Jens Malte Fischer is professor of the history of theatre at the University of Munich. He writes regularly for leading German newspapers and periodicals and is the author of several books, including a documentary study of Wagner's anti-Semitism. Stewart Spencer is an acclaimed translator whose work includes biographies of Richard Wagner, Cosima Wagner, and W.A. Mozart, all published by Yale University Press.
'A superb, multi-faceted biography... Fischer's superb study does full justice to the complexity of its subject.' (Adam Lively, The Sunday Times) 'Drawing on a vast hinterland of scholarship, including documents unavailable to de La Grange, Fischer details all this with aplomb, navigating his way carefully through areas of controversy and avoiding extreme conclusions.' (Rupert Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph) 'a formidable read... Fischer's canny handling of the latest Mahlerian scholarship is likely to remain the best one-volume treatment of its inexhaustible subject.' (Bayan Northcott, BBC Music Magazine) 'Gustav Mahler contains much new information on a multi-faceted musician who autobiography can be read in his symphonies.' (Liz Thompson, The Independent) 'Much more than a biography... It is a portrait of an entire epoch.' (Hans Rudolf Vaget, Smith College)