| Abstract |
"My time will come." This prophecy, which Gustav Mahler made in the face of the misunderstanding, attacks, and downright abuse he had to suffer during his lifetime, has been fulfilled. In the years immediately following his death in 1911, there were, of course, many isolated groups devoted to propagating Mahler's work, but, as the author points out in this book, what had been taken as genuine understanding turned out to be mere fashion. But, in the 1930's a deeper appreciation of Mahler arose, with the founding of the Bruckner Society of America and the unstinting efforts of conductors such as Reiner, Koussevitsky, Walter, and Klemperer to make his works better known to American audiences. Since then, his popularity has continued to grow, until how, thanks to the techniques of stereo recording and reproduction, we are in the midst of a veritable Mahler renaissance. |
