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Basically, of course, all of Mahler’s music is about Mahler - which means simply that it is about conflict. Think of it: Mahler the Creator vs. Mahler the Performer; the Jew vs. the Christian; the Believer vs. the Doubter; the Naif vs. the sophisticate; the provincial Bohemian vs. the Viennese homme du monde; the Faustian Philosopher vs. the Oriental Mystic; the Operatic Symphonist who never wrote an opera. But mainly the battle rages between Western Man at the turn of the century and the life of the spirit. Out of this opposition proceeds the endless list of antithesis - the whole roster of Yin and Yang - that inhabit Mahler’s music
Leonard Bernstein, from his essay Mahler: His Time Has Come (via notesfromthesouth)

(Source: karajanmywaywardson)

nyphil: “My symphony was received with furious opposition by some and with wholehearted approval by others. The opinions clashed in an amusing way, in the streets and in the salons.” So wrote Gustav Mahler following an 1894 performance of his First Symphony in Weimar, and this contemporary cartoon offers further evidence of the uproar. There is still as much excitement, if less controversy, surrounding the work today. Experience it yourself in this week’s concerts and read more in the program note online. 
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nyphil:

“My symphony was received with furious opposition by some and with wholehearted approval by others. The opinions clashed in an amusing way, in the streets and in the salons.”

So wrote Gustav Mahler following an 1894 performance of his First Symphony in Weimar, and this contemporary cartoon offers further evidence of the uproar. There is still as much excitement, if less controversy, surrounding the work today. Experience it yourself in this week’s concerts and read more in the program note online. 

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