A look at Gustav Mahler from the perspective of his cultural surroundings. Students will explore the musical works, aesthetic goals and personal philosophy of the composer within the setting in Vienna from 1875 to 1911. We will consider examples of the literature, philosophy, science, art, music, drama, and politics that surrounded Mahler and ask how these may have influenced his approach to musical composition. Excursions to historic sites will complement course material.
Prerequisites:
Prior studies in music history, basic skills in music analysis.
Method of presentation:
Lectures, discussions, excursions
Required work and form of assessment:
Class participation (20%); journal (20%); mid- term exam (30%); final exam (30%).
2. Art and Existence
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860): The World as Will and Representation, Vol.I (1818), §31-36
Gustav Mahler: “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” (1901) and Symphony No.3, fourth movement (1896)
Reading: Schopenhauer; Solvik Olsen: 28-113 // 239-300
3. Music as Revelation
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900): The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music (1872) Gustav Mahler: Lieder from Des Knaben Wunderhorn:
“Ablösung im Sommer” (1887/90), “Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt” (1893), “Das himmlische Leben” (1892)
Reading: Nietzsche: §1-7 // Hefling “Mahler”: 369-374, 383-407
4. Dionysus; Culture and Politics
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.3, movements 1, 4, 5, and 6 (1896) Reading: McGrath: 120-162
5. The Driving Force
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): “Fixation to Traumas – The Unconscious” (1917) Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.10 (1910, incomplete)
Reading: Freud // Feder
6. MIDTERM
7. Nature; Darwinian Crisis
Charles Darwin (1809-1882): The Origin of Species (1859), Chapter 3;
Gustav Mahler: “Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde” from Das Lied von der Erde (1909) Reading: Darwin: Chapter 3 // Hefling “das Lied:” 438-450
8. The Fallen Comrade
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.3, 3rd movement and “Ablösung im Sommer” (Des Knaben
Wunderhorn)
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.1 (1888), 3rd movement and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Reading: Solvik // Hefling “Mahler”: 374-383
9. Love Transcendent; The Secession
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918): Beethoven Frieze (1902) EXCURSION to the Secession
Reading: Vergo: 18-85
10. Sex and Society
Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931): Anatol (1888-1891) Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.8 (1907)
Reading: Schnitzler // Williamson: 407-418
11. Overcoming
Richard Wagner (1813-1883), Parsifal (1882) Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.3, finale Reading: Wagner
12. FINAL EXAM
Required readings:
Bauer-Lechner, Natalie (1980). Recollections of Gustav Mahler. London: Faber and Faber.
Solvik Olsen, Morten (1992) Culture and the Creative Imagination: The Genesis of Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony. Ph.D. Dissertation, Univ. of Pennsylvania
Solvik, Morten (1997). “Biography and Musical Meaning in the Posthorn Solo of Mahler’s Third Symphony” in: Neue Mahleriana, ed.: Günther Weiß. Berne, etc.: Peter Lang.
Schnitzler, Arthur (1983) Anatol: The Crucial Question, Christmas Shopping. London: Methuen.
Hefling, Stephen E. (1997) “Mahler: Symphonies 1-4,” in: The Nineteenth-Century Symphony, ed. D. Kern Holoman. New York: Schirmer Books.
------- (2002) “Das Lied von der Erde” in: The Mahler Companion, ed.: Andrew Nicholson and Donald Mitchell. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Feder, Stuart (2004) (2004). Gustav Mahler. A Life in Crisis. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Schopenhauer, Arthur (1969). The World as Will and Representation, Vol.I, Book 3, § 31-36. New York: Dover.
Vergo, Peter (1981). Art in Vienna 1898-1918 Oxford: Phaidon Press. Wagner, Richard Parsifal (libretto)
Dargie, E. Mary (1981). Music and Poetry in the Songs of Gustav Mahler. Berne: Peter Lang.
Floros, Constantin (1994). Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies. Hants: Scholar Press.
