Mahler in New York

The Mahler Broadcasts 1948-1982

NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC

Mahler in New York

Major F u n d i n g by

Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser

Track Listing

D i s c 7 (69:26) 1 - 4 S y m p h o n y N o . 7 in B m i n o r

87:54

Rafael Kubelik, conductor (February 2 8 , 1981)

Disc 1 (68:22) 1 - 4 S y m p h o n y N o . 1 in D m a j o r

52:40 Disc 8 ( 7 6 : 4 4 )

Sir J o h n Barbirolli, conductor (January 10, 1 9 5 9 ) 5 - 8 Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen ( S o n g s of a Wayfarer) William Steinberg, conductor; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone (November 27, 1964) Disc 2 (79:53) 1 - 5 S y m p h o n y N o . 2 in C m i n o r ("Resurrection") for O r c h e s t r a , S o p r a n o and Alto Solos, and Mixed C h o r u s Z u b i n M e h t a , conductor; Kathleen Battle, soprano; M a u r e e n Forrester, contralto ( M a r c h 7, 1 9 8 2 )

15:25

1 S y m p h o n y N o . 7 in B m i n o r (conclusion) 2 - 7 D a s L i e d v o n d e r E r d e ( T h e S o n g o f the E a r t h ) B r u n o Walter, conductor; Kathleen Ferrier, mezzo-soprano; Set S v a n h o l m , tenor (January 18, 1 9 4 8 )

58:05

Disc 9 ( 7 8 : 0 0 ) 79:53

1 - 10 S y m p h o n y N o . 8 in E-flat m a j o r

78:00

L e o p o l d Stokowski, conductor (April 9, 1 9 5 0 ) Disc 10 ( 7 9 : 5 0 )

Disc 3 (75:49) 1 - 5 S y m p h o n y N o . 3 in D m i n o r Pierre Boulez, conductor; Yvonne M i n t o n , (October 2 3 , 1 9 7 6 )

1 - 4 S y m p h o n y N o . 9 in D m a j o r 97:31 mezzo-soprano Disc11(77:08)

D i s c 4 (77:27) 1 S y m p h o n y N o . 3 in D m i n o r (conclusion) 2 - 5 S y m p h o n y N o . 4 in G m a j o r , for O r c h e s t r a a n d S o p r a n o S o l o G e o r g Solti, conductor; I r m g a r d Seefried, soprano (January 13, 1 9 6 2 ) Disc 5

55:30

(73:02)

1 - 5 S y m p h o n y N o . 5 in C - s h a r p m i n o r Klaus Tennstedt, conductor (June 18, 1 9 8 0 ) Disc 6

79:50

Sir J o h n Barbirolli, conductor ( D e c e m b e r 8, 1 9 6 2 )

73:02

Symphony N o . 10 in F-sharp minor 1 Andante—Adagio D i m i t r i M i t r o p o u l o s , conductor (January 16, I 9 6 0 ) 2 Purgatorio D i m i t r i M i t r o p o u l o s , conductor ( M a r c h 16, 1 9 5 8 ) 3 - 5 T h e Conductors Speak About Mahler B r u n o Walter, L e o p o l d Stokowski, a n d Sir J o h n Barbirolli 6 - 9 W i l l i a m Malloch's "I R e m e m b e r M a h l e r " Interviews with musicians who played u n d e r M a h l e r (Broadcast by K P F K on July 7, 1964)

(73:30)

1 - 4 S y m p h o n y N o . 6 in A m i n o r D i m i t r i M i t r o p o u l o s , conductor (April 10, 1955)

73:30

Disc 1 2 ( 7 4 : 1 8 ) 1 - 10 W i l l i a m Malloch's "I R e m e m b e r M a h l e r " (conclusion)

30:03 25:41 4:17 14:32 106:28

Book

Table of Contents

cover:

Cover detail from Mahler's copy of his First Symphony (first edition Josef Weinberger,

Vienna: 1899)

F r o m t h e M u s i c D i r e c t o r Kurt Masur Gustav Mahler: The Unanswered Questions

8 Barbara Haws

12

A Mahler Timeline

16

Mahler a n d the N e w York Philharmonic: T h e Truth B e h i n d the L e g e n d Inside front

cover:

A stylized "GM" used by Mahler for his

letterhead.

Henry-Louis d e L a Grange

22

N e w York's M u s i c a l C u l t u r e : T h e T r a n s f o r m a t i o n o f a n O r c h e s t r a Howard Shanet

56

M a h l e r a t t h e M e t Robert Tuggle

82

G u s t a v M a h l e r a n d the G u a r a n t o r s : Right: Mastheads from

some

of the local newspapers that preserved critical opinion of Mahler's compositions and conducting in New York.

T h e M a n a g e m e n t o f G e n i u s Jack Kamerman

98

M a r y S h e l d o n : A W o m a n o f S u b s t a n c e Marion Casey

108

MAHLER AS CONDUCTOR Mahler as Conductor: The New York Philharmonic Performances

120

W h a t the Critics Wrote, 1 9 0 9 - 1 9 1 1

132

Mahler's M a r k e d Scores in the N e w York P h i l h a r m o n i c A r c h i v e s Paul Banks

140

W a r a n d P e a c e : T h e M a h l e r V e r s i o n Alan Rich

160

MAHLER AS COMPOSER Mahler as Composer: The New York Philharmonic Performances

176

B r u n o W a l t e r : P r o t e c t o r a n d P r o p h e t Erik Ryding

200

M i t r o p o u l o s , Walter, a n d M a h l e r : A Player's Perspective Bernstein's L a t e - N i g h t T h o u g h t s on M a h l e r

Jack Gottlieb

James Chambers

210 218

Mahler at the New York Philharmonic: T h e P l a y e r s R e m e m b e r Robert Sherman Acknowledgments

230 245

From the Music Director KURT MASUR

T

he secret of an orchestra's style, as conductors and players know, is passed down

from one generation to another by the musicians themselves and is based on their shared experiences over the course of many years. T h e New York Philharmonic is one of the world's leading Mahler orchestras, and its Mahler

tradition reaches back to Gustav Mahler himself, who conducted the Orchestra in his last

years and also served as its Music Director. Having maintained certain performing traditions from Mahler's day up to the present, and having continually kept his work in the repertoire throughout that period, the Orchestra has proven beyond any doubt its outstanding c o m m i t m e n t to his music. T h e musicians of the New York Philharmonic play together as an astonishingly flexible

8

instrument. The performers are not just slavishly following the baton; when you make music

with them, they breathe together with you, instilling life into every phrase—and this is crucial

in his music—think, for example, of his funeral marches. A number of Mahler's close

for Mahler. As for the Orchestras soloists, they are well-educated masters of their instruments

relations died young. Yet there is also a very real affirmation of life in his symphonies. I feel

and repertoire; they know how to strike the right balance between independence and

that people in his time were aware of their mortality because they wanted to be aware, in

ensemble playing. When you hear solos played by the horn, the trumpet, the oboe, the

order to appreciate and savor the life that they had. If you wake up every morning and feel

clarinet, the flute, you discover that the Orchestra has many different personalities, yet they

grateful to see the sun again, you will know that every day is a gift. Every religion in the

all come together as a unified body in the collaborative effort of making symphonic music.

world grapples with the problem of life's brevity. If we lived eternally, maybe we would

I myself have found that Mahler often inspires the best playing from the N e w York

underestimate the gifts we have. But since we know we are granted only a limited time in

Philharmonic. I remember the 10,000th concert in 1 9 8 2 , with Zubin Mehta conducting

this world, we try to reconcile ourselves to our mortality and to discover a purpose in our

Mahler's Second Symphony. T h i s was long before I came here as the Music Director. It was

lives. Mahler confronted the problem in a wonderful way on two occasions—in the

an incredible performance; in fact, I can hardly think of a more committed performance of

"Abschied" of Das Lied von der Erde, with the words ewig, ewig ("forever, forever"), and in

the "Resurrection" than that one, which is included in this collection. T h a t performance,

the last movement of the Ninth Symphony, which without the use of words also transmits

incidentally, convinced me that the N e w York Philharmonic had not only great ability but

the message of ewig, the confrontation with eternity. As you will hear in the performances

also a kind of honesty. T h e musicians were not only playing with startling accuracy and

gathered on this set, the Orchestra has long known Mahler's message. T h e earliest broadcast

beautiful sonority: they understood the spirit of Mahler's work.

we present, Das Lied von der Erde under Bruno Walter, dates back half a century, and we can

C o n d u c t i n g Mahler with an orchestra like the N e w York Philharmonic is a particular

already sense the players' deep understanding of this great composer's art and philosophy, an

pleasure, because the Orchestra understands the music so deeply. If an orchestra doesn't

understanding that had developed over the course of several decades and that extends, as the

know the music through and through, doesn't feel the music, then you are forced to discuss

other broadcasts prove, up to the present day.

every phrase and every transition in too much detail, and the performance loses its

As with our first collection of broadcast recordings, we are deeply indebted to G u s and

spontaneity. For Mahler's music you need a kind of freedom. In a performance, you have to

Rita Hauser, true friends of the N e w York Philharmonic, for their generous support, without

feel safe making transitions a little differently from what you did at the last rehearsal or the

which we could not preserve these historic performances.

last concert. You have to feel free to be spontaneous. With the N e w York Philharmonic, I breathe, and everybody breathes with me. 1O

It is well known that Mahler was much aware of death, and his awareness is m a d e evident

Under Kurt Masur

the New

York Philharmonic

has

recorded Mahler's First and Ninth

Symphonies, as well as the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Håkan Hagegård , for Teldec.

11

Gustav Mahler: The Unanswered Questions by BARBARA HAWS

D

id Mahler's conducting venture in N e w York make a lasting impact on the City and the Philharmonic? D i d the N e w York musicians he hired and trained

leave an enduring impression on the musicians that followed decades later? C a n we hear the ghost of Gustav Mahler in

present-day Philharmonic

performances? S o m e would answer in the absolute affirmative while others would be

vehemently skeptical. It is this lack of consensus, this ambiguity that makes interpreting the

The continuity of the Philharmonic's Mahler tradition is demonstrated in this snapshot, in which the musicians' tenure extends from Mahler to Mehta. Back row: (left to right) Roberto Sensale (1923-57), Benjamin Kohon (1908-43), Simon Kovar (1923-49); middle row: Bruno Labate (1908-43), Engelbert Brenner (1931-72), Albert Goltzer (1938-84); 12

front row: Martin Ormandy (1929-66), and William L. Feder (1921-49).

Mahler tradition in N e w York so rich. W h a t we learned when we started delving into this topic was that our assumptions of the past were not necessarily holding true: Was Mahler miserable in N e w York? Were the w o m e n "Guarantors" running the Philharmonic in 1909 predatory ogres who contributed to Mahler's death? D i d the audiences despise and avoid Mahler's music prior to 1960? Was it even possible to hear Mahler's music before Bernstein? Just when a particular answer seemed to be at hand, a new piece of evidence, or a varied interpretation, or even a new personality once overlooked emerged to start the questions coming once again.

over the last 90 years to Mahler the composer. As the keeper of and chief explorer in the Archives of the N e w York Philharmonic, I have often been struck by the way history has been by

myth

To place Mahler in a context, we turned to the Philharmonic's longtime historian, Howard Shanet. After hearing of the discoveries that Jack K a m e r m a n and Marion Casey had made regarding the Guarantors (those who ran the Philharmonic in 1 9 0 9 ) , B o b Tuggle, Director of Archives at the Metropolitan Opera, revealed that there was new information at the M e t that he didn't think existed anywhere else: "Mahler at the Met" was immediately brought into the fold. We then searched to find physical evidence of Mahler himself and so turned to Paul Banks to help sift through our enormous score and part collection. O n e of

These essays discuss both Mahler as a conductor in N e w York and the evolving reaction

rewritten

New York musical life that had preceded him is overlooked.

and personal

perception.

W h a t began

as

a companion

b o o k to

complement the 1 2 - C D set grew to be a scholarly study investigating myriad questions from inconsistencies that kept p o p p i n g up. Since the Philharmonic has been fairly assiduous about keeping the smallest details of its history, we knew it would be useful to share all of the performance and recording data that had been accumulated in the Archives. We then started asking and investigating what others thought about the place of N e w York and the Philharmonic in the Mahler lore. We asked Maestro Masur to recount his impressions when standing before the same Orchestra where Mahler had been Music Director. We were also intrigued to see that Henry-Louis de La

the myths we were laboring under—which was not borne out by our Mahler performance list or the papers of Mengelberg, Walter, Mitropoulos, and Stokowski—was that there were virtually no performances of Mahler prior to Leonard Bernstein. We did find that even though these ardent Mahler champions were performing his works, it was in the face of unrelenting critical attacks. T h e Philharmonic musicians themselves, both present and past, rounded out our c o m m u n i t y of collaborators with matchless anecdotes and insights. These accounts and essays when read together do not always arrive at the same conclusions—the differences may be subtle, but they still exist. Have we found all that we set out to find? Absolutely not. There are more reviews to interpret, more box-office receipts to assess, more personal diaries to track down, more scores to pore through, more lists to decipher. But we had to stop somewhere, and as everyone knows, Mr. Mahler and N e w York are both very complicated subjects.

•

Grange provided a point of view that confirmed what we saw in the contemporary newspaper reviews: Mahler was a success at the Philharmonic and even expressed pleasure at

14

being in N e w York. But in so many accounts on Mahler, the rich, vital, and sophisticated

Barbara Haws, Archivist/Historian of the New York Philharmonic since 1984, is the Executive Producer of the New York Philharmonic Special Editions recording label.

15

A Mahler Timeline compiled by MICHELE SMITH 1860

1875

JULY 7 Gustav Mahler bom in Kalischt, Bohemia. Son of Bernhard Mahler (1827-1889) and Marie Mahler, née Hermann (1837-1889). One of 14 children, of whom eight died in infancy SEPTEMBER Enters Conservatory of the Society of the Friends of Music in Vienna (diploma: June 1878)

1880

SUMMER First appointment as conductor (Hall, Upper Austria) OCTOBER Completes Das klagende Lied (first version)

1884-85

Composes Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

1885-86

Conductor at the German Theater, Prague

1886

AUGUST Appointed as Second Conductor at the Leipzig Municipal Theater JANUARY 20 Leipzig: Conducts first performance of Carl Maria von Weber's opera Die drei Pintos (supplemented and revised by GM) MARCH Completes First Symphony AUGUST First version of Totenfeier (later revised as first movement of the Second Symphony)

1889

NOVEMBER 20 Budapest: GM premieres his First Symphony

1891

MARCH Resigns from Budapest; appointment as First Conductor in Hamburg

1892

JUNE-JULY London, Royal Opera, Covent Garden: GM conducts 18 guest performances

1893

SUMMER Works on the Second Symphony (in Steinbach am Attersee)

1894

SUMMER Composes last movement of the Second Symphony

1895

SUMMER Composes second to sixth movements of Third Symphony DECEMBER 13 Berlin: GM premieres his Second Symphony

1896

SUMMER Completes first movement of Third Symphony

1897

APRIL GM leaves Hamburg and becomes Conductor of the Vienna Court Opera OCTOBER Appointed Artistic Director of the Vienna Court Opera

1898

NOVEMBER 6 First concert with the Vienna Philharmonic

1900

SUMMER Completes Fourth Symphony (Maiernigg am Wörthersee)

1901

FEBRUARY 17 Vienna: GM premieres Das klagende Lied SUMMER Works on the Fifth Symphony and songs NOVEMBER 25 Munich: GM premieres his Fourth Symphony

1902

MARCH 9 Marries Alma Maria Schindler (1879-1964) JUNE 9 Krefeld, Germany: GM premieres his Third Symphony SUMMER Completes Fifth Symphony NOVEMBER 3 Birth of his daughter, Maria Anna (1902-1907)

1903 1904

16

SUMMER Works on Sixth Symphony OCTOBER GM's first performance with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam JUNE 15 Birth of his second daughter, Anna Justine (1904-1988) SUMMER Completes Sixth Symphony; begins Seventh Symphony

17

OCTOBER 18 Cologne: GM premieres his Fifth Symphony NOVEMBER 6 New York: Walter Damrosch conducts United States premiere of GM's Fourth Symphony with the New York Symphony Society

1905

MARCH 24 Cincinnati: Frank van der Stucken conducts United States premiere of Fifth Symphony with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra SUMMER Completes Seventh Symphony

1906

FEBRUARY 15 New York: Wilhelm Gericke conducts New York premiere of GM's Fifth Symphony with the Boston Symphony Orchestra MAY 27 Essen: GM premieres his Sixth Symphony SUMMER Works on Eighth Symphony

1907

MAY Resigns as Director of the Vienna Court Opera JULY 12 Death of his elder daughter; GM diagnosed as having heart disease DECEMBER 21 Arrives in New York; stays at Majestic Hotel

1908

JANUARY 1 New York: GM's conducting debut at the Metropolitan Opera (Tristan und Isolde) SUMMER Works on Das Lied von der Erde (Toblach, South Tyrol) SEPTEMBER 19 Prague: GM premieres his Seventh Symphony DECEMBER 8 New York: GM conducts United States premiere of his Second Symphony with New York Symphony Society

1909

1910

18

SPRING Accepts contract as Conductor of reorganized New York Philharmonic SUMMER Works on Ninth Symphony NOVEMBER 4 Gives first concert as Conductor of the New York Philharmonic DECEMBER 16 New York: GM conducts United States premiere of his First Symphony with the New York Philharmonic FEBRUARY 23 GM conducts first United States tour with the New York Philharmonic SUMMER Sketches for the Tenth Symphony (unfinished) AUGUST 25-28 GM consults Siegmund Freud in Leiden SEPTEMBER 12 Munich: GM conducts premiere of his Eighth Symphony

NOVEMBER 1 Opens his second New York Philharmonic season DECEMBER 5 GM conducts his second United States tour with the New York Philharmonic

1911

JANUARY 17 New York: GM conducts the New York premiere of his Fourth Symphony with the New York Philharmonic FEBRUARY 21 New York: GM conducts for the last time MAY 18 Mahler dies in Vienna at 11:05 p.m. NOVEMBER 20 Munich: Bruno Walter premieres Das Lied von der Erde

1912

JUNE 26 Vienna: Walter premieres GM's Ninth Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic

1914

MAY 9 Cincinnati: Ernst Kunwald conducts United States premiere of GM's Third Symphony with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

1916

MARCH 2 Philadelphia: Leopold Stokowski conducts United States premiere of the Eighth Symphony with Philadelphia Orchestra APRIL 9 New York: Stokowski conducts Philadelphia Orchestra in New York premiere of the Eighth Symphony DECEMBER 14 Philadelphia: Stokowski conducts United States premiere of Das Lied von der Erde with the Philadelphia Orchestra

1920

MAY 6-21 Amsterdam: Willem Mengelberg conducts eight concerts of GM's orchestral works with Concertgebouw OCTOBER 4-21 Vienna: Oskar Fried conducts Mahler cycle at Vienna Konzertverein (all symphonies except Eighth)

1921

APRIL 15 Chicago: Frederick Stock conducts United States premiere of GM's Seventh Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

1922

FEBRUARY 1 New York: Artur Bodanzky conducts the New York premiere of Das Lied von der Erde with the Friends of Music FEBRUARY 28 New York: Mengelberg conducts New York premiere of GM's Third Symphony with New York Philharmonic

19

1923

MARCH 8 New York: Mengelberg conducts New York premiere of GM's Seventh Symphony with New York Philharmonic

1924

OCTOBER 12 Vienna: Franz Schalk conducts the premiere of the Adagio and Purgatorio movements of GM's Tenth Symphony (Krenek edition)

1926

1929

1931

20

1959-60

DECEMBER 31 -APRII, 2 4 New York: New York Philharmonic Mahler Festival (36 concerts by Mitropoulos, Leonard Bernstein, and Walter) commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Mahler's birth and the 50th Anniversary of his first season as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic

DECEMBER 2 New York: Mengelberg conducts New York Philharmonic's first performance of GM's Fifth Symphony

1964

A U G U S T 13 London: Bertold Goldschmidt conducts premiere of GM's entire Tenth Symphony (Deryck Cooke edition) with the London Symphony Orchestra

JANUARY 3 New York: Mengelberg conducts New York Philharmonic's first performance of Das Lied von der Erde

1965

NOVEMBER 5 Philadelphia: Eugene Ormandy conducts United States premiere of the entire Tenth Symphony (Cooke edition) with the Philadelphia Orchestra

1968

APRIL 25 New York: William Steinberg conducts New York Philharmonic premiere of GM's Tenth Symphony (Cooke edition)

1976

SEPTEMBER 26-OcTOBER 25 New York: New York Philharmonic Mahler Festival at Carnegie Hall. Nine concerts of symphonies and songs conducted by Erich Leinsdorf, James Levine, and Pierre Boulez

OCTOBER 16 Boston: Serge Koussevitzky conducts United States premiere of GM's Ninth Symphony with Boston Symphony Orchesrra NOVEMBER 19 New York: Koussevitzky conducts New York premiere of GM's Ninth Symphony with Boston Symphony Orchestra

1942

JANUARY 4-APRIL 12 New York: Emo Rapee conducts eight concerts in Mahler Festival at Radio City Music Hall with Radio City Music Hall Symphony and Schola Cantorum

1945

DECEMBER 20 New York: Walter conducts New York Philharmonic's first performance of GM's Ninth Symphony

1947

DECEMBER 11 New York: Dimitri Mitropoulos conducts United States premiere of GM's Sixth Symphony with the New York Philharmonic

1949

DECEMBER 6 Erie, Pennsylvania: Fritz Mahler conducts the United States premiere of the Adagio and Purgatorio movements of GM's Tenth Symphony (Krenek edition)

1950

APRIL 6 New York: Stokowski conducts the New York Philharmonic's first performance of GM's Eighth Symphony

1958

Purgatorio movements of GM's Tenth Symphony (Krenek edition)

MARCH 13 New York: Mitropoulos conducts New York premiere of the Adagio and

21

Mahler and the New York Philharmonic:

The Truth Behind the Legend by HENRY-LOUIS DE LA GRANGE

B

efore coming to Mahler the musician, let me say a word or two about Mahler the man. My view, acquired in the course of 40 years of intensive research, while

reading several thousand books, letters, reports, reminiscences, articles, reviews, after writing some three or four thousand pages of biography, is that Mahler was

not the morbid, tormented neurotic he is so often depicted to have been.

True, Freud

believed that artistic creation was always in s o m e way connected with neurosis. T h e great composers of the past could all have been considered as neurotic, in one way or other, but

22

Mahler in New York, 1909.

24

Mahler was no more so than Beethoven, C h o p i n , Schumann, or Brahms for instance,

Mahler was incapable of sparing himself, of not seeking perfection in every realm. But that

certainly far less than Bruckner or Tchaikovsky.

surely is the normal state of mind of all great creative artists.

A knowledge of Mahler's personality and behavior in everyday life, of his courage in the

When, in 1 9 0 7 , Mahler accepted the post offered him at the Metropolitan Opera, his

face of adversity, of the dignity, the reserve he displayed when fate struck hardest, all these

eldest daughter was still alive. However, by the time he left for the United States six months

traits of character make nonsense of the traditional image. T h e origin of the legend can easily

later, he had indeed suffered three blows: his child's death, the doctors' diagnosis of his weak

be detected: Alma survived Mahler by some 50 years. Whereas he never wrote or spoke about

heart, and the attitude of the Viennese administration, which had done little or nothing to

his relationship to Alma, she later published two books which describe Mahler as an "ascetic,"

keep him at the head of the Opera. At that time America had a bad reputation a m o n g

a sickly man for whom all pleasures were suspect, to whom, furthermore, his daughter's death

German and Austrian musicians. T h e United States had surely been described to him, in

and the heart specialist's diagnosis were deadly blows. T h e somber nature of some of Mahler's

terms of the European cliché, as "the land of the almighty dollar." Richard Strauss, who had

most popular works, such as the

and Das Lied von der Erde, helped

earlier conducted a symphony concert in Wanamaker's, the large N e w York department

propagate a legend that appealed to the preference most of us secretly harbor for the easy and

store, during shopping hours, could not take Mahler seriously when he spoke of his fears

simplistic image rather than the more complicated but less romantic reality. T h u s Mahler

that he would not be understood in America. He had merely replied: "But my dear Mahler,

became known as a typical fin-de-siècle artist, morbid, tormented, forever obsessed with the

you are and will always remain a child! Over there, all one does is climb on to the p o d i u m ,

sad realities of human destiny and tortured by the demon of introspection.

do this [gestures of a conductor], and then this [gesture of counting money]."

Kindertotenlieder

T h e real Mahler did indeed suffer all his life from two chronic ailments, hemorrhoids

Assuredly, Mahler was a realist as well as an idealist, and his decision to leave for N e w

and inflamed tonsils, but they in no way prevented him from leading an intensely active life.

York was not only motivated by his desire to turn his back on Vienna and Europe. He was

T h e real Mahler had more than a normal person's ration of vigor and stamina. T h e real

anxious to earn money for his family and to curtail his professional activities, so as to have

Mahler enjoyed putting his physical strength and endurance to the test: he loved to swim

more time to compose. Although he had, before leaving the Vienna Opera, received offers

long distances, climb mountains, take endless walks, and go on strenuous bicycle tours. He

from other European institutions, the disappointments he had experienced there were such

of course led three different and simultaneous lives, and pursued three different careers—

that he longed to start anew on another continent.

that of virtuoso conductor, that of theater director, and that of composer. A n d what is more,

However, Mahler's career at the Metropolitan O p e r a is not part of my subject in this

his inflexible idealism, his practice of music as a religion, did not allow him to consider any

essay. What matters is that he earned his greatest and most unanimous triumph there on 20

of them as a minor activity on which he could permit himself to husband his resources.

March 1908 with Fidelio, a work more admired than loved, which had never been popular

25

anywhere in the world. There was a tremendous outburst of applause after the Leonore Overture N o . 3: Henry Taylor Parker, of the Boston Evening Transcript, thought that "more than rediscovered," Fidelio had been "born anew" after having "fallen in musty disrepute at the Met." T h e New York Evening Sun wrote: "Tremendous, nothing less, was the rapt attention. . . . T h e house went crazy in the dark. T h e riot over Mahler equaled that over Caruso in Il Trovatore." T h e next day, Mahler was praised by the overwhelming majority of critics, more enthusiastically, perhaps, than he had ever been in Europe. Despite the Met's shortcomings at the time, Mahler enjoyed his first months in N e w York. He was delighted therefore when, towards the end of his second season at the Met, new plans for his future in N e w York developed as an aftermath of the memorable performance of Fidelio, and particularly of the third Leonore Overture. M r s . George Sheldon, the wife of a N e w York banker who was closely associated with J. P. Morgan, had been so impressed that she decided that "Mr. Mahler's influence was deeply felt at the Metropolitan Opera H o u s e this winter and it would be a pity if he should not have a chance to conduct purely orchestral music with an orchestra of his own" (New York Times, 19 April 1 9 0 8 ) . T h e original plan was to create a Mahler orchestra, but eventually it was found wiser to reorganize the oldest N e w York orchestral society, the Philharmonic. Since he had left the Vienna Philharmonic in 1 9 0 1 , Mahler had conducted many orchestras as a guest, but he had not had one entirely in his hands. In any case, a symphonic vehicle such as the Boston Symphony, which gave far more concerts in a season than the average European orchestra, was something European conductors could only dream of. After

26

Special Symphony Society Bulletin announcing Mahler's impending concerts, 1908.

a whole life spent in the "penitentiary" of opera houses, Mahler was of course delighted by

unethical. Be that as it may, subsequent events were to show that Damrosch never forgave

Mrs. Sheldon's unexpected proposal. However, when it was m a d e to him, he had already

him for having delayed the negotiations without informing him of Mrs. Sheldon's offer.

been negotiating for s o m e time with Walter D a m r o s c h , who planned to engage him to conduct three concerts with the N e w York Symphony Orchestra.

28

Damrosch proceeded to do everything in his power to make sure that Mahler's three concerts with the Symphony in the autumn failed miserably. Reginald de Koven wrote in

T h e short period of time during which Mahler negotiated with both Damrosch and M r s .

the New York World, the day after the performance of the Second Symphony: "Herr Mahler,

Sheldon was to have unforeseeable and highly negative consequences for Mahler's N e w York

as 1 hear, was reported to have said that his conducting yesterday was something of a farce,

career. Henry Krehbiel later wrote in his vicious obituary of Mahler: "While still under

as the members of the orchestra neither came nor stayed at rehearsals, as he wished them to."

contract to the Symphony Orchestra he entered into an arrangement with a committee of

No effort of any kind was made to advertise the three concerts, Damrosch's intention

women to give three concerts with the orchestra of the Philharmonic Society." T h e truth is

obviously being to prove that Mahler's presence on the podium would not attract the public.

that, at the time when the Philharmonic's proposal was made, during the last two weeks of

Thus the hall was half empty for the first concert. M a x Smith recalled how liberal the

March 1 9 0 8 , Mahler was not "under contract." He had merely accepted to conduct some

Damrosch brothers had always been with free tickets for their concerts whenever the sales

concerts with Damrosch's orchestra at the beginning of the next season. On 22 or 23 March,

had not been adequate. "Why shouldn't a Sunday concert with Mahler draw at least as big

he asked Damrosch for a 10 days' respite before signing his contract with the Symphony,

a crowd as a Sunday concert with Damrosch?" he asked. "Are we to believe that a m a n of

but did not reveal the cause of this delay, and for a very obvious reason: M r s . Sheldon had

Damrosch's social friendships can fill Carnegie Hall more readily by waving a baton than a

sworn him to secrecy as long as nothing was settled. But Damrosch did not even have to

man of Mahler's musical greatness? . . . Is it established that his [Damrosch's] pretty graces

wait for 10 days. A week later, on 1 April, he received a letter from the Ladies' Committee's

as conductor exert a greater attraction on a N e w York public than Mahler's genius?" Worse

lawyer asking him whether Mahler could accept their offer to conduct three "tryout"

still, according to M a x Smith, the orchestra's "ragged playing" made it "obvious that the men

concerts with the Philharmonic in the autumn. Damrosch quite naturally refused, and an

playing for him had not learned their task properly in the time allotted for rehearsing." They

agreement was reached by which Mahler would conduct three concerts with the Symphony

had been only partially able to "respond to demands so highly wrought and so quietly

Orchestra in the A u t u m n of 1 9 0 8 , and two Philharmonic concerts in the spring of 1909.

suggested. . . . To play smoothly, precisely and euphoniously under the guidance of a man

Although

Krehbiel later accused Mahler of having "neglected his legal and moral

who beats time like a metronome is far different than answering with equal exactness and

obligations," Mahler's correspondence with Damrosch does not provide the slightest

beauty the demands of a conductor whose interpretations are impregnated with significant

evidence that his behavior had at any time or in any way been dishonest or in any way

detail." Henry Krehbiel was the only critic to claim that the orchestra performed well in

29

spite of Mahler's conducting. Walter Damrosch's father, Leopold, had founded the N e w York Symphony in 1878 and conducted it until his death in 1 8 8 5 . Walter had succeeded his father at the age of 23 and had very soon revealed a remarkable talent as an organizer, a lecturer, and a money-raiser, if not as a conductor. He had married the daughter of James Blaine, one of America's most f a m o u s — i f most controversial—politicians. Blaine was an intimate friend of Andrew Carnegie, and D a m r o s c h had persuaded the millionaire-philanthropist to build the concert hall that bore his name. For the N e w York Symphony's 28 concerts per year, it was Damrosch's policy to engage famous soloists and to introduce a great number of new works. However, although the orchestra had been "reorganized" in 1 9 0 7 and now gave 34 concerts a season in N e w York, its level of performance was low because the musicians were engaged only for a seven-month season and a long tour; substitutes often played for them at rehearsals and concerts; these were insufficiently rehearsed; and, most important of all, D a m r o s c h himself was neither a very demanding nor a very talented conductor. His habit of making introductory speeches on the p o d i u m had exasperated s o m e of the orchestra's most generous patrons, such as J. P. M o r g a n . Arthur J u d s o n , the concert magnate and head of C o l u m b i a Concerts, once told me in the 1950s that that was the reason why the famous banker and collector was so easily persuaded to switch allegiance from the S y m p h o n y to the Philharmonic when M r s . Sheldon asked him for his support. T h e Philharmonic and the S y m p h o n y were longtime rivals and competitors. Both

Theodore Spiering, Mahler's concertmaster, who conducted the balance of Mahler's 30

Philharmonic concerts in 1911 after the ailing conductor returned to Vienna.

orchestras played in the same hall and often recruited the same extra musicians. It was

engaged on Fritz Krieler's recommendation, recalled the tremendous enthusiasm with which

obvious from the start that Walter Damrosch had everything to lose from the reorganization

he started to rehearse in the autumn of 1909.

of the Philharmonic, from the increase in the number of concerts it would give per year, and from the presence on the p o d i u m of a conductor of Mahler's stature.

32

T h e first concert, on 4 November, was very well received by the audience, and the reviews were mostly favorable. Even Mahler's enemies agreed that his orchestra was

To prove that Mahler was no asset, Damrosch divulged the financial results of his three

becoming "a joyful, responsive and flexible instrument" (New York Sun). However, on 1 6 / 1 7

concerts given in the autumn with the Symphony in an interview that was published early

December 1 9 0 9 , Mahler m a d e a hazardous decision in including his own First S y m p h o n y

in 1909 in Musical America: they had cost $ 10,000 and brought in only $ 4 , 3 0 0 . Three years

in the program of the regular subscription concerts. New York was no more prepared than

later, in his obituary, Krehbiel followed suit: Mr. Mahler was an expensive and unprofitable

Europe had been for an "ironic" Funeral March, for the innocence of the first movement

proposition, and a case of large outlay and small income. Without perhaps realizing it,

and the hurricanes in the Finale, and the majority of reviews were scathing. Furthermore,

Mahler was entering a true battlefield, the survival of the two societies being at stake.

this performance was to transform the already hostile Krehbiel into a mortal enemy. He was

T h e first two Philharmonic concerts, which took place in March/April 1909, augured

in charge of the program notes for the Philharmonic concerts, and he asked Mahler for

well for the future. T h e performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was well received, but

permission to reprint a letter of his which Ernst O t t o Nodnagel, Mahler's self-appointed

it convinced Mahler that changes in personnel were indispensable in the ranks of the

analyst, had quoted s o m e years earlier in G e r m a n y in a text concerning the First Symphony.

orchestra. Nearly 5 0 % of the musicians were replaced before Mahler's first season began.

Mahler, whose hostility to "program music" had increased with the years and was by now

T h e plans for the reorganization of the Orchestra were ambitious, too ambitious perhaps.

firmly established, denied having ever written such a letter and would not allow any program

T h e number of Philharmonic concerts per season was to be raised from 18 to 4 6 , the

notes at all to be published. Krehbiel's answer came in the form of two articles. O n e of them

orchestra was to travel regularly to Brooklyn and Philadelphia, and to tour N e w England.

filled a whole page of the New York World. It was a bitter assault on Mahler as a "program

T h e eight Thursday evening subscription concerts were to be repeated on Friday afternoons.

musician" ashamed of being so. From then on until Mahler's last concert in N e w York,

Three cycles (six historical concerts, five Beethoven concerts, five Sunday popular concerts)

Krehbiel's attacks never ceased.

brought the total number of N e w York concerts to 3 5 . N o w the Philharmonic's avowed aim

Mahler's daily life during the first and second Philharmonic season can be described as

was to provide the city with an orchestra comparable in quality to the Boston Symphony,

far more relaxed and sociable than it ever had been in Europe. He and Alma went to dinner

and an orchestral institution as respected as the Met. T h i s was the main reason for Mahler's

parties, attended large gatherings in several millionaires' mansions, and m a d e a great number

engagement as musical director. Theodore Spiering, the concert-master w h o m Mahler had

of new friends and acquaintances. Mahler was undoubtedly working much harder than he

33

had during the two previous seasons, yet he wrote optimistic letters to his family and friends informing them that he had never felt better and that he enjoyed his work. T h e Mahler whom an anonymous journalist interviewed at the end of M a r c h 1 9 1 0 , at the end of a long and trying season of concerts, was neither exhausted nor depressed:

The energy that inspires Mr. Mahler was manifest last week, when a Tribune representative visited him in his apartment in the Hotel Savoy. Mr. Mahler was alone at the time, and he was forced to answer his doorbell a dozen times during the course of the interview. A father arrived who wished the conductor to hear his son play the cello; packages kept coming; telephone calls galore regarding rehearsals, and from persons who wanted interviews—yet, though he answered them all, he never seemed out of patience . . . "Excuse me but this afternoon I must be my own servant. "

T h e journalist s u m m e d up Mahler's character as that of "a skeptical enthusiast. He sees the transitory nature of all things. He feels that nothing really endures. Yet he admires, he admires enthusiastically all genuine self-expression." On 6 and 7 January 1 9 1 0 , Mahler scored one of the greatest triumphs in his entire career with a concert featuring Busoni as soloist. T h e program, on each of the two evenings,

The last of a six-page letter, circa 1909, from Gustav Mahler to Richard Arnold, then Concertmaster and Vice-President of the Philharmonic, detailing his programming ideas for his first season, which included performances by Busoni and Maud Powell.

