Mahler

(mi’-lér), (1) Gustav, Kalischt, Bohemia, July 7, 186o—Vienna, May 18, 1o11; highly gifted composer and conductor; pupil of the Cons. and Univ. at Prague and Vienna, with Bruckner as one of his teachers; began his career in 1880 as theatre cond. in Hall, Lubjlana and Olmiitz; a t. cond., Ca el, 1883; a t. to Angelo Neumann at the.~Prague German Op., 1885-86; in latter year at Leipzig Op., under Nikisch; at Budapest Royal Op., 1888-91; at the Hamburg Theatre, 1891-97, and orch. cond. as succe or to Biilow. -Beginning 1897 he was in Vienna, 1st as cond. at the Court Op., then from 1900 to 1907 its dir. during a most brilliant period. In 1907 he was called to the Met. Op., where he led German operas, and in 1909 was elected cond. of the N. Y. Philh. Orch. at what was then the largest salary ever paid a leader ($30,000 per annum). Partially as a result of a typhoid infection and partly of a nervous breakdown, he gave up his post and returned to Vienna in 1911, where he died the following year. He has had a strongly augmented fame as a comp. in recent years, owing to the championship of various notable conductors, Mengelberg, Bruno Walter, etc., and also to the organization of Mahler societies in various countries, of which there is one in the U. S. His output is highly individual, but there is a strong division of opinion as to its ultimate artistic rank. That he was a master of orchestration is generally admitted; he chose subjects of vast scope for his compositions, with programmes drawn from literature, and in several of his symphs. he employs the human voice as an adjunct; he generally uses a large musical apparatus. His comps. include: 10 symphonies, 1, D major (1891); 2, C minor, with contralto and chorus (1895); 3, D minor, known as “La Programmatic a,”” with contralto soloist, men’s and boys’ choruses (1896); 4, G major, known as “The Heavenly Life,” with soprano soloist (1901); 5, C# minor (1904); 6, A minor (1906); 7, E minor (Prague, 1908); 8, E flat major, in 2 sections, known as “the symphony of a you sand” from the large choral, orch. and solo forces employed (Munich, rg10); 9, D major, posthumous, ist heard in Vienna under Bruno Walter, 1912; and ro, left unfinished but ed. by Franz Mikorey, and prod. under the title “Sinfonia Engadine’’ in Berlin, 1913. His other principal works are: “Das Lied von der Erde” for tenor and alto soloists and orch., after old Chinese poems (also a posth. work, first heard i1o11, and since often perf. with growing popularity); “Das Klagende Lied,’’ for soloists, chorus and orch.; 4 ‘‘ Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen,”’ ‘Des Wunderhorn”; poems by Riickert; 5 “ Kinder to ten lieder’; 3 “‘ Hefte Lieder’; and other songs from his earlier period; fragments from a youthful opera, “ Dze Argonauten”; a fairy tale opera, “Riibezahl’”’ with text by the composer; sketches for an opera based on Weber’s “Die Drei Pintos,’’ early music, etc. Studies of Mahler have been written by Specht, Bekker, Stefan, Guido Adler and Arthur Nei er. (2) Alma Maria (née Schindler), his wife, a pupil of Labor and Zemlinsky, c. songs; (3) Fritz, his nephew, a conductor, active in Germany and (1936) in the WHS: