Alexander von Zemlinsky was the composition teacher and most probably one of the lovers of Alma Schindler, who married Gustav Mahler, the nucleus of the Viennese musical atom. It was, in fact, Alma’s study of Bach with Zemlinsky that led Mahler to revise his compositional style back toward the more traditional, instrumentally based weltanschauung that produced Symphonies No. 5, 6, and 7. (His wife’s closeness to her mentor certainly led Mahler to mount two Zemlinsky works for the stage during his tenure at the Hofoper.)

Perhaps even more critical for Zemlinsky’s immortality was his relationship with his sister’s husband, Arnold Schonberg, with whom he had a symbiotic exchange of influence. Schonberg wrote his early efforts, particularly the tone poem “Pelleas und Melisande,” in the decaying-bouquet style of Zemlinsky; later Zemlinsky works such as the String Quartet No. 4 would have been inconceivable without the radical harmonic experimentation of his younger brother-in-law.

On Monday afternoon at the Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players performed Zemlinsky’s “Two Movements for String Quintet,” written in the same novelistic style as his four quartets. Lovingly and expertly played by a quartet plus second viola, this was truly impressive music-making. The Allegro was remarkably wellblended and the Prestissimo a very exciting illustration of that Viennese fantasy of how “Gypsy” music is supposed to sound.

Also on offer was Carl Reinecke’s Sextet for Winds. Reinecke conducted the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig from 1860-95, and he, too, was a famous teacher; his most important pupil, Cosima Wagner, exerted perhaps more influence on late-19th-century music than any other personality. Reinecke’s prolific output included operas, symphonies, concertos, and much chamber music.What he lacked in melodic inspiration, he made up for in technical facility.

A rarity among rarities, the Sextet for Winds sounded a lot better in Monday’s rehearsal – I arrived early – than it did during the actual performance, which was a bit ragged in more than a few spots. Overall, however, this was a pleasant traversal of some Romantic minutiae. The players presented it with the infectious enthusiasm of the amateur, in the best sense of the word.

It was an amateur viola player at the end of the 19th century who composed the most expressive pieces for the instrument. Indeed, Brahms’s two Sonatas for Clarinet (or viola) and Piano, the Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano (later arranged for viola), and the Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet (also later arranged for viola, but not by its original composer) stand as a unique set: They express no melancholy or regret, no religious questioning or longing, only appreciation and satisfaction for a brilliantly lived life. Brahms meant for the sonatas to be played on the viola as much as on the clarinet, and they are the staples of the violist’s chamber music repertoire.

The composer first played with the deeper register of the instrument in his Two Songs, Op. 91 for Alto Voice and Viola, one of which is a very moving and grandmotherly cradle song reminiscent of his famous “Wiegenlied” lullaby. Except for the obvious aural differences in enunciation, the alto and the viola sounds are almost identical in these two lovely miniatures.

Mezzo-soprano Desiree Halac presented the songs and was extremely careful to intone all the notes properly.Perhaps a bit too careful – she seemed to sacrifice emotive power for intonational accuracy. But this was still a polished effort, and the young singer ably matched her lyrical, dreamlike tone with the violist’s. A staple of the repertoire, Schumann’s Piano Trio No. 2, rounded out the program.

When an entire neighborhood was leveled to make room for Lincoln Center, this church was the only building to survive. Now, 45 years on, it houses musical performances that are the legitimate rival of the colossus all around it.