Gustav Mahler

Stephen Downes

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English

Reaktion Books
01 April 2025

Western "classical" music; Biography: arts & entertainment

Series: Critical Lives

Gustav Mahler's status as an icon of fin-de-siecle Viennese music is assured, with his works now staples of the concert repertoire. His life story has been told in numerous biographies, films and novels, yet he remains an ambiguous, provocative figure. Mahler was a composer who challenged musical form and style but identified with German Enlightenment and Romantic culture, disliking many contemporary artistic trends. He was a Jewish conductor who reached the pinnacle of his profession in antisemitic Vienna. He was supposedly haunted by death, trapped in a torrid marriage, and his brief meeting with Freud has spurred posthumous psychoanalytical speculations. This book, reflecting the latest research, constructs a fresh interpretation of Mahler's music in relation to his life.

By: Stephen Downes
Imprint: Reaktion Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 200mm, Width: 130mm,
ISBN: 9781836390305
ISBN 10: 1836390300
Series: Critical Lives
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 01 April 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

1. Prologue: Mahler’s Deaths/Mahler’s Lives 2. Mahler’s Childhood 3. Mahler the Reader 4. Mahler the Maestro 5. Mahler Composing in the Country 6. Gustav and Alma 7. The Late Gustav Mahler References Further Reading Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements

Stephen Downes is Professor of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London. His books include Music and Sentimentalism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (2021).