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Welcome to the GUSTAV MAHLER
COMPOSITION NOTES Page of
aMUSIClassical Directory
Our Classical Music website
for good music lovers.
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Brief synopsis' of the most popular
classical music
compositions by
Gustav Mahler...
Austrian, Kalischt, Bohemia 7 JUL 1860 ~ Vienna, 18 MAY
1911
10 Symphonies (last unfinished), Vocal Works
Mahler Das Knaben Wunderhorn
Inspired by a collection of German folk poetry called 'The Youth's Magic
Horn'. A collection of Songs by Gustav mahler were published in the early
19th century; but some of the poems date from the 16th century. For
baritone, Mezzo-Soprano and orchestra. Mahler Songs of a Wayfarer
A set of bittersweet folk songs for contralto or baritone and orchestra.
Composed when he was 23 years old.
Mahler Das Lied Von Der Erde
"The Song of the Earth" is a full symphony despite it's unusual form. It
is scored for full orchestra, tenor and contralto. It was begun in 1907
and completed a year later. The FP was conducted by Bruno Walter in Munich
in November of 1911...three months after Mahler's death. Mahler Das Knaben Wunderhorn
Mahler 'Symphonies' are long and complex. They remain popular all
over the world. In his own time, however, Mahler was known primarily as a
conductor and director of the Vienna Court Opera where he revolutionized
the sound of the orchestra, singing and acting as well as staging and
costume design. In later years he was conductor of the MET and NY
Philharmonic.
Mahler Sym no 1, Titan
Gustav Mahler was 21 years old when he finished his first symphony in
1888. He called it 'Titan' from his fondness for the novel by the German
poet Jean Paul Sarte, but there is no link between the music and the
writer. The work simply tells of the sorrows and joys of the composers
youth.
Written in 1884 and revised a few times it was FP in Budapest
in November of 1889 the revised and performed in June of 1894 at a
concert for a music festival in Weimar...it was finally published in 1899.
Mahler Sym No 2 Resurection
Mahler started sketching out this work in 1886, when he was in his mid-twenties. He was conducting at Leipzig at this time.
It was in the summer of 1893 when the work was finished. The FP was in March of 1895 actually only the first three mmts.
Richard Strauss conducting in Berlin. Later in December the work was played fully for the first time with Mahler conducting the Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra. Some thirteen years later Mahler conducted the FP in the USA, as conductor of the NY Philharmonic Society.
He described it as a tonal allegory of the life of man, a celebration of the dead. Texts come from German folk poetry, The Youth's Magic Horn and
and Klopstock's chorale Auferstchen1.
Mahler Sym No 3
Mahler Sym No 4
One of the shortest of the Mahler symphonies it is perhaps the most
cheerful. FP in Munich in 1901.
Mahler Sym No 5
Written during the period 1901-1903. The FP on October 18, 1904 in
Cologne under Mahler's direction. The adagietto movement is a declaration
of love to his wife Alma (Schindler) scored for strings and harp.
Mahler Sym No 6
Mahler Sym No 7 also see: Song of the Night.
Mahler Sym No 8 Symphony of a Thousand
Mahler Sym No 9
Mahler Sym No 10
He never finished this work. What remains today is just a draft of the
orchestration. The work was completed by Deryck Cooke in the 1960's and
revised sometime later.
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