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Craig Hill
Oracle of DelphiGustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5: Transcendence
June 15th 2006 12:38
Last night I watched Luchino Visconti's filmic masterpiece 'Death in Venice' for about the hundredth time. As Dirk Bogarde collapses in the film's final sequence I was reminded of what an amzing score the film has - mostly drawn from what is one of my favourite pieces of classical music, Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony.
Gustav Mahler was born on 7 July 1860 in Bohemia and died on 18 May 1911 aged 50. His father was an innkeeper, and Gustav was the second of 14 children, though many of his siblings died as children, and his musical gifted brother Otto committed suicide in 1895.
In 1901 he married Alma Schindler and they had two daughters together, Anna and Maria. His early marriage seemed to be happy, and some love themes in his works depict Alma or his relationship with her. Strains began to show in their marriage after the tragic death of Maria, aged four, following completion of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder. On top of this he was diagnosed with a fatal heart condition and subject not just to musical criticism but also public expressions of anti-Semitism. Some years later, when Mahler's works were beginning to receive a certain recognition, Alma had succumbed to alcoholism. At the sanatorium where she was treated she met and had an affair with Walter Gropius.
The official Gustav Mahler site contends that this life, "so full of tragic events clearly had a major influence on much of Mahler's output, though there is also much in his music which expresses joy and hope. Mahler has said that his music is about life, and there is clearly an autobiographical aspect to his works, where a "hero" struggles with the meaning of life, death, love and disappointment. However, Mahler withdrew any programmatic comments he had previously made about his compositions saying that they should be appreciated as pure music and this is indeed the best approach."
The plebian that I am, my favourite of Mahler's compositions is Symphony No. 5, which was written in 1901 and 1902 mostly during the summer months at Mahler's cottage at Maiernigg. It is arguably the most well known Mahler symphony to the general public.
The musical canvas and emotional scope of the work is huge. Indeed, Herbert von Karajan said once that when you hear Mahler's Fifth, “you forget that time has passed. A great performance of the Fifth is a transforming experience. The fantastic finale almost forces you to hold your breath.” After its premiere, Mahler is reported to have said, “Nobody understood it. I wish I could conduct the first performance fifty years after my death.”
For those people unacquainted with Mahler's oeuvre, I recommend the fourth movement of his symphony No. 5 as a great introduction to the magnificence of his work.
Gustav Mahler was born on 7 July 1860 in Bohemia and died on 18 May 1911 aged 50. His father was an innkeeper, and Gustav was the second of 14 children, though many of his siblings died as children, and his musical gifted brother Otto committed suicide in 1895.
In 1901 he married Alma Schindler and they had two daughters together, Anna and Maria. His early marriage seemed to be happy, and some love themes in his works depict Alma or his relationship with her. Strains began to show in their marriage after the tragic death of Maria, aged four, following completion of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder. On top of this he was diagnosed with a fatal heart condition and subject not just to musical criticism but also public expressions of anti-Semitism. Some years later, when Mahler's works were beginning to receive a certain recognition, Alma had succumbed to alcoholism. At the sanatorium where she was treated she met and had an affair with Walter Gropius.
The official Gustav Mahler site contends that this life, "so full of tragic events clearly had a major influence on much of Mahler's output, though there is also much in his music which expresses joy and hope. Mahler has said that his music is about life, and there is clearly an autobiographical aspect to his works, where a "hero" struggles with the meaning of life, death, love and disappointment. However, Mahler withdrew any programmatic comments he had previously made about his compositions saying that they should be appreciated as pure music and this is indeed the best approach."
The plebian that I am, my favourite of Mahler's compositions is Symphony No. 5, which was written in 1901 and 1902 mostly during the summer months at Mahler's cottage at Maiernigg. It is arguably the most well known Mahler symphony to the general public.
The musical canvas and emotional scope of the work is huge. Indeed, Herbert von Karajan said once that when you hear Mahler's Fifth, “you forget that time has passed. A great performance of the Fifth is a transforming experience. The fantastic finale almost forces you to hold your breath.” After its premiere, Mahler is reported to have said, “Nobody understood it. I wish I could conduct the first performance fifty years after my death.”
For those people unacquainted with Mahler's oeuvre, I recommend the fourth movement of his symphony No. 5 as a great introduction to the magnificence of his work.
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Comment by Bunbury
Though I tried to watch Death in Venice but got so incredibly bored. I thought it looked beautiful but the pace was dreary.
Comment by sam