Poems
Poems by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Influential poets (in order of birth): Chronology poems by Gustav Mahler Letter in de form of a poem Rubezahl Excerpts Rubezahl (Guardian Rübezahl is a folklore mountain spirit (woodwose) of the Krkonoše Mountains (Giant Mountains, Riesengebirge, Karkonosze), a mountain range along the border between the historical lands of Bohemia and Silesia. […]
Theosophy
Occultism was thriving in fin-de-siècle Vienna when Mahler was about forty years old. There was more to turn-of-the-century Vienna than sometimes meets the scholarly eye. In addition to the kinds of figures and topics that tend to reinforce “legitimate” areas of investigation – philosophy, music architecture, and psychoanalysis, for instance – there was an occult […]
Vegetarianism
Mahler’s vegetarianism is documented in his letters: 1. “The following season proved a very gloomy one for Mahler. Once more the “city of music” could furnish him no greater material consolation than that of a few piano-pupils. Evenings he would attach himself to a group of young, poverty-stricken Wagnerian enthusiasts and over a cup of […]
Religion
On 23-02-1897 (Year 1897) Gustav Mahler walked into the St. Michael’s church small (Hamburg) and was “received” or baptized into the Roman Catholic faith. The rite of conversion, Mahler believed would clear away a major stumbling block as a prerequisite for being named principal director of the Vienna Hofoper, the Court Opera, today’s Vienna State Opera, and […]