The history of the reception of Gustav Mahler's works is full of comments on his apparently obsessive preoccupation with death. And indeed, many of the songs and most of the symphonies take up the theme of mortality, whether through a text, through programmatic references or through purely musical allusions. What is behind this aspect of his work? What does it say about his personality, about the nature of his compositions?

In a comment on his Second Symphony, Mahler himself gives an explanation:

 At the same time, it is the big question: Why did you live? Why did you suffer? Is it all just a big, terrible joke? We have to solve these questions in some way if we are to continue living – even if we are only to continue dying! Anyone whose life has heard this call must give an answer.

Mahler was never able to wrest himself free from this "big question". He spent his whole life struggling for the meaning of life in the face of suffering and death, felt compelled to give "an answer." Far from a longing for death, as some claim, Mahler's aim was to give humanity comfort and solace through the mystical power of music.

Through presentations, concerts, a discussion group and a walk, we explore this central aspect of Gustav Mahler, as a person and as a composer.

PRE-PROGRAM

Floating Art Salon

Introduction to the program of this year's Gustav Mahler Festival Steinbach as part of a two-hour boat tour on the southern boat route of Lake Attersee with a welcome aperitif and a Klimt coffee break and light refreshment on board. 

Host: Kom.Rat. Mag. Doris Cuturi-Stern 

Boat dock at Steinbach am Attersee, 2 pm 

PRESENTATION

Life and Death at the Turn of the Century

Intellectuals and artists around 1900 were confronted with a sobering picture of life and death by Darwin, Freud, Nietzsche and other thinkers. We look at works from Mahler's time – including those by Klimt, Schiele, Böcklin and Wedekind – that dealt with this topic.

Dr. Andreas Ströbl

Christian-Ludwig-Attersee-Saal, 7 pm

FESTIVE OPENING

9th Gustav Mahler Festival

Enjoy the beautiful landscape around Mahler's composing hut for the opening ceremony with moderator, greetings from the guests of honor, musical accompaniment, and an aperitif. Also a special exhibit by Andreas Ströbl.

Composing hut by the lake, 4 pm

 CHURCH CONCERT 

"Lux lucet in tenebris" (A light shineth in the darkness)  

A-cappella Choir and String Quartet

Chorus sine nomine

Johannes Hiemetsberger, conductor

*Soloists of the1. Frauenkammerorchester von Österreich

Lucia Hall, Kinga Vass, Marta Potulska, Teodora Miteva

Stadtpfarrkirche Bad Ischl, 7 pm

In cooperation with KirchKlang Festival

DISCUSSION
Between Despair and Hope

How do we deal with death? What does Mahler tell us about this topic? How can art accompany us and help us find answers?

Talk with moderator and distinguished guests.

Christian-Ludwig-Attersee Saal, 10 am

CHAMBER ORCHESTRA CONCERT

Alles für Freuden erwacht (Everything Awakens in Joy)

Mahler's Fourth Symphony spans the arc of life. After the lightness of being in the first movement, "Freund Hein" suddenly appears as a fiddler, but in the end the horror is dispelled by a transfigured vision of heaven.

Arnold Schoenberg: Four Pieces from 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19 

(arr. Abrahamsen)

Robert Schumann: Sechs Gedichte und Requiem, Op. 90 

(arr. Warner)

--

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4 

 (arr. Warner)

N.N., Soprano

Orchestra for the Earth

John Warner

Gustav-Mahler-Saal Seefeld, 7 pm

EXPERIENCING NATURE

"The life of mortals is like grass":*
Nature and Death

Mahler was fascinated by nature, but found it difficult to accept the brutality and indifference of the creatures. A walk through an idyll with dark sides.

*Psalms 103:15

Meet at Pfarrkirche, Steinbach 10 am

SONG RECITAL

The Innocent Victim

with works by Gustav Mahler and Franz Schubert

Franz Schubert, „Der Tod und das Mädchen“ (Claudius)

Gustav Mahler, Kindertotenlieder (Rückert)

1. Nun will die Sonn‘ so hell aufgeh’n
2. Nun seh‘ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen
3. Wenn dein Mutterlein
4. Oft denk‘ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen
5.  In diesem Wetter!

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Gustav Mahler, Soldier Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn 

Der Schildwache Nachtlied
Zu Straßburg auf der Schanz
Revelge
Der Tamboursg’sell
Lied des Verfolgten im Turm
Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen

Matthew Rose, Bass Baritone

Idunnu Münch., Mezzo-Soprano

Deirdre Brenner, Piano

7 pm

MATINEE CONCERT

„Der Tod, des muaß a Weaner sein“* Georg Kreisler

"Death, He has to be a Viennese"

Schrammelmusik, Wiener Lieder, Gassenhauer

Popular Music from the Streets of Vienna

Vienna appears again and again in Mahler's biography: as a student at the conservatory, as director of the court opera, as a dying man in the Löw sanatorium. As a terminally ill man, he asked to be taken to Vienna because, as he himself said: "Unfortunately, I remain a die-hard Viennese." His relationship with this city is also evident in his works, especially in his references to popular music and sometimes in a certain morbid, ironic lightness.

Divinerinnen

11 am

Das Gustav Mahler Festival in Steinbach am Attersee ist eine mehrtägige Feier rund um den Geburtstag des Komponisten am 7. Juli.

Jedes Jahr werden musikalische Kleinode sowie kulturelle und historische Einblicke in die Gegend um diesen historischen Ort präsentiert. 

Das Programm bietet für alle Beteiligten bewusst genügend Zeit,  sich auszutauschen und die einzigartige Naturkulisse zu genießen, um Mahlers Inspiration in all ihren Facetten feiern zu können.

1893-1896

Fertigstellung 2. Symphonie

3. Symphonie

Lieder