Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was born in the Czech Republic city of Jihlava. His mother had 14 children but only 6 survived infancy. Gustav was the second born, and the eldest surviving child. His father ran a distillery and tavern and there was a piano in the home. He took to it, and was the town wonderkind. At age 15 he went to a Vienna conservatory. He became a conductor to pay the bills. He conducted and composed, married, and asked his wife to give up her music, or helped her, depending on the narrative. They had two children and one died. He would come to New York City for a few years. He kept on the move in Europe because anti-semitism would build. His music wouldn't be played during the height of the Nazi's. He had health problems. He died in Vienna in 1911.
His wife would live 53 years after his death to 1964. She married a few more times and wrote a memoir of their time together. Their surviving daughter they had became a sculptor, who was married 5 times.
I was reading Mary Oliver, and she said it was Mahler's birthday, which is July 7th. So I've been listening to his 5th symphony.
And then I learn "The fifth is the first of Mahler's symphonies in which he let go of a programmatic approach - so rather than dictating what the music should mean to us by providing some sort of narrative, the music suggests a kind of inner personal drama. The crucial Adagietto forms a hinge on which tragedy turns to triumph." (source)
Mahler never wrote an opera!
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