At first Gustav Mahler was happy to be appointed Director of the Vienna Imperial Opera. After few seasons of dealing with hot-house-orchid singers, hostile musicians, bureaucrats, and balky stage hands, he must have wondered if it was worth it.
But summers were the off-season, and summers were reserved for composition. In the summer of 1900, he completed a simple (for Mahler) symphony imbued with themes of childhood, innocence, and spirituality. Mahler’s Fourth will be our featured work this week.
