A Florentine Tragedy

If, as the editor states, Zemlinsky's A Florentine Tragedy is one of the milestones of 20th century music theatre, its path to acceptance was rather arduous. Beginning with the troubled text by Oscar Wilde, Zemlinsky dove into the work as if in a fever. A problem arose in requesting the rights to Wilde's text, not helped by timing (and World War I), and this was but one impediment to its performance. The editor provides a complete history of the work, in historical context, along with critical commentary, which, itself is fascinating reading. There follows the complete piano-vocal score in the 1916 UE edition, with revisions in 2011.