, 1871 to Clara and Adolf von Zemlinsky. His family was poor, and took a lodger into their home when Alexander was only four years old. This lodger was an amateur pianist, and had moved to Vienna so that he could study music. Zemlinsky was allowed to sit in on piano lessons, and it was soon discovered that he learned very quickly. Soon he was given his own lessons, and was admitted into the Vienna Music Conservatory in 1884. He graduated in 1887 to the senior school, where he continued his studies. In 1892, he tried to join the military, but was found unfit for military service probably because of his height and weight. Zemlinsky was often referred to as ugly and skinny. He was only 5'2" with a large pointy nose and a receding chin.

Zemlinsky met Alma Schindler in 1900 when Alma became his student. He worked with her on the composition of her Lieder. Alma feared pregnancy and so they never consummated their relationship. Alma writes in her diary of her attraction to Zemlinsky, and notes: "He doesn't trust in his masculine appeal...--I don't find him ugly. I love his appearance. He's so small...when we walk together, he reaches up to my shoulder. [But then] all famous men were small--almost all. I believe he loves me truly, more truly than I love him, for I haven't yet lost my head" (397-98).

Zemlinsky and Alma never marry. Alma's stepfather Carl Moll does not approve because Zemlinsky was raised Jewish. Also, Zemlinsky's poverty and ugliness are two additional reasons why her family does not approve. Eventually Alma breaks off the relationship with him and soon after marries Gustav Mahler.

Click below for a few photos of Zemlinsky:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39974385@N00/sets/72157594448564470/

They following is a link to the non-scholarly source with some additional information of Zemlinsky in relationship with Alma Schindler:
http://www.alma-mahler.at/engl/almas_life/zemlinsky.html

Some of the information above came from the following sources:
Beaumont, Antony. Zemlinsky. Ithaca, New York: Cornell U. Press, 2000.
---, Trans. Alma Mahler-Werfel Diaries 1898-1902. London: Faber and Faber, 1998.