35

included

Berlioz's

Symphonie fantastique,

Beethoven's

Fifth

Piano

Concerto

and

the

Meistersinger Prelude. T h e editors of Musical America were so overwhelmed that they

There is only one city in America which I cannot understand, and that is New

reprinted all the reviews in extenso, thus filling no fewer than five large pages of their second

York. I cannot believe it possible that I have seen correctly the audiences at the

January issue. Busoni records in a letter that one of the C o m m i t t e e ladies expressed her

three Philharmonic concerts I attended.

disapproval of the performance at a rehearsal, but Mahler does not appear to have taken her

miles, yes hundreds of miles, to hear Mahler conduct the Ninth Symphony . . .

criticisms seriously.

that he should be here and that his concerts should not be of more importance to

In Europe, people would have traveled

A more embarrassing accident occurred at the end of January. Mahler had invited as

people supposed to care for music, shows that you have not the audience in New

soloist for the S c h u m a n n Piano Concerto a gifted but eccentric G e r m a n pianist of

York that I thought you had because to manifest an indifference when Mahler

Hungarian origin named Josef Weiss. D u r i n g the dress rehearsal, it seems that Mahler

gives something of himself is not possible to people who really appreciate and

congratulated him with more politeness than conviction at the beginning of the second

understand music for itself.

movement (according to one of the versions of the incident reported in New York America). Weiss took offense, flew into a rage, threw his score to the floor, and left the stage. A cartoon

Ernst Jokl, a Berlin journalist who attended several of Mahler's concerts in the closing

depicting the scene appeared the next day in the press, and one can sense the C o m m i t t e e

weeks of the season, also complained of the audience, "the majority of whom arrived late

ladies' disapproval between the lines of the newspaper reports. It is clear that they found such

and left before the end of the performance." Yet Jokl had been struck by the way in which

an incident incompatible with the dignity of the institution.

Mahler "identified with the works." " H e was resigned (to such indifference)," but "his

The first Philharmonic season ended with an epoch-making performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. T h i s was infinitely superior to the performance of the previous year, and

36

temperament and his strength were unaffected, indeed perhaps all the more concentrated and intensified."

proved conclusively how much the orchestra had improved under Mahler's "iron rule." This

Clearly, the Philharmonic concerts had not yet become an essential part of N e w York's

was acknowledged by the immense majority of critics, except of course Krehbiel, who chose

musical life. T h i s is perhaps hardly surprising after only one season and the steep increase in

not to review—and probably not to attend—the concert at all. Unfortunately, the financial

the number of concerts. It was then rumored in the press that Mahler would perhaps not

results of the season were disappointing. T h e hall had often been less than half full for many

renew his contract. T h e deficit had practically wiped out the entire a m o u n t of the Guarantee

of the concerts. Walter Rothwell, the conductor of the Saint Paul Symphony Orchestra,

Fund ( $ 9 0 , 0 0 0 ) . However, the Guarantors felt it would take more time for a new public to

commented as follows about the N e w York musical public:

develop, and persuaded three generous sponsors, Joseph Pulitzer, J. P. M o r g a n , and Andrew

37

Carnegie, to make further large contributions for the following season. A number of important new measures were taken. T h e first, which had been strongly recommended by Mahler, was the hiring of a professional business manager n a m e d L o u d o n Charlton. T h e second was the engagement of a number of new players (18 percent of the personnel was thus renewed). T h e third was another large increase in the number of concerts, which tends to prove that neither the C o m m i t t e e nor Mahler had been disheartened by the results of the preceding season. Both knew they were engaged in a pioneering venture which could not be expected to succeed in so short a time. In a letter to his sister Justi, Mahler m a d e the following c o m m e n t about the first Philharmonic season:

"For me, everything went

remarkably well this year and I myself am amazed how well I bore all the exertions. I am definitely more capable of w o r k — a n d happier than I have been in the last 10 years." D u r i n g the summer of 1 9 1 0 , Mahler suffered in his personal life one of the most brutal blows that fate had yet inflicted on him. He suddenly discovered that his wife had been unfaithful to him. Far from repenting, she blamed him in large part for her conduct, and confronted him with a catalogue of the innumerable grievances she had borne against him over the years. T h o s e painful s u m m e r months have sometimes been called unproductive by people who forget that during them Mahler c o m p o s e d the entire Tenth S y m p h o n y (what he left uncompleted would have been finished in a matter of days, excluding of course the orchestration). He also learnt 73 new scores by 17 composers, all of which he was to conduct during the following season. After crossing half of Europe to consult Freud about his relationship with Alma, he spent the first half of September in Munich, rehearsing and

38

Alma Mahler, with her daughters Maria and Anna, circa 1907.

4o

conducting the huge forces required for the first performance of the Eighth Symphony. A full schedule for a man who has so often been described as close to death! Although his relationship with A l m a took on an obsessive, pathological intensity, he was very soon just as active professionally as before. During the same summer of 1 9 1 0 , Mahler found out that the Philharmonic's new manager, Loudon Charlton, had persuaded the C o m m i t t e e to increase the number of concerts even further, from 45 to 6 5 . He was understandably angry not to have been consulted or informed, and asked for an increased salary of $ 2 5 , 0 0 0 instead of the $ 2 0 , 0 0 0 earlier planned. After six months' negotiations, the Guarantors eventually granted him an increase of only $ 3 , 0 0 0 . T h e prolonged negotiations certainly did nothing to improve the Committee's relations with Mahler. Another source of tension developed at the end of the year, when Mahler befriended a second violinist by the name of T h . E. Johner. O n e of Mahler's true weaknesses w a s — a n d had always been—to believe all too easily that people disliked him. In Vienna, his brother-in-law, Arnold Rosé, had often briefed him about the intrigues devised by hostile members of the Philharmonic. Johner was soon suspected of being Mahler's spy and was nicknamed by his colleagues "Judas of the Orchestra." In the 1950s, Hermann Reinshagen, a double-bass player under Mahler, informed me of the

Alma Mahler states that "Mahler had become rude with the Orchestra, irritable and intolerant. He believed J o n a s [Johner] to be his only true friend, and was sure that all the rest of the Orchestra hated him." However, A l m a seldom attended rehearsals, and there are serious reasons to doubt her statement. In the 1960s, William Malloch interviewed the surviving members of Mahler's Philharmonic, and none of these invaluable first-hand interviews substantiates her claims. At the beginning of Mahler's second Philharmonic season, a serious effort was m a d e to appeal to a new and larger public. T h e price of seats and especially that of subscriptions was lowered, the number of out-of-town concerts increased, and a new attempt m a d e to render the programs more appealing. T h u s , the number of works by Tchaikovsky, N e w York's most popular composer, was more than doubled. Mahler's first performances of the "Pathétique" had been poorly reviewed. T h e next ones, however, proved that he had done his best to identify with N e w York's most popular modern symphony as he had before with the same composer's operas. Although the program of the first concert, Mahler's arrangement from Bach Suites, Schubert's C major S y m p h o n y and Strauss's Zarathustra, was anything but popular, it was loudly applauded by a full house, and well reviewed by a large majority of critics (except of course Krehbiel).

official reason for his eviction: Johner had pleaded illness and had been allowed to stay home

In January 1 9 1 1 , Mahler had not quite m a d e up his mind to return to N e w York for

while the rest of the orchestra went on tour to Pittsburgh, Buffalo, etc. When the manager

another Philharmonic season. T h e salary he d e m a n d e d ( $ 3 0 , 0 0 0 ) had been found too high

heard that he had nevertheless participated in a concert in N e w York, he immediately

by the Guarantors,

dismissed him. O n e task which Mahler had perhaps assigned to him could well have been

Orchestra's big tour, a genuine dispute developed concerning Mahler's programs. It seems

that of identifying the player or players who took care to inform Krehbiel before each

that he had once let himself be persuaded—imprudently no d o u b t — t o relinquish part of

concert of every alteration he introduced in classical scores.

the responsibility for program making and to declare himself willing to conduct any works

who were

negotiating

with

other conductors.

Shortly after the

41

the Guarantors found necessary to attract the public. T h e press even claimed that his programs had already been altered more than once by the C o m m i t t e e . His readiness to make concessions was proved at the end of the year, when he conducted twice in N e w York and once in Brooklyn an all-Tchaikovsky program m a d e up of unfamiliar works (including Symphony N o . 2 and Suite N o . 1). But further concessions were no doubt being required from him. At the end of January, measures were taken by the Guarantors to reduce Mahler's powers, and two sub-committees were formed, one in charge of finance, another of programs. T h e unpleasant scene described by Alma, when a lawyer who had been taking notes of what Mahler said appeared from behind a curtain, surely occurred at a session of the program committee and in the absence of M r s . Untermyer, who had from the start been Mahler's friend and loyal supporter a m o n g the Guarantors. Although he must have been exasperated and hurt by this painful scene, Mahler was certainly aware that his power in N e w York was still considerable. T h e fact that he was already doing the job, his international reputation, his past accomplishments, and the progress achieved with the orchestra were all strong arguments in his favor. Furthermore, no first-rate conductor was apparently willing or able at this time to replace him. In the first dissertation about "Mahler in N e w York," written in 1973, Marvin von Deck pertinently remarks that the meeting in Mrs. Sheldon's house suffices to prove that the Guarantors' C o m m i t t e e had decided to re-engage him as music

A cartoon that ran in the New York American on January 31, 1910, about the eccentric pianist Joseph Weiss, who attacked Mahler with a score of Schumann's Piano Concerto during a rehearsal.

43

director; otherwise they would only have needed not to renew his contract. Unfortunately,

T. Finck describes how "Mahler was recalled again and again with the same expressions of

we have no evidence from a key witness of Mahler's dealings with the Guarantors'

frenzied enthusiasm." In the Evening World, Sylvester Rawling called the first of these

C o m m i t t e e , Mrs. Sheldon herself. Since my mother in her youth had known both Mrs.

evenings "the most inspired and inspiring concert of the season." Shortly thereafter, Mahler

Sheldon and her daughters, I m a d e several attempts during the 1950s to find out whether

included his own Fourth S y m p h o n y in a program, and it was misunderstood in N e w York

she had left any papers or statements, but none of my efforts ever bore fruit.

just as it had been in Germany and Austria. O n c e again, according to Reginald de Koven,

T h e letters Mahler wrote to Europe at the end of January prove that he had practically

Mahler had shown "his predilection for folksongs and somewhat archaic formulas." Then,

made up his mind to return to N e w York for at least another year: "As the dice here seem to

"he suddenly seems to say to himself: ' H a ! I have forgot, I must be modern,' and proceeds

have fallen," he writes to the young Swiss writer William Ritter, "I may well become my own

forthwith to shake out the whole bag of tricks of the modern musical juggler." Unbeknown

successor next season. With their love and willingness, the people here are making it virtually

to them, the N e w York critics were only repeating the tired old cliches of their German

impossible for me to leave them in the lurch. And thus I am half decided to return here next

counterparts. H o w surprised they would have been if told that, 50 years later, N e w York

winter. To the Munch impresario Emil G u t m a n n , who had recently organized the premiere of

would be ahead of the rest of the world in the rediscovery of Mahler's symphonies!

the Eighth Symphony and had further proposals to make, his answer was: "As concerns next

Despite the failure of the Fourth Symphony, a comprehensive examination of the

year, it is, as I had foreseen, difficult to leave here. T h e people are making every effort, and will

season's reviews reveals that they were much more favorable than those of the preceding

probably capture me again. I think that eventually i shall have to abscond in secret, otherwise

season. Even critics such as William Henderson (Sun) and Arthur Farwell (Musical America),

I shall never get away from here." O n e of Mahler's close friends, Maurice Baumfeld, the critic

whose previous articles had been mostly negative, now acknowledged the progress

of New York's main German newspaper, the Staatszeitung, recalled that "when he began to feel

accomplished by the Orchestra and the general high level of the performances. Looking back

that the public was starting to warm up to his truly sacred seriousness, he had decided to come

on the whole season, Henderson found that more than three-quarters of his own reviews had

back and complete his task here." In fact, Baumfeld adds, he was starting to feel at home in

been favorable. Needless to say, the critics who had been well disposed towards Mahler from

New York. He sometimes sat for hours at the window of his apartment watching the busy to-

the start, for instance Richard Aldrich (Times), Henry T. Finck (Evening Post), and Max

and-fro of the city. He "had a real passion" for its sunny climate and often said, "Wherever I

Smith (Press), maintained their support. Needless to say also, Krehbiel's hostility reached

am, I feel homesick for this blue sky, for this sun and this throbbing activity."

new heights. He did not miss a single occasion to disparage Mahler, whether or not he was

T h e N e w Year had begun at the Philharmonic with two all-Wagner programs, one of 44

which was also given in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Washington. In the Evening Sun, Henry

specifically writing about the Philharmonic. By 21 February, Mahler had conducted 46 concerts, nearly three-quarters of those scheduled (63).

45

On 4 February, after rumors had leaked out in the press of tensions between Mahler and the Guarantors, Mrs. Sheldon was interviewed by Musical America:

Personally 1 feel that Mr. Mahler is the greatest conductor today, either in Europe or in America, and I feel further that we have been most fortunate in keeping him as long as we have. While it is not settled absolutely, I believe that he will remain with us at least another year. Of course, we have not been entirely fortunate in the attitude of the critics towards the orchestra. Certain of the critics are entirely free, that is they have no other interests which prevent them from writing what they think and can criticize a program favorably, or adversely, merely upon the music's merit. On the other hand, there are critics in this city whose interests in other institutions and organizations are so great that they cannot afford to write as they must feel concerning the magnificent work of the orchestra.

Everyone must have known whom she was referring to, for it was public knowledge that both Krehbiel and Henderson held teaching posts in the Institute of Musical Art, the school founded and directed by the Damrosch brothers. Shortly after the onset of Mahler's illness, his re-engagement was officially announced by several newspapers. As we shall see, this announcement was premature, for no decision had as yet been reached. When it appeared, Mahler had already taken to his bed. C o m i n g so

Walter Damrosch, who conducted the Symphony Society from 1 8 8 5 to 1 9 2 8 , the year it merged with the New York Philharmonic.

47

soon after the rumors of his dispute with the Guarantors' Committee, his illness was

villains in the eyes of posterity. Yet it must be remembered that, as her memoirs were later

inevitably interpreted as feigned or "diplomatic." He was reported to be "sulking against the

to prove, A l m a always spoke of Mahler as a sickly man, whose constant overwork never

powers of the Philharmonic," while in fact, on 8 March, in an official letter addressed to the

ceased to undermine an already weak physical constitution. Furthermore, at this time, she

Guarantors' Committee, he again, but this time in writing, declared himself willing to

had every reason to feel secretly guilty after the cruel blows she had inflicted upon him

conduct 90 to 100 concerts during the following season for a salary of $ 3 0 , 0 0 0 . O n c e more,

(during the preceding summer. T h e letters first published in Reginald Isaacs' Gropius

the Executive C o m m i t t e e found his demands excessive and decided to sign him up only if

biography of 1983 also revealed new and painful truths about her affair with Gropius, the

Felix Weingartner were not available.

H a d Mahler recovered, the outcome of this

first one being that she had no intention of giving him up. Mahler must have had strong

negotiation could easily be predicted. Since Weingartner was either unable or unwilling to

suspicions, to say the least, and some kind of modus vivendi must have been reached whereby

leave Germany, Mahler would have remained the obvious and necessary choice and would

she would keep Gropius but would remain his wife and the mother of his children. Be that

no doubt have accepted a small reduction of his salary. T h a t he did not plan to leave New

as it may, Alma's interview with Meltzer contributed a great deal to the legend. It was

York is clear from the fact that twice, during his last illness, when his condition briefly

generally assumed from then on that Mahler's illness was the result of overwork and nervous

improved, he immediately arranged to hold an orchestra rehearsal the next day and start

stress caused by his conflict with the Guarantors' C o m m i t t e e . Yet, a few days before Alma

discussing the program with which he would take leave of N e w York for the season.

made these dramatic and much publicized statements to Meltzer, Mahler, in what was

In early May, while Mahler was being treated for endocarditis in a French sanatorium

probably his last interview, had spoken to a Viennese journalist and said:

near Paris, Alma granted to Charles Henry Meltzer, of the New York American, an interview which was immediately reproduced in many German and American newspapers and

I have worked really hard for decades and have borne the exertion wonderfully

magazines, and which has often been quoted since then:

well. I have never worked as little as I did in America. I was not subjected to an

You cannot imagine what Mr. Mahler has suffered. In Vienna my husband was

excess of either physical or intellectual work there.

all powerful. Even the Emperor did not dictate to him, but in New York, to his amazement,

he had 10 ladies ordering him about like a puppet.

He hoped,

however, by hard work and success to rid himself of his tormentors. . . .

It has been hinted that the course of a fatal illness, even when it is caused by an infection, can be hastened by psychological factors. Such an assertion is of course hard to prove scientifically, but if any psychological factor can be claimed to have lowered Mahler's

48

This sounds dramatic enough and casts the ladies of the Guarantors' C o m m i t t e e as

resistance to disease, it is mote likely to have been Alma's infidelity, the thought of having

49

henceforth, so to speak, to share her with her lover, and the idea that only his own death would set her free to marry him. However that m a y be, all medical experts today agree that, 30 years before the miracle drug—penicillin—was discovered, Mahler's illness (Osler's disease) was invariably fatal. T h u s Mahler was killed, not by the hectic pace of American life, nor by overwork at the Philharmonic, nor by sadistic N e w York committee women, but by slow endocarditis, which is not a heart disease in the usual sense of the word, but a serious infection—incurable at that time—whose seat is in the heart. H a d he lived, he would certainly have acknowledged the deep feeling of happiness and fulfillment which the Philharmonic post had brought to him. To a Viennese journalist who came to interview him just before he left America, he spoke of the Johner affair as "insignificant in itself" but admitted having hesitated before signing his new contract because of it. M o s t likely, he would have settled his dispute concerning programs as he had m a n y others in his life before. Deadly enemies such as Walter Damrosch, hostile critics such as Henry Krehbiel, were nothing new in his life. He would have gone on ignoring them, and his only reaction would have been, as before, to work hard and to strive for the steady improvement in his orchestra and in the high quality of its performances. Ten years earlier he had written to his bride-to-be: " T h e important thing is never to let oneself be guided by the opinion of one's contemporaries and, in both one's life and one's work, to continue steadfastly on one's way without letting oneself be either defeated by failure or diverted by applause." In all likelihood, Mahler would have gone on to conduct one or more further seasons in N e w York. A n d his influence on the musical life

Front page of an announcement for Mahler's first s e a s o n of concerts in Brooklyn.

51

of the city would certainly have been deeper and more lasting, now that the first two

acknowledge, that the Philharmonic audience would be as quick to resent an outrage on the

pioneering years were behind him.

musical classics as a corruption of the Bible or Shakespeare. He did not know that he was

T h e legend of Mahler's "failure" spread abroad, and was even amplified over the years. Krehbiel had written, in his notorious obituary:

doing it, or if he did he was willing wantonly to insult their intelligence and taste. . . ." Only Krehbiel, in fact, had considered Mahler's alterations in repertory scores an "outrage." Most of the other critics had hardly mentioned them.

He was looked upon as a great artist, and possibly he was one, but he failed to

Such were the tone and contents of Krehbiel's obituary that a large number of

convince the people of New York of the fact, and therefore his American career was

professionals and music-lovers were deeply shocked. In the New York Press, M a x Smith wrote:

not a success. His influence was not helpful, but prejudicial to good taste. . . . It was not long before the local musical authorities, those of the operatic and concert

Gustav Mahler is dead; but even death has not silenced the tongue of one of his

field, found that Mr. Mahler was an expensive and unprofitable proposition. . . .

most relentless persecutors in New York. We have been informed that the objectionable comments, which have been characterized as one of the most "savage

In another article published a week later, the same Krehbiel added: " T h e artistic failure

attacks on a dead man's memory" ever printed in this city, and have outraged the

of the Philharmonic scheme was so complete as its disappointment from a popular point of

feelings of every reader possessed of a grain of common decency, were inspired by "a

view. T h o u s a n d s of dollars were lost to show how little d e m a n d for the enterprise of the

sense of duty," by an irresistible desire to tell the "truth." Coming from a man,

Society existed in this city. . . ."

however, most of whose utterances concerning Mahler from the day that [this]

T h e friend of the Damrosches and the faithful supporter of the N e w York Symphony is of

conductor was engaged by the Philharmonic Society,

breathed the venom of

course speaking. Yet the Philharmonic not only endured, it flourished and proved without a

animosity,

the explanation is far from convincing. No explanation,

shadow of a doubt that a strong demand for such an enterprise indeed existed in N e w York.

manner of reasoning will serve as an excuse in the minds of Americans for so

In the autumn following Mahler's death, the society was to receive half a million dollars' legacy

unwarranted an

from Joseph Pulitzer. Far from being defeated by the Symphony, as Krehbiel hints, it was the

musician who, whatever his faults as an artist, was a master of his craft; whatever

Philharmonic which later absorbed the rival Society and became N e w York's leading orchestra.

his sins as a man, he suffered cruelly and died in agony.

assault,

immediately after his death,

on

the

in fact no

memory of a

In his obituary, Krehbiel m a d e the following remarks about the retouches Mahler 52

introduced in classical scores: " H e never knew, or if he knew he was never willing to

Yet for many years to come, Krehbiel's resentful remarks, as well as Alma's dramatic

53

statements, were still coloring all the descriptions of Mahler's last two years in America. If Mahler had survived, I have no doubt that he would have brought further changes to the musical life in N e w York, if only by improving the general level of orchestral playing, and that of the Philharmonic in particular. T h a t level deteriorated quickly after his death, when the conscientious but uninspiring J o s e f Stransky was chosen to replace him. Stransky has been called a "society conductor," for he was better able to please the ladies of the C o m m i t t e e and knew how to cater to the tastes of the public. Like all reformers, Mahler, it is true, had sometimes been too demanding and too loath to compromise, but this had surely been his main asset as renovator of the Philharmonic. Yet fate, not he himself, nor the critics, nor the Philharmonic's Guarantors, was responsible for the sudden interruption of his activity as musical director. His real mistake was to die too soon. •

© 1994 Henry-Louis de La Grange

An English translation of Henry-Louis de La Grange's monumental biography of Gustav Mahler is being issued in four volumes by Oxford University Press.

The above essay is an abbreviated

version of "Mahler and the New York Philharmonic: The Truth Behind the Legend," first published (with full bibliographical citations) in On Mahler and Britten: Essays in H o n o u r of D o n a l d Mitchell on His 70th Birthday, edited by Philip Reed (The Boydell Press and The Britten-Pears Library,

1995).

A caricature of Josef Stransky, who succeeded Mahler as Conductor of the Philharmonic 54

from 1 9 1 1 to 1 9 2 3 .

New York's Musical Culture:

The Transformation of an Orchestra by HOWARD SHANET

The following excerpts, from Howard Shanet's Philharmonic: A History of N e w York's Orchestra (a revised version of which is to be issued by Yale University Press), describe the lively and competitive classical-music environment in New York City during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They outline the rapid evolution of the Orchestra—after the sudden death of the charismatic Anton Seidl in 1898—from a musicians' cooperative to a modern corporate institution that employed Gustav Mahler as its Music Director.

Anton Seidl ( 1 8 5 0 - 1 8 9 8 ) , formerly Richard Wagner's assistant, was Conductor of the New

56

York Philharmonic from 1 8 9 1 until his death.

A

nton Seidl, in background a n d personality, h a d the makings of a glamorous

T h e o d o r e T h o m a s . A l t h o u g h Seidl was the c h a m p i o n o f the "new" m u s i c o f Wagner a n d

interpreter-conductor. Hungarian by birth—in itself an exotic passport to the

Liszt, it should be observed that both of them had been dead for several years by the time

American artistic w o r l d — h e was even rumored to be the illegitimate son of

Seidl c a m e to the Philharmonic in 1 8 9 1 . T h e y were, in fact, on the way to b e c o m i n g an

Franz Liszt. After leaving the Leipzig Conservatory in 1 8 7 2 , Seidl had actual-

established part of the m o d e r n sector of the orchestral repertory, a n d that repertory in

ly lived in the household of Richard Wagner for a number of years as one of the young

general was tending to a s s u m e more a n d more the aspect of an accepted b o d y of past

musicians who helped to prepare the score and parts of The Ring of the Nibelung. It was

music with only s o m e leavening from the new. Seidl's orchestra library shows him to have

Wagner

had a balanced collection of great breadth, covering the principal orchestral works from

himself who

had

recommended

him,

after

that,

as

conductor

for

Angelo

N e u m a n n ' s Wagner Theater. Seidl c a m e to N e w York in 1885 as conductor for the new

the time of H a y d n to his own day. At the end of Seidl's first year, in

G e r m a n Opera, which had been "orphaned" by the death of Leopold D a m r o s c h , but he

Philharmonic's official historian could safely affirm the view of the Society with regard

also began to give concert programs almost from the start with sufficient success to arouse

to repertory: "I should say that it has conceived its duty primarily to be the conservation

the jealousy of T h e o d o r e T h o m a s . By the time Seidl replaced T h o m a s as Philharmonic con-

of musical c o m p o s i t i o n s which the j u d g m e n t a n d taste of the cultured w o u l d have admit-

ductor in 1 8 9 1 , he had won an enthusiastic following in the concert hall as well as the opera

ted to the first rank. O n l y secondarily has it m a d e p r o p a g a n d a for new a n d progressive

house. Seidl, the disciple of Wagner, was one of the new race of conductors who played on

composers who have widened the boundaries of the art." A special case a m o n g c o m p o s e r s

the orchestra as a virtuoso pianist played on his instrument. Carl Bergmann and Thomas

then living was that of Dvořák, who was resident in N e w York at the time; the excite-

had c o m e up through the ranks of the orchestra as cellist and violinist, but Seidl, a pianist

ment of his presence, a d d e d to his evident genius, m a d e for a very high n u m b e r of

like many of the new conductors, c a m e to the Philharmonic from outside, with none of the

performances of his c o m p o s i t i o n s by the Philharmonic, of which he was n a m e d an

inhibitions of an orchestra man's tradition with respect to the standard repertory. Indeed, it

Honorary M e m b e r in 1 8 9 4 .

was said that he was conducting certain classic compositions for the first time in his life when he did them with the N e w York Philharmonic.

58

1 8 9 2 , the

Already under T h o m a s the P h i l h a r m o n i c had begun to a d o p t the m e t h o d s a n d m a n ners of a m o d e r n orchestra " o f the highest class," a n d now the process accelerated.

O n e can guess that, with this b a c k g r o u n d a n d t e m p e r a m e n t , Seidl performed a great

Internationally famous soloists c a m e to be expected regularly for every season, a n d big

deal of the new music of his day; b u t the total a m o u n t , interestingly e n o u g h , was rather

fees were paid to get them. Regular p r o g r a m notes, or "descriptive p r o g r a m m e s , " as they

less than is generally believed. By actual count, his repertory even represents a slight

were called, were now c o m m i s s i o n e d by the Society; A. M e e s wrote them from 1 8 8 7

falling-off in the performance of living c o m p o s e r s , as c o m p a r e d with the repertory of

through

1 8 9 6 at $ 1 5 a concert, after which the distinguished critic H e n r y E d w a r d

59

Krehbiel took on the job at a fee m o r e in keeping with his position in the musical c o m m u n i t y — $ 2 5 a concert. Although the Philharmonic during Seidl's tenure still did not own a permanent home of its own, it rented the finest concert hall in the city for its performances—the new Music Hall, at Seventh Avenue and 57th Street, built by Andrew Carnegie in 1891 and later known by his name. T h e Metropolitan O p e r a H o u s e , where the Philharmonic had played since 1886, had questionable acoustics for orchestral music, but it had been the most fashionable hall in town, and it had offered the practical advantages of a very large seating capacity and of storage space for the Orchestra's library and equipment. T h a t was why T h e o d o r e T h o m a s had put up with it, though he considered the hall and its stage too large for the best artistic results. T h e Metropolitan's attractions, social and practical, were strong enough so that the Philharmonic had stayed on there even after Carnegie's Music Hall, with its superior acoustics and seating arrangements, had opened. On March 2 8 , 1 8 9 8 , at the height of this period of the Philharmonic's social, financial, and artistic success, N e w Yorkers were horrified to learn that Anton Seidl had suddenly died at the age of 4 7 . Seidl's funeral, one of the m o s t remarkable that the city has ever known, tells much about the place that he had m a d e for himself in the life of New York. T h e obsequies were held in the Metropolitan O p e r a H o u s e . T h e orchestra pit was floored over, and the coffin placed upon it. Tickets were prepared for the occasion, and nearly 1 2 , 0 0 0 per sons applied for them, although only 4 , 0 0 0 could be squeezed into the theatet. With the death of Seidl it became painfully clear how much the Philharmonic had been

60

Seidl studies a score in his New York brownstone on East 62nd Street.

dependent for its success on its glamorous interpreter-conductor. It was almost impossible

to head a fund with five thousand dollars, this fund to be subscribed to by others to raise

for any other conductor to fill the place of the idolized leader. After an unsuccessful attempt

it to ten thousand dollars or more and this fund to be renewed each year for the c o m i n g

to engage the Belgian violin virtuoso and conductor Eugène Ysaÿe, the Philharmonic took

four years. T h e Fund to be called T h e N e w York Philharmonic Society Orchestra Fund,

Emil Paur, who had been conducting the Boston S y m p h o n y Orchestra. Paur was a more

and this Fund to be used for the artistic and material improvement of the Society."

than competent conductor, but he could not arouse and inflame the public as his prede-

Carnegie imposed the condition that the Philharmonic members pledge themselves to con-

cessor had done. Under Seidl the ticket receipts had climbed to unprecedented heights in

tribute to the Fund five percent of the dividends that they derived from their regular series

the midst of a severe financial depression; under Paur, in comparatively g o o d times, they

of eight public rehearsals and concerts.

began to fall again. Meanwhile, in Paur's fourth and last year, E. Francis H y d e had found it

Less than three weeks later, on January 5, 1 9 0 3 , D a m r o s c h had a meeting with "sever-

necessary to resign as President of the Philharmonic Society, but had paved the way for

al of [his] friends and s o m e old subscribers and friends of the Philharmonic," a meeting at

Andrew Carnegie to succeed him.

which a father different plan was outlined. A much larger fund—the s u m mentioned by

Carnegie was a man who made his influence felt beyond the exact measure of his finan-

Damrosch in My Musical Life is $ 5 0 , 0 0 0 a year for the four years—was proposed as the

cial contribution. He was fond of Walter D a m r o s c h , son of Leopold D a m r o s c h , and the

beginning of an endowment for a "permanent orchestra" of which the Philharmonic

knowledge a m o n g the Philharmonic members of Walter's g o o d relations with Carnegie

Society was to be only the nucleus. This Permanent Orchestra Fund was to be administered

contributed to his election as conductor of the Philharmonic for 1 9 0 2 - 3 .

by a board that would adequately represent the financial backers and would not be under

Financially, Walter's season was almost as bad as his father's had been in 1 8 7 6 - 7 7 . He

the control of the Philharmonic Society.

seemed unable to attract the public. Subscriptions zoomed downward even further than

The Society voted unanimously to send a letter to Mr. Harry Harkness Flagler, who was

they had under Paur, and the single-ticket sales went with them. From this low point the

now serving as representative of the S u b - C o m m i t t e e of the Permanent Orchestra Fund, in

Philharmonic m a d e one of the most remarkable recoveries in its history. And Walter

the form of the following resolution:

D a m r o s c h , strange as it may seem, was directly responsible for that recovery, although the

62

path that it eventually took was quite the opposite of the one that he had planned for it.

The Philharmonic Society of New York . . . is constrained not to concur in the

D a m r o s c h may not have had the power to excite the audience, but he was imaginative and

Amendments to its

resourceful. He approached the President, Andrew Carnegie, and achieved the following,

grounds that these Amendments so change the nature of the Society as to serious-

result (I quote from the Minutes of the meeting): "Mr. Carnegie expressed his willingness

ly interfere with the control of its affairs by its members which has always been

Constitution proposed by the Committee,

on the general

63

its vital principle, and that the future prosperity of the Society would be thereby imperiled.

As Richard Arnold, concertmaster and Vice President of the Philharmonic, analyzed the situation, in order to "compete with rival organizations, and to overcome the growing o p position of a portion of the Press, the Philharmonic Society [needed] a European celebrity for a conductor and one of the first rank at that." This meant that they needed funds and friends. T h e y found both through their beloved ex-President and Honorary Associate Member, E. Francis Hyde. With his aid, working swiftly and quietly, they put together a Conductor's Fund, subscribed by Andrew Carnegie, J o h n D. Rockefeller, J a m e s Loeb, Elkan N a u m b u r g , Grant Schley, H y d e , and his brother, Clarence M. Hyde. T h e n in a sensational move they engaged not one but seven celebrated conductors from as many different parts of the w o r l d — E d o u a r d C o l o n n e of Paris, Gustav Kogel of Frankfurt, Henry W o o d of L o n d o n , Victor Herbert of Pittsburgh, Felix Weingartner of Munich, Vassily Safonoff of Moscow, and Dr. Richard Strauss of Berlin. Exploiting the presence of Weingartner in N e w York, they gave an extra concert under his direction in the middle of the season. T h e whole plan worked so well that it was repeated with slight variations in the next two seasons. In 1 9 0 5 - 6 , Safonoff and Victor Herbert were back again, and to them were added Willem Mengelberg of Amsterdam, M a x Fiedler of H a m b u r g ,

Announcement for the second concert of the Philharmonic's 1 9 0 3 - 4 s e a s o n , which featured an international roster of conductors: Henry Wood, Victor Herbert, Felix Weingartner, 64

Wassily Safonoff, and Richard S t r a u s s .

Ernst Kunwald of Frankfurt, and Fritz Steinbach of C o l o g n e . By now the Philharmonic's system of guest conductors was doing nicely, and Safonoff in particular had become such a favorite that he was asked to conduct two extra performances beyond the regular series of eight evening concerts and eight afternoon concerts (called that now, instead of public rehearsals). T h e ticket sales rose gratifyingly to almost $ 3 9 , 0 0 0 in 1 9 0 3 - 4 , and then to approximately $ 5 0 , 0 0 0 in each of the next two seasons, finally matching the record that had been set in Seidl's last year. T h e guest-conductors c o u p had captured the public's interest and had put the Philharmonic back on its feet again. N o w it seemed that the p o d i u m could once m o r e be entrusted to a single conductor for an entire season, and for 1 9 0 6 - 7 it was turned over to the guest conductor who had enjoyed the most brilliant success, Safonoff. Vassily Ilyich Safonoff had a many-sided talent. Director of the M o s c o w Conservatory and conductor of the S y m p h o n y Concerts of the Imperial Russian M u s i c Society, he was also a fine pianist. In Safonoff's first year the dollars rolled into the Philharmonic box office. But in the third year the receipts were under $ 4 0 , 0 0 0 and nervousness began to set in. T h e glamour and the excitement of the intetpreter-conductors—from Seidl, through the years of guest conductors, to Safonoff—had temporarily outweighed and concealed certain inherent weaknesses of the Philharmonic's structure. A decade after Seidl's death it became apparent that serious problems that had been facing the Philharmonic even in his time had not yet been solved. T h e Philharmonic's m o s t c o n s p i c u o u s p r o b l e m in its effort to "go b i g - t i m e " was the m o u n t i n g c o m p e t i t i o n from others with the s a m e goal in m i n d — a c o m p e t i t i o n whose 66

roots went back at least to the days of the T h o m a s Orchestra. W h e n T h e o d o r e T h o m a s

was p e r s u a d e d to b e c o m e c o n d u c t o r of the Philharmonic in 1 8 7 7 , it was i m a g i n e d that the p r o b l e m w o u l d be solved, for it was the T h o m a s Orchestra that had been the Society's m o s t d a n g e r o u s rival. But they b o t h reckoned without L e o p o l d D a m r o s c h . After his one disastrous season with the Philharmonic in 1 8 7 6 - 7 7 , when it was clear that T h o m a s had w o n that field from h i m , D a m r o s c h energetically put together an ad hoc orchestra of his own with which he gave several series of afternoon and evening con certs in 1 8 7 7 - 7 8 — e v e n m a n a g i n g to steal the first A m e r i c a n performance of Brahms's First S y m p h o n y from the Philharmonic by performing it a week before T h o m a s h a d scheduled it. By 1 8 8 3 - 8 4 the S y m p h o n y Society had b e c o m e so ambitious an enterprise that it was considering the idea of building its own Hall of M u s i c for its concerts. In 1 8 8 5 L e o p o l d Damrosch died and his son Walter, only 23 years old, took over the direction of the Symphony Society and the Oratorio Society. Walter's social gifts were even greater than his father's when it c a m e to enlisting the aid of the wealthy and the socially prominent for artistic ventures. In 1 9 0 2 - 3 , like his father, he had had a one-year chance with the Philharmonic, which had turned into the second D a m r o s c h debacle. T h e n , once again in his father's pattern, when it was clear that the Philharmonic could not be his, he built his own orchestral forces. With the aid of Harry Harkness Flagler and other moneyed friends, he reorganized the Symphony Society of N e w York in 1 9 0 3 . In building up his orchestra, D a m r o s c h frequently imported gifted musicians from Europe. In this he had an advantage over the Philharmonic, which, as a cooperative society of local orchestra musicians, was naturally reluctant to bring in its own competition from abroad.

67

Damrosch's musical performances were severely criticized in many circles and were seld o m considered superior to the Philharmonic's, but his program-making was often more adventurous.

