History Music / GustavMahler

He is sometimes viewed as a transitional figure between the romantic era and the early modern era of classical music (particularly German Expressionism), much the way that Beethoven can be viewed as a transition between the classical and romantic eras. Mahler was a major influence for Arnold Schoenberg and his students. In particular, the way that Mahler begins to dissect tonality in his 9th symphony and the parts of the 10th that he did manage to finish -- this leads directly to the 12-tone system that Arnold Schoenberg pioneered.

* LighterAndSofter: The eighth symphony sets two optimistic texts (the hymn "Veni, Creator Spiritus" and the finale of Goethe's ''Theatre/{{Faust}}'' and abandons the ambiguous tonality and irony of most of his other work.

* StoppedNumberingSequels: Superstitious about the so-called "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_ninth curse of the ninth]]", in which other composers such as Music/LudwigVanBeethoven and Music/FranzSchubert had died after completing their ninth symphony and working on their tenth, Mahler's symphonic work after Symphony No. 8 was not entitled "Symphony No. 9" but ''Das Lied von der Erde". ''After'' that, however, he felt safe enough to entitle his ''next'' composition "Symphony No. 9"... and [[YouCantFightFate died while working on his tenth]].

* ShoutOut: The "Adagietto" from Symphony No. 5 was famously used in ''Film/DeathInVenice''.

[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gustav_Mahler_2230.gif]]

-->-- '''Gustav Mahler'''

->''"Wouldn't you just '''die''' without Mahler!?"''
-->-- '''Trish in ''Theatre/EducatingRita'''''

Austrian composer and conductor (7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911), one of the last of the Romantic era.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Reaction to his symphonies in his lifetime was all over the place. His First was denounced as dull, his Second was a big hit, his Third prompted one Viennese critic to state "Anyone who has committed such a deed deserves [[DisproportionateRetribution a couple of years in prison]]". Reaction to the Fourth Symphony [[UpToEleven was somehow even worse]], with near-universal dislike that in some cases bordered on hatred. His association with Music/RichardWagner was [[GuiltByAssociation a strike against him]] [[FandomRivalry for many people]] (being an opera conductor, Mahler became the foremost interpreter of Wagner in his day), as was his Jewish heritage, earning condemnation from anti-semites then [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and later]]. His Eighth Symphony was met with [[EarnYourHappyEnding a half-hour of applause]], though, and he remained highly sought after as a conductor.

* IllBoy: Like his siblings, he inherited a weak heart from his mother. While he died of a heart ailment, it was bacterial endocarditis (likely brought on by dental work) that killed him.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Reaction to his symphonies in his lifetime was all over the place. His First was denounced as dull, his Second was a big hit, his Third prompted one Viennese critic to state "Anyone who has committed such a deed deserves [[DisproportionateRetribution a couple of years in prison]]". His association with Music/RichardWagner was a strike against him for many people (being an opera conductor, Mahler became the foremost interpreter of Wagner in his day), as was his Jewish heritage, earning condemnation from anti-semites then [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and later]]. His Eighth Symphony was met with [[EarnYourHappyEnding a half-hour of applause]], though, and he remained highly sought after as a conductor.

* ACapella: Both the Second and Eighth Symphonies contain a capella choral entrances, with considerable dramatic effect.

* VocalRangeExceeded: The initial choral entrance in the Second Symphony contains the lowest vocal note ''in the entire classical repertoire''. There is even an instruction in the score that reminds the second basses not to sing the note an octave higher. Thankfully, this entrance is ACapella, and so it can be heard.

* FriendlyRivalry: With Music/RichardStrauss. Mahler said [[NotSoDifferent they were digging towards the same summit from different sides of a mountain]].

He mostly restricted his output to symphonies and song cycles. Mahler once remarked that "the symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything." No wonder then that his symphonies work on a larger scale than anything previously conceived: some of them have elaborate philosophical programs, like his Symphony No. 3 which, like Music/RichardStrauss' tone poem ''Music/AlsoSprachZarathustra'', is based on [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche Nietzsche]]'s ''Literature/AlsoSprachZarathustra''. Mahler continually specified larger orchestras and more esoteric instruments; the culmination of this is his Symphony No. 8, which requires a ridiculously large number of musicians: double orchestra, an organist, eight vocal soloists, and three choirs. Not surprisingly, then, it is often called the "Symphony of a Thousand."

