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185-492: Gustav Mahler ( German: [ˈɡʊstaf ˈmaːlɐ] ; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included

370-716: A ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era . After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century. Born in Bohemia (then part of the Austrian Empire ) to Jewish parents of humble origins, the German-speaking Mahler displayed his musical gifts at an early age. After graduating from

555-425: A bitter personal loss when his younger brother Ernst (b. 18 March 1862) died after a long illness. Mahler sought to express his feelings in music: with the help of a friend, Josef Steiner, he began work on an opera, Herzog Ernst von Schwaben ("Duke Ernest of Swabia"), as a memorial to his lost brother. Neither the music nor the libretto of this work has survived. Bernhard Mahler supported his son's ambitions for

740-630: A brief "late period" of elegiac works before his death in 1911. The main works of the first period are the first four symphonies, the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen song cycle and various song collections in which the Wunderhorn songs predominate. In this period songs and symphonies are closely related and the symphonic works are programmatic. Mahler initially gave the first three symphonies full descriptive programmes, all of which he later repudiated. He devised, but did not publish, titles for each of

925-478: A colorful orchestral palette. The mystic Alexander Scriabin dreamed of a synthesis of colors, sound and scents. Sergei Rachmaninov wrote melancholic-pathetic piano pieces and concertos full of intoxicating virtuosity, while the piano works of Nikolai Medtner are more lyrical. In the Czech Republic, Leoš Janáček , deeply rooted in the music of his Moravian homeland, found new areas of expression with

1110-426: A complete critical edition of Mahler's works, and to commemorate all aspects of the composer's life. Deryck Cooke and other analysts have divided Mahler's composing life into three distinct phases: a long "first period", extending from Das klagende Lied in 1880 to the end of the Wunderhorn phase in 1901; a "middle period" of more concentrated composition ending with Mahler's departure for New York in 1907; and

1295-498: A composer. In 1891, Hungary's move to the political right was reflected in the opera house when Beniczky on 1 February was replaced as intendant by Count Géza Zichy , a conservative aristocrat determined to assume artistic control over Mahler's head. However, Mahler had foreseen that and had secretly been negotiating with Bernhard Pollini , the director of the Stadttheater Hamburg since summer and autumn of 1890, and

1480-456: A conductor. Aside from early works such as a movement from a piano quartet composed when he was a student in Vienna, Mahler's works are generally designed for large orchestral forces, symphonic choruses and operatic soloists. These works were frequently controversial when first performed, and several were slow to receive critical and popular approval; exceptions included his Second Symphony , and

1665-498: A contract was finally signed in secrecy on 15 January 1891. Mahler more or less "forced" himself to be sacked from his Budapest post, and he succeeded on 14 March 1891. By his departure he received a large sum of indemnity. One of his final Budapest triumphs was a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni (16 September 1890) which won him praise from Brahms , who was present at the performances on 16 December 1890. During his Budapest years Mahler's compositional output had been limited to

1850-535: A dispute with the Stadttheater 's chief stage manager, Albert Goldberg . However, Mahler had secretly been invited by Angelo Neumann in Prague (and accepted the offer) to conduct the premiere there of "his" Die drei Pintos , and later also a production of Der Barbier von Bagdad by Peter Cornelius . This short stay (July to September) ended unhappily, with Mahler's dismissal following his outburst during

2035-524: A distinctly Russian national style of classical music . They were often at odds with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky who favored a more Western approach to classical composition. Led by Mily Balakirev the group's main members also consisted of César Cui , Modest Mussorgsky , Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin . The Belyayev circle was a society of Russian musicians who met in Saint Petersburg from 1885 and 1908 who sought to continue

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2220-473: A few of his works are quite close to the musical progress of the time. His successor include Walter Braunfels , who mainly emerged as an opera composer, and the symphonist Wilhelm Furtwängler . The opera stage was particularly suitable for increased emotions. The folk and fairy tale operas of Engelbert Humperdinck , Wilhelm Kienzl and Siegfried Wagner , the son of Richard Wagner, were still quite good. But even Eugen d'Albert and Max von Schillings irritated

2405-586: A few songs from the Wunderhorn song settings that became Volumes II and III of Lieder und Gesänge , and amendments to the First Symphony. Mahler's Hamburg post was as chief conductor, subordinate to the director, Bernhard Pohl (known as Pollini) who retained overall artistic control. Pollini was prepared to give Mahler considerable leeway if the conductor could provide commercial as well as artistic success. This Mahler did in his first season, when he conducted Wagner's Tristan und Isolde for

2590-558: A further depressing factor. Mahler and his family left Maiernigg and spent the rest of the summer at Schluderbach . At the end of the summer the villa at Maiernigg was closed and never revisited. Mahler made his New York debut at the Metropolitan Opera on 1 January 1908, when he conducted Wagner's Tristan und Isolde . In a busy first season Mahler's performances were widely praised, especially his Fidelio on 20 March 1908, in which he insisted on using replicas that were at

2775-464: A good-looking girl of good family. On the other hand, Mahler's family considered Alma to be flirtatious, unreliable, and too fond of seeing young men fall for her charms. Mahler was by nature moody and authoritarian—Natalie Bauer-Lechner, his earlier partner, said that living with him was "like being on a boat that is ceaselessly rocked to and fro by the waves." Alma soon became resentful because of Mahler's insistence that there could only be one composer in

2960-702: A key element in the Third Symphony completed in 1896; the song itself forms the finale to the Fourth (1900) and its melody is central to the whole composition. For the Second Symphony, written between 1888 and 1894, Mahler worked simultaneously on the Wunderhorn song, Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt ("The Sermon of St Anthony of Padua to the Fishes"), and on the Scherzo based on it which became

3145-471: A lengthy review of Ludwig van Beethoven 's Fifth Symphony published in 1810, and an 1813 article on Beethoven's instrumental music. In the first of these essays Hoffmann traced the beginnings of musical Romanticism to the later works of Haydn and Mozart . It was Hoffmann's fusion of ideas already associated with the term "Romantic", used in opposition to the restraint and formality of Classical models, that elevated music, and especially instrumental music, to

3330-545: A limited repertory of historical and folklore opera. By the time that Mahler began his duties, the progressive camp had gained ascendancy following the appointment of the liberal-minded Ferenc von Beniczky as intendant . Aware of the delicate situation, Mahler moved cautiously; he delayed his first appearance on the conductor's stand until January 1889, when he conducted Hungarian-language performances of Wagner's Das Rheingold and Die Walküre to initial public acclaim. However, his early successes faded when plans to stage

3515-598: A local Wunderkind and gave his first public performance at the town theatre when he was ten years old. Although Gustav loved making music, his school reports from the Jihlava Gymnasium portrayed him as absent-minded and unreliable in academic work. In 1871, in the hope of improving the boy's results, his father sent him to the New Town Gymnasium in Prague, but Gustav was unhappy there and soon returned to Jihlava. On 13 April 1875 he suffered

3700-509: A loose collection of composers and critics informally led by Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner who strove for pushing the limits of chromatic harmony and program music as opposed to absolute music which they believed had reached its limit under Ludwig van Beethoven . This group also pushed for the development and innovation of the symphonic poem , thematic transformation in musical form , and radical changes in tonality and harmony . Other important members of this movement includes

3885-420: A melodic simplicity that often approached banality", though it was too early to judge their ultimate worth. Alma Mahler survived her husband by more than 50 years, dying in 1964. She married Walter Gropius in 1915, divorced him five years later, and married the writer Franz Werfel in 1929. In 1940 she published a memoir of her years with Mahler, entitled Gustav Mahler: Memories and Letters . This account

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4070-612: A music career, and agreed that the boy should try for a place at the Vienna Conservatory . The young Mahler was auditioned by the renowned pianist Julius Epstein , and accepted for 1875–76. He made good progress in his piano studies with Epstein and won prizes at the end of each of his first two years. For his final year, 1877–78, he concentrated on composition and harmony under Robert Fuchs and Franz Krenn . Few of Mahler's student compositions have survived; most were abandoned when he became dissatisfied with them. He destroyed

4255-738: A number of operettas that he presented during his time in Laibach. After completing this engagement, Mahler returned to Vienna and worked part-time as chorus-master at the Vienna Carltheater . From the beginning of January 1883, Mahler became conductor at the Royal Municipal Theatre in Olmütz (now Olomouc ) in Moravia . He later wrote: "From the moment I crossed the threshold of the Olmütz theatre I felt like one awaiting

4440-799: A parish church. The Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola on the city square was built in the early Baroque style in 1683–1689 for the Jesuits . Next to the church is a former Jesuit dormitory built in 1699–1711. The Dominican Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was founded in 1247. The Church of the Holy Spirit was built in the Renaissance style in 1547 and rebuilt in the Mannerist style in 1661. The Evangelical Church of Saint Paul

