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It is natural for devoted Mahlerites to pursue every means that may
provide a glimpse into the personality of their favorite composer. For
years, the only substantive source for such information was Alma Mahler’s Erinnerungen und Briefe
(Amsterdam: Allert de Lange, 1940), which was later translated into
English as Gustav Mahler: Memories and Letters (Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1975).
Alma, was, however, rather selective and careful in dispensing only
information she wanted the public to know. She would either cross out
lines of text on the letters or omit them entirely. To overcome this
problem, Günther Weiss and the Mahler biographer Henry-Louis de La
Grange published about ten years ago a collection of letters available
in German edition only: Ein Gluck ohne Ruh’ (Berlin: Wolf
Jobst Siedler Verlag, 1995). However, two recent events have served to
greatly expand the scope of this work: the publication in 1997 of the
complete text of Alma’s early diaries, dating from January 1898 to
March 1902, and the publication in 2003 of a catalogue of all Mahler’s
letters acquired from the Moldenhauer Collection in the Bavarian State
Library (for a book review of the catalog by Steven Coburn, please refer
to Naturlaut 3(1): 9, [June 2004]).
The book in review here is a translation of Ein Gluck ohne Ruh’,
which includes approximately 180 letters that were not in Alma’s Memories and
Letters. This English edition also includes a translation of the
introduction by La Grange that discusses the problems with Alma’s
earlier edition, and the appendix reprints the German text of Mahler’s
poems (pp. 395 – 398)
It is important to point out that Letters to
His Wife differs from Ein Gluck ohne Ruh’ in more ways
than just the sheer increase in the number of letters included. The
English version contains further refinements in the dating of the
letters, which is based on the Moldenhauer Collection, thus making it
the more accurate source to confirm the dates and the provenance of the
letters. In addition, Beaumont’s translation of these letters appears
to capture the nuances in the German correspondence more accurately. For
example, Beaumont would respect Mahler’s original Gesangskompositionen
and translated it into “vocal compositions” rather than the generic
“songs”. Mahler was an avid writer, and phrased the words in his
letters with almost as much care as he would every note in his
symphonies. Such subtlety is commonly lost in translation, but not in
Beaumont’s hands.
One noteworthy editorial achievement of this book is the ability of the
editors to weave their commentaries, excerpts from Alma’s diaries, and
the various letters together into a coherent story, preserving an
important context for understanding the communication, thus making it an
easily-readable book. However, this accomplishment is not without its
own shortcoming. Precisely because of the successful incorporation of
the annotations, some critical readers may find that the editors are, in
a very subtle way, trying to influence the readers’ perspectives on
many of the private situations between Gustav and Alma. This is
particularly the case in the commentary that leads into Mahler’s
longest letter in the book (letter no. 14, 19 December 1901, pp.78-84).
What triggered this rather austere letter from the composer was Alma’s
allusion that she had been composing while Mahler was away in Dresden.
Mahler at the time was writing to Alma on a daily basis, and in this
case he certainly wasted no time in responding to what he perceived to
be a major determining factor if they were to maintain a marital bliss.
In the pages that followed, Mahler listed his “expectations” of Alma
and his protocols of “Dos and Don’ts” for their marriage. It is an
extremely stern and critical letter, at times surprisingly unreasonable,
such as when he forbade Alma, herself a composer, from ever composing
again. By any stretch of imagination and standard, this is Mahler’s
male chauvinism at its absolute worst. Yet frustratingly, the editors
managed to inject a positive remark by describing this letter as written
by Mahler “with impressive clarity (gedankliche
Klarheit) and
complete honesty.” It must be pointed out that in this case the
translator provided us with a just distilled version of the editors’
original German commentary. In either case, the book would have
benefited more from the otherwise revelatory commentaries had the
editors judged Mahler for who he was as a person, rather than for “the
pedestal on which he stood” (to paraphrase Mahler’s own letter).
Some may question the wisdom and benefit of peering into the
excruciatingly private lives of two people who can no longer defend and
clarify themselves. Those who read this book in search of an
illuminating snapshot into the musical mind of the composer will
soon find themselves disappointed by the predominantly mundane
correspondence about many daily happenings that have absolutely nothing
to do with music.
However, occasionally a glimpse of how Mahler perceived music,
especially his own, awaits those who are patient and observant enough to
read between the lines. For instance, as his gambit for forbidding Alma
to compose, he asked, “Do you compose for your own pleasure or for the
benefit of mankind?” In
addition, Mahler also alluded that the program note of the Second
Symphony he wrote for King Albert of Saxony was written “for a
shallow, oafish person, and that it deals only with extraneous, purely
superficial aspects of the work…” He then added, “I am convinced,
namely, that if God were asked to expound the program for the ‘world’
He created, He would be just as incapable of doing so!” This echoes
Mahler’s own assertion that “a symphony must encompass the world”,
and provides us a sense of how he foretold the impact of his music, and
more importantly, how he considered the status and significance of his
own works.
There are also places where his correspondence reflects his music, such
as the poem he wrote in the train on 27 August 1910 (p. 381). These are
instances where the editors’ annotations are important, wherein they
comment “[it] reveals something of the motivation behind that
grindingly dissonant nine-note chord with which Mahler built shattering
climaxes in the opening Adagio and the finale of the Tenth Symphony…
the words ‘ich starb der Welt’ in the last line allude again,
as so often in Mahler’s later letters, to the Rückert song Ich bin
der Welt abhanden gekommen.”
Much of the information presented in this letter collection, however,
will not change our understanding of Mahler’s music – not because of
the editorial work (which has remained steadfastly meticulous
throughout), but because
of the nature of the letters. Through their excellent and diligent
effort, the editors have successfully enhanced the image of Mahler with
greater accuracy. Despite their occasionally biased commentaries, the
scrupulous collection of the letters and interwoven materials from Alma’s
diary allow the two human beings, Gustav and Alma, to emerge out of
sometimes mythical misrepresentations. The goal of the book is to paint
a picture of the composer different from that conveyed by Alma in her
Erinnerungen und Briefe as well as her later autobiography Mein
Leben. The greatest achievement, perhaps to some extent ironically,
is that the thoughtful and methodical presentation of the letters allows
a reader to create for himself a balanced and unbiased view of both
Alma and Gustav; and more notably, how oblivious the two were to the
painfully obvious. Both got married for the wrong reasons, and the
marriage was heading toward its own demise right from the beginning,
with or without Alma’s constant
This monumental accomplishment has set a new standard in chronicling and
cataloging correspondences. More importantly, it underscores the need
and paves the way for the publication of a collection of letters between
Mahler and various musicians, either composers or performers. These
music-related letters, supplemented with the communication between
Mahler and his musically talented confidante Natalie Bauer-Lechner,
ought to be pursued with the same stringent editorial accuracy and in
the same comprehensive format as Letters to His Wife. Such a
volume will be immeasurably instrumental for musicological research, and
infinitely illuminating for the general Mahler enthusiasts alike.
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