Gustav Mahler: A Life in Crisis

Book Description

The life of the brilliant composer and conductor Gustav Mahler was punctuated by crisis. His parents both died in 1889, leaving him the reluctant head of a household of siblings. He himself endured a nearly fatal medical ordeal in 1901. A beloved daughter died in 1907 and that same year, under pressure, Mahler resigned from the directorship of the Vienna Opera. In each case Mahler more than mastered the trauma; he triumphed in the creation of new major musical works.
The final crisis of Mahler’s career occurred in 1910, when he learned that his wife, Alma, was having an affair with the architect Walter Gropius. The revelation precipitated a breakdown while Mahler was working on his Tenth Symphony. The anguished, suicidal notes Mahler scrawled across the manuscript of the unfinished symphony revealed his troubled state. A four-hour consultation with Sigmund Freud in Leiden, Holland, restored the composer’s equilibrium. Although Mahler left little record of what transpired in Leiden, Stuart Feder has reconstructed the encounter on the basis of surviving evidence. The cumulative stresses of the crises in Mahler’s life, in particular Alma’s betrayal, left him physically and emotionally vulnerable. He became ill and died soon after in 1911.
At once a sophisticated consideration of Mahler’s work and a psychologically acute portrait of the life events that shaped it, this book extends our thinking about one of the great masters of modern music.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful, fascinating read ..........2006-11-20

This was a fascinating read from start to finish. Feder's psychoanalsis and assumptions aside, Mahler's life was already interesting and filled with excess drama. His relationship with his wife (another fascinating character) and all the name droppings around their small circle of friends/lovers/associates, etc., made this account one any Mahler fan will read cover to cover in a day or two. Just great stuff.

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A good, aloof Mahler biography.
A tribute to a philosophical, creative genious

The Life of Mahler (Musical Lives)
Peter Franklin
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521467616

Amazon.com

This is a well-written biography that eschews mythology in favor of a closer examination of both biographical and musical materials. A generation after the first wave of Mahler appreciation, Peter Franklin takes a new look from a different angle and succeeds in separating myth from fact, making this book a most welcome one. It does, however, presume a certain amount of prior knowledge of Mahler, his circle, and his music, so don't go into it completely cold.

Book Description

As a leading European conductor and the composer of enormous and controversial symphonies, Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) inspired mythologizers in his own lifetime. Some of them were personal friends, concerned with countering biased criticism of him in which German-nationalist, hide-bound traditionalist or anti-Semitic elements were often mixed. In this new biography, Peter Franklin reconfronts the myth of Mahler-the-misunderstood-hero and attempts to find the person, or persons, behind the legends. His illuminating biography shows Mahler to be a profoundly sensitive thinker and composer, a dictatorial conductor and husband, an iconoclast and paradoxically, a traditionalist.

Customer Reviews:

A good, aloof Mahler biography........2003-04-01

This biography is an excellent introduction into the life of the composer Gustav Mahler. The creative process of his symphonies and his relationship with his wife, the free-spirited Alma, is revealed in great detail, and Franklin avoids any declaration of opinion, forming assumptions through thorough research. And the research comes from reliable resources (Alma's diaries, Mahler's letters, Bauer-Lechner's accounts), and Franklin is clear when the resource may not be all-together reliable.

I particularly appreciated the way he handled the hot topic of the detrimental relationship between Mahler and Alma. He claims that the uneasy marriage is due to the fault of both. Mahler wanted Alma to be an ideal wife, but she desired to be free. Some could say that she was an early feminist, but Franklin doesn't make that assertion. The reader is left to form his own opinion.

The storytelling is often very lucid simply by the careful arrangement of primary accounts, be they newspaper articles, memoirs, letters or diary entries.

The book is not a threatening size, but the content is not something that can be absorbed all in one sitting. Two-hundred pages probably isn't enough to explain all of Mahler's life, but I believe everything of general import is mentioned in this book and analysis is thorough and journalistically sound.