It was

the

S y m p h o n y Society,

not

the

Philharmonic,

that

brought

Tchaikovsky to N e w York in 1891 for the opening season at Carnegie's Music Hall. It was the S y m p h o n y Society, not the Philharmonic, that cultivated the music of Debussy in the first few years of the 20th century as a refreshing change from the omnipresent German repertory. It was the S y m p h o n y Society, after Gustav Mahler had c o m e to N e w York to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera, that presented him as concert conductor in the 1908-09 season, before the Philharmonic could do so. Under both Damrosches, father and son, the S y m p h o n y Society was a continuing challenge to the Philharmonic. T h e S y m p h o n y Society was not the only force that the Philharmonic had to contend with. T h e Philharmonic conductors and players were always competing with themselves, even more than they had done in the 1 8 6 0 s . Since they could not m a k e a living from their six or eight pairs of annual concerts, they had always to be on the lookout for other engagements—indeed, had to create other engagements, which inevitably distracted attention from the work of the Philharmonic itself. T h e corroding problem of the Philharmonic was that, even while it was attracting such sensational conductors, such eminent soloists, such wealthy patrons, and such substantial audiences, it was disintegrating internally. In the comparatively healthy years from 1867 to 1 8 7 0 , so many of N e w York's professional musicians wanted to be members of the

Wassily Safonoff, the dazzling Russian piano virtuoso who served as Conductor of the New 68

York Philharmonic between 1 9 0 6 and 1 9 0 9 , was Mahler's immediate predecessor.

Philharmonic that it could always find the 100 players that its largest concerts required in its pool of Actual Members. As the competition of the T h o m a s Orchestra and other concerts began to be felt in the 1870s, both the number of Actual Members enrolled and the number that performed in the concerts went down slightly, and of course the a m o u n t spent to hire outsiders as substitutes had to go up somewhat, but the differential was not yet alarmingly large. From 1883 to 1909, however, the a m o u n t spent for substitutes rose from the neighborhood of $ 2 , 0 0 0 to more than $ 8 , 0 0 0 per season. T h e number of registered Actual M e m b e r s fell from 92 to 57, and the number performing in the Orchestra to 3 7 . O n l y 37 real Philharmonic members playing in an orchestra of 100 men! They hardly had the right to be called an orchestra any more; one could say that they functioned more as a cooperative concert management of 37 men who hired the performers necessary to put on a series of concerts. Ultimately the Philharmonic's problems of cruel competition and internal deterioration had to be reflected in financial troubles. Trying to support a g l a m o r o u s outside with a crumbling inside, the Orchestra was balancing its b u d g e t only on paper. It was becoming more and more difficult for the Philharmonic m e m b e r s to make ends meet. Trying to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps, they m a d e desperate efforts to expand their seasons with additional concerts. T h e r e were perennial hopes for a series at the Brooklyn A c a d e m y of M u s i c and talks with the concert manager L o u d o n Charlton about traveling engagements, but both these projects fell through. Safonoff was offered a contract for 25 to 30 concerts in a s e a s o n — o n paper—bur when it c a m e to concrete arrangements, only the usual eight pairs materialized. An orchestra in which only 37 players out of a 100 are 70

regular m e m b e r s cannot have a very high morale. It is touching to see these once proud

musicians being treated almost like chanty cases. Even the extra concerts that were arranged by one means or another in these years, gala as s o m e of them seemed to the public eye, had a "make-work" quality about them for the men in the Orchestra; they seldom meant more to the Society than an extra night's pay for the players, and many of those were outside men, picked up for the occasion. For the extra concert at the h o m e of William K. Vanderbilt at 6 6 0 Fifth Avenue in 1 9 0 8 , the stipulated orchestra of 60 Philharmonic m e m b e r s could not be assembled and 22 outsiders had to be hired to make up the number. A mention of "drummers' traps," moreover, in the Philharmonic's records of the Vanderbilt engagement suggests that s o m e of the members m a y have stooped to providing dance music after the concert that evening. For "high-class" musicians, at that time, this had d e m e a n i n g professional and social connotations. " M y men are all ruined," T h e o d o r e T h o m a s had c o m p l a i n e d when he was forced to disband his private orchestra in 1 8 8 8 , "by constant playing at balls and dances, for a living. A nice state of affairs, truly, that after a lifetime of hard work the members of my orchestra must play for dancing in order to live." Two decades later, the state of affairs seemed to have grown even worse. Richard Arnold and his colleagues had waged a stirring but futile campaign to save their beloved cooperative society. T h e y had tried everything that experience and ingenuity suggested —they had raised extra funds, they had imported s o m e of the world's greatest soloists and conductors, they had tried to lengthen their seasons, they had modernized their advertising, their press relations, and their office management, but as long as their affairs were managed collectively by a membership that drifted in and out of their handful of concerts each year, while they earned their livings elsewhere, they could not compete with the big-

71

business methods of the great subsidized orchestras that were being built by the wealthy of America. When two extra concerts were announced for the end of the season of 1908-9, it was not the Philharmonic's regular conductor Vassily Safonoff who led them, but Gustav Mahler. The music world learned then that Safonoff was on his way out and Mahler on his way in. But this was not merely the replacement of one man by another. It was the end of one way of musical life and the beginning of a new one. After 67 years, the cooperative society of professional musicians, democratically deciding who their conductor would be, what music they would play, where they would play it, and how much they would charge for the privilege of attendance at their performances, was to be converted into an orchestra hired and administered by a little group of wealthy citizens that undertook to support it as a public service. "Like many another private enterprise," comments J. H. Mueller on the reorganization of the Philharmonic in 1909, "it was taken over by society as soon as it was affected with the public interest." The Philharmonic in 1909, however, was taken over not by "society," but by "high society." In the season of 1908-9, while Safonoff was still the conductor, Mrs. George R. Sheldon, wife of a prominent banker, and a number of other public-spirited citizens began to organize a group of so-called Guarantors of the Fund for the Permanent Orchestra of the Philharmonic Society of New York. Their object was to raise enough money to rebuild the Carnegie Hall, at the corner of 57th Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan, first opened its doors to the public on May 5,1891, with a concert conducted by 72

Walter Damrosch and Tchaikovsky.

Philharmonic into an orchestra of the first rank, paying sufficient salaries to the players and

American violinist T h e o d o r e Spiering. He changed most of the important players in the

to the conductor to enable them to give their full time to the Orchestra during the concert

woodwind and brass sections, favoring in the woodwinds the highly regarded French

season. By the early part of 1 9 0 9 large sums were being pledged by s o m e of the old and a

school. He adjusted the string section to his taste, cutting down the number of basses from

great many new supporters of the Philharmonic. T h e y were promises of as much as

14 to 8 and engaging some fine new cellists from other orchestras. W h e n the reformed

$ 1 0 , 0 0 0 , $ 1 5 , 0 0 0 , and in a couple of cases even $ 3 0 , 0 0 0 each, and they came from a long

Philharmonic gave its first concert, on November 4, 1 9 0 9 , the new order was received with

list of people whose names meant wealth or position in N e w York's social and business cir-

cautious optimism, but by the second and third concerts even Mahler's enemies 'had to

c l e s — J . P. Morgan, T h o m a s Fortune Ryan, Joseph Pulitzer, J o h n D. Rockefeller, E. J. de

agree that he was welding his forces into "a joyfully responsive and flexible instrument,"

C o p p e t , Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, Miss Dororhy Whitney, Alex Smith Cochran, Mrs.

capable of expressing every nuance of his highly personal style.

Samuel Untermyer, Arthur Curtiss J a m e s , and many others. By the end of the month a Guarantors' C o m m i t t e e , with Mrs. Sheldon as Chairman,

ities represented a transplantation of his Vienna practice to a sparsely cultivated N e w York.

was meeting regularly, and the wheels of the Philharmonic's new machinery were beginning

But in Vienna, where Mahler had conducted the Philharmonic Concerts from 1898 to

to turn. From the beginning of 1 9 0 9 the Guarantors' C o m m i t t e e took over the practical

1900 he had never had the number and the variety of concerts that he now dared to pre-

administration of the Philharmonic's business affairs. Mrs. Sheldon and her group of

sent in N e w York. As a matter of fact, the Vienna Philharmonic in the 1970s did not offer

Guarantors—especially the ladies, who had the time and the interest to attend meetings

as many performances as Mahler did in N e w York in 1 9 0 9 . T h e n as now, European cities,

regularly and pursue the business that grew out of them—threw themselves into the work

with a few exceptions, had long opera seasons, but short symphony seasons; their s y m p h o -

with enthusiasm. Fortunately they also had energy and ability. T h e records of their formal

ny concerts—notwithstanding Mahler's characterization of the symphony as "the basis on

meetings show that they knew how to make the committee system work. For the season of

which the musical education of a people must stand"—have always been a subordinate

1 9 0 9 - 1 0 , they supervised the organization and contracting of a full symphony orchestra,

activity of the same orchestra that plays for the opera. In the expanded N e w York

engaged one of the world's most distinguished musicians, Gustav Mahler, as conductor,

Philharmonic seasons Mahler had a symphonic vehicle that he may have dreamed of, but

increased the number of concerts from the 18 of the preceding season to 4 6 , arranged the

had never realized, in Europe.

Orchestra's first tour outside the city, and raised more than $ 1 1 8 , 0 0 0 to cover the deficit that these activities incurred. 74

Most Americans assume that Mahler's expansion of the N e w York Philharmonic's activ-

Mahler began to stir things up immediately. He brought in a new concertmaster, the

An important part of the press was hostile to Mahler, as composer and conductor. In particular, he had a strained and strange relationship with Henry E. Krehbiel, who, as music critic of the Tribune, was one of the city's most influential magistrates of musical

75

taste. Krehbiel, the author of the first history of the Philharmonic, had also been writing the Philharmonic's program notes for many years and considered himself a guardian of the Society's standards. He was strongly opposed to a great deal of what Mahler was doing as conductor and as composer. M o s t of all he was outraged by the liberties that Mahler took with the texts of the great masters of the past; for Krehbiel, an unjustified alteration in a score of Beethoven was lèse-majesté if not sacrilege. Krehbiel was, of course, a better scholar than Mahler, who, as an interpreter-conductor in an advanced stage, presented performances of Beethoven and Schubert that would shock any well-educated musician of today. W h o can doubt, for example, which side to espouse when reading Krehbiel's cririque of a Mahler performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony;

. . . The first evidence of erraticism occurred in the famous cadenza, in the first movement. This Mr.

Mahler phlebotomized by giving it to two oboes and beating time

for each note—not in the expressive adagio called for by Beethoven, but in a rigid andante.

Thus the rhapsodic utterance contemplated by the composer was turned

into a mere connecting link between two parts of the movement. Into the cadence of the second subject of the third movement,

Mr.

Mahler injected a

bit of

un-Beethovenian color by changing the horn part so that listeners familiar with their Wagner were

startled

by hearing something very like Hagen's call from

Henry Edward Krehbiel, long-standing music critic for the New-York Daily Tribune, now 76

largely remembered for his criticisms of Mahler.

G ö t t e r d ä m m e r u n g from the instruments which in the score simply sustain a harmony voice in octaves. . . .

lutionary "dangerousness" of his compositions, which dared to experiment with materials that had formerly been considered vulgar, and of his performance methods, which appealed to a public that seemed undiscriminating to those who had been patrons of the old

It did not help the relationship between the two men that Mahler had forbidden Krehbiel to write any program notes about his compositions. Mahler was known to disapprove of all such printed aids. "At a concert," Krehbiel reported him as saying, "one should listen, not l o o k — u s e the ears, not the eyes." Krehbiel deferred to Mahler's wishes, but he grumbled about it occasionally in his newspaper reviews with a certain petulance, as of a wounded annotator.

Philharmonic. At the other extreme, the "masses" seemed to find the various educational series unattractive; this was a disappointment to Mahler, who had talked at the beginning of the season of popular-priced concerts that would give everyone the chance of hearing the best music. S o m e sophisticated N e w Yorkers, moreover, resented Mahler's assumption that they had to be educated. T h e y reminded him that a g o o d part of his repertory had long been familiar to concertgoers in the city, that he tended to repeat pieces like Beethoven's Fifth too often in a single season, and that the Boston S y m p h o n y Orchestra and

So embittered did Krehbiel become that, although he was ordinarily correct in his Damrosch's S y m p h o n y Society had already played in the same season several of the pieces behavior, he published at the time of Mahler's death in 1 9 1 1 , when others were writing that he was making such a fuss about. respectful or admiring obituaries, a violent attack on the defenseless departed. T h e pianist and conductor Ossip Gabrilowitsch, supported by many other prominent persons, felt obliged to issue a pamphlet in reply. Audiences of today may think wistfully what a thrill it must have been to have heard Mahler conducting the N e w York Philharmonic, but in 1 9 0 9 and 1910 the audiences that took advantage of the opportunity were small ones—"probably the smallest that ever attended a Philharmonic concert in 50 years" and "perhaps the smallest in number that ever gathered at a Philharmonic concert" are typical descriptions. It was, after all, the first time that the Philharmonic had tried to give so many concerts in one season, and it took time for a sufficient public to develop. S o m e of the old guard found Mahler too radical both as composer and conductor. It was not that Krehbiel and s o m e of his contemporaries 78

in N e w York failed to appreciate Mahler but, on the contrary, that they grasped the revo-

The N e w York public a s s u m e d that Mahler had been engaged for three years, but the Committee was s o u n d i n g out other conductors in case he became too d e m a n d i n g . Franz Kneisel, better known as violinist than conductor, had been approached but would not leave his current work for the one-year contract that was being discussed with him. So manager Charlton was instructed to ask Mahler unofficially what his terms for the next year would be. Mahler said that he would conduct 90 to 100 concerts, far more than the 46 of his first year and the 65 of the season then in progress, for the s u m of $ 3 0 , 0 0 0 . T h e Committee thereupon discontinued negotiations with Kneisel and asked Mahler to put into writing his terms and conditions for the conductorship for the next season. When he did, his proposition was rejected, and the Executive C o m m i t t e e was given power to continue negotiations with Felix Weingartner, to whose agent a cable had previously been

79

sent. If the C o m m i t t e e failed to complete a contract with Weingartner, it was to reopen

many years before he appeared on the scene. There had been T h e o d o r e T h o m a s ' s plans

negotiations with Mahler! Neither side would have been well advised to buy a used car

and d e m a n d s for a "permanent" orchestra and his successful demonstration in C h i c a g o

from the other.

of how it should be accomplished. T h e r e had been Walter Damrosch's proposal of the

Mahler's two years represented the first time that the conservative Philharmonic, which

Permanent Orchestra F u n d , which outlined in 1 9 0 3 , before Mahler even c a m e to

formerly had stood like a great rock in the midst of the swirling waters of change, had made

America, m u c h the same plan that was finally put into effect in 1 9 0 9 . A n d there had

an effort to move with the new currents and even to influence their course. For Mahler the

been, for six years before Mahler's term, the C o n d u c t o r s ' F u n d that Richard Arnold and

experiment had often been a stormy experience, but for the Orchestra there was no ques-

E. Francis H y d e had raised from s o m e of the same p e o p l e — w h o would later support the

tion that it had begun to succeed. In the first year of the reorganization, the number of con-

Guarantors' Fund. By the time that Mahler took over the Philharmonic, m u c h of the way

certs was three times as great as it had ever been before, and in the second year it was four

had been prepared for him.

times as great. T h e deficit was very large, it is true, but there were generous citizens not only willing to pay it, but also to give their time and skills to the cause, and in the second

Program annotator of the New York Philharmonic and a guest conductor of the Orchestra's

year they had narrowed considerably the gap between the Orchestra's expenses and its

Young People's Concerts for the 1959-60 season, Howard Shanet has served as Chairman of the

earned income. T h e expressed policy of the Guarantors' C o m m i t t e e was "to reconcile the

Columbia University Department of Music and Conductor of the University Orchestra.

commercially possible with the artistically desirable," and the C o m m i t t e e now knew, after its two instructive years with Mahler, that an expanding Philharmonic was compatible with the most exacting artistic standards. In the life story of the Philharmonic, Mahler's brief term marks a m o m e n t of great historic significance—the m o m e n t when the new rubbed abrasively against the old, clearing a path for the future. But Mahler did not, as is generally s u p p o s e d , sweep aside with one brusque gesture the shaky structure of an old Philharmonic to begin his work with an orchestra built entirely of new materials and on new principles. His period of service can better be seen as a period of transition and he as an instrument of change a change that had been gradually prepared, inside and outside the Philharmonic, for

81

Mahler at the Met by ROBERT TUGGLE

I

n t h e s u m m e r o f 1 9 0 8 , H e i n r i c h C o n r i e d m a d e o n e last effort a t t h a t i m p o s s i b l e task m a n a g i n g the M e t r o p o l i t a n O p e r a . H i s f o u r s e a s o n s h a d b e e n filled w i t h c o n t r o v e r t

a n d d i s a g r e e m e n t , all c o m p o u n d e d b y h i s o w n l a c k o f o p e r a t i c k n o w l e d g e . H e h a d i n h e r i t e d E n r i c o C a r u s o f r o m his p r e d e c e s s o r b u t o u t o f i g n o r a n c e r e d u c e d his f i r s t

c o n t r a c t b y half. H i s s u c c e s s i n b r e a k i n g t h e B a y r e u t h F e s t i v a l ' s h o l d o n W a g n e r ' s Parsifal h a d b e e n b a l a n c e d b y his p r e s e n t a t i o n o f R i c h a r d S t r a u s s ' s Salome, w h i c h s c a n d a l i z e d t h e Real

Estate

Company

that

owned

the

Opera

House;

Salome

was

banned

after

one

p e r f o r m a n c e a n d a s c h e d u l e d series c o n d u c t e d by Strauss h i m s e l f c a n c e l e d . A n d luck, that

A caricature of Mahler made by Enrico Caruso, reproduced in

82

The New York Times, January 8, 1909

necessary ingredient in any theatrical endeavor, had avoided him altogether. On tour in San

TANNHAEUSER A N D TRISTAN MAHLER NEGOTIATED WITH MY

Francisco, his company was caught in the 1906 earthquake, escaping without loss of life but

KNOWLEDGE AND CONSENT

with sets and costumes, music and musical instruments all destroyed. T h e company

ENGAGE

returned to N e w York with operatic warfare on the horizon. Oscar Hammerstein had built

OBERHOFMEISTER PRINCE M O N T E N U O V E BUT EMPERORS

his Manhattan Opera House on West 34th and would in

C O N S E N T HAS T O B E G R A N T E D

1906-7 provide serious

MAHLER

I

FIVE

RECEIVED T H E SANCTION TO WEEKS

AGO

THROUGH

CONRIED.

competition, not just with singers that the Met seemed to know nothing about, but with a chief conductor, Cleofonte C a m p a n i n i , better than anyone on the Met's roster. In May 1907

N e w s of Mahler's engagement reached the N e w York papers two days later. T h r o u g h

Conried wrote about conductors to one of his board members, "You speak of my

the dozen or so newspapers and magazines that avidly covered operatic events, one can

negotiations with Mottl and you suggest Nikisch. I have been in negotiations with Nikisch

trace m o u n t i n g anticipation of Mahler's arrival coupled with the disintegration of

for the last four years, and I will name the rest of the existing leading conductors to whom

Conried's health. By J u n e 2 4 , the Mail headlined: "Conried Still Ill; M a y N o t Return" and

I made offers since the day I became manager of the Conried Opera C o m p a n y — R i c h t e r ,

followed with the information "Herr Mahler will be Mr. Conried's successor as director

Schuch, Weingartner, Muck, Strauss, Mahler, Mader. . . . P. S. Toscanini to whom I sent a

of the Metropolitan O p e r a H o u s e . " T h e Telegraph found him better on July 23 and

special agent to Milan, replied that no financial consideration would persuade him to accept

observed, " H e walks with difficulty, and two sticks. But legs are no more an essential to

an engagement in America, and the reports concerning Mugnoni [Mugnone] were such as

an impresario than intellect to a tenor." In August, s o m e of Conried's bad luck extended

to give me the conviction that he would be impossible with our orchestra, after two days.'

in a deaf Swiss peasant who was run down and killed by Conried's automobile as he

Finally, on June 6, 1907, Conried cabled from Bad Nauheim, a spa near Frankfurt where

toured outside Zurich. Accounts of Mahler concentrated on

he had gone for his failing health:

his discipline in

Vienna:

"MAHLER,

M A R T I N E T IN O P E R A D I R E C T I O N , " said The New York Times in August. By

84

I A M HAPPY T O A N N O U N C E T H E E N G A G E M E N T O F T H E VERY

December the s a m e paper was specific: "Mahler reformed everything: the orchestra, the

BEST OF ALL MUSICAL DIRECTORS GUSTAV MAHLER FOR T H R E E

company, the scenic decorations: nothing escaped his attention, the least chorus singer no

MONTHS

LILI

more than the prima donna. He was orchestral conductor, singer, actor, stage manager,

L E H M A N N W E N T PERSONALLY TO MAHLER FOR HAMMERSTEIN

scene painter, costumer. He even reformed the ballet. T h e day he began this reform it was

OFFERING

thought his fall was near at hand. . . . But they were mistaken about the solidity of the

EACH

HIM

SEASON

AT

VERY

FAVORABLE

EXORBITANT TERMS TO

DIRECT

TERMS

LOHENGRIN

85

director's position, as well as about the faithfulness of the ballet's friends—especially when the director began to put y o u n g and pretty dancers in the front rows." Mahler and his wife A l m a sailed for America on December 1 1 :

When the Kaiserin Auguste Victoria steamed up to Cherbourg. . . there were the Mahlers,

hand in hand,

waiting at the dock. Alois Burgstaller [one of the Met's

heldentenors] was on board, and he and others cheered Mahler up so that the voyage, though long, wasn't half bad after all, and Mahler played for Burgstaller at the ship's concert off Nantucket on Friday. As the huge steamer neared the Battery he showed keen interest in the Statue of Liberty and the other large, if not necessarily impressive, monuments which greeted him. Gustav Mahler is a tall, dark, unusual looking be-spectacled man, with a worn and haggard face, marked with deep lines that seem to tell of a nervous and artistic temperament.

(American, December 22,

1907)

Mahler was met by assistants to Conried and Alfred Hertz, the conductor. It was a Saturday, and after a stop at the Hotel Majestic, Mahler had his first sight of the Metropolitan Opera H o u s e when he sat in Conried's box for the matinee of Tosca with Caruso, E m m a Eames, and Antonio Scotti. On Sunday afternoon, he was at Carnegie Hall for Walter Damrosch and the N e w York Symphony Orchestra in a program that included Berlioz's

A page from the Metropolitan Opera paybooks, showing payments made to Mahler (in 86

Austrian crowns) in 1 9 0 7 and 1 9 0 8 .

Symphonie fantastique and the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto played by Teresa Carreno. " O n M o n d a y Mr. Conried introduced him to the [Metropolitan] orchestra, and after a few words of greeting he took up the baton for a rehearsal of the Tristan score. He had not proceeded far when he characteristically proclaimed: 'All other rehearsals in the theatre must cease.' A chorus rehearsal going on in another room was thereupon stopped" (Musical America, December 28, 1907). Singing her first Isolde anywhere was Olive Fremstad, who had coached the role with Mahler in Vienna the previous summer. Burgstaller had been requested by Mahler but injured his shoulder when thrown from a dog cart in Hoboken and was replaced by Heinrich Knote as Tristan. Mahler's debut on January 1, 1 9 0 8 , was the last great coup of Conried's management. T h e gala audience included two N e w York Isoldes, Lillian Nordica, in blue satin, and J o h a n n a G a d s k i , in black. "When the Metropolitan's new musical director first appeared in the orchestra pit half the persons in the parquet rose to get a g o o d view of him, and there was thunderous applause from every part of the auditorium. He bowed dignifiedly and took his seat in his chair" (Press). There was enthusiastic applause after every act and a magnificent laurel wreath at one of the curtain calls. All the newspapers were s t u c k by Mahler's consideration for the singers, his mastery of orchestral balance. W J. Henderson's review of Tristan und Isolde in the Sun summarizes the response of all N e w York critics. "From the beginning of the vorspiel not a full forte of trumpets and trombones was heard till Isolde raised the cup to her lips and then it came with the crash of a catastrophe. . .. He held to the firmest and most finely spun texture the iridescent web of tone in which Wagner enmeshed his ideas. . . . [B]est of all, the eloquent variety of 88

Wagner's instrumentation was displayed by the simple process of bringing out clearly every

solo phrase, while the harmonic and contrapuntal background was never slighted." However, Henderson and many others pointed out that none of this was new, that Anton Seidl "did all these things in the brave days of old, when there were also mighty singers in the land." Although a master of balance between voices and instruments, Mahler appears to have made one serious miscalculation. T h e Press was only one of several papers that criticized his cuts. Under a headline reading " M A H L E R M U T I L A T E S W A G N E R S C O R E " was this: "Many persons who heard the last act of Tristan und Isolde as performed last night in the Metropolitan Opera H o u s e [with most of Brangäne's and Marke's music missing] wondered whether Mahler would have dared to present Wagner's score in such abbreviated form abroad, or whether he had reserved this slashing for the 'musical barbarians' of N e w York. Mahler is a great conductor, a great musician. But if he wishes to retain the respect of American operagoers he will have to treat them as intelligent lovers of music, whose experience of Wagner opera is not of today. Unless the important portions of Tristan und Isolde which Mahler sees fit to omit, are restored speedily, operagoers will feel they are being defrauded of that which they have a right to expect" (Press, January 10, 1 9 0 8 ) . T h e performance had begun at 7:45 p.m. and ended, after three acts and two long intermissions, at 11:30. (The heavily cut performances led by Artur Bodanzky in the 1930s were of the same length.) Although Mahler was sounded out about managing the Metropolitan from the first days of his arrival in N e w York, it is certain that no formal offer was made and that his correspondence with his friend, the designer Alfred Roller, in Vienna, about Roller's coming to New York was somewhat naive. As early as January 15, 1908, a member of Conried's board, Eliot Gregory, reported to another, James H. Hyde, in Paris: "We have been having a most exciting time here at the opera. We made up our minds, as you know, that Conried would have

89

to go, and the question of his successor has remained a burning one. Then Mahler the great German conductor came to us and has been a great success. [Otto] Kahn at once jumped at the idea of putting him at the head of the Opera. This we all sat on as we were anxious to work away from the German atmosphere.... To make a long tale short, we have at last decided (only last evening) after a very hot sitting, at [Robert] Goelet's house. We take as Impresario the man from the Scala Milan Gatti Cattzzai [Giulio Gatti-Casazza] and with him [Arturo] Toscanini as conductor of all French and Italian music. And Mahler for the German operas. [Rawlins] Cottenet sails next week with the contracts for Italy and one of the Italians will return with him to take control here at the end of the season. This is Cottenet's plan with Mahler added to please Kahn, and I am convinced an excellent one, as it gives us the three greatest men in Europe for the three p l a c e s . . . . Toscanini and Mahler stand the undisputed heads of their class and with them we have what no opera house in the world has ever been able to afford before." Mahler turned next to Don Giovanni. His announcement that he would require 15 rehearsals made his soloists gasp. "This number of rehearsals is not unusual to demand from orchestra and chorus, but never before in this country have the principals been required to appear at so many preparatory p e r f o r m a n c e s . . . . [H]e has demanded from leading men and primadonnas the same amount of preparation that he would from the last member of the chorus" (American, January 9, 1908). Later, no one would admit dissatisfaction. "As the Metropolitan orchestra finished its fifteenth and last rehearsal yesterday, playing five and a half hours union labor time, without a murmur, one of the exhausted men said: 'Tired? Yes! But I feel that I am at least a musician once more'" (Evening Sun, January 2 3 , 1908).

90

The old Metropolitan Opera House, at Broadway and 39th Street, 1912.

Mahler not only converted his musicians, he transformed the score. On January 3 1 ,

speech and introduce the key of the songs. He even did this in the dramatic recitative for

1 9 0 8 , he led a cast that featuted Antonio Scotti in the title role, E m m a Eames, Johanna

full orchestra which introduces D o n n a Anna's great air, 'Or sai chi l'onore.'" Press: "Certain

Gadski, Marcella Sembrich, Alessandro Bonci (lured away from the Manhattan Opera), and

scenes were carried out with a perfection of musical detail never before attained in this city,

Feodor Chaliapin. According to Henderson, "Mozart's Don Giovanni was performed at the

for example, in the ballroom scene, there were three orchestras on the stage, just as the

Metropolitan O p e r a H o u s e last night in a manner which must have astonished many of the

composer intended, and these three small groups of musicians succeeded in playing the

old habitues of the house. For many years this great classic opera has been offered at the

music allotted to them with rhythmical precision and clarity. Mahler, with no apparent

Metropolitan as a bargain counter attraction. . . . People have been drawn in crowds to hear

effort, held the various forces fully in check. . . . Anorher stage band was brought on the

six stars at prices usually charged for three. But the mise en scène has always been neglected.

boards in the final scene. . . ." T h e chorus was eliminated from the first-act Finale, there were

T h e acts have been chopped up . . . s o m e scenes were incomprehensible . . . [and] Mozart's

neither guests nor trombones in the final scene, and the epilogue, according to Viennese

dramatic unity sent into outer darkness. A n d no attempt has been m a d e to unify the styles

custom, was omitted. While Mahler may have breathed new life into the score, Don

and interpretations of the various singers in an organic whole. It has been every singer for

Giovanni was not heard again at the Met until 1 9 2 9 - 3 0 .

herself and the evil one take Mozart. All this has been changed by the artistic influence of

With only one work at the Metropolitan was Mahler able to give an impression of what

one man, and the result was that last night's performance moved swiftly, steadily, even

he had achieved with music drama in Vienna. For the revival of Fidelio on March 2 0 , 1 9 0 8 ,

relentlessly toward its great climaxes—one in the finale of the first act, another in the closing

Conried had duplicated the Alfred Roller production. An account in the Evening Sun

scene of the opera. T h e credit must be given to Gustav Mahler . . ." (Sun). Mahler changed

details the accomplishment:

almost everything. Don Giovanni had never before been presented in N e w York in only two

92

acts (usually there were four!). According to the Press, "Instead of occupying the usual post

Heinrich

close in the first row of the parquet, Mahler sat on a raised platform well forward in the

productions of Parsifal and S a l o m e the sensations of two worlds, old and new. He

orchestra pit, with only a grand piano between him and the stage. On this instrument, the

has added in Meistersinger and Hansel and Gretel twin joys at least to this

strings of which were covered with thin paper in order to imitate the sound of a harpsichord,

hemisphere. But it remained for last night's superb revival of Fidelio to mark the

Mahler himself played the recitative accompaniments usually intrusted to an assistant

red-letter evening of Conried's closing days. Here he did the artistic thing. Here was

conductor behind the scenes." Krehbiel in T h e Tribune added that "he occasionally added a

the miracle. . . . [Our audience] gave to a century-old music-drama the most silent

bit of adornment to the dry chords which ordinarily suffice to buoy up the rapid musical

Conried in five years of Metropolitan

opera

now ending has made his

and sensational tribute that we have witnessed on any stage this season. Tremendous,

93

nothing less, was the rapt attention. The new Vienna stage effects began at first rise of curtain, in a jailer's lodge of some Spanish dungeon-keep. Through one deepbarred window grating streamed the slanting sunlight as from a high angle above. You felt, not saw, the depth. . . . The quick march to which enters Pizarro, the villain, saw a silent closing of curtains. This was new. They parted again on that "most massive scene" that has ever been set on this stage. Stone walls of a prison exterior towered fifty feet up in the air. Low arched gratings gave upon dungeons beneath. A solid wall, pierced by a stone stairway, led further up and out where tall cypress treetops could be seen in a glare of daylight. Only Gorky's Nachtasyi, in the days of Conried's German Irving Place [Theatre], has matched the picture of human misery presented when the wretches from the cells were driven, blinking, blind-eyed, out into that daylight by troops in uniforms. . . . The usual pause after this act, and before Act II, was made a long one. . . . There was not a sound when the orchestra began its poignant harmonies, a drawing of erased lines, a spirit-seance, from which all trace of the trite or obvious had vanished. Again the mind's eye sank to profounder regions as the scene opened. A man half dead lay on the floor of a cavern hewn from solid rock. A jailer and that mysterious person, "Another," dug a grave. They talked in awe, spoke jerkily, but spoke. Then they sang—duet, trio and, atop of these, a quartet. As that expected murderer crept down all the zigzag of stairs, his cloaked body as a shadow on the wall, and hardly that, it was thrilling to see a great audience sway 94

Metropolitan Opera program for Fidelio conducted by Mahler, March 20, 1908.

forward in

its chairs,

keenly waiting.

The pistol;

the

trumpet—"most dramatic

moment in all opera"—did not fail. The music did not cease. The slow octave descent of Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3,

never so played before,

In the p a y b o o k for the 1 9 0 8 - 9 season, the balance has shifted, with both Mahler and Toscanini listed simply as "Conductor." Although Mahler was able to hold on to Tristan for a second season (Toscanini had wanted to bring over "his" production from La Scala),

was timed to a weird fall of curtains held apart,

Toscanini in his first year became central to the functioning of the opera house. In

imperceptibly yielding, with mesmeric magic. At the end of the ensuing music, after

1908-9, Mahler conducted 23 times for a salary of $18,926, while Toscanini conducted

straining every nerve to catch its lightest pianissimo, the house went crazy in the dark.

69 times with a salary of $ 3 1 , 2 0 0 . In his third and last Metropolitan season, Mahler led

The riot of Mahler equalled that over Caruso in Trovatore. The conductor bowed

a scant four performances of Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades. In all, Gustav Mahler

and bowed. The last quick scene of shrill topnotes on a high rampart of the prison set

conducted

the auditors blinking with dazzling light. Then recalls and flowers, and it was all over.

concerts. His repertoite consisted of Mozart's Don Giovanni (6) and Le nozze di Figaro (8),

The more liberties a man like Mahler takes with Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, the better for Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner. The cast of the opera . . . was a noble one.

54 times at the Metropolitan Opera, 50 performances of opera and four

Fidelio (4), Wagner's

Tristan

und Isolde

(11),

Die

Walküre

(5)

and

Siegfried (5),

Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades (4), and Smetana's Bartered Bride ( 7 ) . At two gala concerts, Mahler and Toscanini shared the podium. A l t h o u g h we tend to think of Toscanini as the

Mahler's success with Fidelio is filled with irony. By the time of its N e w York premiere

younger m a n , suggesting a wide gap in their ages, the difference was only seven years.

the Roller production had already been retired in Vienna by Mahler's successor, Felix

They are said to have had mutual respect for one another as conductors, even though the

Weingartner. Best remembered in N e w York for Mahler's "innovation" of placing the

arrival of Toscanini effectively ended Mahler's operatic career in N e w York. Mahler died

Leonore N o . 3 between the two scenes of Act I I , this was in fact nothing new, since Anton

in 1911 while Toscanini lived until 1 9 5 7 , conducting almost to the end but never a note

Seidl had done the same at the M e t in the 1880s and it had been positioned there as early

of Mahler's. In 1 9 0 5 , he had described Mahler as "not a genuine artist" and declared that

as 1849 in L o n d o n and Amsterdam. More significantly, Mahler's relationship with the

his music has neither personality nor genius." However, time has a way of rearranging

opera had already changed. By the end of the 1907-8 season, the Conried O p e r a Company

things and the final victory was Mahler's. C o m p o s e r s , or at least s o m e of them, live longer

was out of existence. Mahler's four-year contract as " C h i e f Conductor" was null and void.

than conductors.

In May, G i u l i o Gatti-Casazza made his first visit to N e w York and thereafter the newspaper

96

that had been filled with Mahler shortly before were now preoccupied with Gatti and is

Robert Tuggle, Director of Archives at the Metropolitan Opera,

colleague, Arturo Toscanini.

biography of Kirsten Flagstad.

is currently at work on a 97

Gustav Mahler and the Guarantors:

The Management of Genius by JACK KAMERMAN

S

ymphony orchestras, like all organizations, must balance the need to perform their primary task (making music, in this case) and the need to remain solvent. At the New York Philharmonic during the 1909-10 and part of the 1910-11 seasons, Gustav Mahler's work as a conductor was caught between these two often

conflicting goals. These organizational imperatives hold true for any occupational life, even the work of a genius in the arts. This insight is often lost because the giant shadows cast by figures like Mahler tend to obscure the humdrum of everyday life. This announcement appeared in the March 1909 program, which was for

98

Safonoff's farewell concert.

T h e Philharmonic Society of N e w York in Mahler's time was administered by the

1908, under Wassily Safanoff, was still a players' cooperative whose permanent performing

C o m m i t t e e of Guarantors, a committee largely the creation of Mary R. Sheldon, wife of the

members had dwindled to 3 7 , down from 64 in 1 8 9 7 . T h i s organizational structure may

banker and Republican National C o m m i t t e e Treasurer, George R. Sheldon. T h e other pivot

have worked well in the Orchestra's early years, but it was an anachronism in the increasingly

in Mahler's life at the Philharmonic was Minnie Untermyer, wife of the famous lawyer

rational cultural and financial world of the 20th century.

Samuel Untermyer. Corseted by the Gilded Age, these women were nonetheless in the arts

Philharmonic Society of L o n d o n faced similar pressures in the same period, making it

what their husbands were in banking and the law: strong, shrewd, influential, and successful

vulnerable in 1 9 1 6 to the takeover by T h o m a s Beecham, a sort of Guarantors' C o m m i t t e e

It is in the magnetic field created by the considerable personal and social force of these two

of One. In other words, this relationship between structure and funding was not unique to

w o m e n — a n d of course a third, his wife A l m a — t h a t Mahler's career at the Philharmonic and

New York.) In addition, the Philharmonic faced solid competition from Walter Damrosch's

life in N e w York played themselves out.

newly reinvigorated N e w York Symphony, which performed 28 concerts in N e w York City

T h e year 1908 was a turning point in Mahler's brief career at the Metropolitan Opera.

during the 1 9 0 7 - 0 8 season as compared with the Philharmonic's 16.

