Mahler
Viennese opera director
Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) was an Austrian composer and conductor whose symphonies are among the most ambitious in the repertoire—massive, emotionally intense works that bridge Romanticism and modernism.
As a conductor, he directed the Vienna Court Opera and later the New York Philharmonic.
We're going to hear Mahler's Second tonight.
His music fell out of favor after his death but was revived in the mid-twentieth century.
In his operatic style
- chromaticismUse of non-scale tones
- expressionismDistorting reality for emotion
- fin-de-siècleCentury's closing period
- tonalityMusic organized around tonic
orchestration · lieder · pathos · Bruckner · Strauss · Schoenberg · farewell · world-weariness
Extended composition for orchestra
- orchestraLarge instrumental ensemble
- conductorOne who directs musicians
- movementChange in position
- adagioSlow musical tempo
allegro · scherzo · andante · finale · crescendo · fortissimo · pianissimo · strings
Simultaneous independent melodic lines
- counterpointSimultaneous independent melodies
- denseClosely packed together
- elaborateComplex and detailed
- multilayeredHaving multiple strata
interwoven · textured · richness · complexity · cowbells · offstage · brass · hammer
Austrian capital
- KlimtAustrian symbolist painter
- FreudFounder of psychoanalysis
- SchoenbergAtonal method inventor
- fin-de-siècleCentury's closing period
coffeehouse · Habsburg · director · Judaism · conversion · anti-Semitism
Favoring reform and innovation
- groundbreakingIntroducing radical new ideas
- modernismFavoring contemporary approaches
- avant-gardeInnovative cultural pioneers
- experimentationSystematic testing of ideas
unconventional · visionary · bridge · twentieth-century · atonality · Schoenberg · Shostakovich · Bernstein
Wagnerian
In his operatic style
- chromaticismUse of non-scale tones
- expressionismDistorting reality for emotion
- fin-de-siècleCentury's closing period
tonality · orchestration · lieder · pathos · Bruckner · Strauss · Schoenberg · farewell · world-weariness
symphony
Extended composition for orchestra
adagio · allegro · scherzo · andante · finale · crescendo · fortissimo · pianissimo · strings · brass
polyphony
Simultaneous independent melodic lines
- counterpointSimultaneous independent melodies
- denseClosely packed together
- elaborateComplex and detailed
multilayered · interwoven · textured · richness · complexity · cowbells · offstage · brass · hammer · mandolin
Vienna
Austrian capital
- KlimtAustrian symbolist painter
- FreudFounder of psychoanalysis
- SchoenbergAtonal method inventor
fin-de-siècle · coffeehouse · Habsburg · director · Judaism · conversion · anti-Semitism
progressive
Favoring reform and innovation
- groundbreakingIntroducing radical new ideas
- modernismFavoring contemporary approaches
- avant-gardeInnovative cultural pioneers
experimentation · unconventional · visionary · bridge · twentieth-century · atonality · Schoenberg · Shostakovich · Bernstein · revival
- classical musicBach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms
- ComposersBach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Haydn
- European MusiciansBach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms
- Austrian ComposersMozart, Haydn, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bruckner
- Austrian musicMozart, Haydn, Schubert, Johann Strauss, Strauss
- Austrian musiciansMozart, Haydn, Schubert, Strauss, Bruckner
MahlerChopin
Polish Romantic pianist-composer
Debussy · miniaturist · John Dowland · Couperin · Schubert
MahlerStravinsky
Ravel · Bach · Prokofiev · neoclassicist · formalist