Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler served as director for the Vienna Court Opera from 1897 to 1907. He later led the New York Metropolitan Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra. He wrote 10 symphonies during his career, which became popular for their 20th-century techniques and emotional character. He died in Vienna on May 18, 1911.
Early Life
Gustav Mahler was born into an Austrian Jewish family on July 7, 1860 in Kaliste, Czech Republic. Mahler and his 11 siblings grew up in Jihlava, where pronounced ethnic divisions made him feel like an outsider. With music serving as an outlet, he began singing and composing on the accordion and piano at the age of 4 and gave his first recital at 10. When he was 15 years old, Mahler entered the Vienna Conservatory. During his years at the school, he began composing a piece where he felt he was able to truly develop his voice, Das klagende Lied. Ultimately, he turned to conducting after graduation, believing it to be a more practical career choice.
Conducting Experience and Wif •
Last updated: June 15, 2022
Gustav Mahler
(1860–1911)
Gustav Mahler was an Austrian composer and conductor. His compositional output was limited to songs, song cycles including with orchestra (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Rückert Lieder, Kindertotenlieder, Das Lied von der Erde), and symphonies (nine complete and a tenth that was incomplete at his death). However, the symphonies especially, have, since the centenary of his birth, acquired canonic status in the performance repertoire. With their deep psychological narratives, they are highly wrought, expansive works, many of them including voices, that are admired for their intensely cathartic quality. Extensive and ongoing research into his compositions as well as his conducting activities have revealed Mahler to be one of the 20th century’s most significant figures of European art music.
Mahler was born on July 7, 1860, in Kalischt, near Iglau, in Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic). The eldest of six children in a middle-class Jewish family, he was the local piano prodigy by age 10
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Gustav Mahler
Austro-Bohemian composer and conductor (1860–1911)
"Mahler" redirects here. For other uses, see Mahler (disambiguation).
Gustav Mahler (German:[ˈɡʊstafˈmaːlɐ]ⓘ; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century.
Born in Bohemia (then part of the Austrian Empire) to Jewish parents of humble origins, the German-speaking Mahler displayed his musical gifts at an early age. After graduating from the Vienna Co