A tribute to a philosophical, creative genious.......2001-08-23

The first glance of this biography told me that what I was about to read was an incredabley detailed and devoted branch of modern, biographical literature (warning, have some prior basic knowledge of Mahler before reading!) Dr. Franklin has certainly shined in this exploration, which cerculates the success of a once dreamy, inspirational child, who became a more practical intellectual both as a composer and conducter. The relationships between Mahler's life and his music are forefronted amongst a variety of primrary and secondary sources, including people most close to the impatient, hot-tempered perfectionist, contrasted with those who simply try to interperate his ideas. The course of development is fine-tuned, also, with several illustrated sources, indicating the places where Mahler had worked and their significances. Within this course embodies the causes and effects of his ideas. Austria-Hungary was riddled with anti-semites, which affected Mahler in more ways than one. Vienna, deaths, modernists, religion, nature, nationalism, and other aspects are explored due to their effect, making this exceptional innovator the eclectic, liberal idealist he would increasingly become. These aspects are brought to us honestly and without bias, which is one of Franklins' great assests. The biography is backed up extensively by quotes, especially from the accounts of de La Grange and auxiliary versions. An introduction prepares the reader with Franklin's task throughout the book, accompanied by the usual notes and useful aids, especially for readers wishing to pursue their interests towards other texts.
The special aspect of theis book is the story being told as it was, with the relationships between Mahler and his wife, the people he worked with, friends, family, and even counter-examinations, where no bias lies. The criticisms are presented to us as well as more valuable accounts recording Mahler's abnormal personality in a way in which we can truely get to grips with this man's philosophy, stringing his ideas in juxtaposition and calculating his aims and methods of going about them. If you like song, dance, long and flowing melodies and richly expressive harmonies, then you will certainly take to the nine symphonies of Mahler. Mahler's sense of colour ranks with the great masters of orchestration, and the spirit of song permeates his art, taking inspirations from cultures of countries like China, with the poems of Li Po. You can learn much more about his sources of inspiration, the times in which he composed, and how those times affected Mahler throughout this biography. Franklin brings forthe descriptions and induces two-way notions to get the reader thinking about these sources, as well as picturing Vienna at the turn of the century and the changing, post-romantic era.
Mahler's life is remarkable, and Peter Franklin has clearly gone to trouble not to offend the person that he was and became, acknowledging the borders that shield wrongs lines of thought. For example, Mahler's wife (Alma) insists "a person should remain a 'person' and not be frozen into a legend, turned into an insufferable plaster-bust". Although we tend to think of composers as slightly odd, abnormal and completely different to ourselves, we must remember that they're still human beings. Franklin injects other points which back this up, touching on Mahler's love for nature and spirit, as well as art, love and religion. I have presented enough of the core elements of the biography, and so what is left is to declare the book as an excellent portrayal, using a variety of techniques in order to capture Mahler the Musician, and the real Mahler, whom always questioned the relationship of his life and his music. The book tends to display thoughts of irony, especially about Mahler's death, and would suit any musicain wishing to broaden thier philosophical answers to why we, and issues like those in Mahler's competitive life, exist. Indeed, any philosopher with enough scape to facilitate a focussed examination of a famous composer would find this biography useful. The book, however, does tend to be slightly uneasy about its purpose (in relation to two major preoccupations which are induced by two statements highlighted in the introduction). Franklin acknowledges this, and says there lies a knot of wide "interrelated issues concerning notions about 'art' and 'genious' and the ways in which they were mediated in the individual experience and in public creative activity in nineteenth-century Europe". That does not mean, though, that one can't interperat Franklins' notions; I found that the concepts of the string of issues formed neater towards the end by re-examining the two statements previously mentioned. That way, synoptically, one can focuss and understand the purpose of the accounts and methods in which the author put them to us, so that we may assemble the notions to acheive the resolution which every reader desires. If you are intellectual enough to percept the outcomes of this intelligent journey, simply jump on board!

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Time Travel Back to Old Vienna
Creativity and Human Development
Donýt you want to be her?
A personal and interesting insight.

Diaries 1898-1902
Alma Mahler-Werfel
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0801486645

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Alma Mahler was born in Vienna in 1879. As the daughter of the landscape painter Emile Schindler, she was afforded easy entrance into the cultural life of the city; it seems that by the time these diaries open there was no part of the artistic, musical, literary, and theatrical life in fin-de-siècle Vienna with which Alma was not intimately connected. Before marrying the composer Gustav Mahler in 1902, Alma had already been a pupil and lover of Zemlinsky, Klimt, and Burckhard. (And after Mahler died she married Walter Gropius, had an affair with Oskar Kokoschka, and then married Franz Werfel.) In combining the naiveté of a teenager on the cusp of womanhood with a wonderfully frank account of a remarkable time and place, Alma has left a priceless and unique record of personal and artistic history. The editor and translator Antony Beaumont rightly comments that reading the diaries is like "raising a curtain, behind which stands the Vienna of 1900 in all its majesty. So close that you can almost reach out and touch it". --Nick Wroe

Book Description

The manuscript of Alma Mahler's Diaries, a pile of old exercise books, lay unread and seemingly illegible in the library of an American university. In search of the truth about Alma and Alexander Zemlinsky, Antony Beaumont read them--and found what he was looking for. But he found far more: the authentic saga of one of the century's most charismatic personalities. The Diaries depict in intimate detail the four years during which Alma grew from adolescence into womanhood. Opening with her first, heady affair with Gustav Klimt, they break off shortly before her marriage to Gustav Mahler. "To me," writes Beaumont, "reading The Diaries is like raising a curtain, behind which stands the Vienna of 1900 in all its majesty, and so close that one can almost reach out and touch it. The vitality of everyday life, eye-witness accounts of significant artistic events, unique insights into the behavioral patterns and linguistic conventions of homo austriacus--all these serve to make the book unique." Having come to grips with Alma's handwriting, Beaumont and his coeditor for the German edition, Susanne Rode-Breymann, added meticulously researched commentaries and annotations. The German edition was published in the autumn of 1997.

Customer Reviews:

Time Travel Back to Old Vienna.......2006-04-10

Biographies can easily become subjective, as they rely upon the person telling the story. With diaries, we have almost a first-hand look at what the writer was thinking.

These diaries of Alma Mahler reveal the usual thoughts and feelings of a teenage girl and young woman. Alma desperately wishes to "be somebody," but she's not sure of how to achieve it. She spends years studying music, and practicing composition, but her works are simply fair or good, but not remarkable.