4625-437: A permanent sense of exile, "always an intruder, never welcomed". The pedlar's son Bernhard Mahler, the composer's father, elevated himself to the ranks of the petite bourgeoisie by becoming a coachman and later an innkeeper. He bought a modest house in the village of Kaliště (German: Kalischt ), and in 1857 married Marie Herrmann, the 19-year-old daughter of a local soap manufacturer. In the following year Marie gave birth to

4810-619: A position of pre-eminence in Romanticism as the art most suited to the expression of emotions. It was also through the writings of Hoffmann and other German authors that German music was brought to the center of musical Romanticism. The classical period often used short, even fragmentary, thematic material while the Romantic period tended to make greater use of longer, more fully defined and more emotionally evocative themes. Characteristics often attributed to Romanticism: In music, there

4995-561: A reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, literature, and education, and was in turn influenced by developments in natural history. One of the first significant applications of the term to music was in 1789, in the Mémoires by the Frenchman André Grétry , but it was E. T. A. Hoffmann who established the principles of musical romanticism, in

5180-845: A rehearsal. However, through the efforts of an old Viennese friend, Guido Adler , and cellist David Popper , Mahler's name went forward as a potential director of the Royal Hungarian Opera in Budapest. He was interviewed, made a good impression, and was offered and accepted (with some reluctance) the post from 1 October 1888. In the early years of Mahler's conducting career, composing was a spare time activity. Between his Laibach and Olmütz appointments he worked on settings of verses by Richard Leander and Tirso de Molina , later collected as Volume I of Lieder und Gesänge ("Songs and Airs"). Mahler's first orchestral song cycle, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen , composed at Kassel,

5365-649: A retreat at Steinbach , on the banks of Lake Attersee in Upper Austria, and established a pattern that persisted for the rest of his life; summers would henceforth be dedicated to composition, at Steinbach or its successor retreats. Now firmly under the influence of the Wunderhorn folk-poem collection, Mahler produced a stream of song settings at Steinbach, and composed his Second and Third Symphonies there. Performances of Mahler works were still comparatively rare (he had not composed very much). On 27 October 1893, at Hamburg's Konzerthaus Ludwig, Mahler conducted

5550-509: A revised version of his First Symphony; still in its original five-movement form, it was presented as a Tondichtung ( tone poem ) under the descriptive name "Titan". This concert also introduced six recent Wunderhorn settings. Mahler achieved his first relative success as a composer when the Second Symphony was well-received on its premiere in Berlin, under his own baton, on 13 December 1895. Mahler's conducting assistant Bruno Walter , who

5735-469: A revolt by stagehands, whose demands for better conditions he rejected in the belief that extremists were manipulating his staff. The anti-Semitic elements in Viennese society, long opposed to Mahler's appointment, continued to attack him relentlessly, and in 1907 instituted a press campaign designed to drive him out. By that time he was at odds with the opera house's administration over the amount of time he

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5920-405: A short recitative scene to Act III. In spite of numerous theatrical triumphs, Mahler's Vienna years were rarely smooth; his battles with singers and the house administration continued on and off for the whole of his tenure. While Mahler's methods improved standards, his histrionic and dictatorial conducting style was resented by orchestra members and singers alike. In December 1903 Mahler faced

6105-539: A sore throat, which persisted. On 21 February 1911, with a temperature of 40 °C (104 °F), Mahler insisted on fulfilling an engagement at Carnegie Hall , with a program of mainly new Italian music, including the world premiere of Busoni's Berceuse élégiaque . This was Mahler's last concert. After weeks confined to bed he was diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis , a disease to which people with defective heart valves were particularly prone and which could be fatal. Mahler did not give up hope; he talked of resuming

6290-471: A style that reminded Brahms. Ralph Vaughan Williams , whose works were inspired by English folk songs and Renaissance music , became the most important symphonist of his country. Gustav Holst incorporated Greek mythology and Indian philosophy into his work. Very idiosyncratic composer personalities in the transition to modernity were also Havergal Brian and Frank Bridge . In Russia, Alexander Glazunov decorated his traditional composition technique with

6475-482: A symphonic movement prepared for an end-of-term competition, after its scornful rejection by the autocratic director Joseph Hellmesberger on the grounds of copying errors. Mahler may have gained his first conducting experience with the Conservatory's student orchestra, in rehearsals and performances, although it appears that his main role in this orchestra was as a percussionist. Among Mahler's fellow students at

6660-462: Is Franz Schubert , with Erlkönig , however, many other romantic composers have devoted themselves to the lied genre such as Saint-Saëns , Duparc , Robert Schumann , Johannes Brahms , Hugo Wolf , Gustav Mahler , and Richard Strauss . It is Beethoven who inaugurates the romantic concerto, with his five piano concertos (especially the fifth ) and his violin concerto where many characteristics of classicism can still be recognized. His example

6845-443: Is Bosch Diesel, a subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH . The company employs about 4,000 people and is among the largest employers in the region. It manufactures components for diesel injection pump . Other important industrial companies include Marelli Automotive Lighting Jihlava (a producer of automotive lighting ) and Motorpal, a manufacturer of injection pumps founded in 1946. The most important non-industrial employers include

7030-492: Is a symphonic poem about the Moldau River in the modern-day Czech Republic , the second in a cycle of six nationalistic symphonic poems collectively titled Má vlast (My Homeland). Smetana also composed eight nationalist operas, all of which remain in the repertory. They established him as the first Czech nationalist composer as well as the most important Czech opera composer of the generation who came to prominence in

7215-552: Is a Jew and who isn't." In such a volatile political atmosphere Mahler needed an early demonstration of his German cultural credentials. He made his initial mark in May 1897 with much-praised performances of Wagner's Lohengrin and Mozart's Die Zauberflöte . Shortly after the Zauberflöte triumph, Mahler was forced to take sick leave for several weeks, during which he was nursed by his sister Justine and his long-time companion,

7400-480: Is a relatively clear dividing line in musical structure and form following the death of Beethoven. Whether one counts Beethoven as a "romantic" composer or not, the breadth and power of his work gave rise to a feeling that the classical sonata form and, indeed, the structure of the symphony, sonata and string quartet had been exhausted. Events and changes in society such as ideas, attitudes, discoveries, inventions, and historical events often affect music. For example,

7585-476: Is followed by many composers: the concerto rivals the symphony in the repertoire of major orchestral formations . Finally, the concerto will allow instrumentalist composers to reveal their virtuosity, such as Niccolò Paganini on the violin, and Frédéric Chopin , Robert Schumann , and Franz Liszt on the piano. The nocturne is presented as a short-lived confidential piece, which the Irish composer John Field

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7770-488: Is free of material or program, is the embodiment of the romantic art idea. Another one of the most important representatives of late classicism and early romanticism is Franz Schubert . Because only with him did romantic features come into the German-language opera with his chamber music works and later also symphonies . In this field, his work is supplemented by the ballads of Carl Loewe . Carl Maria von Weber

7955-577: Is important for the development of the German opera , especially with his popular Freischütz. In addition, there are fantastic-horrious materials by Heinrich Marschner and finally the cheerful opera by Albert Lortzing , while Louis Spohr became known mainly for his instrumental music. Still largely attached to classical music is the work of Johann Nepomuk Hummel , Ferdinand Ries , and the Frenchman George Onslow . Italy experienced

8140-575: Is reflected in the music, which originally was written as a five-movement symphonic poem with a descriptive programme. One of these movements, the "Blumine", later discarded, was based on a passage from his earlier work Der Trompeter von Säckingen . After completing the symphony, Mahler composed a 20-minute symphonic poem, Totenfeier "Funeral Rites", which later became the first movement of his Second Symphony . There has been frequent speculation about lost or destroyed works from Mahler's early years. The Dutch conductor Willem Mengelberg believed that

8325-457: Is served by four train stations: Jihlava , Jihlava město , Jihlava-Staré Hory and Jihlava-Bosch Diesel . Intra-city transport is provided by the company Dopravní podnik města Jihlavy a.s., which is owned by the city of Jihlava. In addition to buses, trolleybuses also provide intra-city transport. Trolleybus service was started in 1948. There are 6 trolleybus lines in operation with a total length of 38.9 km (24.2 mi). In 2004,

8510-720: Is the Church of Saint John the Baptist. It was founded around 1200 together with the original village on the left bank of the Jihlava River. It was rebuilt several times, its current appearance is a result of Baroque reconstruction from the late 18th century. The Friars Minor Church of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary was built after 1250. Today the originally Gothic church has a Baroque appearance. Since 1784, it has been

8695-611: Is the position of the Finn Jean Sibelius , also a symphonist of melancholy expressiveness and clear line design. In Sweden, the works of Wilhelm Peterson-Berger , Wilhelm Stenhammar , and Hugo Alfvén show a typical Nordic conservatism, and the Norwegian Christian Sinding also composed traditionally. The music of Spain also increased in popularity again after a long time, first in the piano works of Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados , then in

