Ludwig Zenk Music Manuscripts
Catalog Record: http://lccn.loc.gov/2010561027
General International Standard for Archival Description
Music Division Library of Congress Washington, D.C.
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Music Division, 2010
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Ludwig Zenk Music Manuscripts 1930-1947
Zenk, Ludwig
Biographical History for: Ludwig Zenk Music Manuscripts 1930-1947
Biographical Note Austrian composer and conductor Ludwig Zenk was born Nov. 18, 1900, in Vienna. Beginning in 1920, he studied musicology at the University of Vienna, where he participated in a Kapellmeister course given by Anton Webern under the auspices of Arnold Schönberg’s seminar for composition. Between 1921 and 1925, Zenk studied theory and composition with Webern and became one of his first students after settling in Mödling after World War I. From 1925 to 1931, he served as Kapellmeister in Iglau, Znaim, and Meissen. Zenk renewed his studies with Webern in 1930 and later studied conducting with Hermann Scherchen from 1932-1933. He became secretary of the Austrian section of the International Society for Contemporary Music (of which Webern was president) in 1933, a position he held until 1938. Zenk worked as a private teacher and taught in the Arbeiterkonservatorium until its dissolution, alongside the Social Democratic Party of Austria, in 1934. From 1938-1948, he was musical director of the Theater in Josefstadt, where he conducted and composed incidental music for plays. With the closing of Vienna’s theaters in 1944, Zenk registered for the Army (where previously he had been refused due to a heart condition) to work for a munitions plant. A nervous ailment that had paralyzed his left hand, however, led to his conscription with the specialized Volkssturm in 1945, a corps that consisted of men unsuitable for traditional military service. Though considered by Anton Webern to be his most gifted pupil, Ludwig Zenk has received little recognition for his work as a composer. Zenk and Webern became life-long friends due in part to their mutual love for mountaineering and gardening. Zenk was also a fine amateur photographer and captured numerous shots of Webern on hikes and expeditions. The composers' friendship was further strengthened when the encroaching Nazi regime forced many of Webern’s friends to flee the country or go into hiding. Zenk was one of the few who could remain relatively unscathed. Despite his former reputation as a radical leftist, Zenk became an ardent National Socialist and tried to convert Webern to the party's cause. Realizing his indebtedness to Jewish musicians, including Eduard Steuermann and David Josef Bach, Zenk adopted a more tempered outlook, declaring men such as Arnold Schoenberg, Karl Kraus, and Gustav Mahler "exempt by virtue of their art." He passed away just years after the collapse of the Nazi regime at the age of 49. Throughout his career, Zenk's music achieved comparatively little popular success. In 1933, he won the Emil-Hertzka Prize for his Klaviersonate, op. 1, a work dedicated to his teacher Anton Webern and later published by Universal Edition, the organizer of the competition. The judges included Webern, Gustav Scheu, Alban Berg, Ernst Krenek, Franz Schmidt, Erwin Stein, and Egon Wellesz. So many of the 267 compositions entered that year were of such high quality that the jury divided the prize money equally among five winners. Among them were Schoenberg pupils Roberto Gerhard and Norbert von Hannenheim, Berg's disciple Julius Schloss, Pisk's student Leopold Spinner, and Zenk himself. In 1947, Zenk won second prize in the Lied-Komposition category of the Österreichischer Musikwettbewerb, organized by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, for his Trakl Lieder, op. 9, of which nos. 1-5 were submitted for the competition.
Scope and Content Note The Ludwig Zenk Music Manuscripts consist of holograph manuscripts, sketches, and printed scores of compositions that date from 1930 to 1947. Prominent works include Klaviersonate, op. 1, no. 1 and Trakl Lieder, op. 9, settings of texts from Georg Trakl’s Gesang zur Nacht and other poems. In addition, the collection includes Streichquartett, op.2, no. 1, Klaviersonate, op. 4, no. 2, and scores in varying states of completion for a variety of instrumental and vocal works. Compositions are arranged first by opus number, then alphabetically by title where there is no opus number. All manuscripts are in the hand of the composer unless otherwise noted. The "Miscellaneous Materials" contain two photographs of an unidentified sculpted bust and Zenk's second prize certificate from the 1947 Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde competition.
series
Music Manuscripts
file
Works with opus number
Op. 1: Klaviersonate No. 1
Score; 26 p.
Score; 36 p.
Sketches and tone rows
Printed score with annotations
Op. 2: Streichquartette No. 1
Score
Parts
Sketches of first movement
Op. 3: 3 Lieder nach Trakl
Piano-vocal score
Sketches
Op. 4: Klaviersonate No. 2
Op. 5: 4 Lieder nach Berthold Viertel
Op. 6: 2 Chöre nach Johannes Klay
Vocal score
Op. 9: Trakl Lieder
Vocal parts for songs nos. 1-8
Works without opus number
Messe
Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano
Unidentified work for orchestra
Verklärter Herbst
Miscellaneous sketches
Black sketchbook, undated
Purple sketchbook, 1932-1933
Tan sketchbook, 1934
Unidentified sketches and tone rows
Miscellaneous Materials
Two photographs of unidentified sculpted bust and second prize certificate from the 1947 Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde competition