RODIN, Auguste
(b. 1840, Paris, d. 1917, Meudon)

Portrait of Gustav Mahler

1911
Marble, 51 x 100 x 58 cm
Musée Rodin, Paris

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was an Austrian composer and conductor, born in Bohemia of Jewish parentage. He studied at the University of Vienna and the Vienna Conservatory. He was conductor of the Budapest Imperial Opera (1888-90), the Hamburg Municipal Theater (1891-97), the Vienna State Opera (1897-1907), and the New York Philharmonic (1909-11). He also conducted the Metropolitan Opera orchestra (1908-10). As a conductor Mahler was extraordinarily exacting and precise, achieving high standards of performance that have become legendary. Composing mainly during summers, he completed nine symphonies (the unfinished tenth has been completed by Deryck Cooke) and several songs and song cycles, mostly with orchestral accompaniment.

Rodin executed a bust of Gustav Mahler that is sometimes called Mozart, the sculptor having commented that "Mahler's head was a blend of Franklin, Frederic the Great, and Mozart."




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