Today, music fans around the world remember the work of Gustav Mahler, who would be 150 years old today. Ljubljana, Slovenia kicks off "Mahler Year," a year dedicated to the artist who lived and worked in the city from 1881-1882; and musicians in New York plan to kick off the NYC Summer Mahler Project. Not bad for a man who, in his lifetime, received little recognition for his 11 symphonies.
The Austrian-Czech born Mahler was such an acclaimed conductor that his work as a composer went largely unnoticed. But some say that his music has endured the test of time due to its substantial emotional impact. For one thing, Mahler's symphonies are all quite long (the 4th symphony, his shortest, runs for around 55 minutes). On the broadness of his work, Mahler famously said that "the symphony should contain the whole world."
Some say that if it wasn't for the help of American conductor Leonard Bernstein in the 1960s, Mahler wouldn't enjoy the domestic fanbase he does now. Celeste Headlee looks back at the music and life of the artist.
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Comments [8]
I grew up with "UNCLE GUSTAV", beginning in the early 1960's. My thanks to L. Bernstein for his introduction to this fantastic world of sound and mental images. Many composers have written great music, but the center of my musical universe will always be the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, which includes the D. Cooke reconstructed tenth.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, UNCLE GUSTAV.
Bernie
Commentaries on music as heard on "Celebrating 150 years of Mahler's birth" Wednesday, July 7th are nothing but slaughtering the music only to promote the commentator.
Music can only be understood and felt when listening to its performance, complete, not in brief passages, sometimes not even connected to each other.
No words are required to feel the music, unless they are a part of the score, in which case they are usually sung.
Discs, whether LP's or CD's, come with commentaries about the music that is recorded in them, but with discs one has the option whether to read the commentary or not, choosing instead to listen to the music which is all that matters.
It is axiomatic: when you are unable to perform (a musical instrument, for instance) or be an artist in any kind of artistic production, you become a critic and talk about what you cannot do.
Thanks Tommy, I thought that didn't look like the grave. Another good image for the collection though!
That picture is NOT Mahler's grave - it's just a street sign somewhere. Indeed if you follow the flickr link given it tells you where it is, and certainly doesn't claim it's his grave.
This is Mahler's grave:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grinzinger_Friedhof_-_Gustav_Mahler.jpg
Nice audio tribute on the whole, but Mahler as the "bridge between Beethoven and Rachmaninoff" is, um, interesting!
I enjoyed this segment today...will have to take a closer look at Mr. Mahler.
Klingsor said it all. Among others, I am always carried away by Mahler's Third.
Alan Grosser
Bronx, NY
It was nice to include a brief tribute to Mahler today, testimony of his great popularity. Just one criticism: Britten (born 1913) could not have influenced Weill (born 1900), it was perhaps the other way around...?
Why does no one ever say that Mahler's music is loved by so many today simply because it's incredibly beautiful?
thanks
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