8880-600: Is under the influence of Wagner's progressive ideas, among them, for example, Peter Cornelius . On the other hand, an opposition arose from numerous more conservative composers, to whom Johannes Brahms , who sought a logical continuation of classical music in symphony, chamber music and song, became a model of scale due to the depth of the sensation and a masterful composition technique . Among others, Robert Volkmann , Friedrich Kiel , Carl Reinecke , Max Bruch , Josef Gabriel Rheinberger , and Hermann Goetz are included in this party. In addition, some important loners came on

9065-404: Is where verism developed, an exaggerated realism that could easily turn into the striking and melodramatic on the opera stage. Despite their extensive work, Ruggero Leoncavallo , Pietro Mascagni , Francesco Cilea , and Umberto Giordano have only become known through one opera at a time. Only Giacomo Puccini 's work has been completely preserved in the repertoire of the opera houses, although he

9250-591: The Neues Stadttheater in Leipzig, where rivalry with his senior colleague Arthur Nikisch began almost at once. This conflict was primarily over how the two should share conducting duties for the theatre's new production of Wagner's Ring cycle. Nikisch's illness, from February to April 1887, meant that Mahler took charge of the whole cycle (except Götterdämmerung ), and scored a resounding public success. This did not, however, win him popularity with

9435-673: The "curse of the Ninth Symphony" that he believed had affected fellow-composers Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner. On 19 September 1908 the premiere of the Seventh Symphony , in Prague, was deemed by Alma Mahler a critical rather than a popular success. For its 1908–09 season the Metropolitan management brought in the Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini to share duties with Mahler, who made only 19 appearances in

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9620-464: The 1st Czech Republic Hockey League (second tier). Thanks to its building development, Gothic , Renaissance and Baroque buildings are located next to each other in Jihlava. The historic centre is formed by Masarykovo Square and its surroundings. In the past it was delimited by walls, some of which have been preserved to this day. The zwinger was modified into a park. The only surviving gate of

9805-705: The College of Polytechnics Jihlava was founded. In 2022, it had more than 2,100 students. Since 1997, the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival has been held in Jihlava every year. The city's football club is FC Vysočina Jihlava . The club plays mostly in the Czech National Football League (second tier). The local ice hockey club, HC Dukla Jihlava , was successful between 1966 and 1991, however in recent decades it plays mostly in

9990-479: The Industrial Revolution was in full effect by the late 18th century and early 19th century. This event profoundly affected music: there were major improvements in the mechanical valves and keys that most woodwinds and brass instruments depend on. The new and innovative instruments could be played with greater ease and they were more reliable. Another development that affected music was the rise of

10175-750: The Jihlava River, at its confluence with the Jihlávka Stream. The municipal territory is rich in small fishponds. Jihlava is located in the heart of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands . The northern part of the territory lies in the Upper Sázava Hills and the southern part lies in the Křižanov Highlands . The highest point is the hill Popický vrch with an elevation of 682 metres (2,238 ft), located on

10360-677: The Jihlava Hospital and the Jihlava Psychiatric Hospital. The Jihlava agglomeration was defined as a tool for drawing money from the European Structural and Investment Funds . It is an area that includes the city and its surroundings, linked to the city by commuting and migration. It has about 98,000 inhabitants. The D1 motorway (part of the European routes E50 and E65 ) runs through

10545-685: The Second Viennese School being its main promoters and Primitivism with Igor Stravinsky being its most influential composer. Carried to the highest degree by Ludwig van Beethoven , the symphony becomes the most prestigious form to which many composers devote themselves. The most conservative respect to the Beethovenian model includes composers such as Franz Schubert , Felix Mendelssohn , Robert Schumann , Camille Saint-Saëns , and Johannes Brahms . Others show an imagination that makes them go beyond this framework, in form or in

10730-642: The Stadttheater , on 20 January 1888, was an important occasion at which several heads of various German opera houses were present. (The Russian composer Tchaikovsky attended the third performance on 29 January.) The work was well-received; its success did much to raise Mahler's public profile, and brought him financial rewards. Mahler's involvement with the Weber family was complicated by Mahler's alleged romantic attachment to Carl von Weber's wife Marion Mathilde (1857–1931) which, though intense on both sides – so it

10915-515: The Vienna Conservatory in 1878, he held a succession of conducting posts of rising importance in the opera houses of Europe, culminating in his appointment in 1897 as director of the Vienna Court Opera (Hofoper). During his ten years in Vienna, Mahler—who had converted to Catholicism to secure the post—experienced regular opposition and hostility from the anti-Semitic press. Nevertheless, his innovative productions and insistence on

11100-642: The Vienna Secession movement. A year later, Mahler appointed him chief stage designer to the Hofoper, where Roller's debut was a new production of Tristan und Isolde . The collaboration between Mahler and Roller created more than 20 celebrated productions of, among other operas, Beethoven's Fidelio , Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide and Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro . In the Figaro production, Mahler offended some purists by adding and composing

11285-500: The symphony genre in the classical mold, though they would implement their own musical language. The most prominent members of this circle were Johannes Brahms , Joseph Joachim , Clara Schumann , and the Leipzig Conservatoire , which had been founded by Felix Mendelssohn . The Mighty Five were a group of Russian composers centered in Saint Petersburg who collaborated with each other from 1856 to 1870 to create

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11470-425: The "deep thinker" is transcended by the splendour of Mahler the musician. Except for his juvenilia, little of which has survived, Mahler composed only in the media of song and symphony, with a close and complex interrelationship between the two. Donald Mitchell writes that this interaction is the backcloth against which all Mahler's music can be considered. The initial connection between song and symphony occurs with

11655-414: The 1860s. The transition of Viennese classicism to Romanticism can be found in the work of Ludwig van Beethoven . Many typically romantic elements are encountered for the first time in his works. These works stand here in contrast to vocal music and are "purely" instrumental music. According to Hoffmann, the pure instrumental music of Viennese classical music, especially that of Beethoven , since it

11840-687: The Bohemian estates. In 1523, a large fire severely damaged the city, which was subsequently restored in the Renaissance style. During the Thirty Years' War , Jihlava was twice captured by the Swedish troops . The suburbs were burned, most of the houses were demolished, and the city significantly depopulated. Jihlava recovered only after more than 100 years. The city was restored in the Baroque style and began to develop again. In 1742, it fell into

12025-501: The Brahms-oriented Hubert Parry and symphonist, as well as the comic operas of Arthur Sullivan . In late Romanticism, also called post-Romanticism, the traditional forms and elements of music are further dissolved. An increasingly colorful orchestral palette, an ever-increasing range of musical means, the spread of tonality to its limits, exaggerated emotions and an increasingly individual tonal language of

12210-444: The Conservatory was the future song composer Hugo Wolf , with whom he formed a close friendship. Wolf was unable to submit to the strict disciplines of the Conservatory and was expelled. Mahler, while sometimes rebellious, avoided the same fate only by writing a penitent letter to Hellmesberger. He attended occasional lectures by Anton Bruckner and, though never formally his pupil, was influenced by him. On 16 December 1877, he attended

12395-651: The Dane Niels Wilhelm Gade . In opera, the operas of Otto Nicolai and Friedrich von Flotow still dominated in Germany when Richard Wagner wrote his first romantic operas. The early works of Giuseppe Verdi were also still based on the Belcanto ideal of the older generation. In France, the Opéra lyrique was developed by Ambroise Thomas and Charles Gounod . Russian music found its own language in

12580-545: The First Symphony was too mature to be a first symphonic work, and must have had predecessors. In 1938, Mengelberg revealed the existence of the so-called "Dresden archive", a series of manuscripts in the possession of the widowed Marion von Weber. According to the Mahler historian Donald Mitchell , it was highly likely that important Mahler manuscripts of early symphonic works had been held in Dresden; this archive, if it existed,

12765-572: The German word Igel as the first theory suggests, or from the Slavic word jehla (i.e. 'needle'), referring to sharp stones in the Jihlava river bed. Jihlava is located about 110 kilometres (68 mi) southeast of Prague and 75 km (47 mi) northwest of Brno . The city is situated on the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia ; most of the city lies in Moravia. Jihlava lies on

12950-483: The Germans demanded the annexation of the German language island to Austria. But the Austrian parliament itself rejected their request, so they had to adapt. In the 1920 election, German parties won a majority. The relatively peaceful coexistence of the Czech and German-speaking inhabitants that lasted for hundreds of years ended with the nationalism caused by the Sudeten German Party of Konrad Henlein , which raised in 1933. The Jewish synagogue, built in 1862–1863,

13135-413: The Great from the 13th century is one of the symbols of Jihlava. The Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows was added to the church in 1702. In 1725, the church became a parish church. It has two towers, 63 metres (207 ft) and 54 metres (177 ft) high. The higher tower is open to the public as a lookout tower. The bell in the belltower called Zuzana is the second largest bell in Moravia. The oldest church

