in Mahler, Jonathan Carr Reexamines Mahler's Life And Work On Through The Circumstances Leading To His Death In 1911. The Focus Is On Mahler's Last Decade, His Tempestuous Marriage To The Alluring Alma Schindler, His Work As A Summer Composer In Isolated Huts In The Country, His Revolutionary Achievements As Director Of The Vienna Opera And His Final Years In America. But It Sets The Stage By Looking Into Mahler's Earlier Career As A Talented, Ambitious, And Often Ruthless, Conductor. The Book Includes A Chronology Of Mahler's Life And Makes Suggestions For A Cd Collection.
library Journal carr, A British Journalist Living In Germany, Has Been Researching Gustav Mahler's Life And Attending Performances Of His Music Since 1960. His Concise, Caring Portrait Turns Flinty (and More Captivating) Whenever Mahler's Wife, Alma, Is The Subject. By Turns Carr Describes, Quotes, Argues With, Dismisses, Apparently Mistranslates, And Yields To Her, Making Plain His Conflicting Feelings Toward Her. Catalogers Of This Book Should Add A Subject Entry For Alma, For Just Over Half The Book Focuses On Mahler's Life And Music After Marriage. A Popular, Opinionated Treatment Using New Evidence From A Postcard Here, An Item Tucked Away In An Archive There, This Book Ends With A Useful Bibliographic/discographic Essay. A Good Choice For Biography Collections.bonnie Jo Dopp, Performing Arts Lib., Univ. Of Maryland Lib.

Mahler - A Life

Jonathan Carr

Overlook Press, The

Overlook TP

United States, United States of America

2011-05-31

1, 2011

".Although Gustav Mahler is seen today as one of the groundbreaking composers of the modern era, he remains widely misunderstood both as man and musician. In Mahler, Jonathan Carr reexamines Mahler's life and work through the circumstances leading to his death in 1911. The focus is on Mahler's last decade, his tempestuous marriage to the alluring Alma Schindler, his work as a "summer composer" in isolated huts in the country, his revolutionary achievements as director of the Vienna opera and his final years in America. But it sets the stage by looking into Mahler's earlier career as a talented, ambitious, and often ruthless conductor. In her memoirs Alma drew Mahler as a sickly, cerebral recluse. Arnold Schoenberg called him a "saint." Leonard Bernstein, largely responsible for the Mahler "boom" in the Sixties, found a "secret shame" at the heart of Mahler's music, "the shame of being a Jew and the shame of being ashamed." Jonathan Carr looks behind these myths, and using letters, diaries, and other material hitherto unavailable in English, he brilliantly challenges some of the most widely held assumptions about Mahler."--Publisher description

2024-11-05