Then, she finds out what she's really outstanding at: attracting brilliant artists from all fields. This includes men such as Gustav Mahler, the composer, Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus architect, Franz Werfel, the novelist, Alexander von Zemlinsky, the composer, Gustav Klimt, the painter, Oskar Kokoschka, another painter, and many others.

Although her own art never achieved for her the fame she would have liked, perhaps she inspired all these other greats to go beyond what might have been their own limitations. There is a tendency, as you will see from photographs of Alma, to believe that men were attracted to her because of her spectacular beauty. But as you will see from these diaries, her personality must have also played a large role. She is coquettish, yet honest, and vacillates between between overestimating her successes, yet feeling humble about how much more she wishes she could be.

But what I believe you will find the best feature of this book, is seeing geniuses like Gustav Mahler and Walter Gropius, through the eyes of a young woman, who saw them up-close, as real, live men. It's like traveling back in time, for a close-up, personal look at these famous artists.

Creativity and Human Development.......2002-09-29

As a long-term diary writer myself I was interested in Mahler-Werfel's diary and the manner in which the voice of the nineteen-year old woman is expressed (and the next two years of her life). Often when I reread my own writings I cringe at my ideas and philosophies when I was young and it takes some time for me to empathise with myself and regain a feeling for the person I was. One of the great features of these diaries is that they truly express the voice of the nineteen-year old, they have not been edited to provide a more sophisticated voice. Perhaps Mahler-Werfel cringed a bit at herself in the way I do, perhaps that is why she never published these diaries during her lifetime, although we do know she gave it some consideration. But I think it is important that we heed the voice expressed in youthful writings because it reassociates us with the people we once were, and hopefully gives us greater empathy with the youth of today.
The most challenging aspect of these diaries is Mahler-Werfel's revelations of her growing sexual awareness with its contradictions, rapid changes of view, hesitancies, self criticism, and intemperate admissions. This is emotional and at times erotic writing. While we can allow Mahler-Werfel the licence to say what she wants about herself, it is less readily acceptable that she describes the behaviour of her partners - some of them quite historic figures. But this is the voice of youth going through very tumultuous personal times. Most people move through these times with varying degrees of ease and distress. Mahler-Werfel's writing reminded me of Wedekind's play `Springtime Awakening'. The awakening is not satisfactory for all - and is sometimes disastrous. For Mahler-Werfel we can only speculate.
Mahler-Werfel associated with many great artistic figures - in the times of these diaries there are Gustav Klimt, Alexander Zemlinsky and Gustav Mahler. Her reflections on these figures make them more alive than many histories. For her, they were living pulsing human beings and we see them in that way.
But was Mahler-Werfel extraordinary herself? I find it hard to decide. She obviously was not your average woman of the time, and yet it is possible to see her as just a spoilt rich girl who happened to have a pretty face. In her diaries she speaks of writing a song (lied) in a day, playing the whole of Tristan on the piano in an evening. And yet her musical examples noted in the diary are so poorly notated and often so inaccurate that it is hard not to think she had little genuine talent. Perhaps someone else completed the lieder from her tenuous musical ideas. But equally possible is that she was a real talent and, as popular history tells us, was suppressed by Mahler in their marriage. To me, however, there is another reading in that marriage to Mahler enabled her to renounce her musical ambitions, which she knew would never match those of Mahler no matter how hard she worked. To be fair about her musical notation however, we need to remember that all her writings border on the unreadable (perhaps that was deliberate - a sort of code?) although the single-minded line drawings she included are quite fine in a limited way (are they all of pretty Alma herself?).
Another way to judge her musical astuteness is her reviews and critiques of the many concerts she attended. At first look they seem to match the views of the day - wildly supportive of Wagner, dismissive of Bach, Saint-Saens and even Mozart. Was she just copying the view of the day? But then there are the changes of view - suddenly the opinion on Mozart changes, she starts to see some flat spots in Wagner. This does seem to suggest self-awareness in her musical views and even if it is selective acceptance of different critical opinion she shows a capability to make the change. There is one final thought that came to me as I read the diaries - perhaps her influence was so great (it certainly wasn't trivial) that she went some way to actually forming the critical view of the day.
I was immensely fascinated by these writings. If you are interested in human development and artistic creativity I recommend you do not overlook them. One thing is certain - Mahler-Werfel was an impassioned writer as a young woman.

Donýt you want to be her?.......2002-05-11

Alma Schindler - the goddess, the muse, the center of attention ... How did she manage that? How did she become an obsession of so many genial men, a thing of admiration of the Secessionist Vienna? But simply - she was a remarkable woman. And also, happened to be pretty and at the right place at the right time, born into an artistic family. It was said that she had a hearing defect. She would move closer to her companion in order to hear better. Men found that irresistible.

One would expect her to be vain and conceited. Through her diary, we entered her mind - she is none of that. At least, not more than any of us. She is an insecure girl. She has fears, doubts about herself, she loves passionately... Alas, her anti-Semitic feelings are shocking. At first, she is quite tolerant and objects anti-Semitic sentiments. Then she changes. One can only find the reason in propaganda being already pretty aggressive. She lives among Jewish families, loves Jewish men and marries two of them. Why then? And how did it happen that she married Mahler so quickly?

