Gustav Mahler is recognized as one of the most famous and influential symphonic composers of the 19th and early 20th century. His work mainly consisted of symphonic and song cycles, which postulated complex orchestral scores. Although Mahler had almost no popularity and success as a composer during his lifetime, his talents as an interpreter at the conductor's stand were highly regarded and also allowed him to hold the position of musical director of famous orchestras. Born into a Jewish family, he had to endure anti-Semitic campaigns that led to his expulsion from Vienna.
Childhood and youth
A renowned conductor and composer, Gustav Mahler was born in Calista, Bohemia on July 7, 1860, the son of a distillery manager, a housewife's father and mother. Five of his siblings died in infancy, and three others did not live until adulthood. From early childhood, Gustav witnessed constant conflicts between father and mother. This may have influenced his compositional style, as they always reflected themes that depicted the struggle between good and evil, happiness and sadness, strength and weakness. Mahler's musical ability was evident very early on, and by the time Gustav was eight he was already composing music. Gustav's parents encouraged his musical pursuits and sent him to private tutors to receive his first lessons. Mahler entered the Vienna Conservatory, where he studied from 1875 to 1878. Although Mahler's studies at the Conservatory did not start well, the last year has brought him many awards. In 1878 Mahler graduated from the Conservatory with a silver medal. Then Mahler entered the University of Vienna and became interested in literature and philosophy.
Career
After graduating from university in 1879, Mahler worked part time as a piano teacher and in 1880 completed his dramatic cantata Das klagende Lied (Song of Sorrow). Mahler was fascinated by German culture and philosophy. One of his friends Siegfried Lipiner introduced him to the works of Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gustav Fechner and Hermann Lotze. The influence of these philosophers persisted in Mahler's music long after the end of his student days. Mahler first became a conductor in a small wooden theater in the spa town of Bad Hall, south of Linz, in the summer of 1880, after completing a six-month contract, Mahler returned to Vienna, where he worked as a choir-master at the Vienna Cathedral. Later, in January 1883, Mahler was appointed conductor at the Begun Theater in Olmütz (present-day Olomouc). Despite the fact that Mahler was not very friendly with the musicians of the orchestra, he was successful in creating five new operas in the theater, one of which was Carmen Bizet. Mahler soon received warm and rave reviews from a critic who had previously strongly disliked him. After a week of trial at the Royal Theater in the Hesse city of Kassel, Mahler was appointed in August 1883 as the theater's music and choral director.
On June 23, 1884, Gustav conducted his own music for Joseph Victor von Scheffel's play Der Trompeter von Säkkingen, the first professional public performance of his own work. A passionate but short-lived love affair with soprano Joanna Richter inspired Mahler to write a series of love poems that eventually became the lyrics to his song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden gesellen ("Songs Of A Wayfarer"). In July 1885, Mahler was promoted to assistant conductor at the Neues Deutsches (New German Theater) in Prague. Mahler left Prague in April 1886 and moved to Leipzig, where he was offered a position at the Neues Stadttheater. However, in this position, a fierce rivalry begins with his senior colleague Arthur Nikish, mainly due to the share of responsibilities for the new production of the Wagner Cycle theater. But later, in January 1887, due to Nikisch's illness, Mahler took responsibility for the entire cycle and received overwhelming success and recognition of the local public. Despite this, his relationship with the orchestra remained very tense, which was unhappy with his tyrannical manners and heavy rehearsal schedules.
In Leipzig, Mahler met with Karl von Weber and agreed to work on a performing version of Karl Maria von Weber's unfinished opera The Three Pintos. Mahler added his own composition and the premiere of the work took place in January 1888 at the city theater. This work was extremely successful, bringing both critical acclaim and financial success.
From October 1888, Mahler was appointed director of the Hungarian Royal Opera House in Budapest. In May 1891, he resigned from his post after being offered the post of chief conductor at the Hamburg City Theater. While at the Stadttheater, Mahler presented several new operas, such as Humperdinck in Hänsel und Gretel, Verdi's Falstaff and sour cream works. However, he was soon forced to resign from his post with signed concerts due to financial setbacks and ill-considered interpretation of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. From 1895, Mahler tried to become director of the Vienna Opera. However, the appointment of a Jew to this position was suspended, but he resolved this problem by converting to Roman Catholicism in February 1897. A couple of months later, Mahler was appointed to the Vienna Opera, to the position of conductor, and also chief conductor.
Although in Vienna, Gustav experienced several theatrical triumphs and he fell in love with Austria very much, but his conflicts with the singers and the administration overshadowed his work. Mahler was extremely successful in raising standards, but his tyrannical style met with fierce opposition from both orchestra musicians and singers, and many were opposed to him both inside and outside the theater. Anti-Semitic elements in Viennese society began a press campaign in 1907 to expel Gustav and, alas, after a series of articles in the yellow press and scandals, the great composer and conductor decided to leave the country.
On November 24, he gives a farewell concert, where he conducts the Vienna Opera Orchestra, which masterly performed the Second Symphony,
Personal life
At a secular meeting in November 1901, Gustav met with Alma Schindler, who was the stepdaughter of the artist Karl Moll. They soon fell in love, and on March 9, 1902, they got married. By this time, Alma was already pregnant with her first child, daughter Maria, who was born on November 3, 1902, the second daughter Anna was born in 1904. Mahler, very upset by the campaign launched against him in Vienna, took his family to Mayernig in the summer of 1907. After arriving in Mayernig, both of his daughters fell ill with scarlet fever and diphtheria. Anna recovered, but Maria died on 12 July.
Death
During the summer of 1910, Mahler worked on his tenth symphony, completing the Adagio and composing four more movements. In November 1910, Mahler and Alma returned to New York, on February 21, 1911, Mahler performed his last concert at Carnegie Hall.
In early spring, he is diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis. The Mahler family left New York on April 8. Ten days later they arrived in Paris, where Mahler was admitted to a clinic in Neuilly, but there was no improvement. Then on May 11, he went by train to a sanatorium in Vienna, where he died on May 18.
