“A symphony must be like the world; it must embrace everything.”
Life and Thought
Gustav Mahler was an Austrian composer and conductor, and one of the foremost figures of late Romantic music. By expanding the scale and possibilities of the symphony and linking it to song, poetry, and existential experience, he opened a path toward modern music.
Gustav Mahler was born on 7 July 1860 in Kaliště, Bohemia, into a Jewish family, and spent most of his childhood in Jihlava. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory and later gained distinction as a conductor in European opera houses, including Budapest, Hamburg, and Vienna. From 1897 to 1907, Mahler was director of the Vienna Court Opera, where he became known as an exacting and innovative conductor.
In composition, Mahler combined the symphonic tradition of Beethoven and Wagner with folk song, poetry, military music, and the sonic world of everyday life. His symphonies are often marked by large orchestras, intense emotional contrasts, and shifts among the sublime, irony, grief, and vitality. His major works include the Second, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Ninth Symphonies; Des Knaben Wunderhorn; Kindertotenlieder; and Das Lied von der Erde.
During his final years, he also conducted at the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. In his lifetime, Mahler was known primarily for his conducting, but after his death his music gradually gained a central place in the international repertoire and influenced modern composers, including the Second Viennese School. Mahler died in Vienna on 18 May 1911.