13320-459: The Jihlava's name ( Iglau in German) is unclear. The most common theory has it derived from the German word Igel , meaning 'hedgehog', usually in reference to the city's coat of arms. However, the name was in use since before the symbol of a hedgehog was. It is more likely the city is named for the river that flows through it, the name of which is also unclear in its origin, either being derived from

13505-573: The Löw sanatorium in Vienna, where he developed pneumonia and slipped into a coma. Hundreds had come to the sanitorium during this brief period to show their admiration for the great composer. After receiving treatments of radium to reduce swelling on his legs and morphine for his general ailments, he died on 18 May. On 22 May 1911 Mahler was buried in the Grinzing cemetery  [ de ] , as he had requested, next to his daughter Maria. His tombstone

13690-618: The Met, his last performance being Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades on 5 March 1910. Back in Europe for the summer of 1909, Mahler worked on his Ninth Symphony and made a conducting tour of the Netherlands. The 1909–10 New York Philharmonic season was long and taxing; Mahler rehearsed and conducted 46 concerts, but his programmes were often too demanding for popular tastes. His own First Symphony, given its American debut on 16 December 1909,

13875-572: The Ninth "the most marvellous thing that Mahler ever wrote". None of these final works were performed in Mahler's lifetime. Mahler was a " late Romantic ", part of an ideal that placed Austro-German classical music on a higher plane than other types, through its supposed possession of particular spiritual and philosophical significance. He was one of the last major composers of a line which includes, among others, Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt, Wagner, Bruckner and Brahms. From these antecedents Mahler drew many of

14060-487: The Romantic Era, like Elgar , showed the world that there should be "no segregation of musical tastes" and that the "purpose was to write music that was to be heard". "The music composed by Romantic [composers]" reflected "the importance of the individual" by being composed in ways that were often less restrictive and more often focused on the composer's skills as a person than prior means of writing music. During

14245-525: The Romantic period, music often took on a much more nationalistic purpose. Composers composed with a distinct sound that represented their home country and traditions. For example, Jean Sibelius' Finlandia has been interpreted to represent the rising nation of Finland, which would someday gain independence from Russian control. Frédéric Chopin was one of the first composers to incorporate nationalistic elements into his compositions. Joseph Machlis states, "Poland's struggle for freedom from tsarist rule aroused

14430-793: The Royal Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague by the theatre's newly appointed director, the famous Angelo Neumann . In Prague, the emergence of the Czech National Revival had increased the popularity and importance of the new Czech National Theatre , and had led to a downturn in the Neues Deutsches Theater 's fortunes. Mahler's task was to help arrest this decline by offering high-quality productions of German opera . He enjoyed early success presenting works by Mozart and Wagner, composers with whom he would be particularly associated for

14615-621: The Symphony poems oriented towards Liszt. The symphonies, concerts and chamber music works of Antonín Dvořák , on the other hand, have Brahms as a model. In Poland, Stanisław Moniuszko was the leading opera composer, in Hungary Ferenc Erkel . Norway produced its best-known composers with Edvard Grieg , creator of lyrical piano works, songs and orchestral works such as the Peer-Gynt Suite; England's voice resonated with

14800-683: The Vienna Philharmonic subscription concerts in September 1898, the concerts committee had unanimously chosen Mahler as his successor. The appointment was not universally welcomed; the anti-Semitic press wondered if, as a non-German, Mahler would be capable of defending German music. Attendances rose sharply in Mahler's first season, but members of the orchestra were particularly resentful of his habit of re-scoring acknowledged masterpieces, and of his scheduling of extra rehearsals for works with which they were thoroughly familiar. An attempt by

14985-771: The Viennese premiere of his Second Symphony; 17 February 1901 saw the first public performance of his early work Das klagende Lied , in a revised two-part form. Later that year, in November, Mahler conducted the premiere of his Fourth Symphony, in Munich , and was on the rostrum for the first complete performance of the Third Symphony , at the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein festival at Krefeld on 9 June 1902. Mahler "first nights" now became increasingly frequent musical events; he conducted

15170-540: The Viennese public's general distrust of young artists: "Once, when an amazing exception occurred and Gustav Mahler was named director of the Court Opera at thirty-eight years old, a frightened murmur and astonishment ran through Vienna, because someone had entrusted the highest institute of art to 'such a young person' ... This suspicion—that all young people were 'not very reliable'—ran through all circles at that time." Zweig also wrote that "to have seen Gustav Mahler on

15355-586: The bar that existed against the appointment of a Jew to this post by what may have been a pragmatic conversion to Catholicism in February 1897. Despite this event, Mahler has been described as a lifelong agnostic. As he waited for the Emperor 's confirmation of his directorship, Mahler shared duties as a resident conductor with Joseph Hellmesberger Jr. (son of the former conservatory director) and Hans Richter , an internationally renowned interpreter of Wagner and

15540-593: The broader concept of Romanticism —the intellectual, artistic, and literary movement that became prominent in Western culture from about 1798 until 1837. Romantic composers sought to create music that was individualistic, emotional, dramatic, and often programmatic ; reflecting broader trends within the movements of Romantic literature , poetry , art, and philosophy. Romantic music was often ostensibly inspired by (or else sought to evoke) non-musical stimuli, such as nature, literature, poetry, super-natural elements, or

15725-478: The choral Eighth Symphony. Cooke believes that the Eighth stands on its own, between the middle and final periods. Mahler had by now abandoned all explicit programmes and descriptive titles; he wanted to write "absolute" music that spoke for itself. Cooke refers to "a new granite-like hardness of orchestration" in the middle-period symphonies, while the songs have lost most of their folk character, and cease to fertilise

15910-458: The city square in emulation of others in Prague . Today there is a memorial plaque to him. On 6 June 1991, after the collapse of centrally-planned socialist economy, the first ever supermarket in now-capitalist Czechoslovakia opened in Jihlava. The industry in Jihlava is mainly focused on the production of machines and components for the automotive industry. The largest company based in the city

16095-423: The composer's head was "not only full of the sound of Bohemian bands, trumpet calls and marches, Bruckner chorales and Schubert sonatas. It was also throbbing with the problems of philosophy and metaphysics he had thrashed out, above all, with Lipiner". From June to August 1880, Mahler took his first professional conducting job, in a small wooden theatre in the spa town of Bad Hall , south of Linz . The repertory

16280-404: The composer's life and achievements. The Mahler family came from eastern Bohemia , now in the Czech Republic, and were of humble circumstances—the composer's grandmother had been a street pedlar. Bohemia was then part of the Austrian Empire ; the Mahler family belonged to a German-speaking minority among Bohemians, and was also Jewish . From this background the future composer developed early on

16465-399: The concert season, and took a keen interest when one of Alma's compositions was sung at a public recital by the soprano Frances Alda , on 3 March. On 8 April the Mahler family and a permanent nurse left New York on board SS Amerika bound for Europe. They reached Paris ten days later, where Mahler entered a clinic at Neuilly , but there was no improvement; on 11 May he was taken by train to

16650-517: The conductor of the original Ring cycle at Bayreuth in 1876. Director Wilhelm Jahn had not consulted Richter about Mahler's appointment; Mahler, sensitive to the situation, wrote Richter a complimentary letter expressing unswerving admiration for the older conductor. Subsequently, the two were rarely in agreement, but kept their divisions private. Vienna, the imperial Habsburg capital, had recently elected an anti-Semitic conservative mayor, Karl Lueger , who had once proclaimed: "I myself decide who

16835-400: The critic Richard Pohl and composers Felix Draeseke , Julius Reubke , Karl Klindworth , William Mason , and Peter Cornelius . The conservatives were a broad group of musicians and critics who maintained the artistic legacy of Robert Schumann who adhered to composing and promoting absolute music . They believed in continuing along the footsteps of Ludwig van Beethoven of composing

17020-520: The development of the language melody in his operas. The local sounds are also unmistakable in the music of Zdeněk Fibich , Josef Bohuslav Foerster , Vítězslav Novák , and Josef Suk . On the other hand, there is a slightly morbid exoticism and later classicist measure in the work of the Polish Karol Szymanowski . The most important Danish composer is Carl Nielsen , known for symphonies and concerts. Even more dominant in his country

17205-632: The development of the national Russian style of classical music following in the footsteps of the Mighty Five although they were far more tolerant of the Western compositional style of Tchaikovsky . This group was founded by Russian music publisher philanthropist Mitrofan Belyayev . The two most important composers of this group were Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov . Members also included Vladimir Stasov , Anatoly Lyadov , Alexander Ossovsky , Witold Maliszewski , Nikolai Tcherepnin , Nikolay Sokolov , and Alexander Winkler . During