Giulio Gatti-Casazza had been appointed General Manager and had brought Arturo

T h e Philharmonic's financial condition was tenuous in spite of efforts to shore up its

Toscanini with him from La Scala. It was soon clear that Toscanini was invading Mahler's

support. In 1 9 0 3 , many of these same guarantors had attempted to restructure the

repertoire and undermining his authority, as he was to do to Mengelberg at the

Philharmonic along the same lines as they now proposed. T h e members of the Philharmonic

Philharmonic two decades later.

Society voted down the proposal because, in their eyes, their situation was not desperate

In terms of a conductor's need for artistic control and the organizational support that this control is invariably based on, Mahler's situation at the Metropolitan was precarious. That

100

(Interestingly, the Royal

enough, and because they did not want to lose artistic control over their concerts and administrative control over their society.

fact alone, even if the situation at the Philharmonic had not become so interesting, would

But by 1 9 0 8 , when M r s . Sheldon advanced the idea again, the situation was ripe. With

have m a d e him susceptible to a career move. But the Committee's offer was e x c e e d i n g

the help of Mrs. Untermyer, she organized the C o m m i t t e e of Guarantors and put together

interesting. T h e y were offering g o o d money, the chance to rebuild the Orchestra to his

pledges totaling over $ 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 to underwrite the three coming seasons, to create a

specifications, and an opportunity to perform his own c o m p o s i t i o n s — a hope that was

permanent orchestra, and to bring Gustav Mahler to conduct the concerts and rebuild the

realized only to a very small extent.

Orchestra. This time, the offer to the Philharmonic Society proved irresistible.

From the Philharmonic's point of view, its artistic and financial condition had made

Mrs. Sheldon's approach to reconstructing the Philharmonic lay somewhere between the

Mahler, the conductor and orchestra-builder, increasingly attractive. T h e Philharmonic in

Wharton School of Business and the Edith Wharton school of social relations. To begin

101

with, she organized her committee strategically, choosing both men and women on the basis of their social contacts (their own or their access to considerable fortunes) and their commitment, for any of several reasons, to musical life in New York. Her two surviving letters in the N e w York Philharmonic's Archives are addressed to the Orchestra's manager, Felix Leifels, and list 120 guarantors and potential guarantors. The names on this list read like a New York pantheon of the wealthy and socially well-positioned. In businesslike fashion, by way of protecting an investment, the price she exacted for this financial security and artistic excellence was almost total control. As in Beecham's takeover in London, the Board of Directors of the Philharmonic ceased to exist except for a nominal board whose annual meetings were suspended and whose members were selected by the Guarantors' C o m m i t t e e . The C o m m i t t e e made all financial decisions, and either made of had veto power over all decisions relating to personnel, engagements, publicity, the number of concerts, repertoire, and soloists. At its annual meeting, held on February 12, 1909, the Philharmonic Society ceded control to the C o m m i t t e e : "Resolved that the Board of Directors be [sic] and it is hereby authorized and instructed to make such contracts and take such action as the C o m m i t t e e of the Guarantors shall designate, and especially to choose a conductor for the ensuing season upon such terms as such C o m m i t t e e shall specify." In the first season, 1 9 0 9 - 1 0 , this seemed to work to Mahler's advantage. Relations were amicable, particularly given the Mahlers' closeness to Minnie Untermyer and, equally important, to her husband, Samuel Untermyer. Samuel Untermyer was a gifted lawyer who

"The creator of the interminable symphony." A caricature of Mahler that appeared in a New 102

York newpaper, from the Metropolitan Opera pressbook for November 1908

could box men of the stature of J. P. Morgan into a corner (as he did at the Senate's Pujo

104

programming, was approved.

Committee hearings in 1 9 1 2 ) . He had successfully represented artists like Mary Garden and

What followed was the incident that has c o m e to symbolize the perception of Mahler's

was a consummate negotiator who would steer Mahler through several crises with the

overwhelming problems with the C o m m i t t e e : the infamous meeting between Mahler and

Guarantors' Committee.

certain members of the C o m m i t t e e at Mrs. Sheldon's house at 24 East 38th Street in mid-

By the second season, however, relations between Mahler and the C o m m i t t e e were

February of 1 9 1 1 . As described by Alma Mahler in Gustav Mahler: Memories and Letters,

strained. At the Guarantors' C o m m i t t e e meeting of January 4, 1 9 1 1 , several matters central

Mahler was told exactly what he could and could not do, both verbally and in the form of

to Mahler's position at the Philharmonic came up. First, Mahler's request for $ 5 , 0 0 0 to

a legal document drawn up from notes taken by a lawyer who was present, and who

conduct an extra 20 concerts during the current season was submitted to arbitration. The

e m e r g e d from behind a curtain drawn aside "at a word from Mrs. Sheldon. . . . He was so

C o m m i t t e e wished these concerts to be added without compensation to Mahler. However

taken aback and so furious that he came back to me trembling in every limb; and it was

"the decision of the arbitrator [Samuel Untermyer] was rendered against the Committee

only by degrees that he was able to take any pleasure in his work." Alma also mentions that

[and] Mr. M a h l e r . . . consented, at the suggestion of Mr. Unrermyer, to reduce his claim to

"He decided to ignore all these ladies in the future. T h e only exception was Mrs.

$ 3 , 0 0 0 " (Minutes of the C o m m i t t e e of Guarantors, January 4, 1 9 1 1 ) . At the same meeting

Untermeyer [sic], his guardian angel. She was away at this time; otherwise nothing of all

a letter from Franz Kneisel was read in which he responded to the Committee's offer of

this could have happened."

appointment to the post of conductor for the following season. T h e Minutes mention that

Perhaps, and perhaps not. With or without Mrs. Untermyer, the Committee, having

Kneisel had written that, while "he would feel highly honored to accept the position, "he

been backed into accepting Mahler for another season, would almost certainly have felt the

could not leave "his present field of activity [leader of the Kneisel Quartet] for a contract of

need to demonstrate its control over its conductor, although perhaps in a less heavy-handed

one year only." The Minutes of that meeting go on to say that the C o m m i t t e e instructed the

manner.

Orchestra's manager L o u d o n Charlton to "unofficially inquire from Mr. Mahler his attitude

It is probably this incident that prompted Loudon Charlton's remark in an interview he

regarding the acceptance of the position of conductor for next season and also his terms.'

gave in the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune of March 2 8 , 1912, a year after Mahler's death.

T h e Minutes of the following meeting a week later mention that "Mr. Mahler has expressed

Confirming the rumor that he would be leaving the Philharmonic, Charlton commented on

his willingness to conduct 90 to 100 concerts for $ 3 0 , 0 0 0 . " At the next meeting on January

the parallel between his troubles at the Philharmonic and Stokowski's at the Cincinnati

18, the C o m m i t t e e instructed Charlton to get those terms in writing. At the last meeting of

Symphony: " S a m e as it seems to be here," he said, "too many women." "Is that what killed

January, the formation of two subcommittees, one devoted to finance, one devoted in

Mahler?" asked the reporter. "It is. Poor Mahler. He used to say every time the doorbell rang:

105

'Here comes another fat woman; now for more trouble.' " Of course, as Henry-Louis de La Grange makes clear in his essay "Mahler and the New York Philharmonic: T h e Truth Behind the Legend," it was endocarditis that killed Mahler, not his troubles with the women of the Committee. Mahler's relations with the C o m m i t t e e are central to an understanding of Mahler's career in N e w York and the mythology that has grown around it. While assessing his success or failure in N e w York is beyond the scope of a brief article, a few points may help to frame the answer. First, there is apparently a great need to see Mahler as a martyr, in this instance, to the financial concerns of his patrons, not at all like the worldly Richard Strauss, who handled himself with distinction in the marketing of his art. Why has this myth persisted? Part of the reason is the resilience of the 19th-century notion, tied perhaps to the preponderance of 19th-century works in the repertoire of most orchestras, that great artists are inevitably unappreciated in their own lifetimes. Part of the answer may have to do with the tendency to use the present to refract our view of the past. Elie Siegmeister in his Music and Society saw geniuses like Haydn as victims of the aristocracy, made to sit with the other servants and

point of view of the present are also responsible in part for the notion that Mahler had a pathological preoccupation with death because of the atypically great number of his siblings who died. As Kurt Blaukopf pointed out in Mahler, it may have been an atypically great number for our time, but not for Mahler's. Second, when it comes to fixing blame, historians and biographers (two major exceptions mentioned above) tend to "round up the usual suspects" and hang the usual villains. Mrs. Sheldon in particular has gotten a bad shake, perhaps because the audience for music history resents the intrusion of commercial considerations into "pure art," much more perhaps than performing artists themselves. But one thing is very clear: If it hadn't been for Mrs. Sheldon and her committee, in all likelihood Mahler would not have had the opportunity to build a great orchestra, nor to perform his music in the United States to even the limited extent that he did, nor, for that matter, to make the money he made. Whether or not it fits our ideas about great art or about the role of such women in its production, it was the Mrs. Sheldons of the world of early 20th-century music who enabled geniuses like Mahler to fulfill their destinies. •

wear the livery of their oppressors. Young Haydn took another view, writing h o m e proudly to his family about how splendid he looked in the livery of the Esterházy family and how proud he was to be in their service. For all of his complaints, Mahler liked the Philharmonic post enough to seek it and to commit to it until his illness interceded. Part of the myth's

Jack Kamerman is a Professor of Sociology at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. In collaboration with Desmond Mark,

of the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in

Vienna, he is currently at work on a book about Mahler in New York and Vienna.

persistence may stem from Viennese guilt. Mahler wasn't the first musician in Vienna ill treated in life and canonized in death. 106

T h e need to see Mahler as a martyr and the tendency to reconstruct the past from the

107

Mary Sheldon:

A Woman of Substance by MARION R. CASEY

his a g i t a t i o n s e e m s t o h a v e b e e n s t a r t e d b y t w o o r three restless w o m e n w i t h n o o c c u p a t i o n a n d m o r e m o n e y t h a n they s e e m t o k n o w w h a t t o d o w i t h , " c h a r g e d a n a n g r y Walter D a m r o s c h i n t h e p a g e s o f The New York Times i n A u g u s t 1 9 0 8 . H e t h e n d i s m i s s e d M r s . G e o r g e R . ( M a r y ) Sheldon a n d the nascent Philharmonic Guarantors' C o m m i t t e e with the opinion, "There are p e o p l e t o w h o m m u s i c i s o n l y f o o d for n e r v o u s e x c i t e m e n t a n d e a c h successive E u r o p e a n celebrity v i s i t i n g this c o u n t r y a toy to p l a y w i t h . " D a m r o s c h w a s r e s p o n d i n g to

Engagement portrait for the 18-year-old Mary Seney, later Mrs. Sheldon, 108

painted by G.P.A. Healy in 1881.

an interview M r s . Sheldon gave to the Times c o r r e s p o n d e n t in Paris, in w h i c h she

forward as early as 1903 a n d w h i c h the O r c h e s t r a — t a k i n g exception to the idea of giving

a n n o u n c e d that G u s t a v Mahler w o u l d c o n d u c t a s y m p h o n y orchestra in N e w York for the

up control of the organization's finances—rejected. On the other hand, it is possible that

1 9 0 9 - 1 0 season.

Mrs. Sheldon had just executed a clever political maneuver to pressure the P h i l h a r m o n i c to

M r s . Sheldon had spent the spring of 1908 engaging Mahler for two festival concerts

come a r o u n d to her p o i n t of view. Offering the P h i l h a r m o n i c to Mahler in 1 9 0 9 - 1 0 came

at Carnegie Hall that c o m i n g winter. In April she told The New York Times, "Mr. Mahler's

is a surprise to The New York Times, w h i c h was u n d e r the impression that the Orchestra

influence has been deeply felt at the Metropolitan O p e r a H o u s e this winter a n d we have to

had c o m m i t t e d to Wassily Safonoff. Mrs. Sheldon took the o p p o r t u n i t y of this Times

t h a n k Mr. [Heinrich] C o n r i e d for bringing h i m over. W h i l e he is here it would be a pity if

Interview to clearly restate the G u a r a n t o r s ' prerequisites:

he should n o t have a chance to c o n d u c t purely orchestral music with an orchestra of his own. Since the idea first came to me I have talked it over with m a n y of my friends, a n d all

It would be necessary to make many changes in the organization.

of t h e m have been extremely enthusiastic." By the time M r s . Sheldon spoke to the press

think, could scarcely be improved, but some of the other parts would have to be

again that s u m m e r , she had already been to M u n i c h to solicit advice from Richard Strauss

reinforced. Then a certain number of our board would have to be placed on the

and Felix M o t t l a b o u t improving the Orchestra and, according to the Times, had "already

Philharmonic board. . . . [As Strauss and Mottl suggested,] it would be best to

raised a large subscription fund."

plan

W h a t peeved D a m r o s c h , however, was not M r s . Sheldon's interest in Mahler. It was her claim that " N e w York orchestras at present are n o t worthy" a n d her d e t e r m i n a t i o n "to go

the season

of our orchestra

to last thirty

weeks,

arrangement which must be made with the Philharmonic,

The strings, I

and that is another as their present season

lasts only sixteen. . . . I shall see Mr. Arnold immediately upon my return. It

ahead a n d form a n o t h e r " that w o u l d be "the greatest orchestra America has ever heard." D a m r o s c h was no d o u b t aggravated to read M r s . Sheldon's account of a meeting in May

110

with Richard Arnold, revealing that the t h o u g h t of a third s y m p h o n y orchestra in New

That winter the r u m o r mill a b o u n d e d with reports of the potential rehabilitation of the

York had m a d e the P h i l h a r m o n i c Society nervous. According to Sheldon, Arnold

Philharmonic. Mrs. Sheldon was coy with the press; on D e c e m b e r 9, 1908, the N e w York

reportedly said: " T h e r e is n o t r o o m for a n o t h e r orchestra in N e w York; let's p u t the two

Sun wrote that she was "not quite ready to give o u t " details. T w o days later, in a letter to

organizations together and let M a h l e r c o n d u c t o u r orchestra."

the editor of The New York Times, M r s . Sheldon revealed what, on the surface, seemed to

If the story is true, M r s . Sheldon m u s t have been delighted at Arnold's capitulation to

be a fundamental shift in her t h i n k i n g since April: "So far as we can see there is n o t h i n g

a plan she a n d several other wealthy N e w Yorkers (along with Walter D a m r o s c h ) had put

'hysterical' a b o u t this plan, b u t a plain and c o m m o n s e n s e a t t e m p t to save s o m e t h i n g that

is very well worth saving, and benefiting thereby the musical life of N e w York. N o r is it,

half a million dollars to establish the Methodist Hospital in what is now Park Slope,

phoenix of the 1903 plan was rising from the ashes!

Brooklyn. T h a t same year, he also gave away 18-year-old Mary as the bride of George

By February the following year, Mrs. Sheldon's proposed restructuring had indeed been

Rumsey Sheldon, a Harvard graduate who had his own banking firm in N e w York City.

accepted, paving the way for Mahler's engagement with the Philharmonic beginning in the

Within three years, as a result of the panic of 1884, the Seney family was forced to sell

autumn of 1 9 0 9 . T h e historic reorganization plan was signed by Mary and George

its home as well as auction off nearly 3 0 0 of George Seney's fine collection of paintings

Sheldon, Ruth D a n a Draper, Henry Lane Eno, Ernest H. Schelling, and Nelson S. Spencer.

to pay depositors. Despite this setback, Mary Seney Sheldon's father still made major

Walter Damrosch's characterization of the Guarantors as "two or three restless women with

charitable contributions to local institutions like the Industrial H o m e for Homeless

no occupation and more money than they seem to know what to do with," as well as

Children, the Eye and Ear Infirmary, the Long Island (now Brooklyn) Historical Society,

Loudon Charlton's remark that Mahler's subsequent troubles with the Guarantors were the

and the Brooklyn Library. After her father's death in 1893, Mary Sheldon continued this

result of "too many women," obscure the intelligence, business acumen, political savvy, and

philanthropic tradition by personally supervising many of these benefactions.

cultural sophistication of these women and men.

In 1908, Mary Sheldon was a 45-year-old worldly woman with financial and

Mary Seney Sheldon was the descendant of men who had been actively involved in the

political experience under her belt, when she maneuvered to put Mahler on the

early American republic: Joshua Seney represented Maryland in the Continental Congress

Philharmonic's podium and determined to build "the greatest orchestra America has

and J a m e s Nicholson was one of the first commodores in the United States Navy. Her

ever heard." She had two daughters, kept a yacht at Glen Cove on L o n g Island, and

grandfather, Robert Seney, was a graduate of C o l u m b i a College and a Methodist minister

opened her h o m e in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan's east side for frequent

who preached in Astoria (in present-day Queens County, New York). His son was the well

musicales. Mary Sheldon had watched her husband, a high-level Republican official,

known banker, philanthropist, and art collector George Ingraham Seney ( 1 8 2 6 - 9 3 ) , who

help put Charles Evans Hughes in the governor's mansion in Albany in 1906 and

was educated at Wesleyan and N e w York University. George Seney married Phoebe Moser

Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft in the White House in 1904 and 1908.

of a prominent Brooklyn family, in 1849 and their daughter, Mary, one of nine children was born on July 3, 1 8 6 3 . By the time she was a teenager, the Seney family was living at Montague Terrace in "one of the finest houses in Brooklyn," and her father was the 112

Mary Seney Sheldon grew up in a philanthropic family. In 1 8 8 1 , George Seney gave

may say, an attempt to form an orchestra for the benefit of any one conductor." The

president of the Metropolitan Bank in Manhattan, which was a national institution.

Her colleagues in the endeavor to reorganize the Philharmonic were 60-year-old Ruth D a n a Draper, the daughter of the publisher of the New York Sun and the widow of a prominent professor of clinical medicine at C o l u m b i a , Dr. William Draper, who had also been a gifted musician; and Nelson S. Spencer, a 52-year-old pioneer in the

113

artificial silk industry and a public-interest lawyer who had been counsel for Governor Hughes in 1907. Two younger men rounded out the core of Mrs. Sheldon's group: Henry Lane Eno, at 37 years of age President of the Fifth Avenue Building Co. but far better known in cultural and intellectual circles as a psychologist, poet, and author (his verse play Baglioni was published in 1905); and the European-trained pianist and composer Ernest H. Schelling, age 32, "a connoisseur of books, prints and objects of art" whose wife, Lucy How Draper, had been one of the signatories of the original 1903 plan. Supporting Mrs. Sheldon's reorganization efforts were sustaining members of the Guarantors' Committee who made three-year financial pledges. These included wealthy men like John D. Rockefeller, J. Pierpont Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, August Belmont, and Thomas Fortune Ryan, but also some formidable women. Harriet (Mrs. Charles Beatty) Alexander and Mary (Mrs. Edward H.) Harriman, both prominent hostesses and philanthropists in their own right, served as Philharmonic Guarantors and, in spite of Walter Damrosch's comments about rich ladies, also as directors of the Symphony Society (so did Henry Lane Eno). Not least among the women of the Guarantors was Minnie Carl (Mrs. Samuel) Untermyer, the daughter of a German political refugee and the wife of the prominent attorney. Their town house at 2 East 54th Street was open to a wide variety of artists, musicians, and statesmen. Untermyer was a delegate to the National Democratic conventions in 1904 and 1908, yet when it came to musical matters, political affiliations were set aside. He had served as legal counsel for Damrosch, Sheldon, and others who 114

Profile of Gustav Mahler, 1909.

proposed the takeover of the Philharmonic in 1903. With Mahler in the city, Mary Sheldon

On May 2 8 , 1912, Mary R. Seney Sheldon became the first woman elected President

now worked with Minnie Untermyer, Ruth Dana Draper, and others to resurrect the 1903

of the New York Philharmonic, a position not to be held by a woman again for nearly seven

plan. Their C o m m i t t e e for the two Festival Concerts, which evolved into the Philharmonic

decades. She died after a long illness on June 16, 1 9 1 3 , a month shy of her 50th birthday,

Guarantors' C o m m i t t e e , drew up a circular letter in April 1908 that declared:

Mahler's age when he died just two years before. As late as May 2 2 , she hosted in her home what was to be the last meeting of the Executive C o m m i t t e e of the Board of Directors

We feel that a man of Mr. Mahler's eminence who has entered so wholly into the

before her death. T h e minutes of their first gathering after her death, in an unusually long

spirit of training a really fine orchestra for this City, will have trained the men to

tribute, express "the great affection and regard in which she was held by all its members,"

such a degree of perfection, that, if in the future, another conductor should have

recording "her untiring services to the Society and the cause of music and . . . the

to be considered, this orchestra already formed, shall be of such a standard of

immeasurable loss which the Society and the individual members of the Board will suffer

excellence as to appeal to other eminent conductors should the moment arise to

in their deprivation of her presence and of her activities."

engage them.

Mr.

Mahler sees the promise of the very best in orchestral

Mary Sheldon worked both behind the scenes and in the public eye nearly 100 years ago

development in this country and it only rests with us to determine whether we will

to strengthen the New York Philharmonic financially and artistically, bringing it into the

support the best.

modern world. Through her efforts, the sum of $ 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 (equal to $3.4 million today) was raised to support the Orchestra at the very moment that Gustav Mahler assumed its musical

Two and a half years later, in November 1910, the Musical Courier confirmed Mary

leadership. T h e confluence of these two achievements was pivotal in the history of the

Sheldon's vision. "A woman, forceful as well as tender, with a consuming love of art and a

Orchestra, setting a new standard of excellence for the future. Mary Sheldon would be pleased

deep love for humanity, has, by the aid of a few friends and her own determination

to see her vision fulfilled, carrying the Orchestra's Mahler legacy into the 21st century. •

provided New York with a great orchestra, a thing that never existed until this new combination took matters in hand.

116

Like almost every one who does something

extraordinary for the world, this woman, outside of her immediate circle of friends and

Marion R. Casey is an adjunct professor of American history at New York University. Assistant

acquaintances, has not received the appreciation due her. Mrs. George R. Sheldon . . . is the

Archivist for the New York Philharmonic from 1985 to 1990, she ivas Historian and Associate

lady who has wrought this marvel, and it is high time the American musical public was

Producer of the video documentary From Shore to Shore: Irish Traditional Music in New

convinced of the fact."

York City (1993) and a contributor to T h e Encyclopedia of New York City (Yale, 1995).

117

Mahler as Conductor

BEETHOVEN Overture, "The Consecration of the House"

Mahler as Conductor: The New York Philharmonic Performances

*Nov. 2 9 , 1 9 0 8 Carnegie Hall SCHUMANN Symphony No. 1

Mar. 3 1 , 1 9 0 9 Carnegie Hall SCHUMANN "Manfred" Overture

BEETHOVEN "Coriolan" Overture SMETANA The Bartered Bride: Overture WAGNER Die Meistersinger: Prelude to Act 1

WAGNER Siegfried Idyll WAGNER Tannhäuser: Overture

*Dec. 8, 1 9 0 8 Carnegie Hall Laura L. Combs, soprano Gertrude Stein Bailey, alto Oratorio Society MAHLER Symphony No. 2

*Dec. 1 3 , 1 9 0 8 Carnegie Hall

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

Apr. 6, 1 9 0 9 Carnegie Hall Corinne Rider-Kelsey, soprano Janet Spencer, contralto Daniel Beddoe, tenor Herbert Watrous, bass Bach Choir of Montclair BEETHOVEN "Egmont" Overture BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

120

WAGNER "Faust" Overture WEBER Oberon: Overture

Nov. 4, 5, 1 9 0 9 Carnegie Hall * Symphony Society Orchestra

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3

WAGNER Götterdämmerung: Siegfried's Funeral Music WAGNER Die Meistersinger: Prelude to Act I

LISZT Mazeppa

R . STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche Nov. 1 0 , 1 9 0 9 Carnegie Hall Corinne Rider-Kelsey, soprano Theodore Spiering, violin BACH-MAHLER Suite for Orchestra H A N D E L Flavio: "Quanto dolci" BACH Violin Concerto in E major R A M E A U Dardanus: Rigaudon from Suite No. 2 GRÉTRY Céphale et Procris: Recitative and Aria

Nov. 2 5 , 2 6 , 1 9 0 9 Carnegie Hall Teresa Carreño, piano BRAHMS Symphony No. 3

BACH-MAHLER Suite for Orchestra WEBER Konzertstück in F minor for Piano DUKAS The Sorcerers Apprentice Dec. 3 , 1 9 0 9 Brooklyn Academy of Music, Maud Powell, violin

NY

HAYDN Symphony No. 104

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5

Nov. 1 9 , 1 9 0 9 Carnegie Hall BEETHOVEN Fidelio: Overture

BEETHOVEN Leonore: Overture No. 3 MENDELSSOHN Concerto in E minor for Violin Op. 64 WAGNER Die Meistersinger: Prelude to Act I

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 2

BEETHOVEN Leonore: Overture No. 1 BEETHOVEN Leonore: Overture No. 2 BEETHOVEN Leonore: Overture No. 3

Dec. 8, 1 9 0 9 Carnegie Hall Bella Alten, soprano MOZART Symphony No. 41

Nov. 2 1 , 1 9 0 9 Carnegie Hall Charles Gilibert, baritone

HAYDN The Creation: "On Mighty Pens" MOZART The Marriage of Figaro: "Deh vieni non tardar"

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5

Xerxes: "Ombra mai fu" BIZET La Jolie Fille de Perth: Aria MASSENET Le Jongleur de Notre Dame: Legende de la sauge

Dec. 1 2 , 1 9 0 9 Carnegie Hall Yolande Mérö, piano

HANDEL

BEETHOVEN Symphony N o . 5

J a n . 8, 1 9 1 0

Jan. 2 0 , 2 1 , 1 9 1 0

LISZT Piano Concerto N o . 2 R. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche DVOŘÁK Scherzo Capriccioso

Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY Gustav Mahler, harpsichord Ferruccio Busoni, piano BACH-MAHLER Suite for Orchestra

D e c . 16, 17, 1 9 0 9

SCHUBERT-LISZT "Wanderer" Fantasy WAGNER Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and

Carnegie Hall TCAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 WAGNER Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and " Liebestod" SMETANA T h e Bartered Bride: Overture

Carnegie Hall SCHUBERT Symphony N o . 8 BEETHOVEN "Coriolan" Overture MAHLER Symphony N o . 1

"Liebestod" R.STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche

Jan. 28, 1910 J a n . 14, 1 9 1 0

Dec. 29, 1909

Carnegie Hall Maud Powell, violin SCHUBERT Symphony N o . 8 MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in E minor SCHUMANN Symphony N o . 4

Carnegie Hall BEETHOVEN Symphony N o . 6 Intermission BEETHOVEN Symphony N o . 5

Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY Ludwig Wüllner, baritone BRAHMS Symphony N o . 3 MAHLER Kindertotenlieder DVOŘÁK Overture, "Amid Nature" Songs, "Erdriese" and " Letzter Tanz"

WEINGARTNER

J a n . 16, 1 9 1 0

R. STRAUSS "Hymnus" M. FIEDLER " T h e Tambourine Player" WOLF Song, "Er ist's" with orchestra accompaniment WAGNER Tannhäuser: Overture (Dresden version) Feb. 13, 1 9 1 0

Carnegie Hall Pasquale Amato, baritone WAGNER "Kaiser-Marsch" WAGNER "Faust" Overture WAGNER Siegfried Idyll

Carnegie Hall Sergei Rachmaninoff, piano Gustav Mahler, harpsichord BACH-MAHLER Suite for Orchestra RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto N o . 3 WAGNER Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and

Jan. 3 0 , 1 9 1 0

"Liebestod" SMETANA The Bartered Bride: Overture

Carnegie Hall Paolo Gallico, piano

J a n . 6, 7, 1 9 1 0

J a n . 17, 1 9 1 0

Carnegie Hall Ferruccio Busoni, piano BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique SCHUBERT-LISZT "Wanderer" Fantasy WAGNER Die Meistersinger: Prelude to Act I

Philadelphia, PA BEETHOVEN Symphony N o . 5 SMETANA The Bartered Bride: Overture R.STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche WAGNER Die Meistersinger: Prelude to Act I

GRIEG Sigurd Jorsalfar: Triumphal March BEETHOVEN "Coriolan" Overture SCHUMANN Piano Concerto in A minor

TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo and Juliet, Overture-Fantasy

BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique

WAGNER "Faust" Overture

Dec. 31, 1909

Carnegie Hall Maud Powell, violin BEETHOVEN "Egmont" Overture, BEETHOVEN "Coriolan" Overture, BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto in D major BEETHOVEN Symphony N o . 4

122

Jan. 2 6 , 1 9 1 0

Carnegie Hall

Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY Tilly Koenen, contralto SCHUMANN Symphony N o . 4 BEETHOVEN "Ah, Perfido" R. STRAUSS Don Juan

WOLF Song, "Anakreons Grab" with orchestra accompaniment WOLF Song, "Der Rattenfänger" S M E T A NA

The Bartered Bride: Overture

Feb. 3, 4, 1 9 1 0

Carnegie Hall Feb. 1 1 , 1 9 1 0

WAGNER Die Walküre: Wotans Farewell and Magic Fire Scene WAGNER Die Meistersinger: Prelude to Act I WAGNER Die Meistersinger: "Wahn! Wahn!" WAGNER Tannhäuser: Overture (Dresden version) Feb. 17,18, 1 9 1 0

Carnegie Hall MacDowell Chorus DEBUSSY Nocturnes WAGNER Siegfried Idyll BERLIOZ "Roman Carnival" Overture 123

Feb. 23, 1910 New Haven, CT Olga Samaroff, piano BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique BACH-MAHLER Suite for Orchestra GRIEG Piano Concerto in A minor R. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche

Feb. 24, 1910 Springfield, MA Corinne Rider-Kelsey, soprano BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique BACH-MAHLER Suite for Orchestra HANDEL Flavio: Aria, "Quanto dolci" MOZART The Marriage of Figaro: Aria, "Voi che sapete" R. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche WAGNER Die Meistersinger: Prelude to Act I

Feb. 25, 1910 Providence, RI Theodore Spiering, violin BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique VIEUXTEMPS Violin Concerto No. 5 R. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche WAGNER Die Meistersinger: Prelude to Act I

R. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche

Mar. 2, 1910 Carnegie Hall Carl Jörn, tenor WAGNER Der fliegende Holländer: Overture WAGNER Lohengrin: Prelude Act I WAGNER Parsifal: Prelude to Act I WAGNER Die Walküre: Siegmund's Love Song WAGNER Die Meistersinger: Prize Song WAGNER Götterdämmerung: Siegfried's Funeral Music LISZT Les Préludes LISZT Mazeppa

Mar. 4, 1910 Carnegie Hall Olga Samaroff, piano BEETHOVEN Overture, "Namensfeier" BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4 BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

124

Boston, MA Arthur Hyde, organ BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique BACH-MAHLER Suite for Orchestra BEETHOVEN Leonore, Overture No. 3

R. STRAUSS Tod und Verklärung

Mar. 14, 1910 Philadelphia, PA Fritz Kreisler, violin BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique B E E T H O V E N Violin Concerto in D major WAGNER Tannhäuser: Overture (Dresden version)

Mar. 18, 1910 Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY Corinne Rider-Kelsey, soprano WAGNER Der fliegende Holländer: Overture WAGNER "Faust" Overture WAGNER Siegfried Idyll WAGNER Tannhäuser: "Dich, teure Halle" WAGNER Lohengrin: Prelude to Act I WAGNER "Wesendonk-Lieder" (orchestrated by Felix Mottl)

Mar. 6, 1910

WAGNER "Kaiser-Marsch"

Carnegie Hall Josef Lhevinne, piano TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo and Juliet, Overture-Fantasy

Mar. 27, 1910

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6

Feb. 26, 1910

Turandot, Op. 41: Suite Violin Concerto in D major DEBUSSY Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune BUSONI

BRAHMS

TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 TCHAIKOVSKY "1812" Overture

Mar. 10, 11, 1910 Carnegie Hall Fritz Kreisler, violin

Carnegie Hall Carl Jörn, tenor Edna Showalter, soprano Janet Spencer, contralto Theodore Spiering, violin MacDowell Chorus W A G N E R Der fliegende Holländer: Overture W A G N E R Die Meistersinger: Prize Song

WAGNER Rienzi: "The Messengers of Peace" BRAHMS Gesang aus Fingal SCHUBERT "Serenade" VlEUXTEMPS Violin Concerto No. 5 BEETHOVEN Leonore: Overture No. 3 SMETANA The Bartered Bride: ["Es muss gelingen"] LlSZT Les Préludes

Mar. 30, 1910 Carnegie Hall PFITZNER Christelflein: Overture BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4

R. STRAUSS Guntram: Two Preludes (from Act I and Act II) R. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche

Apr. 1, 2, 1910 Carnegie Hall Corinne Rider-Kelsey, soprano Viola Waterhouse, soprano Janet Spencer, contralto Dan Beddoe, tenor Paul DuFault, tenor Herbert Watrous, bass Ernest Hutcheson, piano Bach Choir of Montclair BEETHOVEN Fantasia in C minor for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

Nov. 1, 4, 1910 Carnegie Hall

Nov. 6, 1910

125

Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY Gustav Mahler, harpsichord

"Hubicka" (arr. Schindler) MAHLER "Ging Heut' Morgen übers Feld"

BACH-MAHLER Suite for Orchestra

MAHLER "Rheinlegendchen" DVOŘÁK "Carnival" Overture SMETANA "The Moldau"

SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9

MOZART Idomeneo: Ballet Music MOZART German Dances

R. STRAUSS Also sprach Zarathustra

Nov. 13, 1910 Carnegie Hall WEBER Der Freischütz: Overture TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5

Intermission BERLIOZ La Damnation de Faust, Op. 24: Menuet de Follets, Dance of the Sylphs, Rakoczy March LISZT Mephisto Waltz No. 1

Nov. 15, 18, 1910 Carnegie Hall Josef Hofmann, piano SCHUMANN "Manfred" Overture

DEBUSSY Images pour orchestra: Rondes de Printemps, No. 3 SAINT-SAENS Piano Concerto No. 4

Intermission

Nov. 22, 25, 1910 Carnegie Hall Alma Gluck, soprano CHERUBINI Anacréon: Overture SCHUMANN Symphony No. 2

Intermission SMETANA Bohemian "Cradle Song" from "Hubicka"(arr. Schindler) MAHLER "Ging heut' Morgen übers Feld" MAHLER "Rheinlegendchen" DVOŘÁK "Carnival" Overture SMETANA "The Moldau"

Nov. 27, 1910 Carnegie Hall Xaver Scharwenka, piano RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade, Op. 35 SCHARWENKA Piano Concerto No. 4 CHABRIER

España

BRAHMS Symphony No. 1

Nov. 20, 1910 Brooklyn Academy of Music Alma Gluck, soprano 126

SCHUMANN "Manfred" Overture BRAHMS Symphony No. 1

SMETANA Bohemian "Cradle Song" from

Nov. 29, Dec. 2, 1910 Carnegie Hall Francis Macmillen, violin ELGAR Variations on an Original Theme ("Enigma") GOLDMARK Violin Concerto in A minor MOZART Symphony No. 40

MENDELSSOHN Midsummer Night's Dream: Ouverture Dec. 5, 1910 Pittsburgh, PA Gustav Mahler, harpsichord BACH-MAHLER Suite for Orchestra BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 Intermission WAGNER Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and " Liebestod" WAGNER Siegfried Idyll WAGNER Die Meistersinger: Prelude to Act I Dec. 6, 1910 Cleveland, OH, Grays Armory [Program of Dec. 5] Dec. 7, 1910 Buffalo, NY, Convention Hall [ Program of Dec. 5] Dec. 8, 1910 Rochester, NY, Convention Hall [Program of Dec. 5] Dec. 9, 1910 Syracuse, NY, Wieting Opera House [ Program of Dec. 5] Dec. 10, 1910 Utica, NY, The Majestic Theatre [ Program of Dec. 5]

Dec. 13, 16, 1910 Carnegie Hall Xaver Scharwenka, piano BEETHOVEN "King Stephen" Overture BEETHOVEN "Coriolan" Overture BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 8 BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5 BEETHOVEN Leonore: Overture No. 3 Dec. 18, 1910 Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY Dec. 27, 30, 1910 Carnegie Hall Edouard Dethier, violin TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 2 TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto in D major TCHAIKOVSKY Suite No. 1 in D minor Jan. 1, 1911 Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY Johanna Gadski, soprano WAGNER Rienzi: Overture WAGNER Lohengrin: Prelude to Act I WAGNER Lohengrin: "Einsam in trüben Tagen" WAGNER Tannhäuser: "Dich, teure Halle" WAGNER Götterdämmerung: Immolation Scene WAGNER Tannhäuser: Overture Jan. 3, 6, 1911 Carnegie Hall Jan. 8, 1911 Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY

127

Edmond Clement, tenor MacDowell Chorus

W A G N E R Tannhäuser: Overture (Dresden version) W A G N E R Götterdämmerung: Siegfried's

