Digitized autobiographical opera
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Mein Lebenslauf, an autobiographical cantata by Georg Schönberg with text by himself , was and remains an important linguistic, cultural, and historical document as well as a work of art.
Georg Schönberg (1906-74) was the son of renowned composer Arnold Schönberg by his first wife, Mathilde Zemlinsky, sister of his good friend Alexander Zemlinsky. Unlike his father and uncle, Georg was forced by circumstances beyond his control to remain in Nazi-occupied Austria throughout World War II, and while not Jewish, he was designated a Jew by the Gestapo and lived in constant fear of being deported to the “East.”
He was also a composer, but only a handful of his works besides the cantata have survived: Sieben Balladen, a Bläserquartet for English horn, horn, clarinet, and flute, and Sechs Stücke für Bläserquartet.
Mein Lebenslauf was premiered on November 4, 2004 by a small performance group called The Lark Ascending at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York City.
Here is a link to a digitized version of that performance. Feel free to use it in classes.
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