[[AuthorExistenceFailure Mahler died before he could complete his 10th Symphony]]. Interestingly, he had feared exactly this: he believed in the "Curse of the Ninth", which states that a composer has to die either while working on or after completing his/her ninth symphony, as had happened to Music/LudwigVanBeethoven, Music/FranzSchubert[[note]] sort of; in Mahler's lifetime, Schubert was only seen as having written eight symphonies, as the symphony that is now known as No. 7 only exists in sketch form[[/note]], Music/AntonBruckner[[note]] if one ignores two early symphonies, now known as No. 00 and No. 0[[/note]], and Music/AntoninDvorak[[note]] except the symphonies now known as Nos. 1–4 were not published until after Mahler (and, more importantly, Dvořák himself) had died; they were not counted toward the numbering of his symphonies until the 1950s[[/note]], and as later happened to Alexander Glazunov and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Mahler tried to subvert the Curse by not numbering ''[[Music/DasLiedVonDerErde Das Lied von der Erde]] ("Song of Earth")''. [[SelfFulfillingProphecy This would have been his ninth symphony]][[note]] although the use of the term "symphony" to refer to the work is somewhat contentious[[/note]], making the Ninth his actual 10th. It seems the Curse of the Ninth only goes after numbered symphonies. That being said, Music/DmitriShostakovich managed to write fifteen symphonies, although he had [[UsefulNotes/JosephStalin other things to worry about]].

* ReclusiveArtist: Although he was personable enough (a conductor has to be able to get along with and manage large numbers of people, after all), he preferred composing when in near-total social isolation in a small cabin, spending the entire day there. Three 'composing huts' he had built near his homes still exist, preserved as little museums to him.

* BreakTheBadass: The whole point of the fourth movement of the Symphony No. 6 ("Tragic") is to send the [[WorldOfHam ridiculously large orchestra]] through a series of twists of fate represented by hammer strokes until it gives up after [[RuleOfThree the third one]].

* ReclusiveArtist: Although he was personable enough (an conductor has to be able to get along with and manage large numbers of people, after all), he preferred composing when in near-total social isolation in a small cabin, spending the entire day there. Three 'composing huts' he had built near his homes still exist, preserved as little museums to him.

* {{Expy}}: Gustav von Aschenbach of ''Literature/DeathInVenice'' is closely modeled after Mahler. Even more so in the FilmOfTheBook where Aschenbach is a conductor and composer instead of a writer. Movie-Aschenbach [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed is Mahler with a mustache]], really. Even Aschenbach's wife looks exactly like Alma. The soundtrack to said film also consists of Mahler.

* InfantImmortality: Subverted by ''Music/{{Kindertotenlieder}}'', a song cycle based on a series of poems on the death of children by Friedrich Rückert.

!! Examples of tropes used by Mahler in his work.

* YourCheatingHeart: Mahler suffered a CreatorBreakdown complete with HeroicBSOD when [[FemmeFatale Alma Mahler]] cheated on him with Walter Gropius.

* ReclusiveArtist: Although he was personable enough (an orchestra conductor has to be able to get along with and manage large numbers of people, after all), he preferred composing when in near-total social isolation in a cabin. Three 'composing huts' he had built near his homes still exist, preserved as little museums to him.

He mostly restricted his output to symphonies and song cycles. Mahler once remarked that "the symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything." No wonder then that his symphonies work on a larger scale than anything previously conceived: some of them have elaborate philosophical programs, like his Symphony No. 3 which, like [[Music/AlsoSprachZarathustra Richard Strauss' tone poem]], is based on [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche Nietzsche]]'s ''Literature/AlsoSprachZarathustra''. Mahler continually specified larger orchestras and more esoteric instruments; the culmination of this is his Symphony No. 8, which requires a ridiculously large number of musicians: double orchestra, an organist, eight vocal soloists, and three choirs. Not surprisingly, then, it is often called the "Symphony of a Thousand".