Jan. 2 7 , 1 9 1 1 C a r n e g i e Hall

ENESCO Suite No. 1 for Orchestra

Piano a n d Orchestra, Op. 2 3 Intermission

Funeral M u s i c W A G N E R Götterdämmerung: Brünnhilde's Immolation

Johanna Gadski, soprano WAGNER Der fliegende Holländer: Overture

W A G N E R Der fliegende Holländer: Overture W A G N E R Siegfried: Forest M u r m u r s

L A L O Le Roi d'Ys: Aubade

M A S S E N E T Le Mage: Air de Zarastra M A S S E N E T M a n o n : Le Rêve de des Grieux DEBUSSY Images pour orchestra: Ibéria Intermission BIZET L'Arlésienne: Suite No. 1

Jan. 1 7 , 2 0 , 1 9 1 1 Carnegie Hall Bella Alten, soprano

C H A B R I E R Ode à la M u s i q u e

PFITZNER Käthchen von Heilbronn: Overture

CHABRIER España

M A H L E R S y m p h o n y No. 4 R. STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben

Jan. 1 0 , 1 3 , 1 9 1 1 Carnegie Hall Johanna Gadski, soprano W A G N E R "Faust" Overture W A G N E R Wesendonk-Lieder (orchestrated by Felix Mottl) W A G N E R Der fliegende Holländer: Overture W A G N E R Tristan u n d Isolde: Prelude a n d "Liebestod" W A G N E R Siegfried Idyll W A G N E R Die Meistersinger: Prelude to Act I

128

Jan. 1 5 , 1 9 1 1 Carnegie Hall Jan. 2 9 , 1 9 1 1 Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY J o h a n n a Gadski, soprano W A G N E R Rienzi: Overture W A G N E R Lohengrin: Prelude to Act I W A G N E R Lohengrin: Elsa's Dream W A G N E R Tannhäuser: "Dich, teure Halle"

Jan. 2 2 , 1 9 1 1 Carnegie Hall G O L D M A R K Overture, "In the Spring" TCHAIKOVSKY S y m p h o n y No. 6

WAGNER Tannhäuser: Overture a n d Venusberg Music (Paris Version) WAGNER Tannhäuser: "Dich, teure Halle" WAGNER Tannhäuser: Prayer WAGNER Wesendonk Song No. 5, "Träume" (arr. W a g n e r ) WAGNER Parsifal: Prelude to Act I and Glorification (arr. Seidl) WAGNER Tristan u n d Isolde: Prelude a n d " Liebestod" WAGNER Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries WAGNER Die Walküre: Wotan's Farewell and Magic Fire Scene

W E B E R - W E I N G A R T N E R "Invitation to the Dance" L I S Z T Tasso

Jan. 3 1 , Feb. 3 , 1 9 1 1 C a r n e g i e Hall

Jan. 2 4 , 1 9 1 1 Washington, DC Johanna Gadski, soprano W A G N E R Der fliegende Holländer: Overture W A G N E R Lohengrin: Prelude to Act I W A G N E R Tannhäuser: Overture (Dresden version) W A G N E R Tannhäuser: "Dich, teure Halle"

MENDELSSOHN Overture, " Z u m M ä r c h e n von der schönen Melusine" SCHUMANN S y m p h o n y No. 3 Intermission

W A G N E R Lohengrin: "Elsas Dream" W A G N E R Siegfried Idyll W A G N E R Tristan u n d Isolde: Prelude and "Liebestod" W A G N E R Die Meistersinger: Prelude to Act I

Feb. 5 , 1 9 1 1 C a r n e g i e Hall Ernest Hutcheson, piano

WAGNER Lohengrin: Prelude to Act I BIZET Suite No. 3, "Roma"

("Waldweben") W A G N E R Die Meistersinger: Prelude to Act I Feb. 7 , 1 0 , 1 9 1 1 Carnegie Hall David Bispham, baritone BERLIOZ Romeo et Juliette, Op. 17: Romeo Alone, Capulet's Festival, Love Scene, Queen M a b Scherzo W A G N E R Die Meistersinger: Introduction to Act III W A G N E R Die Meistersinger: Monologue of H a n s Sachs R. STRAUSS "Pilgers M o r g e n l i e d " Intermission BEETHOVEN S y m p h o n y No. 7

Feb. 1 2 , 1 9 1 1 Brooklyn Academy of Music, David Bispham, baritone W E B E R Oberon: Overture

NY

TCHAIKOVSKY S y m p h o n y No. 6

LALO Le Roi d'Ys: Overture SCHUBERT S y m p h o n y No. 8

M A C D O W E L L Concerto No. 2 in D minor for

Intermission W A G N E R Die Meistersinger: Introduction to Act III W A G N E R Die Meistersinger: Finale and Sach's Address R. STRAUSS "Pilgers M o r g e n l i e d " LlSZT Les Préludes

129

130

Feb. 14, 17, 1911

Feb. 16, 1911

Carnegie Hall Louise Kirkby Lunn, contralto Frank L. Sealy, organ CHADWICK Dramatic Overture, "Melpomene" STANFORD Symphony, F minor ELGAR Sea Pictures Intermission LOEFFLER "La Villanelle du Diable" MACDOWELL "The Saracens" MACDOWELL "Die schöne Alda" HADLEY "The Culprit Fay"

Hartford, CT [Program of Feb. 15]

Feb. 1 9 , 1 9 1 1 Carnegie Hall Fredric Fradkin, violin WEBER Oberon: Overture BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 Intermission MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in E minor LISZT Les Préludes

Feb. 15, 1911

Feb. 21, 1911

New Haven, CT, Wookey Hall Gustav Mahler, harpsichord BACH-MAHLER Suite for Orchestra BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 Intermission WEBER-WEINGARTNER "Invitation to the Dance" LlSZT Les Préludes

Carnegie Hall Ernesto Consolo, piano SINIGAGLIA Le baruffe Chiozzotte: Overture MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 4 Intermission MARTUCCI Piano Concerto in B-flat major BUSONI Berceuse élégiaque BOSSI Intermezzi Goldoniani

Note: Mahler conducted most of his concerts without an intermission, a new concert experience for New

Gustav Mahler in

York audiences. Some of his programs did, however, include an intermission, and when we found a refer-

1910, a typical

ence to that fact we included it in our list. B.H

New Yorker.

131

climaxes of tone that left their thrills. T h e orchestra played excellently. Contrasts were

What the Critics Wrote 1909-1911

numerous and finely wrought, and the volume of sound was satisfying. Of course it is not yet the best orchestra in the world. But then this is only the beginning, and the amount of promise indicated by last night's performance was enough to satisfy even the army of cavilers who sit, listen, and look wise at symphony concerts.

—Unsigned

T h e general impression derived from the concert last evening, even before the first number was finished, was that the orchestra was It was to a large extent a new orchestra which occupied the platform,

already something very different from what it has been for long years;

there was a conductor who was all but new to local concert room

in many respects better. . . . T h e performance o f . . . [Till Eulenspiegel]

. . . and in the music and its performance there were signs of a new

was an extraordinary one. Never has there been a more clear and brilliant setting forth

spirit. . . . In the splendid audience there were new faces, and it was

of its complications. . . . T h e audience at this concert was large, but did not quite fill the

noticeable that where they were most numerous the applause was most vociferous and

hall. It was enthusiastic, and gave Mr. Mahler a very cordial greeting and applause that

the least discriminating; so that it was made plain to veteran observers of musical affairs

he waved over to the members of the orchestra.

—Richard Aldrich

that the change had not wholly destroyed the old spirit of wise conservatism and good taste which has distinguished the Philharmonic concerts for two generations. . . . The

Last night the music was given with a brilliancy and beauty which

pieces loosened a storm of enthusiasm, and Mr. Mahler was made to feel that his first

were scarcely hinted at before. It is not unfamiliar music to local lovers

battle had ended in victory.

of the orchestra, but it sounded almost new last night, when the band

Henry E. Krehbiel

developed a muscularity and homogeneity of tone that were wanting

132

T h o s e who busy themselves with comparisons doubtless found many

at the earlier meetings, and a joyous elasticity of utterance which was ravishing, The

points of differences in Mr. Mahler's "readings" of these familiar w o r k s .

improvement was not confined to this performance, however. Nothing finer than the

But let that pass. Suffice it to say that he held the listeners' interest

finale of Brahms's third symphony under Mr. Mahler's direction has been heard in our

throughout, had his men completely under control, and reared huge

concert rooms for years.

—Henry E. Krehbiel

133

T h e Brahms symphony was most sympathetic, yet an individual one.

T h e audience . . . recognizing in the work [Mahler's Symphony

. . . It was pulsating with life and energy in the first and last

N o . 1] a very radical departure from its traditions, received it with

movements. T h e poetical content of the andante, taken at a pace

what might be described as courteous applause, much dubious

slightly faster than it often is, and the lyrical character of the third

shaking of heads and no small amount of grumblings. Why this

movement were finely presented. T h e performance was notable for its freedom in the matter of tempo modification and of nuance and, likewise, for the richness and changing beauty of its orchestral coloring.

—Richard Aldrich

should have been the case will better be understood when time and patience permit of a dispassionate discussion of the composition, which, let it be confessed, is not the case now. It belongs to the record of incidents, however, to say that for the first time in a generation at least the society's official program contained neither description not

T h e Till Eulenspiegel enabled the audience to realize what strides the

analysis of the composition.

—Henry E. Krehbiel

orchestra has made toward technical perfection in its two months under Mr. Mahler's direction, for the Strauss tour de force was on the Philharmonic's first program this season. It was an incomparably

The most interesting feature was the performance of the Conductor's Symphony N o . 1, in D major, for the first time in this city. . . . T h e

better achievement yesterday in every way and was heartily applauded. . . . A large

audience received it with approval last night, but without any great

audience brought Mr. Mahler back to the stage many times.

demonstration of enthusiasm. This was due mainly to the drawing

—Unsigned

out of the last movement far beyond its natural conclusion, Ended ten minutes sooner [Mahler's] performance of Beethoven's fifth symphony was . . . . dramatically colored one with many of the highest lights and shadows Mr. Mahler, like many modern conductors who have followed in Wagner's footsteps, has retouched Beethoven's orchestration. It is a matter that admits of many questionings.

—Richard Aldrich

in a great climax of triumphal clamor, bizarre but thrilling, the hearers would have been aroused to vigorous demonstrations, but iteration and anti-climax deadened the effect before the end was reached. T h e earlier movements were beautiful, but in the first the sweetness was long drawn out. T h e second waltz movement, dainty and delicate, received the most applause. No analysis of the symphony was given in the programs, but more than one in the audience thought it might be called scenes from the life of a soldier, ending in a blaze of triumph.

134

—Unsigned 135

It may bring consolation to Gustav Mahler, if he feels at all sensitive

Mr. Mahler read [Beethoven's Seventh Symphony] with real eloquence,

about the treatment his Symphony in D major received in N e w York,

emphasizing its rhythmical characteristics, but not overemphasizing

to consider that the works of his great preceptor, Anton Bruckner

them, and indulging in dynamic extravagance only in the holding

have been subjected to attacks far less considerate. It may interest him

notes of the trumpet in the trio of the scherzo. T h e programs of the

to know that several of the critical persons who scorn his own talents, as manifested in

society are growing more varied and interesting as the season approaches its end. — Henry E. Krehbiel

his first symphonic effort, have not yet learned to appreciate the genius of Liszt, were always blind to the merits of Richard Strauss, have failed to observe the originality and artistic significance of Claude Debussy, have shown, indeed, extraordinary hostility in

The

Philharmonic

is just closing its first season

under the

the introduction of anything new that their minds did not encompass immediately. To

conductorship of Mr. Gustav Mahler. . . . T h e society has given more

be sure such considerations in no way can prove the contention that Mahler's first

concerts than ever before, and for the first time in its career it went on

symphony is a great work. But surely the opinion of men who almost consistently have

tour, visiting Boston and other large cities in the East. . . . Bruckner's

fought against the admission of new works is somewhat weakened in this case if one

"Romantic" symphony, a work that has been heard here several times in the last ten years

surveys the critical past. . . . But surely the Philharmonic Society's present conductor

without making much of an impression, was played with smoothness if with no

deserves serious critical treatment both as a creator of music and an interpreter. You may

brilliancy. T h e concert ended with a repetition of Mr. Strauss' Orchestral fantasia, Till

dislike his music or you may admire it; you may be in sympathy with his readings of

Eulenspiegel, of which the Philharmonic has given half a dozen performances this season.

masterpieces or you may take exception to them. Under any circumstances, however

It was made the occasion for some of the most brilliant and effective playing offered by

you cannot cast the work of Mahler aside unnoticed or laugh it off as a joke. Everywhere,

the veteran society this season. It roused the audience as nothing else had done, and after

it would seem, Gustav Mahler has aroused controversy, and the enemies he has made are

it Mr. Mahler was several times recalled to the stage.

—Unsigned

not a few. T h e feeling for or against this remarkable man has never been lukewarm

136

however. His admirers are enthusiastic to the point of fanaticism, his enemies extremely

Last

bitter. In Vienna, where the best years of his life were devoted to music, he had to beat

considerably more worth rehearing than the symphonies of Bruckner

the attacks of a hostile band that went far beyond the limits of ordinary decorum, trying

that have been played here in recent years. . . . It is, in fact, a work that

to inflame popular feeling by appeals to religious and racial prejudices.

can be listened to with true pleasure, without weariness to the flesh.

—Max Smith

night's

performance

showed

[Bruckner's

Fourth]

to

be

137

Mr. Mahler has reason to be p r o u d of the reception given to his S o m e of this impression no doubt was due to the truly superb interpretation which the

fourth symphony. After the first movement he was called out four

symphony received at the hands of Mr. Mahler—a performance that proclaimed even

times,

more unmistakably than they have been proclaimed before the mastery and authority of

and

similar

demonstrations

divisions.

followed

after

the

other

—Henry T. Finck

the conductor. It showed his insight and entire sympathy with Bruckner's music, of which he is a chief exponent, and, as well, the fine skill of the orchestra, which is steadily T h e Fourth Symphony of Mahler has been heard here before, when gaining lor itself the right to be called a virtuoso organization. T h e freedom, breadth, presented by Walter Damrosch several years ago. . . . In the three and brilliancy of last night's performance, its many-sided eloquence, did much to carry movements preceding the setting of this song the composer sets forth conviction for the music.

—Richard Aldrich certain

musical ideas without permitting the publication

of any

descriptive program. These movements seem to proceed largely in simple folk dance All of the music, except the songs, looked familiar on the program, though the symphony [Schumann's Second], which ought to have been

the

most

familiar,

inasmuch

as

it

has

figured

in

the

Philharmonic's schemes for nearly fifty-seven years, disclosed some

movements, with themes of primitive structure, with occasional touches of not very modern modernity, and few rather obtrusive outbursts, which are not the outcome of any logically developed climax. What, in all sincerity, can be said of this symphony? What can be said of musical qualities where none can be detected, and why should one go into

unwonted features due to the revision which it has received at the hands of Mr. Mahler. detail concerning the orchestral mask, when there is nothing behind it? With the most Nearly all of the symphonies, symphonic poems, and overtures which figure in the sincere search it seems impossible to find anything in his symphony, except a series of society's programs nowadays should be accepted as the works of the composers plus unrelated orchestral effects, fairly clever as far as knowledge of the instruments goes, but emendations, alterations, and additions made by Mr. Mahler.

—Henry E. Kriehbiel wholly superficial, and which have nothing whatsoever to offer the music-hungry spirit. . . . T h e first notes of Ein Heldenleben, following the symphony, fell like drops of water

There were a few rearrangements of M i . Mahler's own devising in the

upon the thirsting

desert.

—Arthur

Farwell

orchestration; but from that nobody is safe, especially a composer who has to bear a reputation for unskillfulness in scoring. T h e performance of the symphony was truly impressive. 138

—Richard Aldrich

139

Mahler's Marked Scores in the New York Philharmonic Archives by PAUL B A N K S

T

he rich collections of the N e w York Philharmonic Orchestra Library and

Archives

contain

many

treasures,

including

fascinating but

little-known

documentation of one of the most interesting periods of Mahler's career: his two years (1909-11) as the artistic head of the Orchestra. T h i s was the first

time in his career when he was not working regularly in any opera house (a breed of musical institution he loved and loathed), had minimal administrative duties, and was responsible for an extended season of orchestral concerts. Having traveled thousands of miles from Vienna, the city where he had received his musical education and formed his creative and re-creative personality, he had moved out of an extraordinarily intense but self-regarding

In 1989, the British musicologist Paul Banks visited the New York Philharmonic

140

cultural life into N e w York's new, vibrant, and refreshing climate.

Archives and Orchestra Library in connection with his research on the printed

T h e impact on Mahler's concert repertoire was not a total transformation, but was

sources of Mahler's compositions. He returned to New York in March 1998 for the

striking nevertheless. Beethoven and Wagner had always been the foundation on which his

purpose of examining scores in the Philharmonic Archives that Gustav Mahler

concert programming was built, with the addition of a limited number of works by the

might have used in his performances with the Orchestra. To prepare for his visit,

major figures of mid-19th-century European music. Tchaikovsky, Smetana, and Dvořák

Barbara Haws and Erik Ryding, equipped with a comprehensive list of the works

represented Eastern European music, but the majority of the composers worked within the

Mahler conducted with the New York Philharmonic, combed through numerous

Austro-German tradition. Moreover, until his appointment to the N e w York Philharmonic,

early scores in the Orchestra Library. They consulted Library records and catalogues

Mahler's concert repertoire, like his opera repertoire during his 10 years as Director of the

from the turn of the century, evaluated early editions to determine their dates, and

Vienna C o u r t Opera, was unremarkable for its inclusion of new works. From the autumn

returned with 41 marked scores and several sets of marked parts for Paul Banks to

of 1909 this began to change. T h e list of composers Mahler now added to his repertoire

examine. Hunting for traces of Mahler's hand, Banks scrutinized the scores page

showed how m u c h wider he was casting his net, including as it did music from France

by page for three days, being joined on one afternoon by the American Mahler

(Chabrier, Debussy, D u k a s , Massenet, Saint-Saëns), England (Elgar), Ireland (Stanford),

scholar Edward Reilly. The following essay reflects their findings.

Italy (Bossi, Busoni, Cherubini, Sinigaglia), R o m a n i a (Enesco), Russia (Rachmaninoff,

141

Above: Opening m e a s u r e s of Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2, marked by Mahler for his arrangement commonly known as the Bach-Mahler Suite for Orchestra.

Left: A cornucopia of s c o r e s and parts marked by Mahler: (clockwise from upper left corner) Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony, Schumann's "Manfred" Overture, Liszt's Mazeppa, and Dvořák's Scherzo Capriccioso.

143

Rimsky-Korsakov), and U S A (Chadwick, Hadley, Loeffler, MacDowell). Furthermore, his

T h e practice of marking scores and parts is relatively recent. It was almost unknown

repertoire was expanding in its historical range, with more 18th-century music and a far

before the mid-19th century, reflecting, perhaps, both a respect for valuable and rare copies,

greater interest in contemporary music.

and the nature of both rehearsal and performance. But by the early 20th century, the

This much of the story can be gleaned from the programs in the Philharmonic's

conductor and his players would be armed with pencils and crayons in a variety of colors,

Archives, but turning to the documents from the Orchestra Library leads to new insights. A

and would be ready to use them. Greater consistency of ensemble and technique was

working orchestral library is quite unlike a reference library or archive: Its contents are not

expected of orchestras, and after Wagner and Hans von Bülow conductors were viewed

protected at every turn from the depredations of everyday life, held in as unchanging a form

increasingly as more than mere leaders of the band but as interpretative artists in their own

as possible. T h e main task of an orchestral library is to supply the scores and parts used and

right. Such developments encouraged more intense rehearsal, but the resulting annotations

abused by the conductor and players in rehearsals and performances. For standard repertoire

are often very prosaic in nature: M a n y simply highlight instructions already in the score or

works, conductors often buy and travel with their own scores (and sometimes sets of parts),

part, such as changes of key signature, the need to change instruments (particularly in wind

but this is not necessarily the case for new or unusual works, for which conductors would

parts), or a change of tempo; others deal with particular technical problems, notably the

usually expect to use copies owned or hired by the orchestra's library, marking them as

lingering and bowing of string parts. (As both can be changed at the whim of either the

necessary. Occasionally a conductor's personal score may inadvertently become part of an

conductor or the concertmaster, and require practice by the players, the string parts are

orchestra's library, or (perhaps even more commonly) the orchestra's own scores find their

usually much more heavily marked than those for wind, brass, and percussion, and have to

way into conductor's collections. T h e orchestral parts are subjected to a variety of wear and

be replaced more frequently.)

tear and have to be cleaned up and repaired periodically, until the ravages of time take their

N o t all the markings are directly concerned with the performance: Players can use parts

toll, remedial treatment becomes uneconomic, and the well-loved pages ate retired, usually

for making sketches (the conductor is a c o m m o n subject), jotting down reminders, sending

to the archives. Battered, often literally falling apart (the paper used from about 1890 to

messages to colleagues, noting names and addresses, and recording comments on the piece.

1950 is often of very poor quality), the scores and parts can contain annotations by several

One recurring theme in parts for Mahler's symphonies (though it's not that c o m m o n in the

generations of conductors and orchestral musicians: trying to discern who wrote what can be like making sense of geological strata. But the effort can be worthwhile: T h e various notes, scribbles, and doodles can offer us insights into many aspects of music-making 144

decades ago.

New York Philharmonic sets) is their sheer length, the end of the First provoking an apparently impatient (or perhaps just exhausted) "Amen" from a N e w York double bassist. The need to catch the last tram to Mödling or train to Brooklyn is a perennial concern. But some of these seemingly innocuous notes are useful to us. Occasionally players date their parts

145

Above: A page from the Orchestra Library catalogue noting the final demise of the Philharmonic's Bruckner Fourth parts.

Right: A fragile page from the Finale of Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 ("Romantic") shows 146

revisions in Mahler's hand.

(sometimes with the conductor's name)—thus offering the possibility that we might be able

York Times. Crucially, though, the performances gave the composer an opportunity to

to associate some or all of the musical annotations to a particular performance—and add the

evaluate his latest revisions, and that experience was reflected in the second edition of the

timing of the performance. So we know that Josef Stransky's performance of Mahler's First on

full score, published in N o v e m b e r 1 9 1 0 . T h e N e w York score is therefore an important

December 3 1 , 1920, lasted 54 1/2 minutes and that Mahler's performances of Schumann's

document, but it also epitomizes the problems presented by so many scores in orchestral

Second and Brahms's Third Symphonies lasted 37 and 36 minutes, respectively. When

libraries: it has been used by at least three generations of conductors (represented by

individual movements are timed, we can form a better (though never a very precise) sense of

Mahler, Bruno Walter, and Bernstein), and assigning authorship to the various annotators

the tempi adopted. Of course what remains unrecorded is Mahler's renowned sense of tempo modification—rubato—that is so essential in breathing life and chatacter into a performance. Interesting though the orchestral parts are, the scores used by Mahler are even more

148

is an intriguing and, in s o m e cases, insoluble problem. As is well known, Mahler was also willing to rework the music of other composers, and one of the best (or most infamous) examples is Bruckner's Fourth Symphony (heard at

fascinating—for what they do and don't show. S o m e annotations were neatly entered

Carnegie Hall on Match 3 0 , 1910). As we can see from the fragile copy of Mahler's

probably while he was studying the work, while others were hurriedly scrawled on the page,

conducting score in the Archive—a late issue of the first edition published by A. J. G u t m a n

presumably during rehearsal. T h e most revealing are those which reflect Mahler's creative

in 1889—his approach was radically interventionist. ( O n e of the Orchestra's old catalogues

engagement with a work. From this point of view the full score of his First Symphony is

[see page 146] shows that Mahler took the orchestral parts back to Europe from whence they

one of the most important. Bearing Mahler's own s t a m p ("Gustav Mahler / Wien"), it is a

never returned; the set is now in the Wiener Stadtbibliothek.) Throughout the Symphony

first edition, published by Weinberger in 1 8 9 9 , in which most of the composer's later

Mahler tinkers with scoring, dynamics, and articulation, striving constantly for textural

revisions have been entered, many in his hand. Apart from the addition of exposition

clarity. But in the last three movements he went much further, making substantial cuts, some

repeats in both the first and second movements (first introduced in the 1906 edition of the

of which required adjustments to the music in order to create smooth links between sections.

study score), the overwhelming majority of the alterations concern refinements in the

In the Andante quasi allegretto, a typical, five-part A B A ' B ' A " structure, Mahler cut the third

orchestration of the work. Mahler conducted the work for the last time on December 16

and fourth sections, creating a simple ternary design. In the Scherzo he reshapes the overall

and 17, 1 9 0 9 , with the Philharmonic, and clearly enjoyed returning to his first symphonic

dynamic contours of the movement (giving a quiet, poetic ending to the first appearance of

essay—"I myself was pretty pleased with that youthful effort!" he wrote to Bruno Walter

the main section) and radically abbreviates the return of the Scherzo. Unsurprisingly, though,

N o t all the N e w York "superiors" (Mahler's term for critics) were impressed— the

it is the Finale that is most radically altered. Throughout his symphonic career Bruckner

instrumentation is one of the least satisfactory elements of the work" according to The New

worked to perfect a novel type of concluding movement, one that few of his young supporters

149

Above: Philharmonic librarian, Henry G. Boewig, indicated the changes made by Mahler on this score of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Beneath Mr. Boewig's words a p p e a r s Arturo Toscanini's signed reference to the changes as being "unworthy of such a musician." Someone anonymously later added "nomina stultorum sunt ubique locorum," which, translated from the Latin, means: "the words of fools appear everywhere."

Right: Opening of the Finale to Beethoven's Seventh, with Mahler's doublings in red ink.

fully understood. Mahler's approach is to shorten both the exposition and recapitulation by

(which carries Toscanini's scornful annotation; see page 150) has relatively little in Mahler's

removing the third group of themes (which are thus never heard in his version), to eliminate

own hand, and is not the most radically retouched of his scores. T h e other irony of

most of the development, and to omit the recapitulation of the first subject, and to pass

Toscanini's response is that he too was willing to depart from Beethoven's text, often

straight from the return of the second subject group to the coda. In fact there are precedents

following

for some of these alterations in the revisions Bruckner m a d e to the Finale of his Third

sometimes adopting (perhaps unwittingly) readings also employed by Mahler.

and

relatively

uncontroversial

approach

of Weingartner,

but

Symphony in 1889 (changes which, paradoxically, Mahler tried to persuade the old man to

What is striking about Mahler's annotations is that they are primarily concerned with the

abandon), and the new concertmaster of the Philharmonic, Theodore Spiering, welcomed the

music, not with the problems of conducting it. In this respect his scores look quite different

result: "Through a whole series of very skillfully worked-out cuts he relieved the work of its

from, say, those of his friend and great admirer, Willem Mengelberg, with their copious

jerky, periodic nature; and he achieved a logical unity which brought out the work's many

reminders and aide-mémoires. In part this difference may be traced back to their difference

beauties to an unimaginable degree." Moreover Mahler's truncation of Bruckner's Fourth also

in age. When Mahler was studying at the Vienna Conservatory in the m i d - 1 8 7 0 s , there was

had the merit of brevity in a well-filled concert that also included an overture by Pfitzner, two

no course in conducting on offer: T h e only opportunity to stand before the student

preludes from Strauss's opera Guntram and his symphonic poem Till Eulenspiegel.

orchestra seems to have been given to those (like Mahler) on the composition course, but it

Mahler's approach to Bruckner had aroused some opposition in Vienna, but this was

is very unlikely that they were given any systematic training. Mahler probably had to learn

nothing compared with the hostility he faced for his readings and retouchings of Beethoven.

the craft by watching others, and by trial and error in a series of humble appointments at

He was willing to rescore and alter dynamics whenever he felt such changes addressed

the start of his career. If Mahler ever worried about the technique of conducting (and the

compromises forced on the composer by the technical limitations of the instruments at his

problems some players had with his beat suggest it did not keep him awake at night), it finds

disposal or the problems created by modern performing conditions (much larger halls and

no reflection in his scores, which record only his concern for the musical result he was

correspondingly bigger orchestras). Yet as Mahler made clear in a manifesto published in

seeking.

1900, his aim was to address such issues without fundamentally altering Beethoven's sound

152

the practical

This helps to explain the baldness of a number of the scores used by Mahler in New York,

world, and he legitimately traced his approach back to that of Wagner. Mahler's retouchings

but there is another factor. He was not over-impressed by the New York Philharmonic at the

didn't always remain within such modest bounds—the use of stopped horns in the Scherzo

start of his first season as its head and admitted to Bruno Walter, "I find it very dispiriting to

of the Fifth Symphony being a case in point—but many are discreet and helpful solutions

have to start all over again as a conductor. T h e only pleasure I get from it all is rehearsing a work

to persistent problems. As it happens, the score of the Seventh Symphony in the Archives

I haven't done before." Because of the very tight concert schedule, Mahler cannot have had

153

much opportunity to tinker with the works he added to his repertoire, and their scores remain relatively untouched except for cuts in works he found too prolix (such as Stanford's Irish Symphony, heard on February 14 and 17, 1 9 1 1 , and Enesco's First Suite, O p . 9, heard on January 3, 6, and 8, 1911) and very limited adjustments to scoring (as in Loeffler's La Villanelle du Diable, also heard on February 14 and 17, 1911). At his very last concert, on February 2 1 , 1911, Mahler conducted one of the most important premieres of his career, Busoni's exquisite Berceuse élégiaque. It is all but certain that the New York Philharmonic's score and parts of the work are those used by Mahler: If so, they reveal that Mahler altered nothing in that delicate masterpiece. Alas, The New York Times thought the work "gruesome," and even Busoni, a great admirer of Mahler, admitted that the work didn't quite suit Mahler's personality. What he didn't know was that his colleague was already terminally ill, and had conducted his swan song. We can never really know what gave Mahler's conducting its greatness. In the absence of recordings we have to rely on the piano rolls he made in 1 9 0 5 , reviews, and memories of those who worked with him. He left no "school," and the diversity of approach to his music shown by his friends and close associates such as Bruno Walter, O t t o Klemperer, Oskar Fried, and Willem Mengelberg offered no coherent performing tradition for his output. So, mute though they are, the scores and parts Mahler used in N e w York speak to us particularly eloquently, as tangible traces of a vanished art. •

Paul Banks taught at Goldsmith's College, London, before becoming Librarian at the BrittenPears Library in Aldeburgh; he has recently taken

up a new appointment as Research

Development Fellow at the Royal College of Music, London. His research interests include Berlioz, 154

Mahler, Busoni, and Benjamin Britten.

Mahler's own score of his Symphony No. 1, with new articulation added by the composer in red and with the revised tempo indication added by Bruno Walter in blue.

155

Catalogue of Mahler's Marked Scores and Parts in the Orchestra Library and Archives

156

Hans Pfìtzner Overture to Kleist's Käthchen von Heilbronn Berlin: Ries & Erler, 1905 (Library No. 489)

Johann Sebastian Bach Overture for Orchestra, No. 2 in B minor Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, no date (Library No. 10a)

Georges Enesco Suite for Orchestra, No. 1 in C major Paris: Enoch & Co., no date (Library No. 260+)

Franz Schubert Symphony No. 7 [now No. 9] in C major Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, Series 1, no date (Library No. 582)

Ludwig van Beethoven Overture ("Namensfeier") Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, no date (Library No. 39)

Franz Liszt Mazeppa Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, no date (Library No. 406)

Symphony [No. 8] in B minor ("Unfinished") Vienna: C. A. Spina, 1867 (Library No. 583)

Symphony No. 7 in A major Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, Series No. 1, no date (Library No. 11)

Tasso: Lamento e Trionfo Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, no date (Library No. 405)*

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major ("Romantic") New York: G. Schirmer, 1890 (Library No. 135)

Charles Martin Loeffler La Villanelle du Diable New York: G. Schirmer, 1905 (Library No. 433) *

George Whitefield Chadwick Melpomene, Dramatic Overture Boston & Leipzig: Arthur P. Schmidt, 1891 (Library No. 160)*

Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 1 in D major Vienna: Josef Weinberger, [1899] (Library No. 440)

Antonin Dvořák Scherzo Capriccioso Berlin: Bote & Bock, no date (Library No. 244)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Idomeneo: Ballet Music Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, Series V, no date (Library No. 488 1/2)

Robert Schumann "Manfred" Overture Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, no date (Library No. 596; full score and several parts marked by Mahler) Symphony No. 2 in C major, revised by Alfred Dörffel Leipzig: C. F. Peters, no date (Library No. 591a)

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Suite No. 1 in D minor Moscow: P. Jurgenson, no date (Library No. 728)* Symphony No. 5 in E minor Hamburg: D. Rahter, no date (Library No. 719)* Symphony No. 6 in B minor ("Pathétique") Leipzig: Robert Forbcrg, 1897 (Library No. 720)* Richard Wagner A "Faust" Overture Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, [c. 1857] (Library No. 750) Kaiser-Marsch Leipzig: C. F. Peters, no date (Library No. 784)* Carl Maria von Weber Oberon: Overture Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne, no date (Library No. 802)

This is not a comprehensive catalogue of scores and parts; this is the result of our intensive investigation at this time. As the Orchestra Library and Archives contain more than 10,000 scores and parts, there is, obviously, more research to be done. In addition to continuing the work on Mahler, there is no comprehensive survey identifying the markings of Mengelberg, Walter, or Mitropoulos, to name a few. B.H. *Markings minimal or doubtful.

157

Mahler After Mahler

War and Peace: The Mahler Version b y ALAN RICH

I

t hit me a few weeks ago, as the "Resurrection" Symphony stormed its way through the vastness of the Hollywood Bowl—music and space seemingly fashioned out of a single grandiose impulse—that a m o n g the countless candidates for the tide of Most Influential Musical Eminence of the Century, the name of Gustav Mahler deserves to

place high on the roster. Sure, the listmakers can offer impressive alternatives: Igor and Elvis, Maria or Lenny. T h e y can also argue that the Mahler Second, which set off these thoughts,

was actually composed in 1894. Never mind; this was the work (alongside, depending how you count, its eight, nine, or nine-and-a-half companions) that cast an inescapable shadow across the music-making and the musical thinking of this century. T h e struggles of Mahler the composer (as distinguished from the far-less-challengeable triumphs of Mahler the

160

Mahler and Willem Mengelberg, with friends, on an outing in Zuidersee, 1906

conductor)—from hostile rejection to grudging acceptance to triumphant hysteria—is the central saga of our time, the shaping force that altered for all time the nature of music. "My time will yet come," he had once proclaimed, a battle cry enshrined on the Mahler Society's Medal of Honor; these discs affirm the truth in his prophecy. Some of us are old enough to remember, however, when these words rang hollow. Like many other life's pleasures, Mahler's music was being rationed in wartime Boston during my first concertgoing days: only the first movement of the Third Symphony at one concert; only the last two movements of the Fourth at another. Both truncated events were led by the Boston Symphony's splendid assistant conductor and concertmaster, Richard Burgin; it would have been less likely for Serge Koussevitzky, with his strong Russian-French identification, to play an active role in the Mahlerian struggles. (Yet it was Koussevitzky

repetitious" the next morning. Those few months—fall into winter, 1947-48—were an interesting time of Mahler immersion in and around New York. Leonard Bernstein bedazzled his way onto the Mahlerian stage: not at Carnegie with the Philharmonic, but a mere two blocks away at the New York City Center with his New York City Symphony in a ragtag but lively performance of the Second Symphony. It was Bernstein's first public Mahler, although as Artur Rodzinski's assistant at the Philharmonic he had helped prepare that same work in l943 (two weeks after his famous broadcast "debut") and actually conducted the offstage brass and percussion in the finale. Shortly after the City Symphony performance, Bernstein brought his Mahler Second to the Boston Symphony, and the rest, as they say, is history.

who, in 1931, had given the first American performance of the Mahler Ninth — drastically cut. Try as I might, I cannot fantasize what that performance must have sounded like.) By the war's end I had moved to New York, where the Mahler presence at the Philharmonic was being burnished by the advocacy of Artur Rodzinski, Bruno Walter, and Dimitri Mitropoulos against the determined opposition of much of the musical press. Just before Christmas 1945 I heard Bruno Walter's performance of the Ninth from a seat in the Carnegie Hall stratosphere; what I remember most from that concert however, is that it also included a Beethoven piano concerto (the Third, with Rudolf Firkusny) and, therefore, must have run until nearly midnight. Two years later, also in December, I heard Mitropoulos giving the American premiere (!) of the Sixth, but my memories there are mostly of the rudeness of large numbers of clearly offended listeners pushing their way back 162

up the aisles; their mood was to be echoed in the New York Times's "weak, banal and

My own Mahler epiphany came that January: an experience which, over 50 years plus a few months, I have always been able to rerun on my internal Victrola (and now can reconfirm, thanks to these discs): Das Lied von der Erde, with Walter conducting and as soloists the Wagnerian tenor Set Svanholm and—most miraculous of all—Britain's Kathleen Ferrier in her American debut. We already knew that voice of incredible royalpurple splendor, that instinctive sense of phrase that seemingly made every line a message to you and you alone. A friend one year had bought up dozens of copies of her disc of Schubert lieder and sent them out as Christmas cards. By January 1948 I was working for the late Dario Soria in his imported record business; his wife, Dorle Jarmel, was the Philharmonic's publicist, and she got me into the concert and also to Ferrier's press conference. "You don't have to call me a mezzo-soprano," said this ravishing, slender woman with the melting eyes. "I'm a contralto, and I'm not ashamed to say it." I sit here

163

again, the conductor would be the redoutable Stokowski.) composing these words, and the echo of Ferrier's "Ewig . . . ewig" seems to resound in the shadows behind me as I write.

