Today attention to the man whose sweetheart Alma was taken away by Gustav Mahler. The man who fell between two styles: high-romanticism on the one hand and modernism on the other. This is Alexander von Zemlinsky. His music had fallen into oblivion after his death, but in recent years more attention has been paid to him. He was versatile and composed in a variety of genres. In this episode, we let you hear the opera “Eine Florentinische Tragödie”.
The piece is based on a work by Oscar Wilde. The story is about the Florentine merchant Simone who finds his adulterous wife Bianca at home with Prince Guido. He offers Guido everything in his house and he naturally chooses Bianca. Then, after some perils, this leads to a duel between the two men, during which Simone kills Guido. After his wife witnesses this, she falls in love with Simone again and they embrace.
The performers are soprano Deborah Voigt as Bianca, tenor David Kuebler [koebler] as Guido and baritone Donnie Ray Albert as Simone. They are accompanied by the Cologne Orchestra conducted by James Conlon.
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