"Please God, give me some great mission, give me something great to do!" She could have been quite a good artist. Her drawings show certain talent that could have been developed into something much more. She could have taken drawing classes and maybe, her mission would have been even greater. But she pursued music even though it
seemed that she lacked the talent - not one of her opera impressions on the notepaper correspond to the real score. She never composed a great opera she dreamed of. But she left her mark in the history of arts and love.

This book is a great document. The correspondence between the authors just adds to the value. I only wish there were more photos of Alma as well as letters that she received. It would have been nice to read passionate words of her admirers. At the end, instead of an epilogue, there should have been a short biography. And a word of two about her sisters and mother would have been valuable. What happened to her sister Maria? I guess I need to start searching.

A personal and interesting insight........2000-03-15

Alma Mahler was a fascinating woman and this diary gives an unique insight into her personality and those she knew. Her growing years, developing both emotionally and in personality come through as does her determination and zest for life. Her time with Gustav Mahler is fascinating and sheds an interesting light into his character and fears at this time. A fascinating read.

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Excellent Book on Gustav Mahler.

Mahler (Naxos Books)
Stephen Johnson
Manufacturer: Sourcebooks MediaFusion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1402207581
Release Date: 2006-10-01

Book Description

Sourcebooks MediaFusion and Naxos proudly present this fascinating biography of composer Gustav Mahler.

Among other astonishing compositions, Mahler completed nine symphonies of tremendous emotional range and imaginative power. Stephen Johnson follows Mahler's development as man and composer, and sets out the experiences-the personal joys and sorrows, as well as the broader cultural forces-that formed him and made him one of the most widely loved composers in classical music.

This splendid volume comes complete with two CDs of carefully selected Mahler pieces. Readers also gain access to an exclusive website where they can hear the works in their entirety and explore additional content.

A revolutionary biography utilizing traditional and new media, Mahler: His Life and Music provides a uniquely rounded portrait of this visionary composer and his earthshaking music.
Naxos is the world's leading classical music label and provider of classical music over the Internet at www.naxos.com.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book on Gustav Mahler........2006-12-20

Austrian composer Gustav Mahler has often been described as the one who was the doorway out of 19th century Romantic music into the modern music of the 20th century. Indeed, much of his music was way ahead of its time and still receives wide acclaim (especially his orchestral songs and larger-than-life symphonies).
Stephen Johnson's biography on the life and music of Mahler goes into mass detail of this genuine composer. Great lengths have gone into describing Mahler's inner struggles as a person and as a musical genius. Additionally, much detail is given behind some of Mahler's monumental works including all ten symphonies, the riveting "Das Lied von der Erde (Song of the Earth)", "Das Knaben Wunderhorn" and many of his songs or 'Lieder' as they are called in German.
Besides the well-written essay on Mahler's life and music, the book also includes not one but TWO audio CD's (taken from the Naxos catalog) which chronicle some of Mahler's greatest and best known work. While excerpts from some immortal works are missing here (notably music from the Symphony No.2 "Resurrection" and Symphony No.9), the two CD's offer some prime examples of Mahler's greatness and natural genius and provide an excellent introduction to his music.
With this said, this book is a must for those just discovering Gustav Mahler. It's simple to read and is very in-depth. Also recommended is Constantine Floros's book on the Mahler Symphonies which provides a dissected 'under the microscope' view of all the Mahler symphonies as well as "Song of the Earth".

Gustav Mahler : Vienna : The Years of Challenge (1897-1904)

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More for reference than reading or understanding.
As close as you canget to getting to know the REAL Mahler

Gustav Mahler : Vienna : The Years of Challenge (1897-1904)
Henry-Louis De La Grange
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0193151596

Book Description

Gustav Mahler was one of the supremely gifted musicians of his generation. His contemporaries came to know him as a composer of startling originality whose greatest successes with the public never failed to provoke controversy among the critics. As a conductor, his relentless pursuit of perfection was sometimes viewed as tyrannical by the singers and musicians who came under his baton. Professor Henry-Louis de La Grange has devoted over thirty years of painstaking resarch to this study of Mahler's life and works. His biography, ultimately to be completed in four volumes, is drawn from a vast archive of documents, autographs, and pictures, assembled by La Grange at the Bibliotheque Musicale Gustav Mahler, Paris. This second volume covers the years 1897-1904, when the focus shifts to Vienna. It opens with Mahler's triumphant debut as director of the Vienna Court Opera, and follows with the revolution he wrought there in standards of performance and, with the Secession painter Alfred Roller, in scenic representation. An account is also given of Mahler's story and brief engagement as conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic Concerts, following Richter's resignation in 1989. La Grange depicts the brilliant society of pre-war Vienna, then the centre of the intellectual and artistic world; the extraordinary range of artists among whom Mahler lived and worked included the composers Dvorak, Gustave Charpentier, Richard Strauss, Zemlinsky, and Schoenberg and his two disciples, Berg and Webern; the painters architects and decorators of the Secession with Klmit at their head; the writers Hauptmann, Dehmel, Hofmannsthal, and Schnitzler. There he also met Alma Schindler, 'the most beautiful woman in Vienna', and La Grange tells the story of their engagement and marriage in 1902 and the early years of their tempestuous relationship. As his fame spread throughout Europe, Mahler travelled with his music to Germany, Russia, Holland, Poland, and Belguim, meeting many other leading musicians of his day, including Pfitzner, Mengelberg, Diepenbrock, Oskar Fried, and many others. During this period Mahler wrote some of his best-loved works, including the fourth and Fifth Symphonies, and the three orchestral song-cyles and collections - the Wunderhorn -, Ruckert-, and Kindertotenlieder. For each of these works La Grange provides full notes and analytical descriptions. Scrupulously researched, richly documented, this is a study worthy of the extraordinary artistic achievement of Gustav Mahler's Vienna years.

