Gustav, age five
Today is the birthday of the famous composer and conductor Gustav Mahler. He was born in Bohemia (1860) in what is now the Czech Republic. Many heavy, scholarly books have been written about his life and works. I once tried to read one, but I owe my appreciation for Mahler to our previous Seattle Symphony conductor Gerard Schwartz, who is of Austrian descent. He understood Mahler and Mahler's music was his "specialty." Now we have a new French maestro in Seattle, who naturally prefers his lighter French music.
I once dreaded sitting through those long Mahler symphonies and now I miss them. Mahler's Third is the longest symphony in the standard repertoire, with a typical performance lasting around ninety to one hundred minutes. This is a long time to sit completely still and quiet, unless you go into a "Mahler time zone" which is something like "Wagner time" at the opera. A different dimension, so to speak. But people are losing the desire and ability to slow down, shut up and just listen. A monumental symphony is not entertaining enough.
As for Mahler, he was a difficult man personally and fanatical in his work habits. He got on people's nerves. He was always being asked to resign. He once said, "All that is not perfect down to the smallest detail is doomed to perish." Which pretty much says it all.
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