Focusing on the contexts surrounding the artist, the collection provides a sense of the complex crosscurrents against which Mahler was reacting as conductor, composer, and human being. Topics explored include his youth and training, performing career, creative activity, spiritual and philosophical influences, and his reception after his death. Together, this collection of specially commissioned essays offers a wide-ranging investigation of the ecology surrounding Mahler as a composer and a fuller appreciation of the topics that occupied his mind as he conceived his works. Readers will benefit from engagement with lesser known dimensions of Mahler's life. Through this broader contextual approach, this book will serve as a valuable and unique resource for students, scholars, and a general readership. - Explores the educational and social environments within which the young Mahler had to define himself and build his career - Describes the settings in which Mahler developed and practiced his abilities as a performer, and sheds new light on a vital dimension of his activity as a creative artist - Highlights the many external influences that profoundly affected his creative activity, from print culture, intertextuality and visual arts to philosophical and literary influences Table of Contents Preface and acknowledgements: List of abbreviations: Part I. Formation: 1. Family life Stephen McClatchie 2. A childhood in bohemia: early teachers and friends Reinhold Kubik 3. Music in Iglau, 1860–75 Timothy Freeze 4. Student culture in 1870s Vienna Caroline A. Kita 5. Viennese musical associates, 1875-1883 Charles Youmans 6. Becoming a conductor: the early years in Mahler's career Peter Revers 7. Between 'Thrice Homeless' and 'To the Germans in Austria': political conditions in Mahler's Europe Margaret Notley Part II. Performance: 8. Operatic and orchestral repertoire Anna Stoll Knecht 9. Collaborators Anna Harwell Celenza 10. A perfect storm: Mahler's New York Joseph Horowitz 11. Celebrity Eva Giloi Part III. Creation: 12. The composer 'goes to press': Mahler's dealings with engravers and publishers in Vienna around 1900 Renate Stark-Voit 13. Mahler and program music Constantin Floros 14. Intertextuality in Mahler Vera Micznik 15. The symphony, 1870-1911 David Larkin 16. Mahler and the visual arts of his time Martina Pippal 17. Mahler and modernism Marilyn L. McCoy 18. Reception in Vienna Kevin C. Karnes 19. Mahler's press from London to Los Angeles Karen Painter Part IV. Mind, Body, Spirit: 20. Organized religion Stephen McClatchie 21. German idealism Morten Solvik 22. Nietzsche Lesley Chamberlain 23. Fechner Michael Heidelberger 24. Literary enthusiasms Jeremy Barham 25. Romantic relationships Charles Youmans 26. Mahler and death Carl Niekerk Part V. Influence: 27. Posthumous reputation, 1911 to World War II Stephen Downes 28. Mahler and the second Viennese school Wolfgang Rathert 29. The Mahler revival James L. Zychowicz 30. Broader influence Thomas Peattie 31. Adorno Roger Allen 32. Influences in literature Matthew Werley 33. Mahler on disc Richard Wattenbarger 34. Film and recent popular culture Peter Franklin.