NY Times: "Romantic Indeed: A Letter Details Mahler’s Love Life"

[James Meckley]

Fascinating stuff from today's New York Times, especially regarding Gustav and Natalie:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/arts/music/mahler-was-more-a-romantic-than-scholars-thought.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=nytimesarts&_r=1&

James

[barry guerrero]

Very illuminating, I suppose, but I find none of this surprising. The affair with Marion von Weber is discussed in some detail in the recent Fischer biography.

[Penny]

I wondered whether a female perspective might be useful here.  Poor Natalie didn’t always have a happy life (although perhaps an interesting one) but posterity is grateful to her, and I’m glad that at least her relationship with the man she loved was consummated.  Can it really be true that it was with her encouragement that he wrote the “Resurrection” symphony, arguably his most popular and most influential work? 

The memoir if published would make fascinating reading, and I imagine would help to dispel the image that I suspect many still have of Mahler - the death-obsessed composer in “Death in Venice” besotted with a pretty young boy.  Mahler was a passionate and worldly man – that much comes across in his music - and working in the theatre he would likely have had plenty of opportunity for womanising!  Although he wasn’t conventionally handsome he had an interesting, striking, some would say beautiful face, and many women would have been attracted to his mind.  Power, intelligence and music are all potent aphrodisiacs and it’s now known that Alma in effect pursued him first, before he pursued her.

[James Meckley]

Poor Natalie didn’t always have a happy life (although perhaps an interesting one) but posterity is grateful to her, and I’m glad that at least her relationship with the man she loved was consummated.

That was the part of the article I found most interesting and satisfying. Some of the other details may have been revealed or suggested elsewhere, but Mahler's physical relationship with Natalie is—to me—the big news.

...the image that I suspect many still have of Mahler - the death-obsessed composer in “Death in Venice” besotted with a pretty young boy.

Although I can enjoy Visconti's Death in Venice on it's own terms, I regret the director's decision to conflate Aschebach and Mahler to the degree that he did. While there's evidence to suggest Thomas Mann based some of Aschenbach's personality and general physical characteristics on Mahler's, the inclination to become "besotted" with a beautiful young boy surely came from Mann's own aesthetic sense (and libido).

BTW, have you noticed a few minutes into Ken Russell's film Mahler there's a brief scene in which Mahler glances out the train window onto the station platform to see a young boy in a sailor suit cavorting in front of a well-dressed older man sitting on a nearby bench. One director's tribute to another.

James

[barry guerrero]

"BTW, have you noticed a few minutes into Ken Russell's film Mahler there's a brief scene in which Mahler glances out the train window onto the station platform to see a young boy in a sailor suit cavorting in front of a well-dressed older man sitting on a nearby bench. One director's tribute to another."

Yes, and it's accompanied by a brief excerpt of the M5 Adagietto as well. I think the Russell movie is brilliant, and far closer to the truth than most Mahler enthusiasts care to admit.

[Constantin]

Thanks, Barry.

When I first saw the Ken Russell film, I didn't understand the boy in the sailor suit.
Now, having seen Death in Venice, and reading your explanation, I get it.

Yes, the Ken Russell film on Mahler, bizarre as it is at times, is closer to the truth than other Mahler films I've seen.

Yes, although it first seemed way too shocking to see Mahler appearing before an anachronistically-clad Nazified Cosima Wagner, to renounce his Jewishness,  it was a good illustration of what Mahler faced in competition for the conductorship in Vienna. 

[Penny]

“Yes, the Ken Russell film on Mahler, bizarre as it is at times, is closer to the truth than other Mahler films I've seen.”

Agreed, although I’ve yet to see “Bride of the Wind”. In recent years I’ve come to understand and appreciate the Ken Russell film much more.  What it lacks in authentic locations (as in “Mahler on the Couch”) it makes up for in inspired use of fantasy.  I also admire the way Russell fits the music to the action and links the ideas together, and this film has probably influenced me more than I’ve cared to admit. 

Robert Powell’s “conducting” in the summerhouse never fails to make me smile, and suggests to me he may have studied some of the contemporary cartoons of Mahler conducting.