17390-509: The direction of the concerts. In the summer of 1892 Mahler took the Hamburg singers to London to participate in an eight-week season of German opera—his only visit to Britain. His conducting of Tristan enthralled the young composer Ralph Vaughan Williams , who "staggered home in a daze and could not sleep for two nights." However, Mahler refused further such invitations as he was anxious to reserve his summers for composing. In 1893 he acquired

17575-416: The disastrous premiere of Bruckner's Third Symphony , at which the composer was shouted down, and most of the audience walked out. Mahler and other sympathetic students later prepared a piano version of the symphony, which they presented to Bruckner. Along with many music students of his generation, Mahler fell under the spell of Richard Wagner , though his chief interest was the sound of the music rather than

17760-475: The end of his life, represents in person as well as in music almost the prototype of the passionate romantic artist, shadowed by tragedy. His idiosyncratic piano pieces, chamber music works and symphonies should have a lasting influence on the following generation of musicians. Franz Liszt , who came from the German minority in Hungary, was on the one hand a swarmed piano virtuoso, but on the other hand also laid

17945-533: The entire season. One of these was a much-praised performance of Smetana's The Bartered Bride on 19 February 1909. In the early part of the season Mahler conducted three concerts with the New York Symphony Orchestra . This renewed experience of orchestral conducting inspired him to resign his position with the opera house and accept the conductorship of the re-formed New York Philharmonic . He continued to make occasional guest appearances at

18130-437: The essence of Mahler's music in the theme of struggle, in the tradition of Beethoven. However, according to Schonberg, Beethoven's struggles were those of "an indomitable and triumphant hero", whereas Mahler's are those of "a psychic weakling, a complaining adolescent who ... enjoyed his misery, wanting the whole world to see how he was suffering." Yet, Schonberg concedes, most of the symphonies contain sections in which Mahler

18315-522: The event, that Alma had begun an affair with the young architect Walter Gropius . Greatly distressed, Mahler sought advice from Sigmund Freud , and appeared to gain some comfort from his meeting with the psychoanalyst. One of Freud's observations was that much damage had been done by Mahler's insisting that Alma give up her composing. Mahler accepted this, and started to positively encourage her to write music, even editing, orchestrating and promoting some of her works. Alma agreed to remain with Mahler, although

18500-576: The family and that she had given up her music studies to accommodate him. "The role of composer, the worker's role, falls to me, yours is that of a loving companion and understanding partner ... I'm asking a very great deal – and I can and may do so because I know what I have to give and will give in exchange." She wrote in her diary: "How hard it is to be so mercilessly deprived of ... things closest to one's heart." Mahler's requirement that their married life be organized around his creative activities imposed strains, and precipitated rebellion on Alma's part;

18685-530: The family in the city, only six survived infancy. Jihlava was then a thriving commercial city of 20,000 people, in which Gustav was introduced to music through the street songs of the day, through dance tunes, folk melodies and the trumpet calls and marches of the local military band. All of these elements would later contribute to his mature musical vocabulary. When he was four years old, Gustav discovered his grandparents' piano and took to it immediately. He developed his performing skills sufficiently to be considered

18870-448: The features that were to characterise his music. Thus, from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony came the idea of using soloists and a choir within the symphonic genre. From Beethoven, Liszt and (from a different musical tradition) Berlioz came the concept of writing music with an inherent narrative or "programme", and of breaking away from the traditional four-movement symphony format. The examples of Wagner and Bruckner encouraged Mahler to extend

19055-454: The fine arts. It included features such as increased chromaticism and moved away from traditional forms. The Romantic movement was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe and strengthened in reaction to the Industrial Revolution . In part, it was a revolt against social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and

19240-402: The first of the couple's 14 children, a son named Isidor, who died in infancy. Two years later, on 7 July 1860, their second son, Gustav, was born. In December 1860, Bernhard Mahler moved with his wife and infant son to the city of Jihlava (German: Iglau ), where Bernhard built up a successful distillery and tavern business. The family grew rapidly, but of the 12 children born to

19425-646: The first performances of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies at Cologne and Essen respectively, in 1904 and 1906. Four of the Rückert-Lieder , and Kindertotenlieder , were introduced in Vienna on 29 January 1905. During his second season in Vienna, Mahler acquired a spacious modern apartment on the Auenbruggergasse and built a summer villa on land he had acquired next to his new composing studio at Maiernigg. In November 1901, he met Alma Schindler ,

19610-534: The first professional public performance of a Mahler work. An ardent, but ultimately unfulfilled, love affair with soprano Johanna Richter led Mahler to write a series of love poems which became the text of his song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen ("Songs of a Wayfarer"). In January 1884, the distinguished conductor Hans von Bülow brought the Meiningen Court Orchestra to Kassel and gave two concerts. Hoping to escape from his job in

19795-419: The first time and gave acclaimed performances of the same composer's Tannhäuser and Siegfried . Another triumph was the German premiere of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin , in the presence of the composer, who called Mahler's conducting "astounding", and later asserted in a letter that he believed Mahler was "positively a genius". Mahler's demanding rehearsal schedules led to predictable resentment from

19980-523: The five is the Gate of the Holy Mother. The square is the third largest city square in the country with an area of 36,653 square metres (394,530 sq ft). In the middle of the square is a plague column from 1690 and two fountains from 1797. The landmarks of the square are the city hall and Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The city hall with Gothic core has served its purpose since 1425. It

20165-432: The following day. This meeting led to a rapid courtship; Mahler and Alma were married at a private ceremony on 9 March 1902. Alma was by then pregnant with her first child, a daughter Maria Anna, who was born on 3 November 1902. A second daughter, Anna , was born in 1904. Friends of the couple were surprised by the marriage and dubious of its wisdom. Burckhard called Mahler "that rachitic degenerate Jew", unworthy for such

20350-547: The foundation for the progressive " New German School " with his harmoniously bold symphonic poems . Also committed to program music was the technique of the Idée fixe (leitmotif) of the Frenchman Hector Berlioz , who also significantly expanded the orchestra. Felix Mendelssohn was again more oriented towards the classicist formal language and became a role model especially for Scandinavian composers such as

20535-518: The great European opera houses. The New York Times , reporting Mahler's death, called him "one of the towering musical figures of his day", but discussed his symphonies mainly in terms of their duration, incidentally exaggerating the length of the Second Symphony to "two hours and forty minutes". In London, The Times obituary said his conducting was "more accomplished than that of any man save Richter", and that his symphonies were "undoubtedly interesting in their union of modern orchestral richness with

20720-575: The hands of the Prussians , and in December 1805 the Bavarians under Karl Philipp von Wrede were defeated near the city. In the second half of the 18th century, Jihlava was the second largest producer of cloth in the Austrian Empire . At that time the city expanded beyond the city walls. The city gates with narrow passages were demolished at the beginning of the 19th century, and the façades of

20905-430: The hero for example), it is to be compared to music with a symphonic program. This musical genre appeared with the evolution from pianoforte to piano during the romantic period. The lied is vocal music most often accompanied by this instrument. The singing is taken from romantic poems and this style makes it possible to bring the voice as close to feelings as possible. One of the first and most famous lieder composers

21090-494: The heyday of the Belcanto opera in early Romanticism, associated with the names of Gioachino Rossini , Gaetano Donizetti , and Vincenzo Bellini . While Rossini's comic operas are primarily known today, often only through their rousing overtures , Donizetti and Bellini predominate tragic content. The most important Italian instrumental composer of this time was the legendary "devil's violinist" Niccolò Paganini . In France , on

21275-515: The highest performance standards ensured his reputation as one of the greatest of opera conductors, particularly as an interpreter of the stage works of Wagner , Mozart , and Tchaikovsky . Late in his life he was briefly director of New York's Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic . Mahler's œuvre is relatively limited; for much of his life composing was necessarily a part-time activity while he earned his living as

21460-537: The houses were remodeled in the Neoclassical style. From an ethnic point of view, the city was half-German (about 54% in 1921) and half-Czech, but mostly German was spoken here. The city and its surroundings constituted a German-speaking enclave within Czech-speaking Bohemia and Moravia , so-called Jihlava language island . After World War I and the establishment of Czechoslovakia ,

21645-582: The individual composer are typical features; the music is led to the threshold of modernity . Thus, the symphonies of Gustav Mahler reached previously unknown dimensions, partly give up the traditional four-sentence and often contain vocal proportions. But behind the monumental facade is the modern expressiveness of the Fin de siècle . This psychological expressiveness is also contained in the songs of Hugo Wolf , miniature dramas for voice and piano. More committed to tradition, particularly oriented towards Bruckner, are

21830-693: The last of his Des Knaben Wunderhorn settings he started his Fourth Symphony , which he completed in 1900. By this time he had abandoned the composing hut at Steinbach and had acquired another, at Maiernigg on the shores of the Wörthersee in Carinthia , where he later built a villa. In this new venue Mahler embarked upon what is generally considered as his "middle" or post- Wunderhorn compositional period. Between 1901 and 1904 he wrote ten settings of poems by Friedrich Rückert , five of which were collected as Rückert-Lieder . The other five formed