T h e "famine" broke at decades end. Stransky himself rounded off the decade with a performance of the First Symphony on N e w Year's Eve, 1 9 2 0 - 2 1 , but the bigger bang would occur the next season with the arrival at the Philharmonic of Willem Mengelberg—who had

G

ustav Mahler returned to Vienna in February 1911 and died three months

actually first guest-led the Philharmonic in 1905 and been praised then by Aldrich for his

later; he had been unable to conduct his last scheduled concerts with the New

"spirit of youth." Mengelberg and Mahler had first met in T h e Netherlands in 1902;

York Philharmonic and gave it over to his concertmaster, Theodore Spiering.

ironically—considering Mengelberg's ultimate disgrace in his native land for his support of

Josef Stransky, Mahler's successor at the Philharmonic, led the Funeral March

the Nazi occupiers during World War II—they immediately found common cause. In

from the Fifth Symphony as a memorial in November 1 9 1 1 ; over the ensuing decade, New

nowhere more than Amsterdam, from then on until 1940, was Mahler's music so often

York's local forces produced but one Mahler symphony—the Fourth, also led by Stransky.

performed; in M a y 1920, Mengelberg led a Mahler festival including all nine symphonies.

Despite this momentary "famine," however, Mahler's long-promised "time" came ever closer.

(A surviving electrical recording from 1926 of the Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony, the

In 1913, the eminent Austrian musicologist Guido Adler surveyed the Mahler realm and

strings glistening and intense, with a layer of that technique of sliding between notes—

found it flourishing: There had been 2 6 0 performances of the nine symphonies worldwide

portamento—so loved at the time, provides some inkling of what those performances must

so far, 80 conducted by Mahler and the rest by a growing circle of ardent advocates. T h e slim

have been like.)

pickings in New York were augmented, furthermore, when Leopold Stokowski, who in March 1916 had given the Eighth Symphony its first American hearing with his Philadelphia Orchestra and attendant vocal resources, then brought the whole gargantuan shebang—literally 1,000 strong—north to the Metropolitan Opera House. T h e reception followed predictable pathways: ecstasy from the overflow crowd, modified rapture verging upon disdain from the press. "His themes, generally forcible and direct in their line," wrote the Times's Richard Aldrich, "are often submitted to the thumbscrew and the rack of mordantly dissonant harmonies, [and] are broken and tortured relentlessly." (It would be another 34 years before the New York Philharmonic itself got around to the Eighth; once

New York heard its first Das Lied von der Erde in early February 1922, performed by the Friends of Music under Artur Bodanzky to—as Richard Aldrich noted—a progressively dwindling audience. T h e heat of battle increased later that month, however, as Mengelberg arrived with an impressive calling-card. On February 28, 1922, he confronted N e w York with its first hearing of the Mahler Third, longest of them all. ( O n internal evidence, suggested the English writer Sir Donald Tovey, it was composed during a holiday at Lanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.)

Whatever

intellectual

luggage Mengelberg carried with him to New York, critical acceptance of his taste for Mahler was not included. "Not content with introducing this dreary and unprofitable work to a

164 165

public that never had taken Mahler to heart as a composer," railed Musical America's Oscar Thompson, " . . Willem Mengelberg, avowedly a Mahler convert and apostle, preached it with all the eloquence of a virtuoso conductors art. . . ." And Deems Taylor, critic, composer—and, in years to come, as Philharmonic radio host, obliged to speak an occasional kind word or two on Mahler's behalf—echoed. "When a man fixes you with a stern, glittering eye," he wrote in the New York World, "and tells you that s o m e Mahler work you never heard is one of the most sublime products of the human mind, you cannot very well refute him. If you reply, 'I dont believe it,' he only says, why?' And if, cornered, you say 'because I've heard some of his other things,' he merely remarks triumphantly, 'but you should hear this one!'" Mengelberg's Mahler did not charm the press, but his "stern, glittering eye" worked wonders with the audience; he became phenomenally popular as his position at the Philharmonic advanced from guest to Co-conductor (with Toscanini)—all the time maintaining his stewardship over the Mahler shrine he had created back home in Amsterdam. In his time at the Philharmonic—which included that orchestras merger in 1928 with its longtime rival the New York Symphony—Mengelberg led the Philharmonic in performances of Mahler's Second Symphony (twice), Third (American premiere), Fifth (twice), Seventh (New York premiere) and Das Lied von der Erde (twice). Willem van Hoogstraten, Mengelberg's compatriot and assistant, took the First Symphony to the summertime audiences at Manhattan's Lewisohn Stadium. Meanwhile that other notable

Album cover for the world-premiere recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 5, by the New 166

York Philharmonic under Bruno Walter in 1947.

Mahler apostle (and one-time disciple), Bruno Walter, made his American debut with the

Toscanini, whose antipathy toward Mahler and his music is easily traceable to their days of

New York Symphony in 1923, and conducted Mahler's First with that orchestra in 1924.

uneasy tandem at the Metropolitan Opera in 1908. But if Toscanini never conducted a

Bruno Walter's appearance on the local Mahlerian battlefield coincided with another

note of Mahler in his lifetime, he did not seal off the entryway to others. Bruno Walter

major arrival, that of the formidable Olin Downes to replace Richard Aldrich as chief

returned to lead the first two symphonies in 1933, and Das Lied von der Erde a year later.

critic at The New York Times. Downes arrived already honorably scarred, after 18 years of

Otto Klemperer, like Walter a refugee from the rising ride of Nazism, led a performance of

fighting (and losing) the good fight to save the world from Mahler at his former battle

the Second in 1935; he had also led that work and several other Mahler symphonies during

station at the Boston Post. N o w Bruno Walter received the first salvo. "It is a pity that

his tenure (1933-39) with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. "It shook the audience," Downes

creative genius in music does not always go hand in hand with noble aspiration," began

reported, "and resulted in a prolonged demonstration . . . [despite] the commonness of the

Downes's inaugural fulmination, in the Times of February 2 9 , 1924. "This was borne

themes, the prolixity. . . ."

upon the hearer of Mahler's First Symphony, performed very sympathetically by Bruno

John Barbirolli succeeded Toscanini at the Philharmonic in 1937; although he would

Walter and the N e w York Symphony. . . . Again and again the composer hauls at his

enthusiastically plead the cause in later years, the extent of his service to Mahler in New York

bootstraps, and remains on the ground."

during his tenure as Music Director consisted of the brief Adagietto from the Fifth

The line was drawn, the pattern set: on one side, Gustav Mahler and his dedicated

Symphony, the music nobody doesn't love—nobody, that is, except Downes, who began by

interpreters, cheered on by large and clearly partisan audiences; on the other, the New York

mis-identifying the music as belonging to the Second Symphony. "The performance was the

press, generated by Olin Downes, implacable and—sadder yet—predictable. D u e credit

best of the evening," huffed the predictable Olin, "but it could not make a thing of the

was given. Nary a vitriol-drenched column failed to notice the excellence of the orchestral

music which it is not. Long movement or short, we seek still for the proof that Gustav

execution, the dedication of the conductor, the ecstasy of the clearly misguided crowd that

Mahler was the man his adherents make him out to be." (You must know, by the way, that

remained to the end, the wisdom of those who chose to leave early.

the use of the editorial "we" in Downes's case always implied a partnership between him and

A litany rings through these writings from the 1920s, not only from Downes and his

168

the Almighty, with no clear indication as to which was which.)

newspaper colleagues, but also from such progressive-minded writers as Paul Rosenfeld of

Meanwhile, the cause was being argued in other cities as well. Boston's Serge

Dial and The New Republic. Mahler's music lives on through Mengelberg's enormous

Koussevitzky had given the Ninth its belated American premiere in 1931 and repeated the

personal appeal; once Mengelberg goes, the music—in Downes's words—"will surely

work several times in the ensuing decade. Otto Klemperer had established a respectable

perish." Mengelberg departed in 1930, leaving the Philharmonic in sole possession of

Mahler outpost in Los Angeles. In Minneapolis, Eugene Ormandy's 1935 performance of

169

and Dimitri Mitropoulos as frequent guests—and, from 1943, with the incandescent the Second was recorded by RCA-Victor and released on eleven 78-rpm shellac records.

Leonard Bernstein standing by in the wings. O n e tide had not turned, however. "There is a

That behemoth of an album, along with Bruno Walter's Vienna performances of Das Lied

degree of ostentation," wrote Olin Downes of Walter's 1945 Ninth, "which would be funny

von der Erde and the Ninth (recorded practically on the eve of Hitler's annexation of

if it were not so v u l g a r . . . . T h e orchestration is swollen to ten times the values of the ideas."

Austria), formed practically the sole sustenance of Mahlerite record collectors through the

Now, however, a counterbalancing force was at hand. At the Herald Tribune there was Virgil

war years, joined soon afterwards by another Minneapolis blockbuster,

Thomson, French-trained and French-leaning but an eloquent Mahlerite even so.

Dimitri

Mitropoulos's version of the First.

'Beautifully made and beautifully thought," was Thomson's take on the Ninth (in a 1941 performance by Koussevitzky and the Boston), ". . . stylistically more noble than anything

A

n international score sheet of Mahler performances shows an interesting

170

[ Richard] Strauss, with all his barnstorming brilliance, ever achieved."

configuration. Berlin checks in first, with some of the Knaben Wunderhorn songs

Even at this late date, there were holes in the Mahler repertory. T h e problematic Sixth

in 1893 and the first movement of the Second Symphony (performed separately

Symphony had to wait until 1947 for its American premiere (conducted by Mitropoulos on

as Totenfeier) a year later. Vienna hears the complete Second in 1899,

December 11, with the predictable response). A year later Mitropoulos revived the Seventh,

Mengelberg's Amsterdam explodes onto the scene in 1903. New York hears the Fourth in

unheard in New York since 1923; this drew a vituperation from Downes unique even by his

1904, thanks to Walter Damrosch and his New York Symphony. Chicago hears the Fifth in

standards. "There is little that this writer cares to say on the subject of Mahler's symphony,"

1907. Gradually the chart fills in; by 1933 the Mahlerian realm bristles with activity. Adolf

wrote America's most influential tastemaker. "He does not like it at all. . . . It is to our mind

Hitler takes command, and the dropouts begin. Berlin goes silent in 1933, after what

bad art, bad esthetic, bad, presumptious and blatantly vulgar music. . . . After three-quarters

amounted to a virtual orgy of Mahler mania; Vienna, in 1938. Hitler's troops invade The

of an hour of the worst and most pretentious of the Mahler symphonies we found we could

Netherlands in 1940; even Mengelberg cannot keep Mahler's music alive. New York becomes

not take it and left the hall." From Los Angeles Arnold Schoenberg, infuriated at Downes's

Mahler's capital-in-exile, with some degree of activity in Boston and Chicago as well.

out-of-hand dismissal of the work—as he had been with Downes's equally vitriolic put-down

Bruno Walter had fled his native Vienna under the Nazi shadow, settling first in France

of his own Five Pieces for Orchestra—responded with a letter of protest full of Mahlerian

and eventually in the United States. He had last conducted Das Lied von der Erde with the

resonance; Downes replied, allowing that the music he liked was to him a religion and, thus,

Philharmonic in 1934; he returned with the same work in January 1 9 4 1 . Mahler's tide had

entitled him to be intolerant of other religions. T h e correspondence, rather pathetic reading

now definitively turned at the Philharmonic, with Artur Rodzinski in charge, with Walter

at this late date, filled quite a lot of newsprint in a November and December of 50 years ago. But Downes had lost the battle, and he probably knew it. Curious indeed are his words

171

about the gargantuan Eighth, which Leopold Stokowski, the Philharmonic, and the requisite close-to-a-thousand vocal aggregation returned to New York in April 1950, after 34 years away. Stokowski prefaced the 80-minute Mahler work with one of the brief "Sacred Symphonies" for chorus and brass by the Baroque master Giovanni Gabrieli. Downes, obviously taken by the work, gave it five of the seven paragraphs of his review; the two Mahler paragraphs, furthermore, contained only two adjectives: "sweeping" and "immense." "Gabrieli said it all," said Olin Downes. By 1950, the concert halls of Berlin and Vienna again resounded to Mahler's music; a new generation of conductors, including Willem van Otterloo and Eduard van Beinum, had restored Amsterdam as a Mahler shrine. The long-playing record had begun the spread of his music worldwide. In New York, Bruno Walter and Dimitri Mitropoulos stoked the fires; in 1959, even Sir John Barbirolli, returning as guest conductor, performed the First. On New Years Eve, 1959, the Philharmonic honored the centennial of Mahler's birth by launching its first (but not its last) Mahler Festival, spread across seven successive weekends, with Dimitri Mitropoulos and Leonard Bernstein on the podium, culminating in a triumphant Bernsteinled Second Symphony that established that young conductors star permanently in the firmament. (Bruno Walter closed the Festival in April with Das Lied.) The press—even The New York Times-, where Olin Downes's successor was the astute and no less perceptive Howard Taubman—invoked such non-Downesian adjectives as "irresistible" and "extraordinary." Promotional postcard for the Amsterdam Mahler Festival in May 1920, when Mengelberg led the Concertgebouw Orchestra in the world's first comprehensive Mahler cycle. From 1922 to 1930, Mengelberg was a Principal Conductor of the New York Philharmonic.

173

Four generations of conductors had preached Mahler's gospel from the stage of Carnegie Hall (with an occasional side trip to the Metropolitan Opera House and, in the near future, to Lincoln Center). Mahler himself had laid the foundation; Mengelberg and then Waller had built on it; later, so had Rodzinski and the mystical Mitropoulos. Leonard Bernstein was still something of an unknown when he conducted his first Mahler in 1947; audiences came, however, because his Mahlerian predecessors had already revealed the greatness in this music. His accomplishment was to spread that revelation, to expand exponentially, in person and through the media, the realm in which the music of Mahler thundered forth in its full redemptive, uplifting, depressing, exasperating power. His successors—Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, currently Kurt Masur—sealed the victory. Now the name of Mahler on a program stands as a promise of musical glory, not a summons to man the battlements. His time has come. •

Alan Rich is music critic for LA Weekly and was formerly chief critic at the New York Herald Tribune and N e w York magazine. His books include Music, Mirror of the Arts, T h e Lincoln Center Story, Careers and Opportunities in Music, and the four-volume Play-by-Play series (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky). He has taught at the New School for Social Research, California Institute of the Arts, and UCLA.

Leonard Bernstein and Dimitri Mitropoulos, who shared the bulk of the Philharmonic's 1960 174

Mahler Festival performances, pictured circa 1958

1915-16

T h e Saint Cecilia C l u b

" D e r Schildwache Nachtlied"

T h e Boys' C h o i r o f Father

Mahler as Composer: The New York Philharmonic Performances

Lieder eines fahrenden

"Rheinlegendchen"

Finn's Paulist Choristers

Nov. 5, 6, 1 9 2 5

Gesellen

Carnegie

1922-23

Feb. 6, 1 9 1 6 Aeolian Hall

Sigrid O n e g i n , contralto

Walter D a m r o s c h

Symphony No. 7

Marcia Van Dresser, s o p r a n o

Mar. 8, 9, 1 9 2 3

Symphony No. 2

Carnegie

Nov. 2 5 , 2 7 , 1 9 2 5

Symphony N o . 4

Hall

Willem M e n g e l b e r g

Carnegie

Feb. 2 4 , 2 5 , 1 9 1 6

1909-10

*Symphony No. 4

Symphony No. 1

N o v . 6, 1 9 0 4

D e c . 16, 17, 1 9 0 9

(United States premiere)

(United States premiere)

Carnegie

Carnegie

Carnegie

G u s t a v Mahler

über's Feld" Des Knaben Wunderhorn:

1924-25

Hall

Walter D a m r o s c h

Hall

G u s t a v Mahler

1908-09

Alma Gluck, soprano

Kindertotenlieder

Symphony No. 4

Jan. 26, 1910

J a n . 17, 2 0 , 1911

Carnegie

Carnegie

Hall

Hall

*Symphony No. 2

Jan. 28, 1910

G u s t a v Mahler

D e c . 8, 1 9 0 8

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Bella Alten, s o p r a n o

(United States premiere)

G u s t a v Mahler

Carnegie

L u d w i g Wüllner, baritone

Hall

1911-12

176

* Symphony No. 1

1920-21

Carnegie

B r u n o Walter Dec. 3 1 , 1 9 2 0 ; J a n . 2 0 , 1921

Symphony No. 2

Lewisohn

Mar. 2 8 , 1 9 2 5

Willem van Hoogstraten

Josef Stransky

Carnegie

1921-22

Stadium

Hall

Apr. 5, 1 9 2 5 Metropolitan

S y m p h o n y N o . 2: M v t . 2 Opera

House

Nov. 2 8 , 1 9 2 5 + +

Willem M e n g e l b e r g

[Students' C o n c e r t ]

Symphony No. 3

M a r i e Sundelius, s o p r a n o

Carnegie

Feb. 2 8 , 1 9 2 2

M m e . Charles Cahier, contralto

Willem M e n g e l b e r g

Metropolitan

C h o r u s o f the Schola

Opera House

Mar. 5, 1 9 2 2

(In m e m o r y of G u s t a v Mahler)

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Gesellen:

Carnegie

Willem M e n g e l b e r g

" G i n g heut' M o r g e n

J o s e f Stransky

*Symphony Society Orchestra + Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist ++ Radio broadcast, no known copy

Symphony No. 1 J u l . 16, 1 9 2 6

Carnegie Hall

Nov. 2 3 , 2 4 , 1 9 1 1 Hall

Cantorum

Hall

Symphony No. 1

Carnegie

Lieder eines fahrenden

C h o r u s o f the Schola

Nov. 2 8 , 2 9 , 1 9 2 4

S y m p h o n y N o . 5: M v t . 1

1910-11

G e r t r u d e Stein Bailey, alto O r a t o r i o Society

May Peterson, s o p r a n o

Mar. 2 , 3, 1 9 2 2

G u s t a v Mahler Laura L. C o m b s , soprano

M a r t h a Offers, contralto

Hall

Etta de M o n t j a u , s o p r a n o

Ruth Rodgers, soprano

Josef Stransky

"Rheinlegendchen" Nov. 2 2 , 2 5 , 1910

Hall

Willem Mengelberg

Carnegie Hall

1904-05

Hall

Walter D a m r o s c h

1926-27

Cantorum

Hall

1925-26

Symphony Society Orchestra

Symphony No. 5 D e c . 2 , 3, 1 9 2 6

*Des Knaben Wunderhorn:

Julia C l a u s s e n , contralto *

Hall

Carnegie

" D a s irdische Leben" +

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

Hall

Willem M e n g e l b e r g ++

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

l77

Bruno Jaenicke, horn

Symphony N o . 7: Mvts. 2 and 4 Jul. 19, 1931 Lewisohn Stadium Willem van Hoogstraten

1927-28 Symphony N o . 5 Dec. 4, 17, 1927 Carnegie Hall Dec. 5, 1927 Philadelphia, PA Dec. 6, 1927 Baltimore, MD Willem Mengelberg Bruno Jaenicke, horn

Symphony N o . 7: Mvts. 2 and 4 Nov. 18, 20, 21 [Students' Concert], 1931 Carnegie Hall Nov. 22, 1931++ Brooklyn Academy of Music Erich Kleiber

Das Lied von der Erde Jan. 3, 4, 1929 Carnegie Hall Willem Mengelberg Margaret Matzenauer, contralto Richard Crooks, tenor

1933-34

1939-40

Symphony N o . 1 Oct. 12, 13, 14, 15++, 1933 Carnegie Hall Bruno Walter

Symphony N o . 5: Mvt. 4 (Adagietto) Oct. 26, 27, Dec. 16 [Students' Concert], 17++, 1939 Carnegie Hall

1934-35 Das Lied von der Erde Dec. 20, 2 1 , 1934 Carnegie Hall Bruno Walter Maria Olszewska, contralto Frederick Jagel, tenor

Symphony N o . 5 Feb. 11, 12, 13 [Students' Concert], 14++, 1932 Carnegie Hall Bruno Walter Bruno Jaenicke, horn

1929-30

1935-36 Symphony N o . 1 Aug. 11, 1933 Lewisohn Stadium Willem van Hoogstraten

D a s L i e d von der E r d e J a n . 16, 17, 1 9 3 0

Hall

Symphony N o . 2 Dec. 12, 13, 15++, 1935 Carnegie Hall Otto Klemperer Susanne Fisher, soprano Enid Szantho, contralto Chorus of the Schola Cantorum of New York

Willem Mengelberg Margaret Matzenauer, contralto

1932-33

Richard C r o o k s , tenor

Symphony N o . 2 Feb. 23, 24, 1933

178 *

Symphony N o . 2: Mvt. 2 July 2 1 , 1937 Lewisohn Stadium Fritz Reiner

Symphony Society Orchestra

1936-37

1931-32

1928-29

Carnegie

Carnegie Hall Bruno Walter Jeannette Vreeland, soprano Sigrid Onegin, contralto Chorus of the Schola Cantorum of New York

+

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

++

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

John Barbirolli

Lewisohn Stadium William Steinberg

1941-42 Symphony N o . 4 Jan. 7, 9, 1942 Carnegie Hall Dimitri Mitropoulos Mona Paulee, mezzo-soprano Symphony N o . 2 Jan. 22, 23, 25 ++, 1942 Carnegie Hall Bruno Walter Nadine Conner, soprano Mona Paulee, mezzo-soprano The Westminster Choir

1940-41 Symphony No. 1 Jan. 8, 10, 12+, 1941 Carnegie Hall Dimitri Mitropoulos Das Lied von der Erde Jan. 23, 24, 1941 Carnegie Hall Bruno Walter Kerstin Thorborg, contralto Charles Kullman, tenor Symphony N o . 1: Mvt. 2 Aug. 4, 1941 *

Symphony Society Orchestra

Kindertotenlieder Jun. 27, 1942 Lewisohn Stadium Alexander Smallens Blair McClosky, baritone

1942-43

1943-44 Symphony N o . 2 Dec. 2, 3, 4, 5+, 1943 Carnegie Hall Artur Rodzinski Astrid Varnay, soprano Enid Szantho, contralto The Westminster Choir Symphony N o . 2: Mvt. 2 Jan. 8, 1944 [encore] Carnegie Hall Artur Rodzinski Symphony N o . 4 Feb. 3, 4, 5 [Students' Concert], 6+,1944 Carnegie Hall Bruno Walter Desi Halban, soprano Symphony N o . 2: Mvt. 2 Jun. 28, 1944 Lewisohn Stadium Alexander Smallens

1944-45

Symphony N o . 1 Oct. 22, 23, 25++ 1942 Carnegie Hall Oct. 24, 1942 Princeton, NJ Bruno Walter

Das Lied von der Erde Nov. 16, 17, 19+, 1944 Carnegie Hall Artur Rodzinski

+ Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

++ Radio broadcast date, no known copy

179

Kerstin Thorberg, contralto Charles Kullman, tenor

Bruno Walter James Chambers, horn

Symphony No. 2: Mvt. 2 June 24, 1945 Alexander Smallens

Symphony No. 1 (Mvt. 4 abridged for broadcast) Mar. 2 0 , 2 1 , 2 2 , 23+, 1947

1945-46

Efrem Kurtz

Lewisohn

Stadium

Carnegie

1948-49 Symphony No. 7 Nov. 11, 12, 1948 Carnegie

Dimitri Mitropoulos Symphony No. 2 Dec. 2, 3, 5 +, 1948

Hall

Carnegie

Hall

Alexander Smallens

1947-48

1949-50

Symphony No. 1 Oct. 18, 19, 21++, 1951

Symphony No. 6 Dec. 11, 12, 13 [Students' Concert], 1947 (United States premiere)

Symphony No. 1 Feb. 9, 10, 12 +, 1950

Dimitri Mitropoulos

Carnegie

1952-53

Carnegie

Lewisohn

Stadium

Artur Rodzinski Symphony No. 9 Dec. 20, 21, 1945 Carnegie

Hall

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Apr. 4, 5, 1946

Carnegie

Hall

Artur Rodzinski Marian Anderson, contralto

Bruno Walter

Hall

Symphony No. 8 Apr. 6, 7, 9 +, 1950

Das Lied von der Erde Jan. 15, 16, 18 +, 1948

Carnegie

*

Bruno Walter Kathleen Ferrier, mezzo-soprano Set Svanholm, tenor

Hall

Symphony Society Orchestra

+

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

Hall

Leopold Stokowski Frances Yeend, soprano Uta Graf, soprano Camilla Williams, soprano Martha Lipton, mezzo-soprano Louise Bernhardt, alto Eugene Conley, tenor Carlos Alexander, tenor

Hall

Symphony No. 5 Feb. 6, 7, 1947 Carnegie

Hall

Dimitri Mitropoulos

Carnegie

1946-47

180

Edinburgh, Scotland

Carnegie

Bruno Walter

Carnegie

Symphony No. 4 Aug. 22, 1951 Bruno Walter Irmgard Seefried, soprano

Symphony No. 2: Mvt. 2 Jul. 16, 1947

++

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

Bruno Walter Irmgard Seefried, soprano Symphony No. 4 Jan. 4, 1953+ Carnegie

1951-52

Bruno Walter Nadine Conner, soprano Jean Watson, contralto Westminster Choir

Symphony No. 1 Oct. 18, 19, 20,21++, 1945 (Only Mvts. 1 and 2 broadcast) Hall

Hall

George London, bass-baritone Schola Cantorum of New York Westminster Choir Boys' Chorus from Public School No. 12, Manhattan

Hall

Hall

Bruno Walter Irmgard Seefried, soprano

Carnegie

Hall

Carnegie

Hall

Dimitri Mitropoulos Beatrice Krebs, mezzo-contralto Women's Chorus of the Westminster Choir

Das Lied von der Erde Feb. 19, 20, 22 +, 1953

1956-57

Carnegie

Des Knaben Wunderhorn: "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" Rückert Lieder: "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" "Ich atmet' einen linden Duft" Feb. 14, 15, 1957

Hall

Bruno Walter Elena Nikolaidi, contralto Set Svanholm, tenor

1953-54 Symphony No. 1 Jan. 24, 1954+ Carnegie

Symphony No. 4 Des Knaben Wunderhorn: "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" " Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?" Rückert Lieder: "Ich atmet' einen linden Duft" "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" Jan. 1,2, 1953

(Mvts. 1, 3, and 6 abridged for broadcast) Apr. 12, 13, 15 +, 1956

Hall

Bruno Walter

1954-55 Symphony No. 6 Apr. 7, 8, 10 +, 1955 Carnegie

Hall

Dimitri Mitropoulos

Carnegie

Hall

Bruno Walter Maria Stader, soprano Symphony No. 2 Feb. 14, 15, 17 +, 1957 Carnegie

Hall

Bruno Walter Maria Stader, soprano Maureen Forrester, contralto The Westminster Choir

1955-56 181

Symphony No. 3

* Symphony Society Orchestra f Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist ft Radio broadcast day,

no known copy

1957-58 Symphony No. 10: Mvts. 1 and 3 [Krenek] Mar. 13, 14, 16+, 1958 (New York premiere) Carnegie Hall Dimitri Mitropoulos

1958-59

Symphony No. 10: Mvt. 1 [Krenek] Jan. 14, 15, 16+, 17, 1960 Carnegie Hall Dimitri Mitropoulos

Symphony No. 1 Jan. 8, 9, 10+, 11, 1959 Carnegie Hall Sir John Barbirolli

Symphony No. 9 Jan. 21, 22, 23+, 24, 1960 Carnegie Hall Dimitri Mitropoulos

Symphony No. 1: Mvt. 3 Feb. 28, 1959 [television broadcast] (Young Peoples Concert: "Humor in Music") Carnegie Hall Leonard Bernstein

Symphony No. 1 (excerpts) Symphony No. 2 (excerpts) Symphony No. 4 (excerpts) Das Lied von der Erde (excerpts) Des Knaben Wunderhorn (selections) Jan. 23, 1960 (Young People's Concert: "Who Is Gustav Mahler?") Carnegie Hall Leonard Bernstein Reri Grist, soprano Helen Raab, contralto William Lewis, tenor

1959-60 Mahler Festival

182

Symphony No. 1 Jan. 7, 8, 9+, 10, 1960 Carnegie Hall Dimitri Mitropoulos

Symphony No. 5 Dec. 31, 1959; Jan. l,2+, 3, 1960 Carnegie Hall Dimitri Mitropoulos James Chambers, horn *

S y m p h o n y Society Orchestra

+ Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

Symphony No. 4 Jan. 28, 29, 30++, 31, 1960 Carnegie Hall Leonard Bernstein Reri Grist, soprano Rückert Lieder: "Ich atmet' einen linden Duft" "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" "Um Mitternacht" Des Knaben Wunderhorn: "Das irdische Leben " Feb. 4, 5, 6++, 7, 1960 Carnegie Hall Leonard Bernstein Jennie Tourel, mezzo-soprano Kindertotenlieder Feb. 11, 1960 Carnegie Hall Leonard Bernstein Gerard Souzay, baritone Kindertotenlieder Feb. 12, 13++ 14, 1960 Carnegie Hall Leonard Bernstein Jennie Tourel, mezzo-soprano Symphony No. 2 Feb. 18, 19, 20+, 21, 1960 Carnegie Hall + Radio broadcast date, no known copy

Leonard Bernstein Phyllis Curtin, soprano Regina Resnik, mezzo-soprano Rutgers University Choir Das Lied von der Erde Apr. 15, 16+, 21, 24, 1960 Carnegie Hall Bruno Walter Maureen Forrester, contralto Richard Lewis, tenor

1961-62

Ezio Flagello, baritone George London, bass-baritone Schola Cantorum of New York Juilliard Chorus Columbus Boychoir

Symphony No. 4 Jan. 11, 12, 13+, 14, 1962 Carnegie Hall Georg Solti Irmgard Seefried, soprano

Symphony No. 9 Dec. 6, 7, 8+, 9, 1962 Philharmonic Hall Sir John Barbirolli

Symphony No. 7 (Mvt. 5 abridged for broadcast) Mar. 15, 16, 17+, 18, 1962 Carnegie Hall William Steinberg

1960-61 Symphony No. 2: Mvt. 4 ("Urlicht") Nov. 3, 4, 5++, 6, 1960 Carnegie Hall Leonard Bernstein Jennie Tourel, mezzo-soprano

Symphony No. 5 Jan. 3, 4, 5++, 6, 1963 Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein James Chambers, horn

Symphony No. 1 May 3, 4, 5++, 6, 1962 Carnegie Hall Leonard Bernstein

1963-64 Symphony No. 2 Sep. 26, 27, 28, 29, 1963 Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Lee Venora, soprano Jennie Tourel, mezzo-soprano Collegiate Chorale

1962-63 Symphony No. 3 Mar. 30, 31+, Apr. 1, 2, 1961 (In memory of Dimitri Mitropoulos) Carnegie Hall Leonard Bernstein Martha Lipton, mezzo-soprano Women's Chorus from the Schola Cantorum of New York Boys' Choir from the Little Church Around the Corner

*

S y m p h o n y Society Orchestra

+

Symphony No. 8: Mvt. 1 Sep. 23, 1962+ (Inaugural concert in Philharmonic Hall) Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Adele Addison, soprano Lucine Amara, soprano Lili Chookasian, mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel, mezzo-soprano Richard Tucker, tenor Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

Symphony No. 2 Nov. 24, 1963 (Television broadcast; in memory of President John F. Kennedy) CBS Studios, NY +

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

183

Leonard Bernstein Lucine Amara, soprano Jennie Tourel, mezzo-soprano Schola Cantorum of New York

Symphony N o . 6

Symphony N o . 10: Mvt. 1 [Krenek] Jan. 19, 1966++ (Dimitri Mitropoulos International Competition winners) Philharmonic Hall Sylvia Caduff

1965-66 Symphony N o . 9 Nov. 2 5 , 26, 27+, 29, 1965 (In memory of President John F. Kennedy) Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein

1964-65 Kindertotenlieder Oct. 8, 9, 10, 11+, 1964 Philharmonic Hall Joseph Krips Maureen Forrester, contralto

1966-67 Symphony N o . 1 Sep. 13, 1966 Philadelphia, PA Sep. 16, 1966 Villanova, PA Sep. 17, 1966 Richmond, VA Sep. 18, 1966 Washington, DC Sep. 20, 1966 Hartford, CT Sep. 2 1 , 1966 Storrs, CT Sep. 2 2 , 1966 Springfield, MA Sep. 24, 1966 Providence, RI Sep. 2 5 , 1966 Boston, MA

Symphony N o . 7 Dec. 2, 3, 4+, 6, 1965 Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Nov. 26, 27+, 1964 Philharmonic Hall William Steinberg Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone

Symphony N o . 8 Dec. 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 1965 Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Saramae Endich, soprano Ella Lee, soprano Jennie Tourel, mezzo-soprano Beverly Wolff, mezzo-soprano George Shirley, tenor John Boyden, baritone Ezio Flagello, bass Westminster Choir

Symphony N o . 4 Feb. 25 [Students' Concert], 26, 27, 28+, 1965 Philharmonic Hall Joseph Krips * Symphony Society Orchestra

St. Kilian Boychoir

Apr. 29, 30, May l , 2 + , 1965 Philharmonic Hall William Steinberg

D a s Lied von der Erde Feb. 2 0 , 2 1 , 2 2 , 23+ 1964 Philharmonic Hall Joseph Krips Maureen Forrester, contralto Richard Lewis, tenor

184

Pierrette Alarie, soprano

+

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

Sep. 29, 30, Oct. 1+, 3, 1966 +

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

(90th anniversary of Bruno Walter' s birth) Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Das Lied von der Erde Mar. 17, 18+, 20, 1967 Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Jess Thomas, tenor Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone Symphony N o . 6 Apr. 27, 28, 29+, May 1, 1967 Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Symphony N o . 2 Jun. 2 2 , 24, 1967 (Opening concerts, 125th anniversary) Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Veronica Tyler, soprano Jennie Tourel, mezzo-soprano Schola Cantorum of New York

1967-68 Symphony N o . 4 Sep. 12, 1967 Ann Arbor, MI * Symphony Society Orchestra

+

Sep. 14, 1967 Chicago, IL Sep. 19, 1967 Calgary, Canada Sep. 20, 1967 Vancouver, Canada Sep. 2 5 , 1967 London, Canada Sep. 27, 1967 Ottawa, Canada Sep. 29, 1967 Montreal, Canada Oct. 5, 6, 7, 9, 1967 Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Jeannette Zarou, soprano

Symphony N o . 5 Oct. 19, 2 0 , 2 1 , 2 3 , 2 5 , 1967 Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Joseph Singer, horn Des Knaben Wunderhorn: "Rheinlegendchen" "Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt" "Verlor'ne Muh'"

3

Des Knaben Wunderhorn: "Der Schildwache Nachtlied" "Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?" "Lob des hohen Verstandes" "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" "Rheinlegendchen" "Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt" "Revelge" "Verlor'ne Müh'" Oct. 12, 13, 14, 16, 1967 Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano Walter Berry, baritone Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

Oct. 28, 1967, morn. & aft. [television broadcast] (Young People's Concert: "A Toast to Vienna in / 4 Time") Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano Walter Berry, baritone

++

Symphony N o . 10 [Cooke] Apr. 2 5 , 26, 27, 29, 1968 Philharmonic Hall William Steinberg Symphony N o . 5: Mvt. 4 (Adagietto) June 8, 1968 (Funeral of Robert F. Kennedy) St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, NY Leonard Bernstein 185 Radio broadcast date, no known copy

1968-69 Symphony No. 5 Aug. 24, 1968 Ghent, Belgium Aug. 29, 1968 Jerusalem, Israel Aug. 31, 1968 Caesarea, Israel Sep. 5, 1968 Vienna, Austria Sep. 8, 1968 Venice, Italy Sep. 12, 1968 Montreux, Switzerland Sep. 14, 15, 1968 Milan, Italy Sep. 22, 24, 1968 Berlin, Germany Sep. 29, 1968 Washington, DC Leonard Bernstein Joseph Singer, horn

186

Symphony No. 3 May 15, 16, 17, 1969 Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Betty Allen, mezzo-soprano Women's Chorus from the Schola Cantorum of New York Boys' Choir from the Little Church Around the Corner The Browning School Boys' Choir John Ware, posthorn

Symphony No. 5: Mvt. 4 (Adagietto)

Symphony No. 4 Apr. 16, 17, 18, 20

S y m p h o n y Society Orchestra

1971-72 Symphony No. 9 Aug. 29, 1970 Osaka, Japan Sep. 7, 1970 Tokyo, Japan Sep. 24, 25, 28, 1970 (In memory of Sir John Barbirolli and George Szell) Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Symphony No. 3: Mvt. 6 Jan. 5, 1971++ (Mitropoulos International Music Competition) Felt Forum, New York Leonard Bernstein

Symphony No. 6 Nov. 20, 21, 22, 24, 1969 Philharmonic Hall George Szell Symphony No. 1 Jan. 8, 9, 12, 1970 Philharmonic Hall Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos

+ Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen May 6, 7, 8, 1971 Philharmonic Hall Pierre Boulez Yvonne Minton, mezzo-soprano

1970-71

1969-70

Kindertotenlieder Oct. 23, 28, 1968 Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone

*

[Lincoln Center Student Program], 1970 Philharmonic Hall May 6, 1970 Washington, DC Lorin Maazel Jane Marsh, soprano

