He was too modern for the conservatives, and he did not manage to catch up with the 'New Music', despite his close personal relationship to Schönberg' - This brief characterization of Zemlinskys compositional style shows that the composer 'feil between two stools' even while he was alive. The opera was written at ththe suggestion of Gustav Mahler between 1903 and 1906. In 1907 he was engaged by Mahler as director of music at the Court Opera; at the same time, his third opera 'Der Traumgörge' (Görge the Dreamer) was accepted for its first performance. Following Mahler's resignation, however, the opera was dropped by Mahler's successor, even though it had already been rehearsed, and it stayed untouched till the 1970s when the scores and parts have been found in the archive of Vienna State Opera. It's time that this recording - who was the first complete recordings - as well as Zemlinsky's masterpiece turn back to the awareness of the musical life.