大象传媒

Donald Macleod explores the music and life of Gustav Mahler. Today, Mahler鈥檚 ambivalent relationship to religion.

Mahler is often quoted as declaring himself 鈥渢hrice homeless 鈥� as a native of Bohemia in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans, as a Jew throughout the world 鈥� always an intruder, never welcomed.鈥� But while he may have been culturally Jewish he certainly wasn鈥檛 devoutly observant, and he wore his Judaism lightly enough to have no problem with converting to Catholicism when it suited him for professional purposes 鈥� in 1897 he was offered the directorship of the Vienna Court Opera, but only on condition that he switched faiths. When his friend the set designer Alfred Roller suggested that he compose a mass to celebrate his conversion, Mahler responded that he could write every movement except the Credo. But despite his lack of adherence to a particular creed, Mahler鈥檚 work is shot through with a genuine religious sense, from the Second Symphony鈥檚 epic depiction of the Day of Judgement to the existential angst of the Tenth Symphony鈥檚 Purgatorio movement, via the childlike vision of heaven that brings the Fourth Symphony to a close, and the Eighth Symphony鈥檚 decidedly ecumenical pairing of the Pentecost hymn 鈥榁eni, Creator Spiritus鈥� with the closing scene from Part 2 of Goethe鈥檚 Faust, whose concluding 鈥楥horus Mysticus鈥� celebrates the Eternal Feminine.

Symphony No 8 (Part 1, extract 鈥� 鈥榁eni creator spiritus')
Wiener S盲ngerknaben
Wiener Singverein
Wiener Staatsopernchor
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Georg Solti, conductor

Symphony No 4 (4th movement, Sehr behaglich)
Miah Persson, soprano
Budapest Festival Orchestra
Iv谩n Fischer, conductor

Symphony No 10 (3rd movement, Purgatorio 鈥� Unheimlich bewegt)
Vienna Philharmonic
Daniel Harding, conductor

Symphony No 2 (鈥楻esurrection鈥�) (5th movement, Finale)
Arleen Aug茅r, soprano
Janet Baker, mezzo soprano
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Simon Rattle, conductor

Produced by Chris Barstow for 大象传媒 Wales