Customer Reviews:

More for reference than reading or understanding........2001-10-11

.
This is not biography in its best form.

De La Grange has done us a service by compiling a very detailed but largely chronological history of the events of Mahler's life. You'll find a largely blow-by-blow description of his life: compositional struggles; arguments with cast members, managers, and officials; correspondence with friends and colleagues; listings of cast members in the opera performances he conducted; reviews of his performances by the various publications; health problems, etc. The detail is extremely valuable.

However, De La Grange falls short because he rarely steps back from the detail in order to find the larger themes in Mahler's life, and he leaves that effort to the reader. This is asking too much: this is a projected four volume biography, and it will probably be well over 3,500 pages before it's done.

I imagine it will take a later biographer to come along and sift through all that De La Grange has delivered in order to write a more informative biography.

I have an additional issue with an editorial decision that's been made here. The first volume was published in the 1970's, by another publisher. Oxford has not re-published it, but will publish a second edition of the first volume when the fourth volume is published. They have styarted with the 2nd volume rather than the 1st, out of deference to those who might still have the 1st volume. Fair enough. But the footnotes that refer to content in the 1st volume only refer to chapters, not specific pages, and are thus incomplete. Perhaps the reasoning behind this is because the original 1st volume will be superceded by the 2nd edition 1st volume, and they don't want to be specific to something they imagine will be obsolete. However, at the current rate it could well be 5-10 years before that 2nd edition 1st volume is out. Will Oxford then ask readers to buy a 2nd edition 2nd volume that has page numbers in the footnotes? (The whole idea sounds like very little deference to those who might have the original 1st volume.)

As close as you canget to getting to know the REAL Mahler.......1997-09-08

This is the Classic Mahler biography by the major Mahler scholar, Henry ouis de La Grange. Though this only covers the middle years, de La Grange's excellent use of primary sources let us learn first hand what Mahler was like as a musician, conductor, and human being. No other Mahler biography is so erudite and completely non-judgemental

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Even the most sublime artists have to pay the bills

The Mahler Family Letters
Stephen McClatchie
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Gustav Mahler: Letters To His Wife

ASIN: 0195140656

Book Description

Hundreds of the letters that Gustav Mahler addressed to his parents and siblings survive, yet they have remained virtually unknown. Now, for the first time Mahler scholar Stephen McClatchie presents over 500 of these letters in a clear, lively translation in The Mahler Family Letters. Drawn primarily from the Mahler-Rose Collection at the University of Western Ontario, the volume presents a complete, well-rounded view of the family's correspondence. Spanning the mid 1880s through 1910, the letters record the excitement of a young man with a bourgeoning career as a conductor and provide a glimpse into his day-to-day activities rehearsing and conducting operas and concerts in Budapeast and Hamburg, and composing his first symphonies and songs. On the private side, they document his parents' illnesses and deaths and the struggles of his siblings Alois, Justine, Otto, and Emma. The letters also give Mahler's insightful impressions of contemporaries such as Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss, and Hans von Bulow, as well as his personal feelings about significant events, such as his first big success--the completion of Carl Maria von Weber's Die drei Pintos in 1889. In the fall of 1894, the character of the letters changes when Justine and Emma come to live with Mahler in Hamburg and then Vienna, removing the need to communicate by letter about quotidian matters. At this point, the letters relay noteworthy events such as Mahler's campaign to be named Director of the Vienna Court Opera, his conducting tours throughout Europe, and his courtship of Alma Schindler. The Mahler Family Letters provides a vital, nuanced source of information about Mahler's life, his personality, and his relationships. McClatchie has generously annotated each letter, contextualizing and clarifying contemporary historical references and Mahler family acquaintances, and created an indispensable resource for all Mahlerists, 19th-century musicologists, and historians of 19th-century Germany and Austria.

