Gustav Mahler

777 Pages·2011·3.32 MB·English

by  Jens Malte Fischer

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GUSTAV MAHLER
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JENS MALTE FISCHER
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GUSTAV MAHLER
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TRANSLATED BY STEWART SPENCER 10
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YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 40
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON 41R
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First published in English by Yale University Press in 2011
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9 English translation copyright © 2011 Stewart Spencer
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Originally published under the title Gustav Mahler: Der fremde Vertrauteby Jens Malte
1 Fischer © 2003 Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna
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All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form
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(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
4 except by reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publishers.
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For information about this and other Yale University Press publications, please contact:
6 U.S. Office: [email protected] www.yalebooks.com
7 Europe Office: [email protected] www.yalebooks.co.uk
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
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9 Fischer, Jens Malte.
Gustav Mahler / Jens Malte Fischer.
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p. cm.
1 ISBN 978–0–300–13444–5 (cl : alk. paper)
2 1. Mahler, Gustav, 1860-1911. 2. Composers—Austria—Biography. I. Title.
ML410.M23F45 2011
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780.92—dc22
4 [B]
2011011115
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Set in Minion Pro by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd
6 Printed in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group, Bodmin, Cornwall
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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9 The Publishers acknowledge the generous assistance of The Hampsong Foundation in the
publishing of this book
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For Thomas Hampson, 7
friend, and great interpreter of Mahler’s music 8
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For the chief goal of biography appears to be this: to present the subject in his
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temporal circumstances, to show how these both hinder and help him, how he
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uses them to construct his view of man and the world, and how he, providing
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he is an artist, poet, or author, mirrors them again for others.
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JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE,
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From the Preface to From My Life: Poetry and Truth(1811–13)
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Contents
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List of Illustrations ix 4
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1 What Did Mahler Look Like? An Attempt at a Description 1 7
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2 Small Steps: Kalischt and Iglau (1860–75) 12
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3 Studies in Vienna (1875–80) 42
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4 The Summer Conductor: Bad Hall (1880) 90 1
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5 Emotional Ups and Downs in Laibach (1881–2) 99
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6 For the Last Time in the Provinces: Olmütz (1882–3) 108 4
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7 Presentiment and a New Departure: Kassel (1883–5) 114
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8 The Avid Reader: Mahler and Literature 125 7
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9 Becoming Mahler: Prague (1885–6) 140
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10 The First Symphony 148
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11 Life’s Vicissitudes: Leipzig (1886–8) 157 1
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12 Notes on Mahler’s Songs 168
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13 Lowland Dreams: Budapest (1888–91) 178 4
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14 The Conductor 191
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15 The Second Symphony 202 7
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16 Self-Realization: Hamburg (1891–7) 208
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17 Jewishness and Identity 251
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VIII CONTENTS
1 18 The Third Symphony 274
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19 The God of the Southern Climes: Vienna (1897–1901) 282
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4 20 Mahler’s Illnesses: A Pathographical Sketch 321
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21 The Fourth Symphony 333
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22 Vienna in 1900: Alma as a Young Woman (1901–3) 340
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8 23 The Fifth Symphony 385
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24 ‘Nothing is lost to you’: Faith and Philosophy 392
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1 25 The Sixth Symphony 409
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26 Opera Reform – Early Years of Marriage – Mahler’s
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4 Compositional Method (1903–5) 416
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27 The Seventh Symphony 458
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28 The Administrator – Contemporaries – Signs of Crisis (1905–7) 464
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8 29 The Eighth Symphony 519
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30 Annus Terribilis (1907) 527
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1 31 Das Lied von der Erde 562
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32 Starting Afresh: New York (1908–11) 568
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4 33 The Ninth Symphony 611
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34 Crisis and Culmination (1910) 620
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35 The Fragmentary Tenth Symphony 662
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8 36 ‘My heart is weary’ – The Farewell 666
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37 Mahler and Posterity 691
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List of Abbreviations 707
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4 Notes 709
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Select Bibliography 734
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Index 740
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8 Acknowledgements 765
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Illustrations
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Rights were not granted to include these illustrations in electronic media. 10
Please refer to print publication. 1
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(between pages 246 and 247) 4
1 Mahler walking at Fischleinboden, near Toblach, 1909. (Österreichische 5
Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) 6
2 Bernhard Mahler. (Médiathèque Musicale Mahler, Paris) 7
3 Marie Mahler. (Médiathèque Musicale Mahler, Paris) 8
4 A postcard showing Mahler’s birthplace in Kalischt, Moravia. 9
(Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna; 460.707-B) 20
5 Mahler, 1865 or 1866. (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) 1
6 The Main Square in Iglau, Moravia, mid- to late nineteenth century 2
(Muzeum Visocˇyni, Jihlava, Czech Republic) 3
7 Siegfried Lipiner. (Internationale Gustav-Mahler-Gesellschaft, Vienna) 4
8 Mahler in 1881. (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) 5
9 The ‘Zum Höllengebirge’ guest house at Steinbach on the Attersee. 6
(Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) 7
10 Gustav Mahler and his sister Justine, 1899. (Österreichische 8
Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) 9
11 Anna von Mildenburg as Brünnhilde in Wagner’s Die Walküre. 30
(Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) 1
12 Selma Kurz, May 1900. (Baron Nathaniel Rothschild, Vienna) 2
13 Mahler’s house at Maiernigg. (Photo by Eric Shane) 3
14 Alma Schindler, c. 1898. (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) 4
15 Mahler on his way to or from the opera house, Vienna, c. 1904. 5
(Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) 6
16 Mahler triumphs over his predecessor Wilhelm Jahn: a cartoon by Theo 7
Zasche, 1897. (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) 8
17 The Vienna Court Opera House, c. 1900. (Österreichische 9
Nationalbibliothek, Vienna; 233.127-C) 40
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