22015-737: The later half of the 19th Century, some prominent composers began exploring the limits of the traditional tonal system. Important examples include Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner and Bagatelle sans tonalité by Franz Liszt . This limit was finally reached during the Late Romantic period where progressive tonality is demonstrated in the works of composers such as Gustav Mahler . With these developments, Romanticism finally began to break apart into several new parallel movements forming in response, bringing way to Modernism . Some notable movements to form in response to Romanticism's collapse include Expressionism with Arnold Schoenberg and

22200-474: The marriage was nevertheless marked at times by expressions of considerable passion, particularly from Mahler. In the summer of 1907 Mahler, exhausted from the effects of the campaign against him in Vienna, took his family to Maiernigg. Soon after their arrival both daughters fell ill with scarlet fever and diphtheria . Anna recovered, but after a fortnight's struggle Maria died on 12 July. Immediately following this devastating loss, Mahler learned that his heart

22385-413: The middle class. Composers before this period lived under the patronage of the aristocracy. Many times their audience was small, composed mostly of the upper class and individuals who were knowledgeable about music. The Romantic composers, on the other hand, often wrote for public concerts and festivals, with large audiences of paying customers, who had not necessarily had any music lessons. Composers of

22570-492: The most powerful cities in the kingdom. It was protected by a massive fortification and coins were minted here. It became the first city in Central Europe where mining law was codified. Mining attracted settlers from Bavaria , Saxony and other German-speaking regions to the city. Gradually a large German-speaking community was established here. At the end of the 14th century, the importance of mining declined when

22755-654: The movements for the Fourth Symphony; from these titles the German music critic Paul Bekker conjectured a programme in which Death appears in the Scherzo "in the friendly, legendary guise of the fiddler tempting his flock to follow him out of this world." The middle period comprises a triptych of purely instrumental symphonies (the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh), the " Rückert " songs and the Kindertotenlieder , two final Wunderhorn settings and, in some reckonings, Mahler's last great affirmative statement,

22940-774: The national poet in Poland. ... Examples of musical nationalism abound in the output of the romantic era. The folk idiom is prominent in the Mazurkas of Chopin". His mazurkas and polonaises are particularly notable for their use of nationalistic rhythms. Moreover, "During World War II the Nazis forbade the playing of ... Chopin's Polonaises in Warsaw because of the powerful symbolism residing in these works". Other composers, such as Bedřich Smetana , wrote pieces that musically described their homelands. In particular, Smetana's Vltava

23125-535: The nerves with a German variant of verism. Erotic symbolism can be found in the stage works of Alexander von Zemlinsky and Franz Schreker . Richard Strauss went even further to the limits of tonality with Salome and Elektra before he took more traditional paths with the Rosenkavalier. In the style related to the works of Strauss, the compositions Emil Nikolaus von Rezniceks and Paul Graeners are shown. In Italy, opera still dominated during this time. This

23310-500: The northern part of the territory of Jihlava and thus the city has excellent road connection with other regions of the Czech Republic. The I/38 road (the section from Znojmo to Havlíčkův Brod , part of the European route E59 ) passes through the city proper. Jihlava is the terminus and starting point of the railway lines from/to Brno , Třebíč and Tábor . It also lies on the line Havlíčkův Brod– Slavonice . The territory of Jihlava

23495-468: The one hand, the light Opéra comique developed, its representatives are François-Adrien Boieldieu , Daniel-François-Esprit Auber , and Adolphe Adam , the latter also known for his ballets . One can also quote the famous eccentric composer and harpist Robert Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (seven operas). In addition, the Grand opéra came up with pompous stage sets, ballets and large choirs. Her first representative

23680-470: The opera house and cleared its debts, but had won few friends—it was said that he treated his musicians in the way a lion tamer treated his animals. His departing message to the company, which he pinned to a notice board, was later torn down and scattered over the floor. After conducting the Hofoper orchestra in a farewell concert performance of his Second Symphony on 24 November, Mahler left Vienna for New York in early December. When Richter resigned as head of

23865-599: The operas of Mikhail Glinka and Alexander Dargomyschski . The second phase of high romanticism runs in parallel with the style of realism in literature and the visual arts. In the second half of his creation, Wagner now developed his leitmotif technique , with which he holds together the four-part ring of the Nibelungen , composed without arias ; the orchestra is treated symphonically, the chromaticism reaches its extreme in Tristan and Isolde . A whole crowd of disciples

24050-463: The operas, ballets and orchestral works of Manuel de Falla , influenced by Impressionism. Finally, the first important representatives of the United States also appeared with Edward MacDowell and Amy Beach . But even the work of Charles Ives belonged only partly to late Romanticism - much of it was already radically modern and pointed far into the 20th century. The New German School was

24235-569: The orchestra to have Richter reinstated for the 1899 season failed, because Richter was not interested. Mahler's position was weakened when, in 1900, he took the orchestra to Paris to play at the Exposition Universelle . The Paris concerts were poorly attended and lost money—Mahler had to borrow the orchestra's fare home from the Rothschilds . In April 1901, dogged by a recurrence of ill-health and wearied by more complaints from

24420-631: The orchestra, Mahler relinquished the Philharmonic concerts conductorship. In his three seasons he had performed around 80 different works, which included pieces by relatively unknown composers such as Hermann Goetz , Wilhelm Kienzl and the Italian Lorenzo Perosi . The demands of his twin appointments in Vienna initially absorbed all Mahler's time and energy, but by 1899 he had resumed composing. The remaining Vienna years were to prove particularly fruitful. While working on some of

24605-537: The orchestra, who resented his dictatorial manner and heavy rehearsal schedules. In Leipzig, Mahler befriended Captain Carl von Weber  [ de ] (1849–1897), grandson of the composer, and agreed to prepare a performing version of Carl Maria von Weber 's unfinished opera Die drei Pintos ("The Three Pintos"). Mahler transcribed and orchestrated the existing musical sketches, used parts of other Weber works, and added some composition of his own. The premiere at

24790-529: The parties in composition. Verdi also reached the way to a well-composed musical drama , albeit in a different way than Wagner. His immense charisma made all other composers fade in Italy, including Amilcare Ponchielli and Arrigo Boito , who was also the librettist of his late operas Otello and Falstaff. In France, on the other hand, the light muse triumphed first in the form of the socio-critical operettas of Jacques Offenbach . Lyrical opera found its climax in

24975-511: The premiere of the First Symphony, in Budapest on 20 November 1889, was a disappointment. The critic August Beer's lengthy newspaper review indicates that enthusiasm after the early movements degenerated into "audible opposition" after the Finale. Mahler was particularly distressed by the negative comments from his Vienna Conservatory contemporary, Viktor von Herzfeld , who had remarked that Mahler, like many conductors before him, had proved not to be

25160-522: The relationship with Gropius continued surreptitiously. In a gesture of love, Mahler dedicated his Eighth Symphony to her. In spite of the emotional distractions, during the summer of 1910 Mahler worked on his Tenth Symphony , completing the Adagio and drafting four more movements. He and Alma returned to New York in late October 1910, where Mahler threw himself into a busy Philharmonic season of concerts and tours. Around Christmas 1910 he began suffering from

25345-496: The remainder of the Ring cycle and other German operas were frustrated by a renascent conservative faction which favoured a more traditional "Hungarian" programme. In search of non-German operas to extend the repertory, Mahler visited in spring 1890 Italy where among the works he discovered was Mascagni's recent sensation Cavalleria rusticana (Budapest premiere on 26 December 1890). On 18 February 1889, Bernhard Mahler died; this

25530-517: The rest of his career, but his individualistic and increasingly autocratic conducting style led to friction, and a falling out with his more experienced fellow-conductor, Ludwig Slansky. During his 12 months in Prague he conducted 68 performances of 14 operas (12 titles were new in his repertory), and he also performed Beethoven 's Ninth Symphony for the first time in his life. By the end of the season, in July 1886, Mahler left Prague to take up his post at

25715-636: The richest deposits were mined, and Jihlava instead became a centre of trade and crafts, especially cloth making. In the era of the Hussite Wars , Jihlava remained a Catholic stronghold and managed to resist a number of sieges. On 5 July 1436, a treaty was made with the Hussites here, whereby the Emperor Sigismund was acknowledged king of Bohemia. A marble relief near the city marks the spot where Ferdinand I , in 1527, swore fidelity to

25900-495: The scale of his symphonic works well beyond the previously accepted standards, to embrace an entire world of feeling. Early critics maintained that Mahler's adoption of many different styles to suit different expressions of feeling meant that he lacked a style of his own; Cooke on the other hand asserts that Mahler "redeemed any borrowings by imprinting his [own] personality on practically every note" to produce music of "outstanding originality." The music critic Harold Schonberg sees