Mar. 28, 1969 (In memory of President Dwight D. Eisenhower) Philharmonic Hall Pierre Boulez

Symphony No. 1 (with Blumine) Feb. 11, 12, 13, 15, 1971 Philharmonic Hall Seiji Ozawa ++

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

Symphony No. 10: Mvt. 1 [Ratz] Sep. 23, 24, 25, 27, 1971 Philharmonic Hall Pierre Boulez Symphony No. 2 Dec. 15, 1971 (Leonard Bernstein's 1000th concert with the New York Philharmonic) Philharmonic Hall Leonard Bernstein Martina Arroyo, soprano Shirley Verrett, mezzo-soprano The Camerata Singers Symphony No. 5 May 11, 12, 13, 1972 Philharmonic Hall Lorin Maazel Joseph Singer, horn

*

S y m p h o n y Society Orchestra

1972-73

"Liebst du um Schönheit" "Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder!" "Um Mitternacht" Feb. 1,2, 1973 Philharmonic Hall Pierre Boulez Siegmund Nimsgern, baritone

SymphonyNo. 5 Aug. 19, 1972 Vienna, VA Aug. 26, 1972 Rochester, MI Aug. 29, 1972 Madison, WI Sep. 6, 1972 Topeka, KS Sep. 7, 1972 Bloomington, IN Erich Leinsdorf Joseph Singer, horn

Symphony No. 5: Mvt. 4 (Adagietto) Jun. 1, 5, 6, 1973 Philharmonic Hall Aaron Copland

1973-74

SymphonyNo. 10: Mvt. 1 [Krenek] Sep. 14, 1972 Columbus, OH Pierre Boulez

Symphony No. 8 Feb. 14, 15, 16, 19, 1974 Avery Fisher Hall Pierre Boulez Edda Moser, soprano Felicity Palmer, soprano Betty Allen, mezzo-soprano Jan DeGaetani, mezzo-soprano Werner Hollweg, tenor Siegmund Nimsgern, baritone Raymond Michalski, bass-baritone Westminster Choir Boys' Choir from the Little Church Around the Corner Trinity School Boys' Choir St. Pauls Episcopal Church

Symphony No. 6 Sep. 28, 29, 30, Oct. 3, 1972 Philharmonic Hall Pierre Boulez Rückert Lieder: "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" "Ich atmet' einen linden Duft" "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen"

+

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

++

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

187

Boys' Choir Newark Boys' Chorus

Symphony No. 4 Sep. 19, 2 0 , 2 1 , 2 4 , 1974 Avery Fisher Hall

Symphony No. 1 Apr. 18, 19, 20, 23, 1974 Avery Fisher Hall

Pierre Boulez Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano

Bernhard Klee Symphony No. 5: Mvt. 4 (Adagietto) Aug. 6, 1974

1974-75

Pierre Boulez

Symphony No. 7 May 13, 14, 15, 1976

Symphony No. 1 Dec. 18, 19, 20+, 30, 1975

Avery Fisher Hall

Carnegie

Pierre Boulez

Mahler Festival

James Levine Carol Neblett, soprano Jessye Norman, soprano Westminster Choir

Symphony No. 5 Aug. 26, 1976

Symphony No. 6 Oct. 2, 1976+

Pierre Boulez

1975-76

Avery Fisher Hall

Symphony No. 10: Mvt. 1 [Ratz] Aug. 23, 1975

William Steinberg

Avery Fisher Hall

Aug. 29, 1975++

Pierre Boulez

Edinburgh,

Avery Fisher Hall

Lewiston,

Michael Tilson-Thomas

Aug. 28, 1976

Vienna,

VA Scotland

Sep. 2, 1975 Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Mar. 6, 1975

Brussels,

Avery Fisher Hall

Sep. 13, 1975

Pierre Boulez Betty Allen, mezzo-soprano

Stuttgart,

Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Revelge"

Sep. 12, 1975

u

Frankfurt,

Germany

Tokyo, Japan

Symphony No. 9 Jun. 27, 1975

Sep. 10, 1974

Avery Fisher Hall

Sep. 4, 1975

Osaka, Japan

Pierre Boulez

Lucerne,

Avery Fisher Hall

Symphony No. 10: Mvt. 1 [Krenek] Jun. 29, 1975

Mannheim,

Wellington,

Germany

Sep. 16, 1975 Munich,

New Zealand

Germany

Pierre Boulez

Aug. 23, 1974

Symphony No. 10: Mvt. 1 [Ratz] Mar. 27, 28, 29, Apr. 1, 1975

Sydney,

Avery Fisher Hall

Symphony No. 9 Aug. 30, 1975+

Leonard Bernstein

London,

Aug. 18, 1974 Christchurch,

New Zealand

Australia

Aug. 28, 1974 Melbourne,

Australia

Sep. 1, 1974

Leonard Bernstein John Cerminaro, horn 188 *

Symphony Society Orchestra

England

Sep. 3, 1975 [television broadcast] Ghent,

Belgium Switzerland

Sep. 15, 1975

+ Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

Germany

Sep. 19, 1975

NY

Saratoga Springs,

Belgium

" Rheinlegendchen" "Lied des Verfolgten im Turme" "Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?" "Trost im Unglück" "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" "Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt" "Das irdische Leben" "Lob des hohen Verstandes" "Verlor' ne Müh" "Der Tamboursg'sell" Feb. 26, 27, 28, Mar. 2+, 1976

Symphony No. 5 Aug. 17, 1974

1976-77

Symphony No. 1: Mvt. 2 Jan. 31, 1976 [Young People' s Concert]

Symphony No. 9 Sep. 26, 27, 28, Oct. 1, 1974

Central Park, New York, NY

Leonard Bernstein

Avery Fisher Hall

James Levine Jessye Norman, soprano John Shirley-Quirk, baritone

Carnegie

Finland USSR

Sep. 17, 1976 Moscow,

USSR

Sep. 26, 1976+ Carnegie

Hall

NY

Sep. 10, 1976 Leningrad,

Hall

James Levine

Sep. 1, 1976 Helsinki,

Symphony No. 2 Oct. 1, 1976+

Hall

Erich Leinsdorf John Cerminaro, horn Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Sep. 26, 1976+ Carnegie Hall

Erich Leinsdorf Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano

Rückert Lieder: "Ich atmet' einen linden Duft" "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" "Um Mitternacht" "Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder" "Liebst du um Schönheit" "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" Des Knaben Wunderhorn: " Rheinlegendchen" "Das irdische Leben" "Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?" "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" Oct. 8, 1976+ Carnegie

Hall

James Levine Maria Ewing, mezzo-soprano 189

Chartres, France * + Radio broadcast date, no known copy

Symphony Society Orchestra

f Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

ff Radio broadcast date, no known copy

Symphony No. 4 Oct. 8, 1976+ Carnegie Hall James Levine Judith Blegen, soprano

Symphony No. 7 Oct. 16, 1976+ Carnegie Hall Pierre Boulez

Symphony No. 1: Mvt. 4 Feb. 23, 1977 (Young People's Concert: "Harmony") Avery Fisher Hall David Gilbert

Symphony No. 9 Oct. 17, 1976+ Carnegie Hall Pierre Boulez

Symphony No. 8 Oct. 9, 1976+ Carnegie Hall James Levine Carol Neblett, soprano Teresa Zylis-Gara, soprano Kathleen Battle, soprano Lili Chookasian, contralto Gwendolyn Killebrew, mezzo-soprano Kenneth Riegel, tenor Michael Devlin, baritone Donald Mclntyre, baritone Westminster Choir Boys' Choir from the Little

Symphony No. 5 Mar. 3+, 4, 5, 8, 1977 Avery Fisher Hall David Gilbert John Cerminaro, horn

Symphony No. 9: Mvts. 2 & 4 Oct. 18, 1976 (Honoring construction workers) Avery Fisher Hall Pierre Boulez

Symphony No. 1: Mvt. 1 Mar. 14, 1977 [Educational Concert] Avery Fisher Hall Erich Leinsdorf All-City H.S. Orchestra

Symphony No. 3 Oct. 21,22, 23+, 26, 1976 Avery Fisher Hall Oct. 25, 1976 Carnegie Hall Pierre Boulez Yvonne Minton, mezzo-soprano The Camerata Singers Boys' Choir from the Little Church Around the Corner Trinity School Boys' Choir The Brooklyn Boys' Chorus John Ware, posthorn

Church Around the Corner Trinity School Boys' Choir The Brooklyn Boys' Chorus Symphony No. 1 Symphony No. 10: Mvt. 1 [Ratz] Oct. 11, 1976+ Carnegie Hall James Levine

1977-78 Symphony No. 5: Mvt. 4 (Adagietto) Oct. 15, 17, 1977 [television broadcast] (Young People's Concerts: "Music and Your Emotions"' Avery Fisher Hall Erich Leinsdorf Symphony No. 9 Jan. 19+, 24, 1978

190 *

Symphony Society Orchestra

+

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

+

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

Avery Fisher Hall Rafael Kubelik

Leonard Bernstein

Symphony No. 6 Mar. 15, 16+, 17, 20, 1979 Avery Fisher Hall Claudio Abbado

Symphony No. 1: Mvt. 4 Aug. 28, 1978 Marine Park, Brooklyn, NY Zubin Mehta Symphony No. 1 Aug. 29, 1978 Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, NY Aug. 30, 1978 Holmdel, NJ Zubin Mehta

Symphony No. 5 Aug. 16, 1979 N Y Botanical Gardens, Bronx, NY Aug. 19, 1979 Eisenhower Park, East Meadow, NY Aug. 21, 1979 Snug Harbor, Staten Island, NY Aug. 25, 1979+ Tanglewood, Lenox, MA Zubin Mehta Martin Smith, horn

Symphony No. 1 Apr. 18, 1979 Boston, MA Apr. 19, 1979 Hartford, CT Apr. 21, 1979 Washington, DC Apr. 23, 1979 Philadelphia, PA Zubin Mehta

1978-79

Symphony No. 5 Jan. 25, 26+, 27, 30, 1979 Avery Fisher Hall Zubin Mehta Martin Smith, horn *

Symphony Society Orchestra

1979-80

Symphony No. 1 Jun. 9, 1979+ Avery Fisher Hall Jun. 13, 1979 Denver, CO Jun. 16, 1979 Concord, CA Jun. 22,1979 Kyoto, Japan Jun. 25,1979 Osaka, Japan Jun. 27, 1979 Niigata, Japan Jun. 30, 1979 Seoul, Korea Jul. 5, 6, 1979 Tokyo, Japan

Symphony No. 1 Sep. 3, 1978 Buenos Aires, Argentina Sep. 7, 1978 Dominican Republic Sep. 14+, 15, 16, 19, Oct. 6, 1978 Avery Fisher Hall Zubin Mehta

+

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

Rückert Lieder: "Ich atmet' einen linden Duft" "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" "Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder" "Um Mitternacht" "Liebst du um Schönheit" "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" Nov. 15, 16+, 17, 20, 1979 Avery Fisher Hall Zubin Mehta Jessye Norman, soprano +

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

191

Symphony No. 4 Feb. 28, 29 +, Mar. 1,4, 1980

Philip Myers, horn

Avery Fisher Hall

Symphony No. 1 Aug. 18, 1980

Walter Weller Maria Ewing, mezzo-soprano

"Revelge" "Der Tamboursg'sell" "Lied des Verfolgten im Turm" "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" "Trost im Unglück" Sep. 7, 1980

Central Park, New York, NY

Aug. 19, 1980 Des Knaben Wunderhorn: "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" "Revelge" "Der Tamboursg'sell" "Lied des Verfolgten im Turm" "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" "Trost im Unglück" May l+, 3, 1980 Avery Fisher Hall

Zubin Mehta Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone

Queens, NY

Berlin,

Symphony No. 1 Sep. 7, 1980 Berlin,

Germany

Bonn,

Germany

Symphony No. 1 Aug. 25, 1980+

Zubin Mehta

Jun. 20, 1980 Syracuse,

Edinburgh,

1980-81

Scotland

Jun. 23, 1980

Aug. 27, 1980

Chicago, IL

Lucerne,

Jun. 25, 1980

Zubin Mehta

Vienna, Saratoga,

Des Knaben Wunderhorn: "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen"

NY

Klaus Tennstedt Symphony Society Orchestra

Avery Fisher Hall

Avery Fisher Hall

Symphony No. 2 Mar. 7, 1982+

Giuseppe Sinopoli

James Conlon Kathleen Battle, soprano

+

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

Zubin Mehta Maureen Forrester, contralto New York Choral Artists +

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

Symphony No. 5 Jul. 25, 1983

Avery Fisher Hall

Zubin Mehta Kathleen Battle, soprano Maureen Forrester, contralto Westminster Choir

1981-82

Omaha,

Zubin Mehta Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano

Hollywood,

Symphony No. 1 Aug. 3, 1982 Marine Park,

Brooklyn,

Snug Harbor,

Aug. 4, 1983 Houston,

St. Louis, MO

Zubin Mehta Philip Myers, horn

NY

Aug. 5, 1982 Crocheron Park,

Zubin Mehta Kathleen Battle, soprano Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano Westminster Choir

Aug. 7, 1982

Queens, NY

1983-84

Hecksher State Park,

Symphony No. 1 Sep. 14, 1983+

East Is lip, NY

Aug. 8, 1982 Eisenhower

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Jan. 14+, 15, 1982

TX

Aug. 6, 1983

NY

Staten Island,

Avery Fisher Hall

Symphony Society Orchestra

CA

Jul. 28, 1983

Aug. 4, 1982 Symphony No. 2 Sep. 17, 18, 19 +, 22, 1981

*

NE

Jul. 27, 1983

San Francisco, CA

Avery Fisher Hall

VA

Jun. 28, 1980

*

Symphony No. 3 Oct. 2, 3+, 4, 7, 1980

Switzerland

1982-83

Klaus Tennstedt

Sep. 18, 1980 England

Co-Op City, Bronx, NY

Symphony No. 4 Jun. 9, 1981+

Avery Fisher Hall

Paris, France

James Conlon

Symphony No. 6 Oct. 14, 15, 16+, 1982

Vienna,

Sep. 16, 17, 1980

Scotland

Aug. 10, 1982

Zubin Mehta Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano

Avery Fisher Hall

Sep. 11, 1980+

London,

NY

Rafael Kubelik

Kindertotenlieder Sep. 10, l1 +, 12, 15, 1981

Austria

Avery Fisher Hall

Symphony No. 9 Feb. 18, 19, 20+, 23, 1982

Avery Fisher Hall

Sep. 9, 1980

Zubin Mehta Jessye Norman, soprano

Avery Fisher Hall

Symphony No. 7 Feb. 26, 27, 28 +, Mar. 3, 1981

Germany

Zubin Mehta Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone

Rückert Lieder: "Ich atmet' einen linden Duft" "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" "Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder" "Um Mitternacht" "Liebst du um Schönheit" "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" Aug. 25, 1980+ Edinburgh,

Symphony No. 5 Jun. 18, 1980+

192

Crocheron Park,

Zubin Mehta

Brooklyn Boys' Chorus Philip Smith, posthorn

Park,

East Meadow,

Avery Fisher Hall

Rafael Kubelik

NY

Aug. 9, 1982 193

Central Park, New York, NY +

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

+

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

Des Knaben Wunderhorn: "Revelge" "Lob des hohen Verstandes" "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" "Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt" "Der Tamboursg' sell" Oct. 6, 7+, 8, 1983 Avery Fisher Hall Larry Newland Håkan Hagegård, baritone

Symphony No. 10 [Cooke] Jan. 20, 24, 1984 Avery Fisher Hall Kurt Sanderling

Symphony No. 5 Oct. 11, 1983+ Avery Fisher Hall Zubin Mehta Philip Myers, horn

Symphony No. 2: Mvt. 2 Mar. 14, 1984+ (60th anniversary of Young People's Concerts) Avery Fisher Hall Leonard Bernstein

Das Lied von der Erde Feb. 2, 3, 4, 7, 1984+ Avery Fisher Hall Zubin Mehta Brigitte Fassbaender, mezzo-soprano Jon Frederick West, tenor

Symphony No. 10 [Cooke] Jan. 5, 6+, 7, 10, 1984 Avery Fisher Hall Kurt Sanderling

194

Symphony Society Orchestra

Symphony No. 5: Mvt. 4 (Adagietto) Sep. 14, 1984 Calcutta, India Zubin Mehta 1984-85 Symphony No. 5 Apr. 4, 5, 6, 9, 1985+ Avery Fisher Hall Zubin Mehta Philip Myers, horn

Symphony No. 3 May 24+, 25, 26, 1984 Avery Fisher Hall Erich Leinsdorf Florence Quivar, mezzo-soprano New York Choral Artists Brooklyn Boys Chorus Philip Smith, posthorn

Symphony No. 2 Jan. 12, 13, l4+, 17, 1984 Avery Fisher Hall Leonard Bernstein Barbara Hendricks, soprano Jessye Norman, soprano The Choir of St. Patrick's Cathedral New Amsterdam Singers *

Taipei, Taiwan Sep. 5, 1984 Jakarta, Indonesia Sep. 17, 1984 Bombay, India Zubin Mehta Philip Myers, horn

Symphony No. 5: Mvt. 4 (Adagietto) Apr. 8, 1985 Abyssinian Baptist Church, Harlem, NY Zubin Mehta

London, England May 31, 1985 Frankfurt, Germany Jun. 2, 1985+ Munich, Germany Jun. 3, 1985 Berlin, Germany Jun. 6, 1985 Leipzig, Germany Jun. 11, 1985+ Vienna, Austria Jun. 13, 1985 Paris, France Jun. 19, 1985t Rome, Italy Jun. 22, 1985t Madrid, Spain Zubin Mehta Philip Myers, horn

+

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

Symphony No. 5 May 24, 1985 Avery Fisher Hall May 30, 1985+ +

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

Symphony No. 7 Nov. 27, 29, 30, Dec. 3+, 1985 Avery Fisher Hall Leonard Bernstein

1987-88 Symphony No. 1 Nov. 19, 20+, 2 1 , 2 4 , 1987 Avery Fisher Hall Leonard Bernstein Symphony No. 3 Nov. 25, 27, 28, Dec. 1, 1987+ Avery Fisher Hall Leonard Bernstein Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano New York Choral Artists Brooklyn Boys' Chorus Philip Smith, posthorn

Symphony No. 3 May 28, 29, 30, 1987+ Avery Fisher Hall Giuseppe Sinopoli Florence Quivar, mezzo-soprano New York Choral Artists Brooklyn Boys' Chorus

Symphony No. 6 Oct. 23+, 24, 25, 1986 Avery Fisher Hall Symphony Society Orchestra

Kindertotenlieder Nov. 26+, 28, 29, 1986 Avery Fisher Hall Zubin Mehta Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano

Symphony No. 2 Apr. 16, 17, 1 8 , 2 1 , 1987+ Avery Fisher Hall Leonard Bernstein Barbara Hendricks, soprano Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano The Westminster Symphonic Choir

1985-86

*

Philip Smith, posthorn

Symphony No. 2: Mvt. V Dec. 15, 1986 (Carnegie Hall gala reopening) Carnegie Hall Zubin Mehta Benita Valente, soprano Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano New York Choral Artists

1986-87 Symphony No. 5 Aug. 25, 1984 Seoul, Korea Aug. 27, 1984+

Klaus Tennstedt

+

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

++

Symphony No. 10: Mvt. 1 [Cooke] Das klagende Lied (incl. Waldmärchen) Mar. 24, 25, 26, 1988+ Avery Fisher Hall James Conlon Ruth Falcon, soprano Florence Quivar, mezzo-soprano Timothy Jenkins, tenor Jake Gardner, baritone The Dessoff Symphonic Choir New York Choral Artists 195 Radio broadcast date, no known copy

1989-90

Symphony N o . 9 May 19, 20, 24, 1988+ Avery Fisher Hall May 3 1 , 1988+ Leningrad, USSR Jun. 4, 1988+ Moscow, USSR Zubin Mehta

Rückert Lieder: "Ich atmet' einen linden Duft" "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen' "Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder" " U m Mitternacht" "Liebst du um Schönheit" "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen"

1988-89

Rückert Lieder: "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" Nov. 14, 1990 ("Remembering Lenny") Carnegie Hall James Levine Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano

Symphony N o . 5 Sep. 22, 23, 26, Oct. 3, 1989 Avery Fisher Hall Zubin Mehta Philip Myers, horn

Symphony N o . 4 Mar. 23, 24, 2 5 , 28, 1989 Avery Fisher Hall Yoel Levi Benita Valente, soprano

Symphony N o . 7 May 3 1 , Jun. 1, 2, 1990 Avery Fisher Hall Erich Leinsdorf

Symphony N o . 2 Mar. 30, 3 1 , Apr. 1,4, 1989 Avery Fisher Hall Leonard Bernstein Benita Valente, soprano Wendy White, mezzo-soprano New York Choral Artists 196 Symphony Society Orchestra

Symphony N o . 5: Mvt. 4 (Adagietto) Oct. 16, 1990 (In memory of Leonard Bernstein) Avery Fisher Hall Leonard Slatkin

Sep. 20, 1989 Avery Fisher Hall Zubin Mehta Jessye Norman, soprano

Symphony N o . 1 (with Blumine) Sep. 29, 30, Oct. 1, 5 [television broadcast], 1988+ Avery Fisher Hall Zubin Mehta

*

Florence Quivar, soprano Westminster Symphonic Choir American Boychoir Philip Smith, posthorn

+

1990-91

Symphony N o . 9 Apr. 18, 19, 20, 23, 1991 (In memory of Bruno Walter) Avery Fisher Hall Yoel Levi

Symphony N o . 3 Sep. 14, 15, 18, 1990 Avery Fisher Hall Zubin Mehta

Symphony N o . 1 May 1, 1991 (Carnegie Hall centennial festival)

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

++

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

Carnegie Hall Zubin Mehta Symphony N o . 3: Mvt. 6 May 5, 1991 (Carnegie Hall centennial: In memory of Leonard Bernstein) Carnegie Hall Zubin Mehta

Symphony N o . 1 Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Apr. 23, 24, 2 5 , 1992 Avery Fisher Hall Kurt Masur

Jun. 2 1 , 1994 Taipei, Taiwan Jul. 1,3, 1994 Tokyo, Japan Kurt Masur

1994-95 Håkan Hagegård, baritone Symphony N o . 4 Mar. 16, 17, 1 8 , 2 1 , 1995 Avery Fisher Hall Sir Colin Davis Gillian Webster, soprano

1992-93 Symphony N o . 1 Jul. 2 1 , 1991 Cunningham Park, Queens, NY Jul. 22, 1991 Central Park, New York, NY Jul. 24, 1991 Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY Zdenek Macal

1991-92

Symphony N o . 1 May 24 [television broadcast], 2 5 , 26, 27, 1995 Avery Fisher Hall Jun. 15, 1995 Birmingham, England Jun. 18, 1995 Vienna, Austria Jun. 23, 1995 Istanbul, Turkey Kurt Masur

Symphony N o . 5 Jun. 10, 11, 12, 1993 Avery Fisher Hall Leonard Slatkin Philip Myers, horn

Symphony N o . 9 Mar. 3 1 , Apr. 1,2, 4, 1994 Avery Fisher Hall Apr. 9, 1994 Greenvale, NY May 30, 1994 Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, NY Jun. 3, 1994 Avery Fisher Hall

Symphony N o . 4 Mar. 7, 10, 1992 Avery Fisher Hall A n d r é Previn Juliana Gondek, soprano

Symphony Society Orchestra

Oct. 29, 30, 3 1 , Nov. 3, 1992 Avery Fisher Hall Zdenek Macal

1993-94

Symphony N o . 4 Mar. 4, 5, 6, 1992 Avery Fisher Hall A n d r é Previn June Anderson, soprano

*

Symphony N o . 6

+

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

1995-96 Symphony N o . 5 Feb. 15, 16, 17, 20, 1996 Avery Fisher Hall Michael Tilson Thomas Philip Myers, horn ++

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

197

Symphony No. 6 Feb. 22, 23, 24, 27, 1996 (100th anniversary of Dimitri Mitropouloss birth) Avery Fisher Hall Daniele Gatti

Women of the New York Choral Artists American Boychoir Philip Smith, posthorn

1996-97

Symphony No. 6 Jan. 2, 3, 5, 1998 Avery Fisher Hall Valery Gergiev

Avery Fisher Hall Daniele Gatti Philip Myers, horn Kindertotenlieder Apr. 30, May 1, 2, 5, 1998 Avery Fisher Hall Leonard Slatkin Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone

1997-98

Symphony No. 3 Jan. 9, 10, 11, 1997 Avery Fisher Hall Zubin Mehta Florence Quivar, soprano

Symphony No. 1 Jul. 7, 9, 1998 Avery Fisher Hall Kurt Masur

Symphony No. 5 Mar. 18, 19, 20, 2 1 , 1998

Howard Keresey, Principal Librarian of the New York Philharmonic, 1944-71.

198 *

S y m p h o n y Society Orchestra

+

Radio broadcast date, copy known to exist

++

Radio broadcast date, no known copy

Bruno Walter: Protector and Prophet by ERIK RYDING

B

r u n o W a l t e r a n d G u s t a v M a h l e r w e r e c o l l e a g u e s a n d friends. N o other 2 0 t h c e n t u r y c o n d u c t o r c o u l d c l a i m c o m p a r a b l e i n t i m a c y w i t h the last great V i e n n e s e s y m p h o n i c composer.

W h e n Walter went to

H a m b u r g to

serve

as Mahler's

assistant ( 1 8 9 4 - 9 6 ) , the e x p e r i e n c e p r o v e d a t u r n i n g p o i n t in his life. He h a d never

encountered

a

conductor

or

a

composer

endowed

with

such

interpretive

i n s i g h t and

i m a g i n a t i o n , such artistic i n t e g r i t y a n d g e n i u s . I n 1 9 0 1 , W a l t e r j o i n e d M a h l e r a t the V i e n n a State O p e r a , w h e r e the t w o w o u l d w o r k together until M a h l e r ' s d e p a r t u r e for A m e r i c a late i n 1 9 0 7 . T h e V i e n n e s e critics closely identified Walter's c o n d u c t i n g style w i t h M a h l e r ' s , s o m e o f t h e m offering d i s p a r a g i n g r e m a r k s o n the y o u n g " M a h l e r i m i t a t o r , " others h e a p i n g praise o n M a h l e r ' s gifted p r o t é g é . M a h l e r p l a y e d his w o r k s - i n - p r o g r e s s for W a l t e r o n the p i a n o ( W a l t e r

Gustav Mahler, conductor-pianist Ossip Gabrilowitsch (background), and Bruno Walter in 200

Prague, 1908, on the occasion of the premiere of Mahler's Seventh Symphony.

played his for Mahler as well), and Walter was present at several premieres given by his friend There is no doubt about Mahler's admiration for his younger colleague. Before leaving Vienna, Mahler wrote to Walter: "I can think of no one by whom I feel myself so well understood as by you, and I believe, too, that I've penetrated into the deep passages of your soul." They continued to correspond with each other across the Atlantic and to meet when Mahler returned to Europe. In 1909, Walter led a performance of Mahler's Third in Vienna, scoring one of his earliest triumphs as a symphonic conductor. After Mahler's death in 1911, he wrote a letter of condolence to Alma, assuring her that his "ardent love" for Mahler, "which has warmed my very soul every day since I first met him, will be active on the path that nature has chosen for me—as protector and prophet of his work." For the most part, Walter remained true to his word. He gave the first performances of Das Lied von der Erde (1911) and the Ninth Symphony (1912); he also led the Viennese premiere of Mahler's Eighth Symphony (1912), a work he conducted to great acclaim on several occasions. And he continued to perform and record Mahler's work to the end of his life. True, he avoided two major works, the Seventh Symphony (which he hardly ever performed) and the Sixth (which he seems never to have performed). W h y he did so will perhaps always be a mystery, but he expressed profound satisfaction when, during his tenure as Musical Adviser to the New York Philharmonic, they appeared on the programs of his colleague—another champion of Mahler—Dimitri Mitropoulos. What did Walter bring to Mahler's works? Already in Vienna, Walter's conducting struck listeners as being different from Mahler's, somewhat gentler, more lyrical—though his interpretations were widely regarded as the closest to Mahler's own by people who had heard 202

both conductors at the podium. His collaborations with the New York Philharmonic

inspired some of his most forceful conducting, yet even those performances retain a characteristic elegance, the phrases neatly tapering off, the loudest fortes never turning into noise. He encouraged his players to breathe and inflect, urging them to "sing," but his lyricism was often set off by intense, even feral drama. Walter's rubato—sometimes meticulously worked out, sometimes the result of sudden inspiration—could produce revelatory effects, and his attention to Mahler's counterpoint helped him to bring out motives in danger of being buried in those huge scores. His is not the only way to conduct Mahler, but at his best, Walter could give us the feeling of hearing a work for the first time. Walter's first performances in New York were, perhaps surprisingly, not with the Philharmonic but with Walter Damrosch's Symphony Society. On his first trip to the United States in 1923, Walter played it safe and included no Mahler on the programs. If that seems like cowardice on his part, we would do well to recall some of the unkind criticisms leveled at Mahler's symphonies when Mahler himself conducted them in New York. Even in Europe, the symphonies often received only coolly qualified praise. In any case, at his second guest appearance with the Symphony Society, in 1924, Walter ventured to offer the public Mahler's First Symphony—a fairly accessible work. Nevertheless, some New York critics made their hostility to the Symphony abundantly clear. The reviewer for the Musical Courier, in an extraordinarily condescending notice, had anticipated the argument that audiences needed plenty of time to familiarize themselves with new music and responded accordingly. "Some people, Mahler adherents, argue that it takes time for a great work to become known," the critic wrote. "Perhaps. But when one stops to think of the other works written about the same time that have become favorites, the argument fails to convince. . . . Whatever the reason that Mahler is not oftener played, it is not a matter merely of time.

203

Lack of ideas seems to explain it, and perhaps also excessive length, which will kill any work,

hater like Downes, couldn't refrain from remarking that, while the conception of the piece

however beautiful." Another New York critic lauded Walter's conducting from his earliest

was "moving and immense," the composer lacked "a musical imagination commensurate

American concerts onward, while loathing Mahler's music to the very end. Already a veteran

with his visions, his ecstasies, his aspirations." Das Lied, with Maria Olszewska and Frederick

reviewer in Boston, Olin Downes came to New York in 1924 to write for The New York

Jagel, was among Walter's musical offerings to New York in 1934, and for this work, at least,

Times. His invectives against Mahler's music continued long after the other critics had

the critics showed some signs of relenting. Downes grudgingly acknowledged the expressive

discovered that acceptance of Mahler's music was indeed "a matter merely of time."

depth of the final pages of the "Abschied" ("among the most genuinely poetical and

The New York Philharmonic first played under Walter's baton in 1932; by then the

distinguished passages in all Mahler"), while Gilman now referred to "the passion and

conductor was determined to keep Mahler in the Orchestra's repertoire. He offered the Fifth

beauty of the music, its delicate fantasy, its secret ecstasies and insuperable grief, and, at the

Symphony this time, and Downes's review was astonishingly headlined, "Walter Triumphs

last, its mystical, assuaging peace," which, under Walter, "were often overmastering."

in Mahler." The "triumph," however, referred to Walter's performance of Schubert's

Commitments in Vienna and elsewhere kept Walter away from New York for several years,

"Unfinished," the other work on the program, not to Mahler at all. But Mahler's symphony

but the spread of the Nazi plague in the late 1930s eventually drove him back to the United

was hardly neglected in the review. Downes anatomized it at great length, his abuse

States. He resumed his work with the New York Philharmonic in 1941, offering performances

increasing with each new paragraph. Mahler's "musical ideas, in nine cases out of ten," he

of Mahler almost every season until 1957, when a heart attack slowed down his concert

wrote, "are banal, and they do not fructify. They do not develop, exfoliate." Maddening

appearances. The works by Mahler that he performed most often were the First, the Second,

words. Brilliant thematic development is, as listeners have long since come to appreciate, one

the Fourth, and Das Lied, though in 1945 he presented a work never before played by the

of Mahler's outstanding compositional virtues.

Philharmonic—a work he had premiered in Vienna. Some resistance to the Ninth Symphony the

was inevitable, yet it still comes as a shock to read Olin Downes's excoriating review of the

"Resurrection" to New York. The performance, which Victor had agreed to record, should

Philharmonic's first performance of this sublime work: "There is a degree of ostentation in this

have been preserved as Walter's first album with the Philharmonic, but for some reason, a

music which would be funny if it were not so vulgar. There are the prevalent megalomania and

recording was never issued. After the concert, Walter noted with pleasure the "enthusiasm

blatant rhetoric of the romantic decadence, wherein the faults are exaggerated to the point of

and emotion" that Mahler's Second had generated in the audience; the reviews, however,

the grotesque." And so on. But others recognized that this was a major musical statement;

were again mixed. The performance won accolades, but the piece itself suffered some harsh

"there is so much impassioned music in its hour and twenty minutes," Irving Kolodin observed,

criticism. Lawrence Gilman of the New York Herald Tribune, though not a rabid Mahler

"that unfamiliarity with it leaves a definite gap in one's orientation to music of this century."

In

206

1933—a

grim

year

for

Germany and

its

neighbors—Walter offered

207

Walter was Musical Advisor to the New York Philharmonic for two seasons (1947-49),

One of the ugliest clashes between the two conductors occurred in 1949, when both had

and during that time Dimitri Mitropoulos led two important Mahler performances.

planned to conduct Mahler's First during the 1949-50 season. On learning that Mitropoulos

Already in the early 1920s, during his student days in Berlin, Mitropoulos had deeply

had scheduled the work, Walter turned livid. "I cannot help expressing my great astonishment

admired Walter's interpretations, and Walter, for his part, wrote in 1948 that Mitropoulos's

at Mr. Mitropoulos' intention to perform Mahler's First symphony in the same season as I am

"activity" was, "by its great artistic and moral meaning, a necessity in the musical life of

going to do it," he wrote to Zirato. "I want you to be sure that I would not have dreamed of

New York." Nevertheless, their mutual affection for Mahler sometimes led to awkward

preceding any work on Mr. Mitropoulos' program with a performance of the same one in one

moments, as when Mitropoulos gave the first American performance of Mahler's Sixth in

of my concerts during the time of my activity as musical adviser. . . . Mr. Mitropoulos will

1947. While delighted that his younger colleague had scheduled the Sixth, Walter harbored

understand my attitude with regard to Mahler and that it is important for me to play this

serious doubts about the other piece to appear on the program, Gershwin's Piano Concerto,

work." It was important for Mitropoulos, too, of course. But this time Walter had his way.

with Oscar Levant as soloist. " . . . I strongly must plead against the combination of this

At his last public appearance with the New York Philharmonic, in 1960, Walter performed

work with Mahler's Sixth Symphony in one program," Walter wrote to Bruno Zirato. "On

Das Lied von der Erde, with Maureen Forrester and Richard Lewis as his soloists. He had given

the list of works which Mr. Mitropoulos has chosen, I see many pieces which go far better

the world premiere and had performed it on many subsequent occasions. (The young Leonard

with Gershwin than just Mahler's most tragic opus. . . ."

Bernstein, on his drive to Boston, tuned in to the 1948 broadcast of Das Lied with Ferrier and

The Gershwin Concerto remained on the program and, to Mitropoulos's bitter

Svanholm; he wrote to Walter afterwards: "It was certainly one of the great musical experiences

disappointment, was one of the pieces that replaced Mahler's Symphony on the Sunday

I have had. You are a very, very great master. And the Manfred brought back vivid memories

broadcast. In 1948, Mitropoulos conducted the Seventh Symphony, a work that hadn't been

of 1943, and that fateful Sunday!"—that is, the performance when Walter fell ill and Bernstein

heard in New York since Mengelberg's performance in 1923. After hearing that Mitropoulos

suddenly found himself conducting his New York Philharmonic debut.) By 1960, the reviews

wanted to place Mahler's Seventh on the second half of the program, to allow those who didn't

were uniformly glowing. Walter's concert ended the first Mahler Festival by the Orchestra—

care for Mahler to flee the auditorium, Walter asked Zirato to tell Mitropoulos that he had "the

itself a sign that Mahler had won over the city—and the "Abschied," with a poignant aptness,

opposite policy, putting the problematic work in the middle of the program and leaving the

became Walter's own farewell to the New York Philharmonic. •

conclusion to the soloist, thus compelling the audience to stay and listen to the work in

208

question." Doing so, incidentally, would have entailed the unpleasant task of requesting the

Erik Ryding produced the premiere recording of Walter's Violin Sonata, performed by the Orfeo Duo,

soloist to perform after the audience had heard more than an hour's worth of Mahler.

for VAI Audio.

With Rebecca Pechefsky he is writing a biography of Walter for Schirmer Books.

209

Mitropoulos, Walter, and Mahler:

A Player's Perspective by JAMES CHAMBERS

W

hen Dimitri Mitropoulos strode onto the stage of Carnegie Hall to begin the first rehearsal of Mahler's Fifth Symphony on the morning of December 28, 1959, there was palpable excitement in the Orchestra. It

had been

13 years since Bruno Walter had led the New York

Philharmonic in highly acclaimed performances of this massive work. An excellent recording had been made at that time, one which had won a critics' award for Best Classical Recording of the Year (1947) and was reissued in LP format in 1952. Many in the Orchestra,

First-desk players of the New York Philharmonic brass section, circa 1958: (left to right) James Chambers and Joseph Singer, horns; Edward Herman, Jr., trombone; 210

William Vacchiano, trumpet; William Bell, tuba.

and presumably many members of the audiences that were to hear the four performances later in the week, remembered Bruno Walter's interpretation from those earlier performances or had become familiar with it through the recording.

