Gustav Mahler, Vol. 4: A New Life Cut Short, 1907-1911
by Henry-Louis De La Grange
List Price:
Our Price: $105.99
You Save: $49.01 (32%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Henry-Louis De La GrangeEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-07
ISBN: 0198163878
Number of pages: 1072
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of Gustav Mahler, Vol. 4: A New Life Cut Short, 1907-1911
Book Review: BRILLIANT AND A CELEBRATION FOR ALL MAHLER LOVERS
Summary: 5 Stars
FINALLY THE LAST VOLUME OF THE FOUR-PART PROJECT HAS APPEARED.THIS VOLUME DEALS MAINLY WITH THE COMPOSER'S LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES.
THIS GIGANTIC TOME HAS 1758 PAGES; 1277 OF THEM CONTAIN THE TEXT AND THE OTHERS ARE A COLLECTION OF 33 VARIOUS APPENDICES.( IN ONE OF THEM- THE LAST ONE YOU CAN ALSO GET A RECIPE ABOUT MAHLER'S FAVOURITE DESSERT: APRICOTE DUMPLINGS)
IT IS A SUPERB DELIGHT TO READ IT AND RE-READ IT AND LA GRANGE HAS DONE A SUPERB JOB IN RESEARCHING AND DISPELLING A NUMBER OF OLD MYTHS REGARDING THE COMPOSER.IF WE THOUGHT THAT MAHLER WAS A DICTATOR WHO WAS EXTREMELY HARSH ON HIS PLAYERS WHEREVER THEY WERE,WE WERE WRONG.MAHLER WANTED AND DEMANDED PERFECTION AND THIS FACT EXPLAINED PART OF THE ALMOST MISTAKEN NOTION ABOUT HIS SO-CALLED TYRANNY.
IN THIS VOLUME WE HAVE DESCRIPTIONS ABOUT THE MANY TRIPS MAHLER AND HIS TREACHEOUS WIFE,ALMA,TOOK MAINLY TO NEW YORK. WE GET A BROAD-CANVASSED DEPICTION AND MANY FACTS- SOME OF THEM UNKNOWN TO THE AVERAGE READER- ABOUT NEW YORK AND THE NEW YORK ARISTOCRACY AS WELL AS THE BENEFACTORS WHO DONATED HUGE SUMS OF MONEY SO THAT MAHLER BE KNOWN AND RECOGNIZED IN THE USA.IN FACT, THIS BOOK IS A MAHLER ENCYCLOPEDIA AND THE READER CAN FIND HERE ALMOST ANYTHING HE WANTS ABOUT MAHLER AND THE PERTINENT HISTORICAL BACKGROUND.
WHOLE CHAPTERS ARE DEVOTED TO SOME CRITICS-SOME HAD A POSITIVE ATTITUDE TO MAHLER AND A MINORTIY POURED OUT THEIR VENOM ON HIM.MAHLER LIKED AND LOVED AMERICA AND HAD A TREMENDOUS RESPECT FOR THE NEW WORLD.HIS BEST FRIEND THERE WAS FERRUCIO BUSONI AND THEY REMAINED FRIENDS UNTIL MAHLER'S LAST BREATH.
THIS WAS ALSO THE PERIOD WHEN MAHLER COMPOSED HIS MAMMOTH EIGHT SYMPHONY AND LA GRANGE SUPPLIES US WITH MANY UNKNOWN DETAILS AND NEW INFO ABOUT THE WAY MAHLER COMPOSED AND REHEARSED HIS CREATION.WE SEE HOW SENSITIVE MAHLER WAS AND THE WAY HE TOOK CARE OF HIS FRIENDS IN NEED, AND THE MOST OUTSTANDING EXAMPLE IS THE HELP HE EXTENDED TO HIS NEEDY AND MUCH MUSICALLY -OSTRACIZED FRIEND ARNOLD SCHOENBERG.
CHAPTER EIGHT IS ABOUT ALMA'S ILLICIT RELATIONSHIP WITH WALTER GROPIUS, THE ARCHITECT. HERE LA GRANGE TELLS US THAT HE HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF EXAMINING A BULK OF HOUSANDS OF LETTERS SENT BY ALMA TO GROPIUS AND VICE VERSA. EVERYTHING WAS DONE BY MEANS OF POST RESTANTE WITH ALMA MOTHER'S COLLUSION.THUS LA GRANGE MANAGES TO ESCHEW ALMA'S DISTORTED TALES ABOUT THE WHOLE AFFAIR.MAHLER'S AGONY ABOUT HIS WIFE'S AFFAIR WAS EXPRESSED IN ONE OF HIS INSCRIPTIONS WHILE IN THE MIDDLE OF COMPOSING THE UNFINISHED TENTH SYMPHONY.HIS TRIP TO HOLLAND WHERE THE MASTER MET FREUD AND WAS ANALYZED BY HIM IS FURTHER AND FRESHLY EXAMINED WITH THE HELP OF MARIA BONAPARTE'S DIARY.
