While Mahler was alive, he always was known as a better
conductor than a composer, but he was a ruthless conductor who
demanded perfection. His musicians rebelled at him, and the
organizers hated his iron-willed determination in running concerts
how he believed they should be run. Nonetheless the audience was
breath-taken by the outstanding playing and the results pleased
everybody. But since he was so difficult to work with, the majority
of his life he traveled between Prague, Leipzig, Budapest, Hamburg
and Vienna.
Mahler was born on July 17th, 1860 in Bohemia. He was poor and
suffered much of his life. He suffered mainly because seven of his
brothers and sisters died from diphtheria and another died of a
brain tumor. He was the eldest of the survivors and later when he
began to compose, he would let these emotions flow heavily. In
1880, after graduating from the Vienna Conservatory, he was
selected to conduct in the worst of conditions. This is where his
dictatorial conducting style was taken from. From then on he would
conduct with the greatest demands and the least patience. He would
go on to conduct at several more facilities. He even conducted the
New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera. When he returned
to Vienna, he died of a blood clot in 1911.
Mahler's perfectionism caused him to rework several of his pieces. Sometimes he would even change a piece after it had already been performed and received grandly. But Mahler became so great because of his perfectionism on such a grand scale. His nine symphonies are massive. Most of them take well over an hour to perform. They portray despair and longing to the audience.
Mahler's notable pieces include his fifth, first and seventh
symphonies. His other works include Songs of the Death of Children,
Songs of a Wayfarer and The Youth's Magic Horn.
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