Gustav Mahler tel qu'en lui-même

Preface by Isabelle Werck. Book in French.

Scattered among his correspondence, his writings, interviews and testimonies of his contemporaries, the essence of the artistic thought of Gustav Mahler, the last great post-romantic composer, is finally gathered in a single work, thus allowing a better understanding of both the man and the artist. The main texts by Mahler himself, evoking the highlights of his career, have been gathered here. We follow step by step the little Bohemian Jew whose determination and talent led him to the direction of the Vienna Opera at the age of thirty-seven, and then to the heights of international fame. His artistic demands, most of which were innovative, were to be at the origin of 20th century opera productions. 

We discover the personal visions of the conductor that allowed him to become the greatest interpreter from the death of Wagner to the advent of Toscanini. The composer reveals his doubts, his anxieties, his joys, his goals. By taking us to the very heart of his thoughts, the artist seems to remind us that behind the public man, authoritarian and with a steely profile, there exists a sensitive, generous and simply human being.