Janik, Allan and Stephen Toulmin (1973). Wittgenstein’s Vienna. New York: Touchstone.
de La Grange, Henry-Louis (1995). Gustav Mahler. Vol.2, Vienna: The Years of Challenge (1897-1904). Oxford: Oxford University Press
------ (1999). Gustav Mahler. Vol.3, Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (1904-1907). Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.
------ and Günther Weiss with Knud Martner (eds.), rev. and transl. Antony Beaumont (2004). Gustav Mahler: Letters to His Wife. London: Faber and Faber.
Lebrecht, Norman (ed.) (1987). Mahler Remembered. London and Boston: Faber and Faber.
Mahler, Alma (1968). Gustav Mahler. Memories and Letters. London: John Murray.
Mitchell, Donald (1995). Gustav Mahler: The Early Years. Berkeley: Univ. CA Press.
----- (1975). Gustav Mahler: The Wunderhorn Years. Berkeley: Univ. CA Press, 1975
------ (1985). Gustav Mahler: Songs and Symphonies of Life and Death. London: Faber and Faber.
------ and Andrew Nicholson (eds.) (2002). The Mahler Companion. Oxford: Oxford Univ Press.
Musil, Robert The Man Without Qualities(Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften)
Schorske, Carl E. (1981). Fin-de-Siècle Vienna. Politics and Culture. New York: Vintage Books.
Solvik, Morten (2005). “Mahler’s Untimely Modernism,” in: Perspectives on Gustav Mahler, ed. by Jeremy Barham. Ashgate Press, (forthcoming).
Wunberg, Gotthart (ed.) (1995) Die Wiener Moderne. Literatur, Kunst und Musik zwischen 1890 und 1910. Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam jun.
A look at Gustav Mahler from the perspective of his cultural surroundings. Students will explore the musical works, aesthetic goals and personal philosophy of the composer within the setting in Vienna from 1875 to 1911. We will consider examples of the literature, philosophy, science, art, music, drama, and politics that surrounded Mahler and ask how these may have influenced his approach to musical composition. Excursions to historic sites will complement course material.
Prior studies in music history, basic skills in music analysis.
Lectures, discussions, excursions
Class participation (20%); journal (20%); mid- term exam (30%); final exam (30%).
1. Course Introduction, Background, Mahler’s Vienna
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (1885) Reading: Vergo: 9-17; Bauer-Lechner + Martner: excerpts
2. Art and Existence
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860): The World as Will and Representation, Vol.I (1818), §31-36
Gustav Mahler: “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” (1901) and Symphony No.3, fourth movement (1896)
Reading: Schopenhauer; Solvik Olsen: 28-113 // 239-300
3. Music as Revelation
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900): The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music (1872) Gustav Mahler: Lieder from Des Knaben Wunderhorn:
“Ablösung im Sommer” (1887/90), “Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt” (1893), “Das himmlische Leben” (1892)
Reading: Nietzsche: §1-7 // Hefling “Mahler”: 369-374, 383-407
4. Dionysus; Culture and Politics
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.3, movements 1, 4, 5, and 6 (1896) Reading: McGrath: 120-162
5. The Driving Force
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): “Fixation to Traumas – The Unconscious” (1917) Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.10 (1910, incomplete)
Reading: Freud // Feder
6. MIDTERM
7. Nature; Darwinian Crisis
Charles Darwin (1809-1882): The Origin of Species (1859), Chapter 3;
Gustav Mahler: “Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde” from Das Lied von der Erde (1909) Reading: Darwin: Chapter 3 // Hefling “das Lied:” 438-450
8. The Fallen Comrade
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.3, 3rd movement and “Ablösung im Sommer” (Des Knaben
Wunderhorn)
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.1 (1888), 3rd movement and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Reading: Solvik // Hefling “Mahler”: 374-383
9. Love Transcendent; The Secession
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918): Beethoven Frieze (1902) EXCURSION to the Secession
Reading: Vergo: 18-85
10. Sex and Society
Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931): Anatol (1888-1891) Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.8 (1907)
Reading: Schnitzler // Williamson: 407-418
11. Overcoming
Richard Wagner (1813-1883), Parsifal (1882) Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.3, finale Reading: Wagner
12. FINAL EXAM
Bauer-Lechner, Natalie (1980). Recollections of Gustav Mahler. London: Faber and Faber.
