ERIC ZEISL

Biography      Archives       Performances         Recordings       Essays and Articles         Publishers      Catalogue

Biography

"Eric Zeisl was born in Vienna on May 18, 1905. From childhood, he demonstrated an unshakable resolve to compose. Against strong family resistance, he entered the Vienna State Academy at age fourteen. Two years later, his first publication appeared, a set of songs. Despite acclaim as one of Austria's brightest young compositional lights, Zeisl eventually fell victim to Europe's gathering political storm. In November, 1938, he fled Vienna for Paris and temporary refuge, but it was only upon reaching America in September, 1939 that he found permanent sanctuary. Against formidable odds, he achieved recognition in his adopted land, with praise for his work coming from fellow composers Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Darius Milhaud, Igor Stravinsky, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Alexandre Tansman, Hanns Eisler, Ernst Toch, and Alma Mahler-Werfel, among others. Then, on February 18, 1959, at the age of 53 and at the height of his creative powers, Eric Zeisl suffered a heart attack after teaching an evening class at Los Angeles City College. He died that night." (Prof. Malcolm Cole, author of Armseelchen: The Life and Music of Eric Zeisl, published by Greenwood Press.)

Zeisl's music is richly tonal, but with a modern sensibility. Prof. Malcolm Cole describes his style as "notable for expressive melody, rich harmonies, strong dance-derived rhythms, and imaginative scoring." He was perhaps the youngest of the once successful emigré composers who were forced to abandon their careers and flee Europe. Zeisl was hurt more than most because his reputation had not yet been secured. He won an Austrian state prize in 1934 (for a Requiem Mass), but because he was a Jew he could not secure a publishing contract since his works would have by that time been banned in Germany, the primary market. (He was just 29 years old.) Despite this disadvantage, the Viennese publishers Universal Edition and Ludwig Doblinger published Zeisl's orchestral works and songs in the 1930's.  The Anschluss in March 1938 abruptly ended hopes of any future Central European publications or performances including the planned premieres of Zeisl's comic opera Leonce and Lena (after Georg Büchner) by Radio Prague and at Vienna's Schönbrunn Schlosstheater.  After narrowly escaping capture during the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9, 1938, Zeisl and his wife fled from Vienna, settling first in Paris, where Zeisl began his lasting friendship with Darius Milhaud.  Upon his arrival in New York at the end of 1939, Zeisl obtained a number of radio performances (and received an unused recommendation from Hanns Eisler for study with Arnold Schoenberg), but he was soon lured to Hollywood, where he suffered from being a late-comer to the movies. He worked on a number of well-known films, but never received a screen credit. He soon abandoned film music and returned to serious composition. Zeisl was composer-in-residence at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute and at the Huntington Hartford Foundation. At Los Angeles City College, his students included oscar-winning film composer Jerry Goldsmith. The composers Leon Levitch, Robin Frost and Julie Mandel also studied with Zeisl.  In Hollywood, Zeisl composed a piano concerto, cello concerto (for Gregor Piatigorsky), four ballets, numerous choral and chamber works, and half of an unfinished opera, before being felled by a heart attack after teaching the composition theory class (later taught by Ernst Krenek) at Los Angeles City College on February 18, 1959.

Archive

The Eric Zeisl Archive is located at the University of California at Los Angeles. The archives contain nearly all of Zeisl's music manuscripts, as well as a vast correspondence which has been indexed and computerized for research on-line.  A complete list of works in the archive is also here.

This site has an extensive non-commercial archive of mp3 files of interviews and lectures.  The mp3 archive includes the audio guide from the extensive 2005 Eric Zeisl exhibition (view catalogue) at the Jewish Museum of Vienna.

Eric Zeisl's family tree is also on the web.  You can also read Gertrud Zeisl's oral history, or listen to it here.

Barbara Zeisl Schoenberg's Eric Zeisl Page has additional photos.

Performances

A list of recent and upcoming performances

Books and Recordings

Click here for a list of books and commercial recordings of Zeisl's works.  Further information on Zeisl recordings is also available here.

This site has an extensive non-commercial archive of mp3 files of performances and recordings of Zeisl's works, which are available for study purposes only.

Two books on Zeisl, Fremd bin ich ausgezogen (2005) and . . . es grusst dich Erichisrael (2008) by Dr. Karin Wagner are available from Czernin Verlag.  Prof. Malcolm Cole's  Armseelchen: The Life and Music of Eric Zeisl (1984) is available from Greenwood Press.

View the catalogue of the 2005 Eric Zeisl exhibit at the Jewish Museum of Vienna.

Essays, Articles, Interviews, Lectures, Videos

Biographical Essay (Gertrud Zeisl)
Biographical Essay (Barbara Zeisl Schoenberg -- German) PHOTOS
The Reception of Austrian Composers In Los Angeles (Barbara Zeisl Schoenberg) 
Requiem for a Composer (Lynn Gaubatz)
Morgenstern Lieder liner notes (Malcolm Cole)
Eric Zeisl: The Rediscovery of an Emigre Composer (Malcolm Cole, Musical Quarterly 1978 LXIV(2):237-244)
Interview with Maria Altmann (Barbara Zeisl Schoenberg)
Hilde Spiel und Erich Zeisl
Requiem Ebraico (youtube)
Archival interviews and lectures

Publishers

To obtain scores or parts for any of Eric Zeisl's works, please contact Z.M.P.

The music of Eric Zeisl is published by a number of publishers, including:

Eric Zeisl and Z.M.P. are members of ASCAP.

Please send an email to Z.M.P. at randols @ bslaw.net if you would like any more information about the works of Eric Zeisl.

Catalogue

Eric Zeisl's works include the following (for more detailed information visit the on-line catalog at the Eric Zeisl Archive or search through our archive of mp3 files):

Published Works

Songs:

Choral Works: Solo and Chamber Music:
Orchestral Works: Ballets: Unpublished Works

Songs:

Choral Works: Solo and Chamber Music: Orchestral Works: Ballets: Operas: To obtain scores or parts for any of Eric Zeisl's works, please contact Z.M.P.