Mahler, Gustav (1860–1911). Austrian-Jewish composer and conductor. Born in Bohemia, Mahler came to Vienna to study at the Conservatory, 1875–78, with Julius Epstein (piano), Robert Fuchs (composition), and Franz Krenn (theory). After a series of appointments in other cities, he served as Music Director (Kapellmeister) of the Vienna Hofoper for a turbulent ten years, 1897–1907, where he raised the standard of the opera house to among the finest in Europe, and established himself particularly as a conductor of Mozart and Wagner, later also of Richard Strauss, Puccini, Pfitzner and others, numbering among his assistant conductors Bruno Walter and Franz Schalk. After his enforced resignation, partly out of anti-semitism, in 1907 he was succeeded by Felix Weingartner. He was also Director of the Philharmonic Concerts 1898–1901. From 1907, he worked in New York at the Metropolitan Opera House and also as conductor of the New York Philharmonic, returning to Vienna for the last few months of his life. Federhofer comments: “We do not know what kind of relationship [Schenker] had with Mahler ..., for Schenker expressed his views only briefly and very rarely regarding his works and achievements as a conductor. He valued him as a conductor, but he rejected his works” (Nach Tagebüchern, p.62). Schenker described a performance of Smetana’s Dalibor in 1897 as “excellent, and under G. Mahler’s direction, to whom we take this opportunity to pay tribute also for his truthful performances of the Nibelungen tetralogy, the Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Czar und Zimmermann, etc.” (Federhofer, Essayist, p.358). Many entries in S's diary either comment directly on Mahler as an artist or individual compositions or describe events relating to Mahler. These include: 1898 : OJ 1/3, p.7 Mahler is referred to in correspondence: WSLB 47, November 9, 1909 (Schenker to Hertzka) Surprisingly, there is no reference to Mahler in the unpublished Niedergang der Kompositionskunst (c.1905—09)—Schenker’s first sustained public attack on Wagner and his legacy in Bruckner, Wolf, and Richard Strauss. In Der Tonwille, Schenker refers to Mahler's "touchings-up" of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Heft 8-9, p. 54; Eng. trans., vol. II, p. 122), which had previously been the subject of a brief aside in his 1901 article “Beethoven-‘Retouche’” (Federhofer, Essayist, p. 266).There is one reference to him in Das Meisterwerk in der Musik, vol. 3, p.18 (Eng. trans., p.6). (Federhofer, Nach Tagebüchern; Federhofer, Essayist; NGDM ) |
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FOOTNOTES: 1 This document was called an Adresse, and was signed by 70 people, including Arnold Schoenberg, Julius Epstein, Anton Door, other musicians, and prominent figures in literature, the theater, and the visual arts. See Henry-Louis de la Grange, Gustav Mahler, vol. III, Eng. trans. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp.646-47 for a translation. 2 "Adresse an Mahler in überlegener Laune unterfertigt" is a problematic formulation: "in überlegener Laune" has an element of paradox, since "in einer Laune" can mean "on a whim," yet the adjective "überlegen" means "with deliberation"; I have instead adopted "superior" from Überlegenheit, "superiority," and _Laune" in its neutral sense of "mood," "spirits." It is unclear whether S means he felt superior to other signatories, or superior to those who approached him about signing, or merely in a better mood than usual (hence "against his better judgment"). The paradox may be the result of S's aiming at a play-on-words with "über" and "unter" ("undersigned" yet having the "upper hand"). 3 Click on: Robert Hirschfeld. Schenker was clearly incensed by the Extrablatt feuilleton. 4 Schenker presumably means Hirschfeld. |
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