Description
Book SynopsisGustav Mahler's music has provoked extreme responses from the public and from experts. This volume examines the broader political, social, and literary changes reflected in Mahler's music. It examines the composer's Jewish identity, and considers contemporary theories of memory, and the theatricality of Mahler's art and fin-de-siecle politics.
Trade Review"The best thing in the [Bard Music] festival could have been enjoyed in the cool quiet of one's study: Ms. Painter's book... The highlight is Mr. Botstein's own essay, a typically virtuosic riff on Theodor W. Adorno's book on Mahler... But the book's other essays--on performance in late-19th-century Central Europe as a political statement on Mahle"s Jewishness, on gender issues and Ms. Painter's own discussion of the mass public gestures in Mahler's big works (especially the 'Symphony of a Thousand) and their connection to socialist cultural policy--are all worth reading. As are the musical analyses and the period reviews."--John Rockwell, The New York Times' "[A] valuable addition to the Mahler library."--BBC Music Magazine
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments xi PART I: CONTEXT AND IDEOLOGIES Whose Gustav Mahler? Reception, Interpretation, and History by LEON BOTSTEIN I Mahler's Theater: The Performative and the Political in Central Europe, 1890-1910 by CHARLES S. MAIER 55 Mahler's Jewish Parable by TALIA PECKER BERIO 87 A Soldier's Sweetheart's Mother's Tale? Mahler's Gendered Musical Discourse by PETER FRANKLIN 111 The Aesthetics of Mass Culture: Mahler's Eighth Symphony and Its Legacy by KAREN PAINTER 127 PART II: ANALYSIS AND AESTHETICS Musical Lyricism as Self-Exploration: Reflections on Mahler's "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" by CAMILLA BORK AND TRANSLATED BY IRENE ZEDLACHER 159 "... the heart-wrenching sound of farewell": Mahler, Riickert, and the Kindertotenlieder by PETER REVERS AND TRANSLATED BY IRENE ZEDLACHER 173 In Search of Lost Time: Memory and Mahler's Broken Pastoral by THOMAS PEATTIE 185 Aspects of Mahler's Late Style by STEPHEN E. HEFLING 199 PART III: MAHLER'S AMERICAN DEBUT: The Reception of the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, 1904-1906 by EDITED BY ZOE LANG Introduction 227 Mahler's Fourth Symphony in New York 230 "Gustav Mahler-His Personality and His New Symphony" RICHARD ALDRICH "First Concert of Symphony Orchestra ... Mahler Heard" (New York Times) "What Did It All Mean?..." (The Musical Courier) The American Premiere of Mahler's Fifth Symphony 239 Program Notes, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra EMMA L. ROEDTER Boston Symphony Orchestra 240 "Gustav Mahler: The Composer ... Boston First Hears ..." AUGUST SPANUTH Program Notes, Boston Symphony Orchestra PHILIP HALE "A Symphony by Mahler for the First Time" HENRY TAYLOR PARKER East Coast Tour 253 "Mahler's Fifth Symphony... " (Philadelphia Evening Bulletin) "A New Symphony by Gustav Mahler... " RICHARD ALDRICH "Fifth Symphony Played ... " (New York Times) "Variations" LEONARD LEIBLING PART IV: MAHLER'S GERMAN-LANGUAGE CRITICS EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY KAREN PAINTER AND BETTINA VARWIG Introduction 267 Mahler As Conductor 272 "Gustav Mahler and the Vienna Court Opera" ELSA BIENENFELD "Gustav Mahler as Organizer" EMIL GUTMANN "Mahler as Director" HERMANN BAHR The First Symphony 283 "A First Symphony" MAX GRAF "Theater & Art Reviews: Second Philharmonic Concert" EDUARD HANSLICK "Viennese Musical Letter" THEODOR HELM "Feuilleton: Philharmonic Concert" ROBERT HIRSCHFELD The Fifth Symphony 298 "Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5" ERNST OTTO NODNAGEL "Fourteenth Philharmonic Concert" MAX LOEWENGARD "Feuilleton: Gustav Mahler and His Symphony" MAX KALBECK "Feuilleton: Mahler's 'Fifth"' GUSTAV SCHONAICH The Seventh Symphony 316 "Mahler's 'Seventh Symphony"' FELIX ADLER "Gustav Mahler's 'Seventh"' RICHARD BATKA "Mahler's Seventh Symphony" ELSA BIENENFELD "Feuilleton: Mahler's Seventh Symphony" JULIUS KORNGOLD Das Lied von der Erde 332 "Feuilleton: Das Lied von der Erde" RICHARD SPECHT "Gustav Mahler: Las Lied von der Erde" RUDOLF LOUIS "Fourth Philharmonic Concert: Das Lied von der Erde" FERDINAND PFOHL Obituaries 344 "Gustav Mahler" ROBERT HIRSCHFELD "Gustav Mahler" PAUL BEKKER "Gustav Mahler" ADOLF WEISSMANN "Gustav Mahler" PAUL ZSCHORLICH The Mahler Amsterdam Festival, 1920 357 "The Mahler Festival in Amsterdam" OSKAR BIE "A Musician's journey to Holland" PAUL STEFAN "The Mahler Festival in Amsterdam" GUIDO ADLER "A Second Letter from Amsterdam" OSKAR BIE Notes on Contributors 391