26085-510: The scene, among whom Anton Bruckner particularly stands out. Although a Wagner supporter, his clear-form style differs significantly from that of that composer. For example, the block-based instrumentation of Bruckner's symphonies is derived from the registers of the organ. In the ideological struggle against Wagner's adversaries, he was portrayed by his followers as a counterpart of Brahms. Felix Draeseke , who originally wrote "future music in classical form" starting from Liszt, also stands between

26270-471: The singers and orchestra in whom, according to music writer Peter Franklin, the conductor "inspired hatred and respect in almost equal measure". He found support, however, from Hans von Bülow , who was in Hamburg as director of the city's subscription concerts. Bülow, who had spurned Mahler's approaches in Kassel, had come to admire the younger man's conducting style, and on Bülow's death in 1894 Mahler took over

26455-680: The song cycle Kindertotenlieder ("Songs on the Death of Children"). The trilogy of orchestral symphonies, the Fifth , the Sixth and the Seventh were composed at Maiernigg between 1901 and 1905, and the Eighth Symphony written there in 1906, in eight weeks of furious activity. Within this same period Mahler's works began to be performed with increasing frequency. In April 1899 he conducted

26640-434: The song-cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and the First Symphony. Although this early evidence of cross-fertilisation is important, it is during Mahler's extended Wunderhorn phase, in which his Second, Third and Fourth Symphonies were written, that the song and symphony genres are consistently intermingled. Themes from the Wunderhorn song Das himmlische Leben ("The Heavenly Life"), composed in 1892, became

26825-422: The southern municipal border. Jihlava was originally a Slavic market village with a small Church of Saint John the Baptist, established on a trade route around 1200. The first written mention of Jihlava is from 1233. The mining of silver began here in 1234 and the royal mining town was established between 1233 and 1240. Jihlava thus became the oldest mining town in what is today the Czech Republic. The village

27010-399: The spirit: the most daring of them being Hector Berlioz . Finally, some will also tell a story throughout their symphonies; like Franz Liszt , they will create the symphonic poem , a new musical genre, usually composed of a single movement and inspired by a theme, character or literary text. Since the symphonic poem is articulated around a leitmotiv (musical motif to identify a character,

27195-508: The staging. It is not known whether he saw any of Wagner's operas during his student years. Mahler left the conservatory in 1878 with a diploma but without the silver medal given for outstanding achievement. He then enrolled in the University of Vienna (he had, at his father's insistence, sat and with difficulty passed the Matura , a highly demanding final exam at a Gymnasium , which

27380-406: The stepdaughter of painter Carl Moll , at a social gathering that included the theatre director Max Burckhard . Alma was not initially keen to meet Mahler, on account of "the scandals about him and every young woman who aspired to sing in opera." The two engaged in a lively disagreement about a ballet by Alexander von Zemlinsky (Alma was one of Zemlinsky's pupils), but agreed to meet at the Hofoper

27565-535: The street [in Vienna] was an event that one would proudly report to his comrades the next morning as it if were a personal triumph." During Mahler's tenure a total of 33 new operas were introduced to the Hofoper; a further 55 were new or totally revamped productions. However, a proposal to stage Richard Strauss 's controversial opera Salome in 1905 was rejected by the Viennese censors. Early in 1902 Mahler met Alfred Roller , an artist and designer associated with

27750-429: The symphonies as explicitly as before. The three works of the brief final period— Das Lied von der Erde , the Ninth and (incomplete) Tenth Symphonies—are expressions of personal experience, as Mahler faced death. Each of the pieces ends quietly, signifying that aspiration has now given way to resignation. Cooke considers these works to be a loving (rather than a bitter) farewell to life; the composer Alban Berg called

27935-504: The symphonies of Franz Schmidt and Richard Wetz , while Max Reger resorted to Bach's polyphony in his numerous instrumental works, but developed it harmoniously extremely boldly. Among the numerous composers of the Reger successor, Julius Weismann and Joseph Haas stand out. Among the outstanding late romantic sound creators is also the idiosyncratic Hans Pfitzner . Although a traditionalist and decisive opponent of modern currents, quite

28120-524: The symphony's third movement. Another Wunderhorn setting from 1892, Urlicht ("Primal Light"), is used as the Second Symphony's fourth (penultimate) movement. Romantic music Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era (or Romantic period). It is closely related to

28305-458: The theatre's Kapellmeister , Wilhelm Treiber, who disliked him (and vice versa) and set out to make his life miserable. Despite the unpleasant atmosphere, Mahler had moments of success at Kassel. He directed a performance of his favourite opera, Weber's Der Freischütz , and 25 other operas. On 23 June 1884, he conducted his own incidental music to Joseph Victor von Scheffel 's play Der Trompeter von Säckingen ("The Trumpeter of Säckingen"),

28490-468: The theatre, Mahler unsuccessfully sought a post as Bülow's permanent assistant. However, in the following year his efforts to find new employment resulted in a six-year contract with the prestigious Leipzig Opera , to begin in August 1886. Unwilling to remain in Kassel for another year, Mahler resigned on 22 June 1885, and applied for, and through good fortune was offered, a standby appointment as conductor at

28675-561: The time being made of Alfred Roller's Vienna sets. On his return to Austria for the summer of 1908, Mahler established himself in the third and last of his composing studios, in the pine forests close to Toblach in Tyrol . Here, using a text by Hans Bethge based on ancient Chinese poems, he composed Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song of the Earth"). Despite the symphonic nature of the work, Mahler refused to number it, hoping thereby to escape

28860-477: The triumphant premiere of his Eighth Symphony in 1910. Some of Mahler's immediate musical successors included the composers of the Second Viennese School , notably Arnold Schoenberg , Alban Berg and Anton Webern . Dmitri Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten are among later 20th-century composers who admired and were influenced by Mahler. The International Gustav Mahler Society was established in 1955 to honour

29045-471: The viola player Natalie Bauer-Lechner . Mahler returned to Vienna in late July to prepare for Vienna's first uncut version of the Ring cycle. This performance took place on 24–27 August, attracting critical praise and public enthusiasm. Mahler's friend Hugo Wolf told Bauer-Lechner that "for the first time I have heard the Ring as I have always dreamed of hearing it while reading the score". On 8 October Mahler

29230-680: The works of Claude Debussy , the structures dissolved into the finest nuances of rhythm, dynamics and timbre. This development was prepared in the work of Vincent d'Indy , Ernest Chausson and above all in the songs and chamber music of Gabriel Fauré . All subsequent French composers were more or less influenced by Impressionism. The most important among them was Maurice Ravel , a brilliant orchestral virtuoso. Albert Roussel first processed exotic topics before he anticipated Neoclassical tendencies like Ravel. Gabriel Pierné , Paul Dukas , Charles Koechlin , and Florent Schmitt also dealt with symbolic and exotic-oriental substances. The loner Erik Satie

29415-512: The works of Jules Massenet , while in the Carmen by Georges Bizet , realism came for the first time. Louis Théodore Gouvy built a stylistic bridge to German music. The operas, symphonies and chamber music works of the extremely versatile Camille Saint-Saëns were, as were the ballets of Léo Delibes , more tradition-oriented. New orchestra colors were found in the compositions of Édouard Lalo and Emmanuel Chabrier . The Belgian-born César Franck

29600-534: The wrath of God." Despite poor relations with the orchestra, Mahler brought nine operas to the theatre, including Bizet 's Carmen , and won over the press that had initially been sceptical of him. After a week's trial at the Royal Theatre in the Hessian town of Kassel , Mahler became the theatre's "Musical and Choral Director" from August 1883. The title concealed the reality that Mahler was subordinate to

29785-738: Was Gaspare Spontini , her most important Giacomo Meyerbeer . Music development has now also taken an upswing in other European countries. The Irishman John Field composed the first Nocturnes for piano , Friedrich Kuhlau worked in Denmark and the Swede Franz Berwald wrote four very idiosyncratic symphonies . The high romanticism can be divided into two phases. In the first phase, the actual romantic music reaches its peak. The Polish composer Frédéric Chopin explored previously unknown depths of emotion in his character pieces and dances for piano. Robert Schumann , mentally immersed at

29970-548: Was a precondition for university studies) and followed courses which reflected his developing interests in literature and philosophy. After leaving the university in 1879, Mahler made some money as a piano teacher, continued to compose, and in 1880 finished a dramatic cantata , Das klagende Lied ("The Song of Lamentation"). This, his first substantial composition, shows traces of Wagnerian and Brucknerian influences, yet includes many musical elements which musicologist Deryck Cooke describes as "pure Mahler". Its first performance