[[AuthorExistenceFailure Mahler died before he could complete his 10th Symphony]]. Interestingly, he had feared exactly this: he believed in the "Curse of the Ninth", which states that a composer has to die either while working on or after completing his/her ninth symphony, as had happened to Music/LudwigVanBeethoven, Music/FranzSchubert[[note]] sort of; in Mahler's lifetime, Schubert was only seen as having written eight symphonies, as the symphony that is now known as No. 7 only exists in sketch form[[/note]], Music/AntonBruckner[[note]] if one ignores two early symphonies, now known as No. 00 and No. 0[[/note]], and Music/AntoninDvorak[[note]] except the symphonies now known as Nos. 1–4 were not published until after Mahler (and, more importantly, Dvořák himself) had died; they were not counted toward the numbering of his symphonies until the 1950s[[/note]], and as later happened to Alexander Glazunov and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Mahler tried to subvert the Curse by not numbering ''[[Music/DasLiedVonDerErde Das Lied von der Erde]] ("Song of Earth")''. [[SelfFulfillingProphecy This would have been his ninth symphony]][[note]] although the use of the term "symphony" to refer to the work is somewhat contentious[[/note]], making the Ninth his actual 10th. It seems the Curse of the Ninth only goes after numbered symphonies...That being said, Music/DmitriShostakovich managed to write fifteen symphonies, although he had [[UsefulNotes/JosephStalin other things to worry about]].

* BlackComedy: Mahler enjoyed using this trope. Examples include the scherzo of his ''[[Music/SymphonyNoFourInGMajor Symphony No. 4 in G major]]'', a grotesque dance-of-death scherzo featuring a solo violin with retuned strings, and the forced optimism of the finale to ''[[Music/SymphonyNoSevenInEMinor Symphony No. 7 in E minor]]''.

* BreakTheBadass: The whole point of the fourth movement of the ''Tragic'' Symphony (No. 6) is to send the [[WorldOfHam ridiculously large orchestra]] through a series of twists of fate represented by hammer strokes until it gives up after [[RuleOfThree the third one]].

* CradleOfLoneliness: ''[[Music/DasLiedVonDerErde Das Lied von der Erde]] ("Song of Earth")'' has a movement called "Der Einsame im Herbst" ("The Lonely One in Autumn").

* DownerEnding: Symphony No. 6 (''Tragic''), ends with a massive dissonant tutti burst just to be silenced by a lonely pianissimo, representing the loss of hope.

** Used very quietly in the third movement of his 1st Symphony (emphasizing the motif of the descending fourth interval that ties the four movements together) and to accompany the fanfares in the fourth movement.
** In the 2nd, after the soft pizzicato chords at the end of the second movement, the audience is jolted back to attention by a sudden BA-DUM! from the timpani to introduce the third movement.

** Also in the 6th, in the first movement just before A major-minor chord. The same rhythm comes back over the final chord.
* DrunkenSong: His ''[[Music/DasLiedVonDerErde Das Lied von der Erde]] ("Song of Earth")'' has a drinking song, but it's one for "Earth's Misery": "Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde." Another one is called "Der Trunkene im Frühling" ("The Drunken Man in Spring").

* FriendlyRivalry: With [[Music/AlsoSprachZarathustra Richard Strauss]]. Mahler said [[NotSoDifferent they were digging towards the same summit from different sides of a mountain]].
* GermanicDepressives: His music is very dark, moody and brooding. One of his oldest works was ''[[Music/DasKlagendeLied Das Klagende Lied]] ("The Song of Lament")'' and ''Music/{{Kindertotenlieder}}'' is also not exactly the happiest of subjects. ''[[Music/DasLiedVonDerErde Das Lied von der Erde]] ("Song of Earth")'' also deals with tragic themes. And, of course, his famous "6th Symphony" is referred to as "Tragische" ("Tragic").

* IllBoy: Like his siblings, he inherited a weak heart from his mother.

* TheMentor: To Music/ArnoldSchoenberg and like-minded. He actually was friends with Schoenberg. But since Mahler had shades of DrillSergeantNasty, [[RageAgainstTheMentor they had hot-headed arguments]]. According to Alma, Mahler was GenreSavvy enough to know that Schoenberg [[TakeUpMySword will eventually build on Mahler's innovations and herald a new age of classical music]]. During Schoenberg's "Skandalkonzerte" he always defended his friend. Keep in mind, [[BadassTeacher these arguments sometimes ended in fistfights of pro and contra-Schoenberg]].

* ThePowerOfLove: Strong believer of this, and considered God and Love to be one and the same. With the exception of No. 4 (which ends serenely), No. 6 (which ends brutally), ''Das Lied von der Erde'' (which ends bleakly), and No. 9 (which simply fades away), his symphonies end in a massive blaze of glory in the finale, representing the victory of love over suffering.