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Gustav Mahler (1860—1911)

1. Mahler was born on July 7, 1860 in Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire and which is now located in an area which is part of the Czech Republic.

2. Mahler discovered a piano in his grandmother’s attic when he was six years old. Just four years later, he gave his first public performance.

3. Mahler graduated from the Vienna Conservatory in 1878. Sadly, few of his student compositions were preserved, so it is not clear what he may have sounded like at the time.

4. Following his tenure with the Leipzig Opera, Mahler moved to Prague in 1885 to take up a post with the Neues Deutsches Theater (New German Theatre) in Prague.

5. In 1897, Mahler became director of the Vienna Court Opera, a post he would go on to hold for ten years. It was a trying time for Mahler, who on more than one occasion had to prove his German cultural credentials to appease his employers. He did so with some storming concerts of Wagner.

6. Mahler met the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, after a series of tragedies plagued Mahler’s already tragic life. Freud’s diagnosis for Mahler was mother-fixation.

7. Mahler wrote a song cycle on the death of children called Kindertotenlieder, which enraged his wife Alma Mahler. Sadly, not too long after, one of his two children passed away.

8. Mahler is known for creating the autobiographical symphony. He claimed, “a symphony should be the world, it must embrace everything.” His Symphony No. 3 is one of the longest symphonies ever created, clocking in at roughly 95 minutes. Composed between 1893 and 1896, it is still performed in symphony halls around the world to this day.

9. In 1907, Mahler was diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis, also known as infective endocarditis. It is an infection of the inner lining of the heart and at least one of the heart valves. He died just four years later.

10. On February 21, 1911, Mahler conducted his final concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall. He was severely ill afterwards and confined to bed. He traveled back to Vienna, where he died on May 18, 1911.