Clearly Walter wished to emphasize the broad, flowing lines of the work and was not solely intent on strict adherence to Mahler's many detailed indications concerning dynam-

Would these Mitropoulos performances measure up to the memorable ones of Bruno

ics and tempo. Mahler's tempo markings are very elaborate and specific; for example, plötz-

Walter? Could they possibly equal their well-remembered warmth and grandeur or have

lich schneller, leidenschaftlich, sehr vehement, wild ("suddenly fastet," "passionate," "very vehe-

their stamp of authenticity? Even the musicians of the Orchestra were unable to assess the

ment," "wild"). Often, as in the Fifth, they were an indication not only of tempo but of the

full impact until the first of the four performances had ended. By the close of the last, audi-

style and character of a particular passage. In addition, his scores contain many emphatic

ences and musicians alike were aware that another high point had been reached in the

footnotes addressed to the conductor concerning the best method of achieving the desired

unfolding history of Mahler performances at the Philharmonic. The Fifth Symphony did

effect. For example, in the Funeral March Mahler exhorts the conductor to insist that the

not receive a complete Philharmonic performance until it was programmed by Willem

violins play loudly and forcefully throughout a particularly boisterous passage lest they be

Mengelberg in December 1926 and repeated during the following season. (Josef Stransky

lost beneath the high level of sound emanating from the entire orchestra. Walter's de-empha-

had offered only the first movement, Trauermarsch, in November 1911, as a memorial trib

sis of these rather detailed instructions tended to soften some of the unique effects which,

ute to Mahler.) Bruno Walter, Mahler's friend, disciple, and fervent champion, conducted

when strictly enforced, lend a neurotic quality to much of Mahler's writing.

the Fifth Symphony for the first time with the Philharmonic during his initial appearances as a guest conductor in 1932.

212

notable for their tonal beauty and lyric grace.

Mitropoulos was also a dedicated Mahlerite and brought with him a background of other memorable Mahler performances. There was, for example, his ground-breaking recording of

Except for a pair of performances of the Adagietto under John Barbirolli in October

the First Symphony with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1940, and additional per-

1939, the Fifth Symphony was not heard again by Philharmonic audiences until Bruno

formances of the First with the New York Philharmonic in 1941 and with the Philadelphia

Walter conducted it in 1947. I myself was then a fledgling member of the Orchestra, and I

Orchestra at Robin Hood Dell in 1944. As the solo horn player of the Philadelphia Orchestra

reveled in my first exposure to this complex work as revealed by Walter. He stressed the lyric

at that time, I was fascinated, indeed almost mesmerized, by the raw intensity and passion of

elements of the Symphony to a much greater degree than did the great Mahler conductor

Mitropoulos's interpretation. I'm afraid, however, that Philadelphia audiences in the hot,

who followed him. His continual pleas for beautiful sound ("I am not happy—do what you

mosquito-filled, oppressive atmosphere of Robin Hood Dell were not then as receptive to this

can for this place"), his attention to dynamics ("Gentlemen, give me my diminuendo"), and

unaccustomed summer fare of Mahler's music as they would be today.

his singing style ("Gentlemen, there is not enough zinging in") brought forth performances

I remember also the exciting American premiere of Mahler's Sixth Symphony by the

213

Philharmonic under Mitropoulos in 1947. In the collective memory of members of the Philharmonic, those performances of the Sixth loom large. The work had a lightening-bolt impact on the Orchestra—and on audiences as well. There was a remarkable conformity in style between composer and conductor, and it was against this background of notable Mahler performances that Mitropoulos's reading of the Fifth was anticipated with such eagerness when it was announced that it would be on the inaugural program of the Philharmonic's now historic Mahler Festival in the 1959-60 season. Subsequent concerts in the festival were to include Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 3, 9, 10 (Adagio), Das Lied von der Erde, Kindertotenlieder, and various songs. The sense of anticipation and excitement during Mitropoulos's rehearsals of the Fifth carried over into the performances so strongly that those who experienced them will never forget their intensity and fervor. As a Philharmonic player, I had found virtually all of Mitropoulos's interpretations, in any repertoire, to be imbued with a strong sense of drama and vivid theatrical awareness. Nowhere was this more evident than in his Mahler. His proclivity for making a musical point by overstatement fitted rather neatly into Mahler's frequent and abrupt changes of mood, dynamics, tempo, and so on. Mahler was particularly fond of marking tempo changes by preceding them with the work plötzlich ("sudden") and, similarly, of making sudden changes of dynamics without any intermediate crescendo or diminuendo. Mitropoulos delighted in

Dimitri Mitropoulos, Musical Director of the New York Philharmonic from 1950 to 1958,

214

during a 1950 rehearsal.

these abrupt changes and spent much rehearsal time in preparing such places for maximum

was transmitted to the Orchestra, which then became as a single performer with him. The

effect. A master of the art of subito, he strove to emphasize all these shifts so that their delib

thrust that developed was awesome.

erate nature would be made evident to the listener.

Mitropoulos loved the sound of horns and would frequently implore the horn section to

This was in sharp contrast with Bruno Walter's somewhat more genial approach, in

play more loudly. There were times when it seemed to the players that a louder level would

which the lyric flow of the music rather than its changing character had been stressed.

force the tone to the point of ugliness. Naturally, they did not wish to distort the tone, but

Mitropoulos, with his tendency to exalt the details of a particular passage, was nor reticent

endeavored nonetheless to provide Mitropoulos with the level of volume he asked for.

about interpreting some sections of militaristic march music with brute severity or, on the other hand, highlighting or even exaggerating sentimental passages.

One morning Mitropoulos began a rehearsal with a short speech directed to the horn section, approximately as follows: "I must apologize to the horns. [Puzzled laughter from the

Mitropoulos worked quite hard during rehearsals to achieve the quality of performance

Orchestra.] No, I am serious. I am always asking them to play more, but some good friends,

expected of the New York Philharmonic. Rehearsals were often extremely exciting but they

whose opinions I respect, tell me that the horns are often too loud. So, horns, if I ask for

could be extremely trying as well, for Mitropoulos was not an acknowledged master of con

more please don't do it. [More laughter.] I really mean it. I know I will get excited and ask

ducting technique. Often, he used his hands to express the emotional content of slow,

for more, but you must resist." What an impossible assignment! We all made a great effort

expressive music, with only slight regard for maintaining a well-defined rhythmic pulse.

to comply, but it is very difficult to deny the impassioned pleas of a conductor who in the

Pizzicatos were always a hazard! As a wind player, I often marveled at the ability of the

excitement of performance has forgotten his own admonition.

string sections to play them together when he was conducting. Mitropoulos's attention was

Mitropoulos, on the podium, might almost have represented the embodiment of

often focused on other details of phrasing, such as dynamic shadings or expressive rubatos,

Mahler's spirit. Indeed, there were striking similarities in their natures. Both men were total-

and, consequently, in such places he occasionally failed to provide that most important

ly absorbed in their art, with little attention or interest given to facets of life dear to most

requirement for precise ensemble—a clear, explicit beat. Frustration was sometimes felt in

others. Both were men of spirit who sought the deeper meanings of life. Both were religious

orchestra and conductor alike, and much rehearsal time was spent bringing such passages

men—but in the last analysis, their religion was music. •

to a state of concert readiness. On the other hand, in faster, more energetic music which

216

had strong, rhythmic vitality, Mitropoulos was a master with few equals. His rhythm was

James Chambers (d. 1989) was Principal Horn of the New York Philharmonic from 1946 to

unshakable even in music of terrifying complexity. Passages with rapidly changing meters

1969 and served as the Orchestra's Personnel Manager from 1969 to 1986. This essay first

posed no problems for him and, indeed, stimulated him to the point where his excitement

appeared in the Philharmonic's special edition Radiothon Record, 1981.

217

Israel?); from tongue-in-cheek verse ("O Dryden is dry / Auden is odd . . .") to high-flown poetry ("Bough-armed in the dark we lie / Craving the down-rush, in-spring, out-cry . . . " ) .

Bernstein's Late-Night Thoughts on Mahler by JACK GOTTLIEB

"here are anagrammatic word games, lists, gestating ideas about works-in-progress, political statements (". . . I want everyone to live, and live undeformed, well-fed, unpoisoned . . . " ) , epigrams ("I am thinking: 'I am thinking'"), autobiographical irony ("Whaddya get from a cigarette . . . What's the answer? Cancer."). If books were the target of his jottings, it was inconceivable that Bernstein could resist the flyleaves, as well as the interior pages, of his conducting scores. Now stored in the archives of the New York Philharmonic, these offer a cornucopia of insights for musical laypersons and scholars alike. As with the books, they reveal Bernstein's comedic and erudite gifts. The meticulously inscribed scores, mostly in red and blue pencil, provide a vivid window into the working mind of the conductor. Red markings were directives to librarians to copy into parts; blue ones were aide-memoires for the conductor, some of which also went into parts. If there as a change of mind or subsequent additions, Bernstein brought attention to them by putting red X in the margin; once incorporated into the parts, these would be circled in blue.

L

But there is much more. Two-bar phrases are indicated by a pyramid-shaped mark, three-bar eonard Bernstein regarded the flyleaves of the books he read as blank canvases for poetry, musings, and other annotations. Appraising V. S. Pritchett's tales On the Edge of the Cliff, Bernstein writes: "I do admire people who have the patience to be in a Pritchett story. . . ." Or, on an edition of King Lear. "L's 'mid-life crisis

occurs at age 80. Hence, paranoia, need to be loved (bottomless well) and to have love

constantly proven visibly and orally. . . ." But often the flyleaf comments are not related to the book on hand. They are, instead, aperçus that range from the philosophical (the 218

aesthetics of a pet dog's lifted paw) to the practical (which assistant conductor to choose for

phrases by a curve (a practice learned from Koussevitzky), six-bar phrases are indicated by a 5 in the penultimate bar linked with a flourish to a 6 in the last (groupings essential to grasping the formal structure); long and short slashes show subdivisions of the beat; Germanic-style abbreviations are used for entrances—for example, K for clarinets (Klarinetten), P for Trombones Posaunen), so as not to confuse a C with Contrabassoon or a T for Trumpets—plus various other symbols (wavy lines, arrows) for new entrances, changes in articulation, dynamics, divisis, bowings (!), and so on: in other words, the full arsenal of tools fashioned by a master maestro.

219

It is Bernstein's Mahler Symphonic Partituren that engage us here, and they are a godsend. After all, both men were composer-conductors of the N e w York Philharmonic,

A visual kind of pun is established when Bernstein signals for the chorus to stand on Mahler's verse:

both faith-seekers who sought and thought on a large scale. T h e following selected ruminations by Bernstein on the Mahler scores must be regarded as spur-of-the-moment

Was vergangen, auferstehen! ("All that perished, rise again!" page 195)

jottings. T h e author certainly would have scrupulously edited such spontaneous outpourings for publication. T h e following passages are almost verbatim transcriptions,

Symphony No. 4, flyleaf

though abbreviations have been expanded, translations provided, and minor adjustments made for the sake of clarity.

T h e flyleaf is dated J u n e 3 0 , 1 9 8 7 , and Bernstein dashes off a musical ditty with underlaid words:

Symphony No. 2, page 185 Mahler's tide for the Finale: Grosse Appell ( "The Roll-Call" or "The Call to Judgment") is irresistible fodder for Bernstein, who writes below it:

We didn't sell out in Oslo, We didn't sell out the h a l l . . . Etc.

Big Apple

It never was wise to inform Bernstein before a performance on those rare occasions that there was not a full house. Sometimes, as in the Oslo program, on tour with the Concertgebouw

(Incidentally, the often irreverent puns that musicians sometimes write into their parts about each other, the music, and the conductor could, at the least, qualify for a series of 220

internet joke lists.)

in Europe, he could joke about it, but with a tinge of bitterness. (Researchers will be fascinated by the markings, in green and red ink, in one of Bernstein's non-conducting copies of the Fourth Symphony; the markings—added by

221

Universal

Edition,

the publisher—record Mahler's own orchestral

revisions. Another

Mahler:

opera

intriguing set of revisions may be observed on the score of the First Symphony, which

instrumental; yet

includes a copyist's paste-ups, with carefully drawn-in staves and notes.)

(including

symphonica. finale

clichés)

neurotic intensity,

most

operatic

resembles #2 (recitative,

of German

Wagner; also Italian opera,

Symphony No. 5, flyleaf

(#6

irony,

music

of all, hammer.

(Mozart-Schubert;

etc.?) driven

perhaps

because purely

.

Basic elements

.

.).

Beethoven-Brahms;

to their furious ultimate power.

Sublimation

I.

bitter

Angry

by Mahler and hearer. sorrow

mixed

with

gasping Luftpausen ["breathingspots"], sad

comforting

lullabies—

rocking a corpse.

and

tonic),

ritards

Result:

extreme sentimentalism, despair (that it can't go even further),

apocalyptic radiance, shuddering silence, vokanic Auftaken [sic; Auftakt = Rage-hostility.

Liszt-

stretched

to

"upbeat"],

titanic accents achieved by every means (sonic

near-motionlessness,

dynamics

over-refined

and

exaggerated to a point of neurasthenia, marches like a heart attack, old-fashioned 4-bar

II. Outburst of rage—more """"public" version of private feelings in 1. Ends

phrases punctuated in brass and fire, cadences that bless like the moment when an

with

excruciating pain suddenly

teeth still clenched,

salvation (choral,

despite occasional hints of ultimate glory and

ceases.

marches).

III. To hell with it—lets get drunk—A

ball.

The operatic Mahler: obviously so.

Lieder origins, dramatic structure.

preludes, interludes, magnitude, intensity, vocality,

Symphony No. 6

Curtain-raising

Theatre, climaxes, etc.

Pagliacci Traviata (#6), Aida (#2)

Taped across the first two pages of the score, in bold colors, we find a b u m p e r sticker:

MAHLER GROOVES

222

Tristan überall.

Alas, Das Lied not here: the commentary on all 9 symphonies (Footnote re #10).

Since strings and percussion are playing lower d o w n the first page, only e m p t y bars arc

On page 12, u p p e r left corner:

covered u p . A light t o u c h , to be sure; b u t there on the flyleaf, Bernstein's m o r e p r o f o u n d and

From

here on:

private observations n o w can be shared with us:

into

the

fabric

major/minor alternation of

the

harmony

becomes harmonically

thematic,

as

like

common

usage,

integrated

tonic/subdominant,

etc.

223

On the reverse side:

I. Death of tenderness and tonality II. Death of simplicity (innocence) III. Death of society IV. Letting go (death of resistance, clinging to life) On page 175: Bernstein points out a self-quotation by Mahler from his 8th Symphony: "Mutter! Jungfrau!" [the Virgin Mary].

Symphony No. 9, flyleaf On the rear flyleaf the conductor writes out in long hand all the Mahlerian printed tempo The refined beauties of ambiguity.

instructions: Adagissimo, langsam, zögernd, aüsserst langsam, ritard. These outer extremes of slowness are seriously taken to heart by Bernstein, who writes on the last page:

The obsessiveness of artistic creation. (How many Ländler, Wagnerian adagios, selfquotes, funeral "Kondukts" [i.e., corteges] can one man produce?). Obsessiveness caused by urge to produce the perfect form ofhis "vision." If he had lived, he might have tried 9 more times. 224

Have the courage to remain in 8!

225

The lapidary precision of Bernstein's markings reveals his keen eye for detail, which inevitably overflowed into keen listening experiences. He labored endless hours in preparation; and the remarkably glossed conducting scores Bernstein has left behind are a treasure-trove for future generations to dip into, to benefit therefrom, and to be healed by the sheer beauty of his calligraphy. •

©

1998

Leonard

by Jack

Gottlieb

Bernstein's

of Amberson,

quotations

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Above: Leonard Bernstein in Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center. 226

Overleaf: Leonard Bernstein's conducting score for Mahler's Symphony No. 6.

227

Mahler at the New York Philharmonic:

The Players Remember Interviews by ROBERT SHERMAN

"Mahler was our composer-in-residence for the last 90 years." Rainier de Intinis, horn, 1950-93

I

felt the Mahler lineage very much. It was as though it was our music, and Mahler our

composer in residence for the last 90 years. There is fiery emotion deep in Mahler's music. It doesn't require overblown emotion from

the conductor. My favorites were Mitropoulos, who had such understanding of Mahler and a wonderful freedom of dialogue, and Walter, whose straightforward, down-the-line honesty seemed to me more like what Mahler himself would have wanted. It was beautiful—non

The players' locker room at Carnegie Hall; Ranier de Intinis 230

is pictured in the center, holding a suitcase.

episodic, the lines connected, he caught its full sweep. Boulez, too, was able to connect the var-

He couldn't sleep nights—on the road he kept the manager up half the night walking around

ious episodes. Many conductors go through a theme, drop away, then come back with anoth-

with him—and he was always afraid of dying.

er theme; Mitropoulos, Walter, and Boulez all maintained a good, continuous line throughout.

"Walter was always carried away in Mahler's music." "I was in at the beginning." David Kates, viola, 1933-76 William Vacchiano, trumpet, 1935-73

A

lmost every orchestra that comes through New York includes a Mahler Symphony. But I feel very proud and happy that I was in at the beginning, because Mahler was not at

B

runo Walter had a wonderful relationship with Mahler's music, and he was always carried away when he conducted it. He was a very quiet fellow offstage, but when it came

to the climaxes in Mahler, he was shaking and shivering and trembling; his whole body was

all well known when I joined the Philharmonic in 1935. It was Bruno Walter who set the

moving in ecstasy. At rehearsals, he always kept asking the Orchestra to be quiet. If he was

pace. In fact, every conductor who does Mahler today has Walter to thank. We played most-

working with one section, and other players were whispering or talking, he'd turn to them,

ly standard pieces in those days—Beethoven and Mozart with half an orchestra—and all of

with a little twist of his right hand and his finger pointed upwards, as though he were giv-

a sudden, Mahler comes in, and it was like going from a tea party to a tempest. That tremen-

ing a lecture, and say, "Gentlemen, give me my silence." I once drew a little caricature in my

dous orchestra, with double trumpet section and double horns and so on—it was really

folder: It was a gravestone, with the words, "Here Lies Bruno Walter: Give Me My Silence."

thrilling. As time goes on, things change, but Walter started it all. He was very quiet in per-

"You can't be glued to the page in Mahler."

son—we used to call him "The Pope," because he walked on so slowly—but when he conducted he had a lot of fire. Walter had the right temperament for Mahler. I think he is responsible for the Mahler era. He certainly contributed more to it than anybody else until Lenny. Nobody compares with him. I was 22 years old when I joined the Philharmonic, but many of the other players had

232

Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster, 1980-

M

ehta was tremendously special in Mahler. He allowed himself the freedom to mold the Orchestra much more so than he did with other composers. The difference in inter-

actually played under Mahler. Mahler, of course, was not nearly so important then as he is

pretation between him and Lenny was like night and day, but both were very rewarding. Zubin

now, so they didn't talk about him too much. But they did tell me that he was very strict and

managed to translate the music a little bit more exactly, to be a little more focussed than Lenny.

somewhat sarcastic too. The players also told me that Mahler had many emotional problems.

You had be in a proper frame of mind to appreciate Lenny because it was so exuberant and so

233

exaggerated, [even though] he managed to make it work. Zubin was amazing so far as getting the job done. He approached the music very broadly, yet made it extremely exciting. I think Mahler takes a lot more freedom of thought; you can't be glued to the page, you can't be myopic in your approach. When you listen to the old Walter recordings, which are astounding in certain respects, they seem to have very conservative tempos, to be classically put together. Where Zubin would be stretching tempos, exaggerating nuances, Walter was a lot more straightforward. I think you have to be less concerned with authenticity when you bring such monstrous works to the stage, and Bernstein and Mehta did a far more con-

he identified with the type of inner torture that comes through in Mahler's music. Walter was very meticulous about the way he approached Mahler, in terms of adhering specifically to the markings, and always keeping within certain parameters. I appreciated that restraint; his Mahler was never overblown. Mitropoulos was more Bernstein-like, very emotional, but the marvel was his memory. No matter how long the work was, he never used a score, and would pull things out of his head—". . . 13 measures before letter R, where the oboe takes the lead . . ."—and sure enough he would be right there.

vincing job than I get from the older recordings. After all, the further we get from the age of Mahler, the less strict you need to be. It's the same way with Bach. Zubin and Lenny weren't afraid to take chances, to exaggerate things, to highlight the characteristics of what Mahler was trying to say. The first time I played Mahler under Lenny, the orchestral sound was magic—the first few bars, incredibly together, with such depth and intensity. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. You need a larger-than-life personality to bring Mahler across, because the music's so free and open.

"I enjoy listening to M a h l e r m u c h m o r e t h a n I did playing it."

Paige Brook, flute, 1952-88

K

ubelik was one of my favorites—one of the few conductors who felt that the composer was more important than he was. At the time, Mahler was not one of my favorites,

but I came to love [the music] more the longer I stayed in the Orchestra. Some conductors are very good when there's a lot of traffic, and Mitropoulos was like that. So often in Mahler, it's like an intersection with ten roads coming in, and he could steer us through beautifully.

" W e d i d feel t h a t w e h a d b e c o m e M a h l e r s p e c i a l i s t s o f a s o r t . "

Nathan Stutch, cello, 1946-89

W

e played an enormous amount of Mahler over the years because of Bernstein, so we had an affinity for the music. After playing so many performances with so many dif-

ferent conductors, we did feel that we had become specialists of a sort. 234

Bruno Walter's approach was more reserved, with an almost painful quality, as though

Mehta also had a really clear stick technique, and that's needed in Mahler. I enjoy listening to Mahler much more than I did playing it. The music is too schizophrenic for me: Mahler gets going in a beautiful fashion, then abruptly veers off on another tangent. It's better when I don't have to worry about counting, ensemble intonation, and other craftsmanship details. In the Orchestra I couldn't really listen to the music as a whole: From my seat, the brass was a mile way, the violas right in front, so that's the way we heard it.

235

"Barbirolli did Mahler beautifully, with guts and lots of feeling." Albert Goltzer, oboe, 1938-84

L

enny was fantastic, even if you didn't agree with his conducting technique. He had a feel for Mahler, no question about it. When we played Mahler with him the first time in Vienna,

the headline next day said "Mahler Comes Back to Vienna." Bruno Walter had a much milder approach, more pedantic. His personality was completely different from what I get out of Mahler's music. Mahler was evidently a very fiery, passionate guy, and Walter was low-key all the time. Mitropoulos was on the emotional side like Lenny, and he could bring out the feeling, the excitement of the music, the emotion that is so important a part of Mahler. His stick technique was not very good—he'd give a downbeat with all five fingers rotating—but in Mahler it didn't matter very much. Barbirolli was a wonderful guy and a marvelous musician. He did Mahler beautifully. It was almost English and Italian, as he was, so it had guts and lots of feeling.

"Mrs. Mahler sat in the third row at rehearsals." Leonard Davis, viola, 1949-91 never experienced anything like the Second Symphony under Bruno Walter. We were in Carnegie Hall, and when the choral entrance came, from the back of the orchestra, I never heard anything like it in my life. You could just hear air moving, with sort of a pitch. It was

236

the most unearthly experience you could imagine, and as it grew and grew and filled the hall

Music Director Zubin Mehta in 1979, with Philip Smith, Principal Trumpet,

up to the ceiling. It was really spectacular.

and Glenn Dicterow, Concertmaster.

237

It also was impressive to see Mrs. Mahler sitting in the third row at the rehearsals. Walter

ed, frothing at the mouth and breathing steam. It was almost more of a celebration of

would go down to her at the breaks, and they had conferences and he wrote down notes for

excitement. It didn't happen in rehearsals, with all the stops and starts, but the momen-

himself. If you listened carefully, you could hear the conversations in German: "Do you

turn of a concert let him build up a real head of steam. At least with Mahler you have

remember this, do you recall that?" She came very often to Mahler rehearsals. She was a very

enough room and time to expand. He was superactive, but he was an excellent musician,

handsome-looking woman, as was Walter, even at an advanced age. It has stayed very vivid

and I think he loved Mahler beyond anything else. That came through in the way he

in my memory.

approached the orchestra. The players in the Philharmonic, and any other major league

Another striking memory is of Stokowski conducting Mahler's Eighth Symphony. I

orchestra, give 100 percent without any prodding from the podium; in this case, even

think it was his last performance with the Philharmonic before he officially left, and on

after we got up to full sail, he was up there asking us for that much more. I think a lot of

Sunday afternoon we did the Eighth with the enormous chorus and brass players all over

that kind of super-conducting, the flailing of arms and so on, was simply his own enjoy-

the hall, including three trumpets in the center of the top balcony. Stoki was not beyond

ment of the performance. It wasn't anything layered on, it was honest; that's how he felt

showing his profile, hair, and hands to the audience, and towards the end, when everything

it, and he just couldn't restrain himself.

was building to a tremendous climax with the chorus and the brasses in various parts of the hall, with a great flourish, he turned and with his left hand out, faced the trumpet players

"There's b e e n a r e v o l u t i o n i n t h e w a y M a h l e r i s d o n e . "

in the top balcony. Meanwhile, his right hand dragged itself across the score, and he turned several pages by mistake. We were within a minute or two of the end when he looked back

Jacques Margolies, violin, 1942-46; 1964-

at the score and tried to unravel the puzzle, turning the pages back and forth. He never real-

L

ly did find his place, but he continued making a big show of everything, and finished the Symphony by ear, as it were. It could have been a catastrophe, but we played it, and Stoki

238

I

enny was a good Mahler conductor and so was Tennstedt. The intensity could be exhausting, but they had a certain way of getting themselves so deeply into the music

that it came across to us. Bruno Walter was completely different, very laid back and relaxed.

went on looking his best and put on a great act, and it was all very successful. The audience

Walter, of course, was a protégé of Mahler, and if that's the way Mahler wanted his sym-

didn't know all this, of course, but up front in the string section we saw it clearly. I guess if

phonies done, there's been a revolution in the way they're done today, with that sheer inten-

you're going to get lost, you might as well choose a place where the orchestra can carry on

sity and drama. In fact, even the tempos were different. I guess people weren't quite so wild

by itself.

back then. Walter's pacing was very different from what we get today, yet it worked.

remember Tennstedt being very fiery with Mahler, sort of a dragon when he got excit-

239

"This o r c h e s t r a treats M a h l e r in a special w a y . "

Mahler. What makes a great Mahler performance, actually, are not just the huge shifts of tempo or dynamics, but the slight ones, the small ritards, the little goings ahead. Anyone can

Thomas Stacy, English horn, 1972-

do a G.P.—it's the nuances that are the more difficult challenge. It's really the chamber-

ecause of the closeness of the Philharmonic with Mahler, going back to when he was the

B

music idea, the best performances are a give and a take. Physically it's draining, but the kind

Music Director here, we have a different approach to his music and probably play it bet-

of concentration that one develops in this kind of huge work makes it very exciting. You're

ter any other orchestra. I say that immodestly, but I think we bring a little more flair to it, a

forever waiting for the next high point.

better feeling for the style—we convey certain rhythmic patterns in a particular way that other ensembles do not. It's almost inherent. When I first got here, I realized immediately

"Mahler's symphonies disturbed me for m a n y years."

that this orchestra treats Mahler in a special way. The two Mahler performances that stand out as the most memorable of my tenure in the Philharmonic were the Ninth Symphony with Boulez in the Cathedral at Chartres—there was something magical about hearing that music and viewing the interior architecture of the cathedral—and Lenny's last Symphony No. 2 with us.

Newton Mansfield, violin, 1 9 6 1 -

A

s a European, it was a disturbing experience for me to play Mahler for a long time. Mahler was emoting his own emotional instabilities, but also expressing the terrible

disease that would come to Germany between the two World Wars, the time when every-

Boulez is a great Mahler conductor, one reason being his plastic treatment of tempo

thing was sort of grotesque; nothing seemed quite clean. Mahler would take a simple, almost

changes, it's just mesmerizing. He doesn't make ritards just to prepare a new tempo, he molds

a baby melody, and by the time he got through with it, it had the smell of the cabaret, of

everything in a wonderful and perfect-sounding way.

decay, of something that wasn't quite right. The very type of emotional uproar that Mahler seems to go through formed a sort of parallel path to what Europe was undergoing. That's

"Mahler's nuances are the m o r e difficult challenges."

not true of everything, of course—the pure music of the [Fifth Symphony's] Adagietto is a gem—but many others of Mahler's symphonies were very haunting and disturbed me for

240

Stanley Drucker, clarinet, 1948-

many years. I was very drawn to Mahler, and yet very repulsed by him at the same time. The

itropoulos was another great Mahler conductor He was very flamboyant, he had

M

combination of my European background and what was happening in Germany at the time

extremes in his approach—great fortissimos, tiny pianissimos, huge crescendos—he did

was very striking and very difficult to cope with.

everything larger than life. His intensity also seemed natural for all those sudden changes in

Now I am more separated from the experience, so playing Mahler is always a good expe-

241

rience. I just love what Mahler does with the strings. He understands the strings, he understands the whole orchestra, perhaps because he was a conductor himself, and it seemed to have a great influence on the way he wrote. Many composers write great music that at the same time is totally out of place on the instrument for which it's written. Not in Mahler's case. Even in those wild passages where you have ten thousand notes, the effect is still applicable to the instruments involved.

"Tennstedt and Kubelik were incredibly heated and emotional." Orin O'Brien, double bass, 1966-

I

remember Tennstedt and Kubelik as being incredibly heated and emotional. They had a

concept and could convince you of it without words. I just adored Kubelik. His tempos

and pacing in the Seventh Symphony were just phenomenal. It's a very difficult symphony because of the changing tempos and moods, even within the Scherzo, but I remember that my emotional feeling was like being swirled into a maelstrom from beginning to end. The word I connect mostly to Tennstedt is honesty. He was very strong musically, but so physically fragile on the podium that we felt rather protective of him. Boulez was extremely clear and accurate, which is important since Mahler is so thickly orchestrated much of the time. He always had well-balanced choirs, you could hear every solo clearly, and he never allowed groups of instruments to overpower other groups. That clear balance was one of his hallmarks. He would even tune chords—that is, have us play one note at a time in woodwinds and brass and so on, then tune carefully according to what the

242

predominant harmony was.

One of Boulez's greatest assets was his ability to make it comfortable for us to play the most difficult material. You weren't in a sweat; you had everything explained clearly and dis passionately. It was easier playing for him since there wasn't that storm of emotion that you felt from other conductors who wanted more from you than you could give. Bernstein, for instance, really wanted your heart. He wanted you to feel exactly what he felt, which was tumultuous. Boulez was oriented towards clarity; he wanted you to hear every individual strand, and he controlled dynamics beautifully; he didn't allow anybody to overplay.

"Mahler's footprints are still within this orchestra's purview." Joseph Robinson, oboe, 1977-

M

ahler's Second at the Philharmonic's 10,000th concert was one of Mehta's high moments. I think it's one of the best performances I had anything to do with. It was

a great concert, and I'm glad it is being included in this set. The combination of Mahler, Mehta, and the occasion itself was very special. In an enterprise like ours, in terms of business-as-usual, there are people who reach their best level at different times, but every now and then it seems to happen simultaneously with enough people in prominent places playing over their heads. We turn each other on, and if that is sustained for a while, a kind of magic sets in that makes a performance really transcendent for those of us who are playing it. Another occasion like that was when Bernstein filled in for Tennstedt, and we did four concerts of Mahler's Second. At the dress rehearsal, a kind of incandescent quality happened immediately, so we didn't stop, we just played it through. The same kind of thing happened at the 10,000th concert. We feel a sense of greater importance on an important occasion or

243

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

w h e n the TV is on. It doesn't a l w a y s w o r k , b u t I t h o u g h t it really d i d that n i g h t . T h e P h i l h a r m o n i c w a s Mahler's orchestra. I really do believe that filial piety has a great deal to do w i t h the w a y o r g a n i s m s (like the P h i l h a r m o n i c ) perpetuate themselves. I never took a lesson w i t h H a r o l d G o m b e r g , b u t I've been t r e m e n d o u s l y influenced by the 35 years that he held the principal oboe post before m e — a n d , in a way, my colleagues' expectations as well. Listeners m a y not hear H a r o l d G o m b e r g in my p l a y i n g , b u t there's still a k i n d of intention to be m o r e d r a m a t i c , to p l a y through a bigger range of s o u n d a n d a w i d e r s p e c t r u m of characterization. All of that is really a legacy. You know, H a r o l d Gomberg's m a r k s are all over the parts

Special thanks:

S h i r l e y Han

Berlin Philharmonic, Helge Grünewald

Jerry Bruck

Boston S y m p h o n y Orchestra, Bridget Carr

Rohen

Chicago Symphony Orchestra,

G e r a l d S . Fox

Brenda Nelson-Strauss, Frank Villella C i n c i n n a t i C o n s e r v a t o r y L i b r a r y , Paul Kauthman H o c h s c h u l e für M u s i k u n d d a r s t e l l e n d e K u n s t , Vienna, Desmond Mark

William Josephson Margaret Kane Benjamin D. Kerman

G e m e e n t e m u s e u m , T h e H a g u e , Frits Zwart

Michaela Kurz

d r e w a little face w i t h a k i n d of c r y i n g expression, a n d tears falling off, a n d it says "Farewell,

T h e Kaplan Foundation, Gilbert Kaplan, Gail

Alan S. Fesitsky

H.G., m a y G o d be w i t h y o u . " A n d it's a v e r y t o u c h i n g thing. He d a t e d it, the last performance of M a h l e r ' s Fifth he w o u l d ever play. N o t o n l y have I entered Gomberg's e n v i r o n m e n t , but I have g a i n e d a sense of my colleagues' expectations about w h a t g o o d oboe p l a y i n g is. In the s a m e way, Phil S m i t h k n o w s h o w Bill Vacchiano p l a y e d the t r u m p e t , a n d I'll g u a r a n t e e y o u that Phil M y e r s has heard every note that J i m m y C h a m b e r s ever recorded w i t h this orchestra. M a h l e r ' s footprints are still w i t h i n this orchestra's p u r v i e w . T h e r e are p e o p l e in the O r c h e s t r a w h o w e r e protégés o f p e o p l e w h o issued from that era. But b e y o n d s o m e direct l i n e a g e in that sense, it's m o r e that the O r c h e s t r a has a sense of c o n f i d e n c e a n d p r i d e in

Library of Congress, S a m Brylawski, Lawrence Applebaum Metropolitan Opera, R o b e r t Tuggle, John Pennino Musical America, S t e p h a n i e C h a l l e n e r

station Manhattan

WQXR, School

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Teri Reyes Lawrence R o c k D e n n i s D. R o o n e y S. Stevens Sands

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Hans Ferwerda

Norman

Schweikert

Steven Smolian

Sony Music Manufacturing

Lady Valerie Solti

University of Missouri, Kansas City,

Arthur Steinberg

Lorraine Busby

Sherman

Cynthia Meister Edward Reilly

Philadelphia Orchestra, Darrin T Britting

T h e University o f Western Ontario,

Robert

Lars L i n d h a l Ben Malkevitch

The New York Times, L i n d a A m s t e r

Chuck Haddix

k n o w i n g the M a h l e r repertoire a n d style. I d e f i n i t e l y feel that it's my m u s i c . •

and

B e r n h a r d Fritsch Alison M. John

I play, a n d s o m e t i m e s it's a v e r y personal thing. In the Adagietto of the Fifth S y m p h o n y , he

Ross

244

Cohen

Vienna Philharmonic, Clemens Hellsberg

Allan Steckler D o n Tait Malcolm Walker Myles Watson Martin Williams David Wright

245

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following generously granted permission for the production of this set: The musicians of the New York Philharmonic Local 802, AFM, William Moriarity, President American Federation of Musicians, Steve Young, President Chris Alexander Lady Evelyn Barbirolli Kathleen Battle Pierre Boulez Estate of Eugene Conley, Victor and Diana Lea The Kathleen Ferrier Awards Professor Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Maureen Forrester Estate of Rafael Kubelik, Elsie Kubelik Martha Lipton, Professor emeritus, Indiana University, Bloomington Mrs. George London Zubin Mehta Yvonne Minton The Estate of Dimitri Mitropoulos, James Dixon Prof. Wolfgang Schneiderhan for Irmgard Seefried For Sir Georg Solti: Music Production Inc. and The Decca Record Company Limited

Copyright 246

©

©

1998,

The

(continued)

Estate of William Steinberg Estate of Leopold Stokowski Estate of Set Svanholm, with the kind permission of his children Inge Tennstedt and EMI Records Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Camilla Williams, Professor of Voice, Indiana University School of Music, Bloomington Frances Yeend Sources: New York Philharmonic Archives (Nos. 2, 3, 5, 7; Das Lied and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen) Library of Congress—Voice of America Collection (Nos. 1, 4, 9, and 10); Mortimer H. Frank (No. 1) Seth B. Winner (No. 6) Estate of Stephen Temmer—Bernhard Fritsch, Richard M. Kemmler (No. 8) John Pfeiffer Collection—courtesy of Larry King, James Lum, Teri Noel Towe (No. 10: Purgatorio) Collection of Harold G. Colt, Jr. (Das Lied) Stan Ruttenberg and Arthur D. Cohen (William Malloch's "I Remember Mahler")

Philharmonic-Symphony

Society

of

New

York,

Inc.