Description

Book Synopsis

Thrilling.' John Banville, Guardian

The Eighth Symphony was going to be different from anything Mahler had ever done before: it would speak in different tones, and of a different kind of experience. The world premiere in Munich in the summer of 1910 was the artistic breakthrough for which the composer had yearned all his adult life.

Stephen Johnson recounts the symphony's far-reaching effect on composers, conductors and writers of the time. Placing Mahler within his world, The Eighth reassesses Mahler's work in the context of the prevailing thought of his age, but also against the backdrop of that tumultuous summer, when Mahler worked desperately on his Tenth Symphony, was betrayed by his wife, and consulted Sigmund Freud. It is a story like no other.

The Eighth

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    A Paperback / softback by Stephen Johnson

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      Book details

      Publisher Faber & Faber
      Published 4 February 2021
      ISBN-13 9780571367528
      978-0571367528
      ISBN-10 0571367526
      Also in:
      Entertainment Composers and songwriters

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Thrilling.' John Banville, Guardian

      The Eighth Symphony was going to be different from anything Mahler had ever done before: it would speak in different tones, and of a different kind of experience. The world premiere in Munich in the summer of 1910 was the artistic breakthrough for which the composer had yearned all his adult life.

      Stephen Johnson recounts the symphony's far-reaching effect on composers, conductors and writers of the time. Placing Mahler within his world, The Eighth reassesses Mahler's work in the context of the prevailing thought of his age, but also against the backdrop of that tumultuous summer, when Mahler worked desperately on his Tenth Symphony, was betrayed by his wife, and consulted Sigmund Freud. It is a story like no other.

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