Gustav Mahler, the Arduous Road to Vienna 1860-1897

by Henry-Louis de La Grange, Sybille Werner (Editor and Reviser)

This long awaited revised volume I completes Henry-Louis de La Grange's four-volume English language biography of the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), which is widely considered to be the definitive work on the subject. The present instalment, covering the years 1860 to 1897, traces the life and career of Mahler from his birth in a small village in Bohemia to his appointment to the Vienna Hofoper, then the most prestigious opera house in the world. It describes his family background, his student days at the Vienna Conservatory, his private life, and his burgeoning career as both conductor and composer. Starting at a small summer theatre in Bad Hall, his first engagements took him to Laibach (Ljubljana), Olmütz (Olomouc), Kassel, Prague, and Leipzig, before he was appointed to principal posts at the important opera houses of Budapest (1888) and Hamburg (1891). By now Mahler had also begun to establish himself as a composer. Some of his major works – starting with Das Klagende Lied (1881) – the early Wunderhorn songs, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, and the first three symphonies date from this period of his life. While regularly rejected by contemporary critics, today they are favourites of the concert repertoire.

Genres: Music

809 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

The son of an American mother and French father who was a senator and former governor minister, Henry Louis de la Grange studied the humanities in Paris and New York and literature at Aix-en-Provence University and at the Sorbonne. It was in 1945 when attending a performance of Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony conducted by Bruno Walter that he first became interested in the composer. He began what became a lifelong investigation of Mahler's life and works, the research of which formed the basis of his multi-volume biography of the composer.