Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies [Paperback]

Constantin Floros (Author), Vernon and Jutta Wicker (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2003

Mahler's 10 symphonies and Das Lied von der Erde are intensely personal statements that have touched wide audiences. This survey examines each of the works, revealing their programmatic and personal aspects, as well as Mahler's musical techniques.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An enlightening book. -- Classical Music Magazine

It is excellent. -- American Record Guide, Sept/Oct 1994

The translation by Vernon and Jutta Wickler is extremely readable. --Gerald S. Fox, President, The New York Mahlerites , November 1, 1999

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 363 pages
• Publisher: Amadeus Press (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574670255
• ISBN-13: 978-1574670257
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Indispensable for the Mahlerite., August 14, 2000

By 

Bob Zeidler (Charlton, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies (Paperback)

The symphonies of Gustav Mahler can be listened to on more than one level. As complex and forward-looking as they are, they nonetheless can connect at an elemental, "visceral" level for many listeners.

However, for a fuller appreciation of both the details and the profundity which are in these works, as well as for insight into Mahler's creative processes, some outside help is required, and this help is usually not forthcoming from the liner or booklet notes that accompany recordings, or from the program notes that accompany performances. This is precisely where this excellent book by Constantin Floros fits in.

First, a few words on what this book is not, and does not purport to be. It is not a comparative discography of available performances; in fact, it neither lists nor recommends recordings. Second, it is not a critical biography of Mahler; the interested reader is referred to the outstanding (but much more expensive) volumes by Henry-Louis de la Grange, available elsewhere at Amazon.com. Third, it is not a psychological study of Mahler, relating, as such a study might, such connections between the man and the music; an excellent small volume by Theodor Adorno, "Mahler: A Musical Physiognomy" covers that territory very well, and is also available elsewhere at Amazon.com. Fourth, and finally, it is not a set of musical scores of the symphonies; those as well, published by Dover in inexpensive paperback editions, can be found at Amazon.com

So, just what is this Floros book? It is the perfect companion for the serious Mahlerite in understanding the genesis and the thematic, harmonic and interpretational details of each of Mahler's ten symphonies, and the interrelationships and comparisons among them. It has just enough of the material covered in the references noted above, along with detailed analyses of the symphonies, for each of them to be better understood and placed in historical and musical context by the listener. Its greatest insight into these symphonies comes largely from Floros' remarkable scholarship in tracking down all of the score notes that Mahler provided in his sketches, short scores and long scores, his correspondences with his wife, friends and interpreters, and their comments and observations as well. By piecing all of this research together, relying particularly heavily on Mahler's own notes, Floros has come up with a near-definitive look into Mahler's creative and interpretational processes (a term for such a look based on scholarship that Floros describes as "hermeneutics").

The book's publication date (1985 in the original German) means that it is the beneficiary of a series of events in the 1960's that opened the door to greatly improved accuracy in the study of this complex man and his equally complex music. First was the passage into the public domain of much of Mahler's own private writings, on the 100th anniversary of his birth. Second was the agreement on the part of his widow, Alma Mahler-Werfel, to release other materials, particularly related to his unfinished 10th Symphony, for public scrutiny. Third was the availability of this material to the Englishman Deryck Cooke, and others, who provided performing versions of this final 10th Symphony so that the public at large could better judge the direction in which Mahler had been heading when his work was cut short by premature death. Floros pays great respect to, and provides excellent insight into, the work of Cooke in his (Floros') plan to describe the full symphonic output of Mahler.

This book is very liberally annotated, with briefly-scored examples as reference marks for understanding the interrelationships among the various musical themes, as well as end notes for each symphony and a detailed bibliography for further reading. While it helps to be able to read these brief bars of music, even those who cannot will benefit immensely from Floros' scholarship and fine, but nonetheless dense, writing in providing extramusical background and values for a better understanding of these remarkable symphonies which moves so many of us.

Without question, the single most valuable reference source for a fuller understanding of the Mahler symphonies. And a compact and inexpensive companion for the Mahlerite.

Bob Zeidler

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It gave a good background on why each symphony was composed., November 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies (Paperback)

The book was translated very well. It broke each symphony down by movement and gave its history, as well as a breif analysis. I definite must for Mahler fans!

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, June 1, 2000

By 

William L. Harwood - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies (Paperback)

If you want to know how a Mahler symphony is put together and why it works, this is the only book that does it. Reading it with a score at hand is useful, but not necessary. Technical but worth it.