Darwin, Charles The Origin of Species: Chapter 3, “Struggle for Existence” www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-origin-of-species
Freud, Sigmund (1991). Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis Lecture 18: Fixation to Traumas – The Unconscious. London: Penguin.
Carr, Jonathan (1997). The Real Mahler. London: Constable.
Williamson, John (2002). “The Eighth Symphony” in: The Mahler Companion, eds. Andrew Nicholson and Donald Mitchell. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Martner, Knud (ed.) (1979) Selected Letters of Gustav Mahler. London: Faber and Faber.
McGrath, William J. (1974). Dionysian Art and Populist Politics in Austria, Chapter 5. New Haven and London: Yale Univ Press.
Nietzsche, Friedrich The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music www.geocities.com/thenietzschechannel
Solvik Olsen, Morten (1992) Culture and the Creative Imagination: The Genesis of Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony. Ph.D. Dissertation, Univ. of Pennsylvania
Solvik, Morten (1997). “Biography and Musical Meaning in the Posthorn Solo of Mahler’s Third Symphony” in: Neue Mahleriana, ed.: Günther Weiß. Berne, etc.: Peter Lang.
Schnitzler, Arthur (1983) Anatol: The Crucial Question, Christmas Shopping. London: Methuen.
Hefling, Stephen E. (1997) “Mahler: Symphonies 1-4,” in: The Nineteenth-Century Symphony, ed. D. Kern Holoman. New York: Schirmer Books.
------- (2002) “Das Lied von der Erde” in: The Mahler Companion, ed.: Andrew Nicholson and Donald Mitchell. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Feder, Stuart (2004) (2004). Gustav Mahler. A Life in Crisis. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Schopenhauer, Arthur (1969). The World as Will and Representation, Vol.I, Book 3, § 31-36. New York: Dover.
Vergo, Peter (1981). Art in Vienna 1898-1918 Oxford: Phaidon Press. Wagner, Richard Parsifal (libretto)
Beaumont, Antony (ed.) (2000) Alma Mahler-Werfel. Diaries 1898-1902. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ Press.
Dargie, E. Mary (1981). Music and Poetry in the Songs of Gustav Mahler. Berne: Peter Lang.
Floros, Constantin (1994). Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies. Hants: Scholar Press.
Janik, Allan and Stephen Toulmin (1973). Wittgenstein’s Vienna. New York: Touchstone.
de La Grange, Henry-Louis (1995). Gustav Mahler. Vol.2, Vienna: The Years of Challenge (1897-1904). Oxford: Oxford University Press
------ (1999). Gustav Mahler. Vol.3, Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (1904-1907). Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.
------ and Günther Weiss with Knud Martner (eds.), rev. and transl. Antony Beaumont (2004). Gustav Mahler: Letters to His Wife. London: Faber and Faber.
Lebrecht, Norman (ed.) (1987). Mahler Remembered. London and Boston: Faber and Faber.
Mahler, Alma (1968). Gustav Mahler. Memories and Letters. London: John Murray.
Mitchell, Donald (1995). Gustav Mahler: The Early Years. Berkeley: Univ. CA Press.
----- (1975). Gustav Mahler: The Wunderhorn Years. Berkeley: Univ. CA Press, 1975
------ (1985). Gustav Mahler: Songs and Symphonies of Life and Death. London: Faber and Faber.
------ and Andrew Nicholson (eds.) (2002). The Mahler Companion. Oxford: Oxford Univ Press.
Musil, Robert The Man Without Qualities(Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften)
Schorske, Carl E. (1981). Fin-de-Siècle Vienna. Politics and Culture. New York: Vintage Books.
Solvik, Morten (2005). “Mahler’s Untimely Modernism,” in: Perspectives on Gustav Mahler, ed. by Jeremy Barham. Ashgate Press, (forthcoming).
Wunberg, Gotthart (ed.) (1995) Die Wiener Moderne. Literatur, Kunst und Musik zwischen 1890 und 1910. Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam jun.
Zweig, Stefan. The World of Yesterday.