Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahlerwas an Austrian late-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 a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his...
NationalityAustrian
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth7 July 1860
CountryAustria
I don't let myself get carried away by my own ideas; I abandon 19 out of 20 of them every day.
In its beginnings, music was merely chamber music, meant to be listened to in a small space by a small audience.
Behind me the branches of a wasted and sterile existence are cracking.
It is strange how one feels drawn forward without knowing at first where one is going.
The call of love sounds very hollow among these immobile rocks.
My time will come, that is: after the finish of the recurring song cycles
The real art of conducting consists in transitions.
Both my marriages were failures! Number one departed, and number two stayed
In the theatrical works we love and admire the most, the ending of the drama generally takes place offstage.
Tradition is tending the flame, not worshiping the ashes.
The further the music develops, the more complex the apparatus used by the composer to express his thoughts becomes.
Fortunately, something always remains to be harvested. So let us not be idle.
It should be one’s sole endeavor to see everything afresh and create it anew.
With the coming of spring, I am calm again.