Customer Reviews:

Even the most sublime artists have to pay the bills.......2006-04-13

50 years ago a performance of any of Mahler's musical works was extremely rare. Now, it seems no scrap of information about him is unworthy of publication. This book draws together the letters preserved at the University of Western Ontario and a few others from various collections, running from Mahler's student days in Vienna in the 1870s until the year of his death, 1911. Most of the letters are addressed to his sister, Justine Mahler-Rose, who lived with her brother a number of years before their respective marriages within one day of each other in 1902. Although one must appreciate the immense amount of scholarly work by Professor McClatchie necessary to translate, annotate and date the often undated correspondence, their content is very commonplace. Although there is the occasional interesting reference to personalities and events in Mahler's artistic career, these are infrequent and rarely detailed. There is no insight at all into his personal creative life. The most frequent topics of the letters are family health matters and money. In the book's 399 pages of text, he probably asks Justine a hundred times how many Marks or Florins he needs to send her on the first of the month. Gustav was the only one of the surviving Mahler siblings to be steadily employed, and he all but supported his two brothers and two sisters for years after their parents' deaths. Most of the letters are so mundane that no one would spend a minute with them if they were not written by Mahler, and the few interesting revelations in them have already been well covered in H. L. de la Grange's ongoing four-volume saga of the composer's life. By comparison, the recently published volume of his letters to his wife is far more insightful for someone seeking Mahler's private persona. The text is nearly error free, well footnoted, and buttressed by an identification guide to persons mentioned in the letters, but falls down in the picture section: a studio photo of Otto Mahler, who committed suicide in 1895, is labeled "Gustav Mahler," and a snapshot labeled as his wife, Alma, surely is of Justine. An index is provided. Only the most dedicated Mahlerian need bother, especially since the disparity between the information the book contains and its cover price is really immense.

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The Mahler Album- Fantastic!

The Mahler Album

Manufacturer: Harry N Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810942798

Amazon.com

Gilbert Kaplan is a successful publisher and talented amateur conductor with a splendid obsession: the composer Gustav Mahler and his music. One of the fruits of his interest is this coffee-table book packed with image after image of the composer, his family and colleagues, the houses where he lived and the theaters where he worked. One of the most enjoyable features is a selection of period cartoons: "Mahler is told there is no audience left in the hall because everyone is needed to perform in his mammoth symphonies." Mahler fans will find this a must-have, although the price tag may separate the true believers from the mere music lovers.

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The Mahler Album- Fantastic!.......1998-06-28

This book is fantastic-an excellent documentation of one of the greatest composers of all time (if not THE greatest).

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Mahler's Muse

Gustav Mahler: Letters To His Wife
Gustav Mahler , and Henry-Louis De LA Grange
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0801443407

Book Description

Gustav Mahler and Alma Maria Schindler were married in . . . 1902. The bride was twenty-one and a half years old, her groom a few months short of forty-two. Apart from their substantial age difference, it seems to have been the very disparity of their intellectual and social backgrounds that drew them together. Mahler was attracted to Alma by her beauty, her alert mind and emotional intensity. Though aware that he possessed by far the broader outlook, he trusted in Alma's ability and willingness to learn from him."—from the Introduction

"Once the stiffness of unfamiliarity has been softened by a few months of marriage, Mahler's style of correspondence with Alma is generally simple, direct, and astonishingly down-to-earth. In a manner akin to that of his musical style, he spikes his language with witticisms and double-entendres, colloquialisms and quotations from librettos and classical works of literature."—from the Preface

This profusely illustrated collection of Gustav Mahler's letters to his wife Alma is more comprehensive than any previous edition; it contains 350 letters, 188 of them until now unpublished. Since 1995, when the German edition of this book was first published, two events have served to expand its horizons: the publication in 1997 of the complete text of Alma's early diaries, dating from January 1898 to March 1902, and the publication in 2003 of a catalogue of all Mahler letters acquired from the Moldenhauer Archives. With the aid of this new material, the editors were also able to revise the dates assigned to many of the letters. Commentaries and annotations throughout the book have been corrected and expanded annotations included. The editors' introduction provides a biographical context for the correspondence that follows.

Customer Reviews:

Mahler's Muse.......2005-03-05

In "Letters to his Wife," the reader is privy to the intensely private and somewhat ordinary reflections of the extraordinary composer/conductor, Gustav Mahler.

But that very ordinariness is what makes this book so fascinating: that alongside genius lies its twin of conventionality expressed in those unguarded moments between intimates. The collection of letters span a decade: From Mahler's courtship of Alma Mahler in 1900 until his tragically early death at age 50 in 1910.

You get the sense that Mahler felt he had nothing to prove to his wife as the correspondence deals with everyday issues and concerns such as eating and sleeping habits, bowel troubles and the loneliness of life on the road. The letters also convey a deeply confident and uncompromising man who takes immense joy in writing his wife about his personal world while at the same time dismissing her from his professional one.

The power in this collection comes from the slowly but steadily growing tension that the reader senses from Alma Mahler (whose letters are not included but whose feelings can be discerned through Mahler's) against her clueless husband which culminates in her betrayal through infidelity. With his emotional sense of security violently violated, Mahler's letters completely unravel and come across as hesitant and pandering. Within the year, he was dead.

Mahler's musical genius has already been well-documented. What this book documents - in Mahler's own hand - is the important role Alma's unconditional love and emotional support played in his life and work, too. He underestimated her to his ultimate peril.

