A lost song by Alma Mahler?

A lost song by Alma Mahler?

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norman lebrecht

February 25, 2018

Message from the Wagner scholar Barry Millington:

In addition to the fourteen songs by Alma Mahler published in her lifetime, several dozen more – perhaps as many as one hundred – were written and have been lost or destroyed. One of those ‘lost’ songs, Einsamer Gang (Lonely Walk), has recently been discovered and will be given its UK premiere performances by Rozanna Madylus and Counterpoise at the Wagner 1900 conference in Oxford (April) and at the Newbury Spring Festival (May).

Einsamer Gang is one of three songs composed by Alma Mahler in 1899–1900, before her lessons with Alexander Zemlinsky and before her introduction to Gustav Mahler. 

 

Comments

    • Bruce says:

      Just in case anyone’s wondering: “Ms Mahler told The Local that she has no direct family connection to the famous composer, and the shared name is purely a coincidence.”

  • Jeffrey E. Salzberg says:

    All modern women are jealous.

  • David A. Boxwell says:

    Poor Alma has to live down Ken Russell’s portrayal of her in his Mahler film as a needy, talentless flibbertigibbet.

  • Luigi Nonono says:

    She has also been portrayed as a selfish egomaniac, a destroyer of men, greedy, grasping and overly ambitious, among other nasty qualities.

  • Dan P. says:

    Speaking of music by relatives of geniuses, has anyone heard any of the music of Georg Schoenberg, only son with Arnold by first wife Mathilde Zemlinsky Schoenberg?

  • Rob says:

    Where did the Mahler 2 manuscript go after the auction? It’s a big mystery!

  • luciano tanto says:

    Why Mahler, when she was Schindler?

    • Dan P. says:

      Because that’s the name with which she has gone down in history – not Schindler name nor any of her later married names – Gropius and Werfel..

      • Luciano Tanto says:

        because… men command.

        • Dan P. says:

          Actually, this was her own doing not some nameless cabal by, god forbid, men. When she was married to Werfel, she went by Alma Mahler-Werfel. Even then, she didn’t want to relinquish the name of her first husband. THEN, once Werfel, who was popular at the time, died, his status began to wane in the public consciousness. This was just as Mahler’s started to rise again. Then she became Alma Mahler once again. If anything, she was marketing herself on the crest of whichever former husband was in favor. She wanted to be known as Alma Mahler – the widow of the great composer – and so she was.

  • Luciano Tanto says:

    because… men command.

  • Mark Henriksen says:

    Why are we even talking about her music?

  • barry guerrero says:

    Because whether or not Mahler helped her to complete some of the songs (or simply finished them himself), they’re not that bad. They’re certainly no worse than many of the hundreds of songs Hugo Wolf composed. That’s just one person’s opinion.

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