Gustav Mahler, vol. 4: A New Life Cut Short (1907-1911)

When the earlier volumes of de La Grange's monumental study of Gustav Mahler appeared, they were hailed across America -in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and many other publications- as an indispensable portrait of one of the greatest figures in the history of music. Here at last is the final volume of this magisterial work.

The fourth volume illuminates the composer's American period, when he was conductor for the Metropolitan Opera in New York. It contains a treasure trove of new material, in particular many unknown letters from Alma Mahler to her lover, Walter Gropius, and many articles and interviews about the composer and the performances he conducted while in New York. This detailed biography of the composer also includes new and valuable insights into the final year of his life, when he returned to Europe to die.

The crowning point of a decades-long project, during which the author has personally translated each volume from his original French into English, this scrupulously researched and insightfully written biography brings to a triumphant close the definitive account of Mahler's life and work.

CONTENIDO:

List of illustrations
Abbreviations
Introduction

1. Mahler in New York (I); discovering the New World; New York in 1908; The Metropolitan Opera and Heinrich Conried; "Tristan" and "Don Giovanni" (january-february 1908)
2. Mahler in New York (II); the end of the season at the Metropolitan; "Die Walküre", "Siegfried", and "Fidelio"; Philadelphia and Boston; return to Europe; concerts in Wiesbaden and Prague; Toblach and "Das Lied von der Erde" (march-august 1908)
3. Mahler in New York (III); première of the Seventh Symphony; concerts in Munich and Hamburg; return to New York; concerts with the Symphony; opening of the Metropolitan season (september-december 1908)
4. Mahler in New York (IV); "Figaro" and "Bartered Bride"; farewell to the Metropolitan; the New York Philarmonic; two weeks in Paris: Rodin; contract with Universal Edition; Schoenberg and Varèse (january-june 1909)
5. Mahler in New York (V); summer in Toblach; the Ninth Symphony; the last journey to the Netherlands; the New York Philarmonic (june-december 1909)
6. Mahler in New York (VI); social life there; second half of the first Philarmonic season; Busoni as soloist; the Weiss scandal; at the Met: "Pique Dame"; tour of New England; Mahler interviewed (january-march 1910)
7. Mahler in New York (VII); back in Europe; the Second Symphony in Paris; disaster in Rome; rehearsals for the English Symphony in Vienna, Leipzig, and Munich (april-july 1910)
8. Mahler in New York (VIII); Alma's betrayal; the tragic summer of 1910; the Tenth Symphony; consultation with Freud (july-august 1910)
9. Mahler in New York (IX); Munich: triumph of the Eighth Symphony; Vienna, autumn of 1910; paintings by Schoenberg; the second Philarmonic season; tour to the Great Lakes; the holidays in New York (september-december 1910)
10. Mahler in New York (X); plans for the next season; Mahler conducts a revised Fourth; crisis with the Guarantor's Committee; Mahler and the New York Philarmonic: a final assessment (january-february 1911)
Epilogue: Mahler's illness and death; New York-Paris-Vienna (21 february-18 may 1911)

-Appendix 1A. Catalogue of works
-Appendix 1Ba. "Das Lied von der Erde": a symphony for tenor and alto (or baritone) voice and orchestra (1908)
-Appendix 1Bb. The Ninth Symphony in D major (1909)
-Appendix 1Bc. The Unfinished Tenth Symphony in F Sharp (1910)
-Appendix 1Ca. Works revised by Mahler: Symphonic works
-Appendix 1Cb. Works revised by Mahler: Operas
-Appendix 1D. Apocryphal work: a symphonic prelude by Mahler
-Appendix 1Ea. Unfinished works and sketches: three unknown sketches
-Appendix 1Eb. The sketchbook in the Mildenburg Collection
-Appendix 1F. Why did Mahler not write an opera?
-Appendix 1G. Transcriptions and arrangements of Mahler's works
-Appendix 1H. How to approach Mahler's art, by Georg Göhler
-Appendix 1I. The Sixth Symphony (the order of movements)

-Appendix 2Aa. Soloists who played or sang in Mahler's concerts; cities where he conducted concerts, and his concert repertoire
-Appendix 2Ab. Programmes prepared by Mahler for the New York Philarmonic and conducting during his last illness by Theodore Spiering
-Appendix 2Ac. The orchestra and its instruments in Mahler's time
-Appendix 2B. Mahler as a performer of his own works (the piano rolls and their transfer to disc)

-Appendix 3Aa. After Mahler's death: letters of condolence
-Appendix 3Ab. Obituary articles
-Appendix 3Ac. Freud on Mahler (in Marie Bonaparte's diary), original german version
-Appendix 3Ad. A performance history of Mahler's works
-Appendix 3Ae. The survival of Alma's collection after the bombing of her house on the Hohe Warte
-Appendix 3Af. Mahler mythomania
-Appendix 3Ag. Mahler's posthumous triumph in America: Stokowski's 1916 performances of the Eighth Symphony
-Appendix 3Ba. Poems copied by Mahler
-Appendix 3Bb. A dedication in verse to Countess Wydenbruck's daughter
-Appendix 3C. Following Mahler's track
-Appendix 3D. Mahler's beliefs (Fechner and Hartmann)
-Appendix 3E. Rodin's three busts of Mahler
-Appendix 3F. Relative value of currencies in Mahler's time
-Appendix 3G. Alma Mahler: a chronology of her life after Mahler's death, 1911 to 1964
-Appendix 3H. Alma Mahler's lieder
-Appendix 3I. Recipe for Mahler's favourite dessert: Marillenknödel (apricot dumplings)

Select bibliography
Index