Gustav Mahler: Songs and Symphonies of Life and Death. Interpretations and Annotations (Music)

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Gustav Mahler: Songs and Symphonies of Life and Death. Interpretations and Annotations (Music)
Donald Mitchell
Manufacturer: Boydell Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0851159087

Book Description

A monument in Mahler studies, this volume concentrates on the composer's vocal music and, in particular, on some of his most famous, most original and best loved compositions: the late Rueckert orchestral songs and Kindertotenlieder; Das Lied von der Erde, one of the composer's supreme masterpieces, and the vast Eighth Symphony. Much new ground is broken but the author bases his conclusions on a meticulous examination of the principal manuscript sources, especially those for Das Lied. He offers an unprecedented exploration of the original Chinese texts for that work and indeed of the whole Oriental dimension of Mahler's last and greatest song-cycle. Time and time again, the composer's sketches back up the author's reading of these massive scores and there will be few among this book's readers who will not find a familiar passage or movement sharply illuminated by fresh insights and information. The scope of the book, despite its concentration, is immensely wide; and so is the readership it addresses: Mahler scholars, performers, and general readers. DONALD MITCHELL was Founder Professor of Music at the University of Sussex. He is currently Visiting Professor at Sussex and York, and formerly at King's College, London.

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Remembering the Titan
Recommended as an introduction
Objective account of Mahler's life
Carr's "Mahler" cooked up
A breath of fresh air!

Mahler: A Biography
Jonathan Carr
Manufacturer: Overlook Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0879518022

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Evaluating with exemplary judiciousness the masses of material about Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), British journalist Jonathan Carr pens a highly readable biography. Whether describing the composer's youth in Central Europe, triumphs as a conductor in Vienna and New York, or stormy marriage to Alma Schindler, Carr elucidates Mahler's complex nature without presuming to "explain" it. Devilish or saintly? Cunning or naive? Extrovert or withdrawn? "He was all these things," writes Carr, "brandishing his contradictions in music of stinging intensity." Mahler's compositions and personality gain new dimensions from this fresh, nuanced approach.

Customer Reviews:

Remembering the Titan.......2005-01-21

In the `Recommendations' chapter at the end of this biography, Jonathan Carr admits that more than 2500 books and essays have been published about the life and music of Gustav Mahler. "Keeping abreast of Mahler literature and recordings is no job for the faint-hearted (or impecunious)," the author states, and it can be conjectured, with so much available research, what need have we for yet another history of the composer? Yet Carr, a devoted fan for some forty years, has a deep-seated desire to shake up and disrupt the ever-expanding mythology surrounding Mahler, to counteract the long-held assumptions about the composer's life, creative output and reputation. Drawing upon unpublished letters, diaries, scores and other material unavailable in English, Carr focuses his scholarly scalpel upon the last decade of Mahler's life, contesting the perception of the man as a sickly, impotent tyrant, superstitious of death and therein obsessed; an account given by Mahler's widow, Alma, whom Carr - between the lines, and sometimes outright - sketches as a foolish young woman, alternately consumed with contempt, respect and jealousy for her husband, who distorted the record in order to protect her ego and enhance her own role in Mahler's tumultuous career. This autobiography, despite its sometime lurid, gossipy tone, does an effective job of re-examining the composer's lifework, and the legacy he imposed upon the 20th century.

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) is today firmly situated among the pantheon of the Romantic Era, but during his time the composer was a figure of mixed admiration, ridicule and indifference, especially in regard to his own music, which polarized opinion then, as now. Audiences applauded his normal conducting for its passion and control, but struggled to comprehend the symphonies that, with their grandeur and attention-demanding length, often left listeners feeling elated or exhausted, with little compromise between the two. Constantly tinkering with the rules, Mahler fused profundity and banality, classical technique and rustic folk-strains, seriousness and parody - sometimes at abrupt transition - and his tonal writing predicted and inspired the revolutionary dissonant triumvirate of Shonberg, Weber and Alban Berg. Moreover, Mahler was a philosopher, and in his compositions ever approached the contrast of life, in all its seasons of happiness and despair: "Why do we live? For what do we struggle?" Heady stuff, all in all, and rather dense for the 19th century: Leonard Bernstein once suggested that Mahler could only be truly appreciated by a more experienced audience, one whom, having endured the cataclysmic clash of two World Wars, could then find the pain and rage, the gentle whisper and the thunderous retort, as apt testament to the storms of modern existence.

Jonathan Carr disputes the popular notion that Mahler was unappreciated, displaying much evidence to the contrary. Celebrated as a conductor, Mahler was in constant demand for the last twelve years of his life, in Europe and abroad: his renditions of Wagner were often hailed as sublime, and by all accounts he left his family with a substantial amount of money. And even though his symphonies were largely the target of critical scorn and/or misrepresentation, Carr notes that more than 200 performances were staged during Mahler's lifetime; and the influence he would have upon the next generation, ranging from Stravinsky to Vaughn Williams, is incalculable.

To reach the heights, however, Mahler had to fight tooth, nail and claw, and occasionally fail. A target of anti-Semitism, Mahler renounced his Jewish faith and was baptized in a cunning maneuver to gain the Vienna Opera's top director post. His battles with his orchestras are the stuff of legend: Mahler had a short fuse and could not abide anything less than the absolute best: his reputation preceded him as a fiery perfectionist, quick to replace unsuitable players, given to pubic tongue-lashings of the errant. Carr recounts all of this, following the composer from his humble origins, through the upward crawl to fame and fortune, to the summit of his creative powers and, conversely, his greatest sufferings. For the biographer has a gimlet eye toward the figure of Alma Schindler, Mahler's wife and unlikely muse, and though Carr tries to attain unbiased accounting, his partiality is keen and occasionally transparent. It is obvious the two were not really suited for each other - besides the twenty-year difference between them, Alma admitted to Mahler that she did not like his music, while he in turn forbade her from composing, claiming there could only be one artist in the family. After his death, Alma compiled her letters and diaries and wrote a `definitive' account of her husband, doctoring passages that were not flattering to her, and making many mistakes on particulars. Carr goes to great lengths to show the inconsistencies and flat-out falsities that exist in her portrayal.

