Recordings of Zemlinsky's operas have moved on from the powerful double bill of his maturity—Eine florentinische Tragodie and Der Zwerg—to explore his earlier efforts. Der Traumgorge precedes the double bill by more than a decade, and Es war einmal (''Once upon a time'') is even earlier. Zemlinsky's second opera, it was composed between 1897 and 1899, and is evidently a work of consolidation in a style best defined as post-Wagnerian.
Es war einmal is of interest to historians because the final pages of Act 1 were apparently composed by Mahler: he conducted the premiere, and Zemlinsky's own ending had failed to satisfy either of them. But is the opera of interest to anyone else? Up to a point it is, especially if you can tolerate a quasi-Wagnerian treatment of a tale that really needs the lighter touch of a Lortzing or a Cornelius. Based on a Hans Christian Andersen story, it tells of a Princess who, having haughtily rejected a Princely suitor, learns the error of her ways when the said Prince disguises himself as a gipsy, wins her as his wife by a trick, and then wins her love by making her experience Real Life away from the luxuries of her palace home.
The best music in Es war einmal is the simplest, like the Prince's gipsy song in Act 1 and his folk-like ditty in Act 2. Zemlinsky has an attractively light touch in these episodes, and while much of the opera's turbulent and impassioned music is more dutifully in Wagner's shadow than Zemlinsky would later have countenanced—he was only 26 when he began the work—it is by no means bad of its kind. Only the endings of Acts 2 and 3 threaten to grow excessively ponderous.
Like the Capriccio issue of Der Traumgorge (3/89), this recording gives a rather forward placement to the voices. Yet the well-played orchestral contribution is probably less crucial here than in the later work. Some of the supporting singers are on the weak side, but the principals compensate. Kurt Westi's full-blown tenor has patches of stridency in the upper register, but he avoids overemphasis in the opera's lighter moments. Eva Johansson has fewer opportunities to shine as the Princess, but she still makes a positive impression in a role guaranteed to have feminists grinding their teeth. Es war einmal has certainly dated, but has not lost all its charm in the process.'