audience reaction to M2

[Constantin]

Among the many things I've read about Mahler's symphonies, I remember once reading an account of an audience being so moved that many began sobbing, and some even fell out of their seats, so moving was the performance.  Does anyone remember reading such an account, and where can we find it?

[erikwilson7]

I remember reading it several years ago in college when I first got into classical music on one of those “top 10” websites. I found it here in this article for you; this is where I remember reading what you describe. This article seems quite amateur with no citations, so I’d take it with a grain of salt.

https://listverse.com/2012/12/21/top-10-musical-moments-to-redeem-your-faith-in-mankind/

Funny, ending of M2 is #5, ending of M3 is #4, and the ending of M8 is #1. No surprise there. Mahler is a composer of ‘moments.’

[James Meckley]

This article seems quite amateur with no citations, so I’d take it with a grain of salt.

Indeed. I can imagine grown men being brought to tears by a great performance of M2 (I've been guilty of that myself on a couple of occasions), but women passing out in the aisles seems a bit of a stretch. On the other hand, it was the era of the swooning couch.