Certain lurid elements, such as Alma's affair while Mahler was dying of heart disease and his tortured response, are made prominent in the text: and although this in-depth examination of their relationship is interesting, it ultimately reads a bit superficial. Carr attempts to show how the events of this decade influenced Mahler's late-period symphonies, but therein, the music suffers: the later symphonies are given sketchy and arbitrary coverage. Carr expends nearly twenty pages on the subject of Das Lied Der Erde and barely a page and a half on the eighth symphony, so-called 'Symphony of a Thousand', which Carr simply dismisses, claiming Mahler utilized the wrong part of Goethe's *Faust* and thus crippled the dramatic tension of his work (!!). The Seventh and Ninth are similarly neglected, while symphonies 1-5 are adequately covered and, such as the case of the Third, given a good deal of attention.

This book serves its purpose as an introduction to Gustav Mahler, titan of the Romantic Era. However, the uneven coverage of his work and the faint tabloid aura permeating the later passages force me to dock a star. A good start - for a deeper examination, I recommend *The Mahler Companion*.

Recommended as an introduction.......2000-12-05

Having some time to kill at the Illini Union Bookstore one dark December day, I found myself browsing through Carr's biography of Mahler. On flipping through the pages, my eyes lit on a wonderful photograph, worth a thousand words or even pages, one I'd never seen before. It showed Mahler's parents, and what I already knew intuitively rushed over me like a wave. I was struck by the apparent energy and volatility of the father, and by the spirituality and speaking suffering of the mother (though she looked like a pig). As we all know, these left a permanent mark on young Gustav. Indeed, no man was ever truer to the impressions of his childhood, or flew straighter throughout his whole life like an arrow to its goal. Even the salmon struggling up rapids to spawn and die in their native pools could take a lesson from Mahler in early imprinting.

This is an excellent book for those seeking a manageable and balanced short introduction to Mahler's life and work, and I recommend it highly. Why then only four stars? Well, the competition is stiff. For one thing, there's the huge and scholarly biography by Henri-Louis de la Grange in four volumes at last count, and even this gets only four stars according to some assessments. But the main reason is that the ultimate biography of Mahler is the Works themselves, and they are off the scale.

Objective account of Mahler's life.......2000-07-17

I strongly disagree with the Kirkus review that the author is a die-hard Mahlerian who can't write objectively. The author is not ashamed to write about Mahler's character flaws.

Most of the book is about Mahler's biography, but there are two chapters which discuss Mahler's symphonies and the "Das Lied von der Erde" song cycle. The musical discussion is great except for the very sketchy treatment of Symphony #9.

The biographical details of Mahler's life were interesting, and here the author pulls in data from many sources, not just the diary of Alma. He argues in this book that the Mahler symphonies are not reflections of Mahler's personal struggles (for example, Symphony #6, the "Tragic" symphony was written during a happy period.), but the character of Mahler's music reflects his thoughts and personality (the rapid mood changes present in his music and personality.)

Altogether a good read.

Carr's "Mahler" cooked up.......2000-07-17

It's hard to believe that a book this thick and on such a compelling subject could be so disappointing. It begins ambitiously, and soon peaks with a single insightful paragraph drawing a parallel between the music of Berlioz and Mahler, but then gets down to the real business: lambasting poor old Alma, yet again. This exposition proves to be British in the worse sense--gossipy, slight, and tedious. Granted there's a ton of detail proving Alma wrote down the wrong date and time for the dinner party with Gustav, but do we really care? Carr moves in the direction of redeeming his effort with a compassionate and accurate account of Mahler's time in America, his final illness and death. That is 64 pages out of 254. May Amazon offer those in excerpt at 75% off!

A breath of fresh air!.......2000-03-07

Jonathan Carr's excellent new biography of Gustav Mahler brings a breath of fresh air to Mahler criticism. I have read just about everything written in English that I could find about Mahler, including the massive de La Grange volumes, Alma's memoirs, and Bruno Walter's reminiscences. Never, however, has Mahler, the Man, been portrayed so well as in Mr. Carr's book. I was also gratified to see Mr. Carr debunk the pernicious myths concerning Mahler's abrupt resignation from the Vienna State Opera (I always thought there was more to it than what other biographers reported), and correct the misinformation about what really happened in New York. What Mr. Carr says makes sense on both accounts. The book is well documented; the writing style is lively and highly literate; even the recommendations at the end of the book are well done. I usually turn instant curmudgeon when someone recommends buying a complete set of any CD collection, especially for a composer whose music is interpreted so controversially as Mahler's. However, Mr. Carr's "short cut" recommendation to purchase the complete set by Solti or Kubelik is an excellent one. (I would recommend Solti and the Chicago Symphony.) In short, Mr. Carr should be highly commended for producing this excellent biography. I look forward to further books by this excellent writer.

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