30155-674: Was accompanied by a revival of organ music, which was continued by Charles-Marie Widor , later Louis Vierne and Charles Tournemire . A specific national romanticism had by now emerged in almost all European countries. The national Russian current started by Glinka was continued in Russia by the " Group of Five ": Mily Balakirev , Alexander Borodin , Modest Mussorgsky , Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov , and César Cui . More western oriented were Anton Rubinstein and Pyotr Tchaikovsky , whose ballets and symphonies gained great popularity. Bedřich Smetana founded Czech national music with his operas and

30340-442: Was almost certainly destroyed in the bombing of Dresden in 1945. On arriving in Budapest in October 1888, Mahler encountered a cultural conflict between conservative Hungarian nationalists who favoured a policy of Magyarisation , and progressives who wanted to maintain and develop the country's Austro-German cultural traditions. In the opera house a dominant conservative caucus, led by the music director Sándor Erkel, had maintained

30525-529: Was also often accused of sentimentality. Despite some veristic works, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was mainly considered a revival of the Opera buffa. Ferruccio Busoni , a temporarily defender of modern classicity living in Germany, left behind a rather conventional, little played work. Thus, instrumental music actually only found its place in Italian music again with Ottorino Respighi , who was influenced by Impressionism. The term Impressionism comes from painting, and like there, it also developed in music in France. In

30710-399: Was based on his own verses, although the first poem, " Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht " ("When my love becomes a bride") closely follows the text of a Wunderhorn poem. The melodies for the second and fourth songs of the cycle were incorporated into the First Symphony, which Mahler finished in 1888, at the height of his relationship with Marion von Weber. The intensity of Mahler's feelings

30895-466: Was burnt down in 1939. Most of Jihlava's Jewish population, which numbered over 1,000 people, was deported and killed due to the Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia . After the end of World War II, starting from 9 May 1945, German-speakers were banned from using public transportation and were ordered to carry white armbands identifying them as Germans. Following the Beneš decrees , most of the German-speakers were expelled . Between 1950 and 1952, Jihlava

31080-399: Was criticised by later biographers as incomplete, selective and self-serving, and for providing a distorted picture of Mahler's life. The composer's daughter Anna Mahler became a well-known sculptor; she died in 1988. The International Gustav Mahler Society was founded in 1955 in Vienna, with Bruno Walter as its first president and Alma Mahler as an honorary member. The Society aims to create

31265-423: Was defective, a diagnosis subsequently confirmed by a Vienna specialist, who ordered a curtailment of all forms of vigorous exercise. The extent to which Mahler's condition disabled him is unclear; Alma wrote of it as a virtual death sentence, though Mahler himself, in a letter written to her on 30 August 1907, said that he would be able to live a normal life, apart from avoiding over-fatigue. The illness was, however,

31450-423: Was delayed until 1901, when it was presented in a revised, shortened form. Mahler developed interests in German philosophy, and was introduced by his friend Siegfried Lipiner to the works of Arthur Schopenhauer , Friedrich Nietzsche , Gustav Fechner and Hermann Lotze . These thinkers continued to influence Mahler and his music long after his student days were over. Mahler's biographer Jonathan Carr says that

31635-430: Was developed throughout the 19th century, especially by composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Russia and Léo Delibes in France. Jihlava Historically, Jihlava is the oldest mining town in the Czech Republic, older than Kutná Hora . The historic centre of Jihlava is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation . Jihlava is made up of 17 administrative parts: The origin of

31820-470: Was exclusively operetta ; it was, in Carr's words "a dismal little job", which Mahler accepted only after Julius Epstein told him he would soon work his way up. In 1881, he was engaged for six months (September to April) at the Landestheater in Laibach (now Ljubljana , in Slovenia), where the small but resourceful company was prepared to attempt more ambitious works. Here, Mahler conducted his first full-scale opera, Verdi's Il trovatore , one of 10 operas and

32005-444: Was followed later in the year by the deaths both of Mahler's sister Leopoldine (27 September) and his mother (11 October). From October 1889 Mahler took charge of his four younger brothers and sisters (Alois, Otto, Justine, and Emma). They were installed in a rented flat in Vienna. Mahler himself suffered poor health, with attacks of haemorrhoids and migraine and a recurrent septic throat. Shortly after these family and health setbacks

32190-413: Was forced to resign his post with the subscription concerts after poor financial returns and an ill-received interpretation of his re-scored Beethoven's Ninth Symphony . Already at an early age Mahler had made it clear that his ultimate goal was an appointment in Vienna, and from 1895 onward was manoeuvring, with the help of influential friends, to secure the directorship of the Vienna Hofoper. He overcame

32375-517: Was formally appointed to succeed Jahn as the Hofoper's director. His first production in his new office was Smetana's Czech nationalist opera Dalibor , with a reconstituted finale that left the hero Dalibor alive. This production caused anger among the more extreme Viennese German nationalists, who accused Mahler of "fraternising with the anti-dynastic, inferior Czech nation." The Austrian author Stefan Zweig , in his memoirs The World of Yesterday (1942), described Mahler's appointment as an example of

32560-405: Was inscribed only with his name because "any who come to look for me will know who I was and the rest don't need to know." Alma, on doctors' orders, was absent, but among the mourners at a relatively pomp-free funeral were Arnold Schoenberg (whose wreath described Mahler as "the holy Gustav Mahler"), Bruno Walter, Alfred Roller, the Secessionist painter Gustav Klimt , and representatives from many of

32745-549: Was one of the first to cultivate. Immersed in the climate of the night, an atmosphere privileged by romantics, it is often of ABA structure, with a very flexible and ornate melody , accompanied by a left hand with undulating arpeggios . The tempo is usually slow, and the central part is often more agitated. Frédéric Chopin has set the most famous form of the nocturnes. He wrote 21, from 1827 to 1846. First published in series of three (opus 9 and 15), they are then grouped in pairs (opus 27, 32, 37, 48, 55, 62). The Romantic ballet

32930-426: Was one of the pieces that failed with critics and public, and the season ended with heavy financial losses. The highlight of Mahler's 1910 summer was the first performance of the Eighth Symphony at Munich on 12 September, the last of his works to be premiered in his lifetime. The occasion was a triumph—"easily Mahler's biggest lifetime success", according to Carr—but it was overshadowed by the composer's discovery, before

33115-432: Was originally located on the left bank of the river Jihlava, but with the expansion of mining and the influx of inhabitants, the town spread to the right bank, where its historic centre was established. The regular plan of the rectangular network of streets with a large square in the middle was given by the building regulations of King Ottokar II from 1270. Royal privileges guaranteed prosperity and Jihlava soon became one of

33300-489: Was present, said that "one may date [Mahler's] rise to fame as a composer from that day." That same year Mahler's private life had been disrupted by the suicide of his younger brother Otto on 6 February. At the Stadttheater Mahler's repertory consisted of 66 operas of which 36 titles were new to him. During his six years in Hamburg, he conducted 744 performances, including the debuts of Verdi's Falstaff , Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel , and works by Smetana . However, he

33485-441: Was rebuilt and extended several times. In the mid-16th century, a turret with clock was added, a Gothic hall was established and the façade was decorated by a large Renaissance fresco. In 1786, the second floor was added, the fresco was overlayed by new façade, and the large Gothic hall was split in half by the wall. Jihlava Zoo was founded in 1982. It breeds about 250 species of animals. The early Gothic Church of Saint James

33670-479: Was rumoured by for example English composer Ethel Smyth – ultimately came to nothing. In February and March 1888 Mahler sketched and completed his First Symphony , then in five movements. At around the same time Mahler discovered the German folk-poem collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn ("The Youth's Magic Horn"), which would dominate much of his compositional output for the following 12 years. On 17 May 1888, Mahler suddenly resigned his Leipzig position after

33855-481: Was spending on his own music, and was preparing to leave. In May 1907 he began discussions with Heinrich Conried , director of the New York Metropolitan Opera , and on 21 June signed a contract, on very favourable terms, for four seasons' conducting in New York. At the end of the summer he submitted his resignation to the Hofoper, and on 15 October 1907 conducted Fidelio , his 645th and final performance there. During his ten years in Vienna, Mahler had brought new life to

34040-571: Was the creator of spun piano pieces and idol of the next generation. Nevertheless, Impressionism is often attributed to the epoch of modernity, if not seen as its own epoch. Hubert Parry and the Irishman Charles Villiers Stanford initiated late Romanticism in England, which had its first important representative in Edward Elgar . While he revived the oratorio and wrote symphonies and concerts, Frederick Delius devoted himself to particularly small orchestral images with his own variant of Impressionism. Ethel Smyth wrote mainly operas and chamber music in

34225-406: Was the site of several show trials of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia , which were directed against the influence of the Catholic Church on the rural population. In the processes eleven death sentences were passed. All the convicted persons were rehabilitated after the Velvet Revolution . In 1969, in protest against the normalization in Czechoslovakia , Evžen Plocek set himself on fire on

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