Language:
English
Year of publication:
2002
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of the Royal Musical Association
Angaben zur Quelle:
127,1 (2002) 72-94
Keywords:
Mahler, Gustav,
;
Jews
;
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Antisemitism in music
Abstract:
Argues against the thesis supported by many Mahler specialists that antisemitism was at the core of his conflict with the press and the music critics during his tenure as director of the Vienna Court Opera (1897-1907), and ultimately led to his resignation. Contends that, in fact, Mahler's "Jewish difference" played only a secondary role in his reception by the mainstream Viennese press and critics. As an opera director and a conductor, Mahler was rebuked for his interpretations; his own works were considered too modernist by the conservative Viennese. Most of his contemporaries never understood his individuality. The fact that he was born a Jew greatly hindered his struggle for recognition in an era of aggressive nationalism. Even friendly critics censured his unfamiliar style as a product of his Jewishness, but in those days such criticism was not necessarily a mark of antisemitism. The antisemitic racist extremists, for whom Mahler was nothing but a perilous Jew, an alien, constituted a fringe group, estranged from the public.
DOI:
10.1093/jrma/127.1.72
URL:
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