Gustav Mahler Volume 4 A New Life Cut Short 1907-1911

by De La Grange, Henry-Louis

• ISBN13: 9780198163879
• ISBN10: 0198163878
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-04-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Gustav Mahler was one of the supremely gifted musicians of his generation. His contemporaries came to know him as a composer of startling originality whose greatest successes with the public never failed to provoke controversy among the critics. As a conductor, his relentless pursuit ofperfection was sometimes viewed as tyrannical by the singers and musicians who came under his baton. Professor Henry-Louis de La Grange has devoted over thirty years of painstaking research to this study of Mahler's life and works. His biography, ultimately to be completed in four volumes, is drawnfrom a vast archive of documents, autographs, and pictures, assembled by La Grange at the Bibliotheque Musicale Gustav Mahler, Paris.In his fourth volume on the life and works of Gustav Mahler, Professor Henry-Louis de La Grange covers the years 1907-1911 when, following the setbacks and tragic events in both his private and professional life in Vienna, Mahler sees a new life in New York as the opportunity to realise his dreams.Against the background of the rivalries within the theatres of the great New York families Mahler achieves his goal of establishing a truly professional orchestra worthy of that name, the new New York Philharmonic.Throughout this period Mahler continued with European tours including France where he finally met Faure, Dukas, Debussy, and Rodin. In September 1910 his eighth symphony was enthusiasticlly received in Munich.Alma however, remained dissatisfied with this new life and its successes. Her affair with Walter Gropius revealed to Mahler the extent of the decline of their life together.Returning to Vienna in 1911 and approaching his 51st birthday, Mahler died, leaving unfinished his 10th symphony. For more than 50 years following his death, Mahler's work was consigned to the wilderness until, revived by interest and performance, it took its rightful place in therepertoire.

Author Biography

Henry-Louis de La Grange is Honorary President and Founder of Mediatheque Musicale Mahler, Paris.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. viii
Abbreviations	p. xi
Introduction	p. xv
	p. 1
Mahler in New York (I)
Discovering the New World
New York in 1908
The Metropolitan Opera and Heinrich Conried
Tristan and Don Giovanni (January-February 1908)
	p. 112
Mahler in New York (II)
The end of the season at the Metropolitan
Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Fidelio
Philadelphia and Boston
Return to Europe
Concerts in Wiesbaden and Prague
Toblach and Das Lied von der Erde (March-August 1908)
	p. 221
Mahler in New York (III)
Premiere of the Seventh Symphony
Concerts in Munich and Hamburg
Return to New York
Concerts with the Symphony
Opening of the Metropolitan season (September-December 1908)
	p. 332
Mahler in New York (IV)
Figaro and Bartered Bride
Farewell to the Metropolitan
The New York Philharmonic
Two weeks in Paris: Rodin
Contract with Universal Edition
Schoenberg and Varese (January-June 1909)
	p. 457
Mahler in New York (V)
Summer in Toblach
The Ninth Symphony
The last journey to the Netherlands
The New York Philharmonic (June-December 1909)
	p. 609
Mahler in New York (VI)
Social life there
Second half of the first Philharmonic season
Busoni as soloist
The Weiss scandal
At the Met: Pique Dame
Tour of New England
Mahler interviewed (January-March 1910)
	p. 718
Mahler in New York (VII)
Back in Europe
The Second Symphony in Paris
Disaster in Rome
Rehearsals for the Eighth Symphony in Vienna, Leipzig, and Munich (April-July 1910)
	p. 821
Mahler in New York (VIII)
Alma's betrayal
The tragic summer of 1910
The Tenth Symphony
Consultation with Freud (July-August 1910)
	p. 939
Mahler in New York (IX)
Munich: Triumph of the Eighth Symphony
Vienna, autumn of 1910
Paintings by Schoenberg
The second Philharmonic season
Tour to the Great Lakes
The holidays in New York (September-December 1910)
	p. 1101
Mahler in New York (X)
Plans for the next season
Mahler conducts a revised Fourth
Crisis with the Guarantors' Committe
Mahler and the New York Philharmonic: A final assessment (January-February 1911)
Epilogue. Mahler's illness and death
New York
Paris
Vienna (21 February-18 May 1911)	p. 1226
Catalogue of Works	p. 1279
Das Lied von der Erde: A Symphony for Tenor and Alto (or Baritone) Voice and Orchestra (1908)	p. 1293
The Ninth Symphony in D major (1909)	p. 1385
The Unfinished Tenth Symphony in F Sharp (1910)	p. 1453
Works Revised by Mahler: Symphonic Works	p. 1530
Works Revised by Mahler: Operas	p. 1546
Apocryphal Work: A Symphonic Prelude by Mahler?	p. 1553
Unfinished Works and Sketches: Three Unknown Sketches	p. 1559
The Sketchbook in the Mildenburg Collection	p. 1563
Why did Mahler not Write an Opera?	p. 1566
Transcriptions and Arrangements of Mahler's Works	p. 1569
How to Approach Mahler's Art, by Georg Gohler	p. 1575
The Sixth Symphony (The Order of Movements)	p. 1578
Soloists who Played or Sang in Mahler's Concerts; Cities where he Conducted Concerts, and his Concert Repertoire	p. 1588
Programmes Prepared by Mahler for the New York Philharmonic and Conducted during his Last Illness by Theodore Spiering	p. 1615
The Orchestra and its Instruments in Mahler's Time	p. 1617
Mahler as a Performer of his Own Works (The Piano Rolls and their Transfer to Disc)	p. 1619
After Mahler's Death: Letters of Condolence	p. 1636
Obituary Articles	p. 1638
Freud on Mahler (in Marie Bonaparte's Diary), Original German Version	p. 1654
A Performance History of Mahler's Works	p. 1657
The Survival of Alma's Collection after the Bombing of her House on the hohe Warte	p. 1670
Mahler Mythomania	p. 1673
Mahler's Posthumous Triumph in America: Stokowski's 1916 Performances of the Eighth Symphony	p. 1680
Poems Copied by Mahler	p. 1685
A Dedication in Verse to Countess Wydenbruck's Daughter	p. 1687
Following Mahler's Track	p. 1688
Mahler's Beliefs (Fechner and Hartmann)	p. 1693
Rodin's Three Busts of Mahler	p. 1699
Relative Value of Currencies in Mahler's Time	p. 1704
Alma Mahler: A Chronology of her Life after Mahler's Death, 1911 to 1964	p. 1706
Alma Mahler's Lieder	p. 1709
Recipe for Mahler's Favourite Dessert: Marillenknodel (Apricot Dumplings)	p. 1716
Select Bibliography	p. 1718
Index	p. 1723
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