Details

The dwarf of the title is a birthday present for the Infanta of Spain - a toy for her to play with. He falls in love with her, but she, with all a child's ingenuous cruelty, can only break his heart. Alma Mahler, with whom Zemlinsky was infatuated, described him as a 'horrid little dwarf'. Little wonder, then, that he was moved to write a piece - based on a story by Oscar Wilde - about the 'tragedy of the ugly man', who has, nonetheless, a great capacity for love. There is, in the words of Alban Berg, 'a wonderful flow of glorious melody' running throughout the score, and The Dwarf is, altogether, a highly charged, deeply affecting music drama.

Creatives/Company

Music: Alexander Zemlinsky