THE FINAL PART IS ABOUT MAHLER'S ILLNESS , THE TRIP BACK TO EUROPE -VIA FRANCE -AND THE AGONIES HE SUFFERED IN THE VIENNA SANATORIUM UNTIL HE DIED. HE WANTED A MOST SIMPLE BURIAL AND EXPRESSED HIS WISH TO NEIGHBOUR HIS DEAD DAUGHTER IN GRINZING.HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WERE WAITING IN THE POURING RAIN TO EXTEND THEIR LAST RESPECT FOR THE MUSICAL COLOSSUS. A BIRD SANG A DISJOINTED SPRINGTIME MELODY AND ONE OF HIS FRIENDS WAS REMINDED OF THE FINAL MOVEMENT OF MAHLER'S SECOND SYMPHONY.
MAHLER'S FUNERAL TOOK PLACE ON MAY, 22, 1911. HIS OWN PREDICTION THAT HIS TIME WOULD COME WAS PROVEN TO BE RIGHT.
WHEN YOU LOOK AROUND TODAY AND SEE THOUSANDS OF ARTICLES BEING WRITTEN ABOUT HIM,HUNDREDS OF RECORDINGS AND PERFORMANCES ALL AROUND THE WORLD,THESES AND PH.D'S, DISCUSSIONS ON THE INTERNET AND VARIOUS MAHLER MEMORABILIA AND TENS OF THOUSANDS OF MAHLERITES EVERYWHERE- ONLY THEN CAN YOU UNDERSTAND HOW THIS TOWERING GENIUS IS APPRECIATED AND WILL DEFINITELY BE IN THE FUTURE.THE 2011 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS ARE AWAITING AS WELL.
LA GRANGE HAS DONE AN EXCELLENT JOB AND IN SPITE OF THE LENGTH OF HIS BOOK- I CAN ONLY SAY ONE WORD ABOUT IT:BRILLIANT!
LET US ALL HOPE THIS HIS PROMISE TO REVISE HIS FIRST VOLUME WILL NOT TAKE SO MANY YEARS IT TOOK TO WRITE THE FINAL ONE.
Summary of 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.
Music Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Music Books
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brainby Oliver Sacks
Knopf Publishing Group; Published: 2008; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.45
Listenby Joseph Kerman, Gary Tomlinson
Bedford/St. Martin's; Published: 2007-02-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.00
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Centuryby Alex Ross
Picador; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.82
Price in other shops:
Forever Young: Photographs of Bob Dylanby Douglas R. Gilbert, Dave Marsh
Da Capo Press; Published: 2006-10-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.55
Price in other shops:
Heroes And Villains: The True Story Of The Beach Boysby Steven Gaines
Da Capo Press; Published: 1995-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.15
Price in other shops:
Handbook for Sound Engineers, Third Editionby Glen Ballou
Focal Press; Published: 2002-01-21; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Jazz Anecdotesby Bill Crow
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1990-05-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.18
Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williamsby Paul Hemphill
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2006-08-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
How to Train Singers/ Book and Tapeby Larra Browning Henderson
Parker; Published: 1991-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.95
Price in other shops:
I, Tina: My Life Story (icon!t)by Tina Turner, Kurt Loder
It Books; Published: 2010-06-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Mahler: A Musical Physiognomyby Theodor W. Adorno
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1996-08-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.75
Price in other shops:
London Philharmonic Orchestra - Mahler: The Complete Works - 150th Anniversary BoxRelease date: 2010-06-29; Music CD
Best price: $40.14
Price in other shops:
Why Mahler?: How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed Our Worldby Norman Lebrecht
Pantheon; Published: 2010-10-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops:
Gustav Mahler: The Symphoniesby Constantin Floros
Amadeus Press; Amadeus Press; Published: 2003-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.63
Price in other shops:
The Cambridge Companion to Mahler (Cambridge Companions to Music)Cambridge University Press; Published: 2007-12-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $30.92
Price in other shops:
Mahlerby Henry-Louis de La Grange
Doubleday; Published: 1973; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2,249.95
Gustav Mahler, Vol. 3: Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion, 1904-1907by Henry-Louis De La Grange
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2000-05-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $105.82
Price in other shops:
The Mahler Album: New, Expanded Editionby Gilbert Kaplan
Abrams; Published: 2011-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $32.56
Price in other shops:
Gustav Mahler, Vol. 2: Vienna: The Years of Challenge, 1897-1904by Henry-Louis de La Grange
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1995-05-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $82.84
Price in other shops:
Gustav Mahlerby Jens Malte Fischer
Yale University Press; Published: 2011-08-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $31.50
Price in other shops: