
The Mahler Companion
Oxford University Press
Published on 27. May 1999
Book
Hardback
652 pages
978-0-19-816376-3 (ISBN)
Description
The Mahler Companion consists of a collection of original essays on Mahler written especially for the occasion by Mahler specialists from around the world. It addresses all parts of his life and work - symphonies, songs and song-cycles (each of which is discussed individually), his conducting activities, compositional habits, and aesthetic development - and sets these within the cultural and political context of his time. In addition, it responds to the global spread of this remarkable composer's music, and an almost universal fascination with it, by attempting to give an account of the reception of Mahler's music in many of the countries in which it eventually came to flourish, eg. Holland, France, Japan, Russia, England, and the United States. This particular series of chapters reveals that the 'Mahler Phenomenon' earned its description principally in the years after the Second World War, but also that the Mahler revival was already well under way pre-war, perhaps especially in England and the States, and most surprisingly of all, Japan.
The selection of contributors, who between them cover all Mahler's musical output, shows that here too this volume significantly crosses national boundaries. The very diverse approaches, analyses and commentaries, amply illustrated with music examples, are evidence of the uniquely rich and complex character of a music that spans more than one culture and more than one century. The volume includes the most significant and up-to-date Mahler research and debate, and illumines some hitherto unexplored areas of Mahler's life eg. his visit to London in 1892, his sculptor daughter, Anna, and the hall in which the Seventh Symphony was first performed in Prague in 1908.
It has often been claimed that Mahler, born in 1860, was in fact a prophet of much that was to come in the 20th century. His later works undeniably anticipate, often with dazzling virtuosity, many of the principal techniques and aesthetics of the new century, only the first decade of which he lived to see. Small wonder that among his earliest admirers was a collective of some of the most important and innovative composers of our time, Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. Their successors (Copland, Shostakovich, and Britten, to name a few) were to range across contrasting cultures and national frontiers.
Drawing on the best resources and the most up-to-date information about the composer, this volume fulfils the need in Mahler literature for a genuinely comprehensive guide to the composer and will be the authoritative guide for Mahler enthusiasts for years to come.
The selection of contributors, who between them cover all Mahler's musical output, shows that here too this volume significantly crosses national boundaries. The very diverse approaches, analyses and commentaries, amply illustrated with music examples, are evidence of the uniquely rich and complex character of a music that spans more than one culture and more than one century. The volume includes the most significant and up-to-date Mahler research and debate, and illumines some hitherto unexplored areas of Mahler's life eg. his visit to London in 1892, his sculptor daughter, Anna, and the hall in which the Seventh Symphony was first performed in Prague in 1908.
It has often been claimed that Mahler, born in 1860, was in fact a prophet of much that was to come in the 20th century. His later works undeniably anticipate, often with dazzling virtuosity, many of the principal techniques and aesthetics of the new century, only the first decade of which he lived to see. Small wonder that among his earliest admirers was a collective of some of the most important and innovative composers of our time, Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. Their successors (Copland, Shostakovich, and Britten, to name a few) were to range across contrasting cultures and national frontiers.
Drawing on the best resources and the most up-to-date information about the composer, this volume fulfils the need in Mahler literature for a genuinely comprehensive guide to the composer and will be the authoritative guide for Mahler enthusiasts for years to come.
Reviews / Votes
Mitchell provides erudition and enthusiasm in large measure ... It makes an entertaining read * Gramophone *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
33 text illustrations, numerous music examples
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 195 mm
Thickness: 41 mm
Weight
1431 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-816376-3 (9780198163763)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Donald Mitchell | Andrew Nicholson
The Mahler Companion
Book
05/2002
Oxford University Press
€157.85
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Editor
, Research Fellow in Romantic Studies, Department of English, University of Bristol
Content
List of Illustrations ; Notes on the Contributors ; Abbreviations ; Introduction ; 1. Gustav Mahler's Vienna ; 2. The Earliest Completed Works: A Voyage towards the First Symphony ; 3. Mahler and Des Knaben Wunderhorn ; 4. Todtenfeier and the Second Symphony ; 5. Mahler and Germany ; 6. Mahler and France ; 7. Mahler and Debussy: Transcendance and Emotion ; 8. A Stranger's Story: Programmes, Politics, and Mahler's Third Symphony ; 9. 'Swallowing the Programme': Mahler's Fourth Symphony ; 10. Mahler's 'Kammermusikton' - Donald Mitchell ; 11. Eternity or Nothingness? Mahler's Fifth Symphony ; 12. Mahler and Holland ; 13. The Ruckert Lieder ; 14. The Sixth Symphony ; 15. The Seventh Symphony ; 16. Mahler in Prague (1908) ; 17. The Eighth Symphony ; 18. Mahler in America ; 19. Das Lied von der Erde ; 20. The Ninth Symphony ; 21. The Tenth Symphony ; 22. Wagner, Lipiner, and the 'Purgatorio' ; 23. Mahler and Russia ; 24. Mahler and Japan ; 25. Mahler in London in 1892 ; 26. The Mahler Renaissance in England: Its Origins and Chronology ; 27. Mahler and the Great Tradition: Then and Now ; Epilogue. Mahler's Smile: A Memoir of his Daughter Anna Mahler (1904-1988) ; Select Bibliography ; Index