Eric Zeisl was a representative of the moderate Viennese Modern Age. Art songs, instrumental and chamber music pieces, choir and orchestra works as well as pieces for musical dramas were characteristic of his oeuvre. In the spring and summer of 1938, the Zeisl family – which was of Jewish decent – escaped the Nazi terror to Baden near Vienna. The composer already corresponded at that time with the writer Hilde Spiel who had been living in exile in London since 1936.

Following the November pogroms of 1938, the Zeils fled to Paris. While there, Eric Zeisl was commissioned to do the music for the stage performance of Joseph Roth’s novel Hiob. Members of Vienna’s Reinhardt Ensemble brought this performance to the stage of the Théâtre Pigalle in July 1939 in remembrance of the author who had died in Paris. Zeisl worked on the opera Hiob until the end of his life, for which Hans Kafka wrote the libretto. This work remained unfinished, however. In Paris Eric Zeisl met Darius Milhaud and Alma Mahler-Werfel.

The Zeisls reached New York in September 1939 and, despite their poor financial situation, better times followed. After the birth of their daughter Barbara in May 1940, the family moved to Mamaroneck in New York State. With the help of Hans Kafka and Hanns Eisler, Zeisl moved to Los Angeles in 1941 following an invitation by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. However, the sought-after success was not to come in Hollywood. Zeisl overcame the creative block he had, which was brought about by the movie business, by turning towards Jewish themes and above all by composing  his Requiem Ebraico (1944/45). On 18 February 1959 Eric Zeisl dies of a heart attack following a lecture at Los Angeles City College.

Further reading:
Barclay, Barbara / Cole, Malcolm S.: Armseelchen. The Life and Music of Eric Zeisl, Westport: Greenwood Press 1984
Hanak, Werner / Haas, Michael / Wagner, Karin (Hg.): musik des aufbruchs. endstation schein-heiligenstadt. eric zeisls flucht nach hollywood. Begleitpublikation zur Ausstellung vom 30. November 2005 bis 26. März 2006. Wien: Jüdisches Museum 2005
Wagner, Karin: Fremd bin ich ausgezogen. Eric Zeisl – Biografie. Wien: Czernin 2005
Wagner, Karin (Hg.): ... es grüßt Dich Erichisrael. Briefe von und an Eric Zeisl, Hilde Spiel, Richard Stöhr, Ernst Toch, Hans Kafka u. a. Wien: Czernin 2008

Selected works:
Hiob (Oper, unvollendet, 1. Akt 1939/1940, 2. Akt 1957/1958)
The 92nd Psalm – Requiem Ebraico (S-A-T-B-Solo/gemischter Chor/Orgel oder Klavier oder Orchester, 1944/1945)
Sonata for Violin and Piano – Brandeis Sonata (1949/1950)
Sonata for Viola and Piano (1950)
Sonata for Cello and Piano (1951)
Second String Quartet in D Minor (1953)