[barry guerrero]

Russell's "Mahler" also has THE greatest performance of "Im diesem Wetter" ever, sung in English. I also like how Russell dubs in extra tam-tam here and there, such as at the very, very beginning of the film. When the composing hut on the lake explodes into flames, Russell adds a tam-tam smash to the expressionistic outburst from the M10 Adagio. That alone hooked me on the movie.

[Constantin]

I certainly don't fault Barry for appreciating the tam-tam.
I always welcome hearing it too.
But Barry reminds us of another important point:  If you haven't appreciated the Mahler songs, especially "In diesem Wetter," Ken Russell's juxtaposition of Mahler's daughters, running in the forest, as a rainstorm begins, is spine-tingling!
Wear your raincoat--the film shows "In diesem Wetter" to its most-frightening best. 

[hrandall]

Russell's "Mahler" also has THE greatest performance of "Im diesem Wetter" ever, sung in English. I also like how Russell dubs in extra tam-tam here and there, such as at the very, very beginning of the film. When the composing hut on the lake explodes into flames, Russell adds a tam-tam smash to the expressionistic outburst from the M10 Adagio. That alone hooked me on the movie.

Now this is why I love the Mahler board! Finding out about yet more Mahler stuff I have to track down. Who sings this English version of  "Im diesem Wetter", and is it available anywhere else without having to buy this film?

Cheers,
Herb

[Constantin]

"Now this is why I love the Mahler board! Finding out about yet more Mahler stuff I have to track down. Who sings this English version of  "Im diesem Wetter", and is it available anywhere else without having to buy this film?"

Herb, the movie's translation of "In diesem Wetter" is "In Stormy Weather."

It's sung by Carol Mudie, but I don't believe the song is available by itself or in any collection.
You're stuck with hearing it only in this Ken Russell film, which is really a good thing, as the impact is achieved by the combination of the scary, nervous, fearful music and words, AND by Russell's filming, which shows Mahler's daughters, Maria and Anna (Putzi & Gucki), running through the forest as a menacing storm is brewing.  Also "brewing" (shown without words, during the song) is Alma's jealous insecurity about Anna von Mildenburg, and other of Mahler's sopranos, as well as concern for the daughters in this "stormy weather."

Ken Russell did a remarkable job of capturing the "flavor" or ambiance of Mahler's world and his life and family.  It's a film I return to again and again.  It's currently available at Amazon for as little as about ten dollars, with VHS tapes for even less.

Not, in the traditional sense, a documentary on the life of Mahler, it does succeed in capturing the excitement of his life.

--Constantin

[James Meckley]

[Ken Russell's Mahler] is currently available at Amazon for as little as about ten dollars, with VHS tapes for even less.

It's worth pointing out that the DVDs of Ken Russell's Mahler currently available from Amazon.com are in the PAL video format. If you live in the United States where NTSC is the standard, you'll need a player especially equipped to play PAL discs—not all of them are. Additionally, when PAL is converted to NTSC, a two-to-three-percent increase in speed and pitch occurs during playback.

The less said about the VHS versions, the better. I'm still hoping against hope for a carefully-done 4k Blu-ray transfer to appear someday.

James

[Constantin]

PAL video format


Thanks James.  Nobody wants to get a DVD that won't play.

I just checked again at Amazon, and there are used discs that will play in the US, but they start at more than $30.00.

I share James' view that VHS should be forgotten, and hope that a Blu-ray Ken Russell Mahler might be available some time.  It's been 39 years since the Russell Mahler came out!  Hard to believe it.

[waderice]

We can hope for the Blu-ray version of Russell's "Mahler", but another thing to keep in mind is whether or not the copyright has expired, and if so, whether or not it has been renewed.   If not renewed, as I've seen in the cases of a few other movies, it may never make it to another video release, Blu-ray or other format included.

Wade

[James Meckley]

Great news for fans of Ken Russell's Mahler:

A few months ago, the Criterion Collection (a company noted for producing high-definition digital transfers of "important classic and contemporary films") acquired rights to Russell's Mahler and have produced an HD master suitable for Blu-ray production. Apparently the HD master (in slightly compressed form) can now be viewed on Criterion's Hulu channel.

http://criterioncast.com/column/on-the-hulu-channel/ken-russells-mahler/

I own a few Criterion releases and find them all quite impressive. This is much more than I dared hope for when I wrote the earlier post.

James