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| Alexander Zemlinsky (1872-1942) composer & Alma´s composition tutor and lover The Austrian composer, who in recent years has come back into fashion, was Alma Schindler´s composition tutor from 1897 onwards. Under his guidance, the musically gifted young woman composed a whole number of songs after poems by Rilke, Heine and others. Zemlinsky was a teacher without parallel; he taught Arnold Schönberg too, with whom he was also friends. After Gustav Klimt had stolen a first kiss from Alma in Genua, Zemlinsky became his successor in Alma´s heart. She allowed him to kiss and caress her, permitting him every intimacy but the ultimate, thereby almost driving him to madness. For his part, he knew how to arose Alma´s wakening sexuality with a passion which allowed her never to forget his »virtuoso hands«. The relationship was an emotional roller-coaster, and Alma tortured Zemlinsky for two years until, in 1902, she decided against him and in favour of marriage to Gustav Mahler, who was twenty years her senior. | |||
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