See also http://www.schoenberglaw.com/zeisl

Zeisl, Eric [Erich]

(b Vienna, 18 May 1905; d Los Angeles, 18 Feb 1959). American composer of Austrian birth. A student of Richard Stohr, Joseph Marx and Hugo Kauder, Zeisl achieved early recognition, publishing his first songs at the age of 16 and winning the Austrian State Prize in 1934 for the Requiem concertante (1933--4). He was compelled to leave Austria and went first to Paris (1938) and then to the USA (1939). He moved from New York to Hollywood to work for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1941), then settled in Los Angeles and became professor of theory and composition at Los Angeles City College in 1949. His gifts for melody, orchestration and dramatic expression were first developed in the songs of his Austrian years. Evident in his other Austrian compositions are the variation techniques and contrapuntal textures that would become lifelong preoccupations. In the USA, where he produced roughly half of his output, he abandoned song in order to devote more attention to instrumental pieces, sacred music and especially dramatic works, which powerfully express his Jewish heritage. Throughout his career he derived his large forms principally from those of the Baroque and Classical periods, but after his emigration earlier Austro-German Romantic elements were replaced by a combination of soaring, cantillation-like melodies, modal harmonies, metric shifts, flexible rhythmic patterns and dark orchestral colours.

WORKS
Stage: Leonce and Lena (Singspiel, 3, J. Kafka, after H.P. Konigsgarten, after G. Buchner), 1937; Job (op, 2, Kafka, after J. Roth), 1939--41, 1957--9, inc.; The Return of Ulysses (incid music, E. Ludwig), 1943; Uranium 235 (ballet, M. Dekobra), 1945--6; The Vineyard (ballet, B. Zemach, after Bible), 1953; Jacob and Rachel (ballet, Zemach, after Bible), 1954
Orch: Passacaglia-Fantasia, e, 1933; Kleine Sinfonia, f--a, 1935--6; Scherzo und Fuge, a--D, str, 1936--7 [from Str Qt no.1, 1930--33]; November, 6 sketches, chbr orch, 1937--8; Music for Christmas, G, 1950; Pf Conc., C, 1951--2; Conc. grosso, d--F, vc, orch, 1955--6
Choral: Afrika singt (F. Horne, L. Hughes), c1930; Requiem concertante, S, A, T, B, SATB, orch, 1933--4; Cant. of Verses (A. Silesius, Bible), SATB, orch, 1935; Requiem ebraico (Ps xcii), S, A, Bar, SATB, org/orch, 1944--5; 4 Songs for Wordless Chorus (Songs for the Daughter of Jephtha), SA, pf/str, hp/pf, tpt, timp, 1948; From the Book of Psalms, T, TB, orch, 1952
Chbr and solo inst: Triosuite, b--B, vn, vc, pf, c1920--24; [13] Pieces for Barbara, pf, 1944; 4 Pf Pieces for Good Players, 1944; Prelude, a, org, 1944; Sonata barocca, f--D, pf, 1948--9; Sonata 'Brandeis', e--C, vn, pf, 1949--50; Sonata, a--A, va, pf, 1950; Sonata, a--D, vc, pf, 1951; Str Qt no.2, d--G, 1953; Trio 'Arrowhead', d--D, fl, va, hp, 1956
Songs: 3 Lieder (?, Schreyvogl, Mading), S, Bar, pf (c1922); Mondbilder (C. Morgenstern), Bar, pf/orch, 1928; 6 Kinderlieder (C. Brentano and A. von Arnim: Das Knaben Wunderhorn, R. Dehmel), S, pf/orch (1933); 6 Lieder (J.F. von Eichendorff and others), Bar, pf (1935); 7 Lieder (A. Holz and others), S, pf (1936); Prayer 'For the United Nations' (Bible), S, pf/org/orch, 1945
MSS, scores and papers in Eric Zeisl Archive, US-LAu
Principal publishers: Belwin-Mills, Doblinger, Fischer, Osterreichischer Bundesverlag, Transcontinental, Universal

BIBLIOGRAPHY
M.S. Cole: 'Eric Zeisl's ''American'' Period', CMc, no.18 (1974), 71--8
M.S. Cole: 'Eric Zeisl: the Rediscovery of an Emigre Composer', MQ, lxiv (1978), 237--44
G.S. Zeisl: Eric Zeisl: his Life and Music [transcript of interview, 1978, by M.S. Cole, copy in Zeisl Archive]
M.S. Cole and B. Barclay: Armseelchen: the Life and Music of Eric Zeisl (Westport, CT, 1984)
M.S. Cole: 'Eric Zeisl's ''Hiob'': The Story of an Unsung Opera', OQ, ix (1992), 52--75
 

MALCOLM S. COLE