Herinneringen aan Gustav Mahler

by Natalie Bauer-Lechner, Philip Westbroek (translator, introduction, notes), Bernard Haitink (preface)

Dit boek biedt een fascinerende inkijk in het leven en denken van de jonge Mahler. Natalie Bauer-Lechner (1858-1921) was een bijzondere vrouw in Mahlers leven. Ze was zijn zielsverwante, hoopte op een huwelijk, maar werd uiteindelijk uit zijn leven verbannen door Alma Schindler. In de jaren van 1893 tot 1901 had ze nauwkeurig aantekeningen gemaakt van hun talrijke ontmoetingen en gesprekken, waardoor dit boek een sleuteltekst is voor onze kennis van het leven en de opvattingen van de componist.
We lezen niet alleen vele komische anekdotes over de chaotische kunstenaar, maar zijn ook getuige van de stappen in zijn carrière, waarbij hij het uiteindelijk brengt tot directeur van de Weense Hofopera. Ook zien we de jonge Mahler, die zijn eerste symfonieën componeert en uitvoert, en maken kennis met zijn ideeën over muziek, andere componisten en orkestdirectie.
Herinneringen aan Gustav Mahler bevat ook de brief van Natalie Bauer-Lechner aan Hans Riehl uit 1917 over Mahlers liefdesleven. Het geheel is voorzien van een personenregister en een waar nodig verhelderend notenapparaat.
Met een voorwoord van Bernard Haitink.

Genres: Music, Biography

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1923

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The basis for this Dutch translation of Natalie Bauer-Lechner's (1858-1921) memoirs of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) is the original 1923 edition—which has a complicated history in itself, too extensive to go into here—and the equally German-language extended edition from 1984. These are preceded by a lengthy introduction, which discusses the "tragic friendship of Natalie Bauer-Lechner and Gustav Mahler" and the "building blocks of Mahler's musical world in the memoirs." Philip Westbroek then provides an account of his translation, the sources of his work, and the adjustments he made, drawing on some of the material collected by Norman Lebrecht. The substantial new element of this book is Natalie's letter to Hans Riehl from February 1917 about Mahler's love life. This letter takes up thirty pages of the book. A footnote apparatus and various appendices conclude the book.
Natalie was an Austrian violist and friend of the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler.

Given that Mahler and his compositions were highly regarded in the Netherlands during his lifetime and in his presence, it is remarkable that the work by Natalie Bauer-Lechner (hereinafter NBL) only resulted in a Dutch translation almost a century after its first appearance. This publication, however, occurred relatively soon after the public appearance of NBL's 1917 letter to Riehl in the magazine "Music Quarterly" of June 24, 2014, edited by Morten Solvik and Stephen E. Hefling.

As mentioned in my review of the 1923 edition, NBL was a friend of Mahler's, who knew the composer intimately during the ten years leading up to his marriage to Alma Schindler in 1902. Her recollections are an important primary source of knowledge about Mahler and are known to be highly reliable. The detail of various descriptions is also striking. Solvik and Hefling note that NBL must have possessed a keen historical awareness from an early age. Another important characteristic is obvious: as a professional musician, she could deduce the value of Mahler's music directly from the notes.
Regarding reliability, I would add: that may indeed be the case, but some things haven't been mentioned about her own experiences. For example, I find it striking that, regarding Mahler's performed works, she primarily reports on the reactions of the public, the press, and Mahler himself, but refrains from expressing her own opinion. She fully embraces Mahler's accounts of the background to his songs and symphonies and the way he preferred to perform them, or see them performed. She doesn't raise her own (or dissenting) voice whenever Mahler criticizes the fools who don't understand anything and can't achieve anything. To call the recorded recollections a hagiography is away from the truth, but in my opinion, not far off the mark. She herself explicitly writes that she reveres Mahler and that she greatly admires what he achieves in his conducting and composing practice. In this light, it is a great pity that NLB's diaries, thirty in number, have disappeared without a trace or no longer exist.
The 1917 letter is a valuable addition. In it, she writes about a large number of women with whom Mahler had a friendship, whether short or long, or something more than a friendship, including herself. Until then, Mahler had emerged from NBL's book as the very embodiment of chastity, but the letter reveals that in a few cases of intimate encounters, a nuanced interpretation is appropriate.

I enjoyed reading this book, partly because NBL herself also presents the conversations in her (admittedly edited) "Memoirs" in a conversational tone; I felt almost, somewhat voyeuristically, present during those conversations and at the orchestral rehearsals. Because of the precision with which NBL addresses details of Mahler's work, I was able to follow these passages easily without needing a score or CD.
I was pleasantly surprised when, in November 2023, I received this book as a gift from a friend who is both a writer and a violist. JM

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is one of the main sources of all the later Mahler literature. Natalie Bauer-Lechner was a close friend of the Czech-Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler. And because Natalie, being a violist, had technical knowledge of music herself, Mahler, in her, had a companion to discuss thoroughly about music with. Many overall views, many details about Mahler’s own works, but also about composers whose work he conducted, Natalie Bauer-Lechner has delivered us. What we find out about his personality, has a balance between extreme discipline and integrity for the sake of the art and on the other hand (it’s the other side of the medal) sometimes tyrannic behaviour toward musicians, soloists, intendants and all other people who stood in the way of his artistic achievements. Furthermore, the author has put in insights and interpretations of herself, as to the general reception of Mahler’s work and how she herself thinks about those works: mainly the first, second, third and fourth symphonies. So the contence of these memoires is utterly fascinating for the lover of Mahler’s music and the better understanding of his music and his strivings in life. It is a pity though, that Natalie Bauer-Lechner’s notes about Mahler – and the contact between these friends – stopped when Mahler married Alma Schindler, in 1902.
As stated in the description of the book, this is the original edition of 1923. Knud Martner, Danish Mahler scholar, has extended this with many more texts, facts and explanations in his 1984 edition, called ‘Gustav Mahler in den Erinnerungen von Natalie Bauer-Lechner’ (ISBN 3 921029 92 9). JM

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good primary source for study of both Gustav Mahler and fin-de-siecle Vienna. Lechner was a personal friend of Mahler, and was a musician herself. There is a lot of first-hand information here about Mahler's compositional process, conducting, musical interpretation, and musical opinions. The setting is mostly Vienna; items of interest include Musikverein, Burgtheater, Ringstrasse, cycling & walking, and Prater. Also of historical interest: clapping between movements (history of concert etiquette), admiration of Wagner, and anti-semitism. And finally, an entertaining little reference to the children's book, Struwwelpeter: "If he goes out in the morning without being looked over, he often comes back at noon with white traces of tooth-powder or shaving-soap still on his mouth or cheeks. Sometimes he even forgets to comb his hair, and runs around all day like a Struwelpeter."

[Marc Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book - now also available in dutch - is easy readable , very well written and gives us a very good
vieuw on Mahlers youth and young live. A good description of his creative period in this years, till the 5th symphony, his personality and his caracter.
Relevant after the many books of Mahler, under influence of Alma...
To recommend to every Mahler fan.