Mahler, Gustav (1860-1911)

Austrian composer and conductor, whose works mark the culmination of postromantic development of the symphony. Mahler was born in Kalischt (modern Kalište), in what is now the Czech Republic. He became artistic director of the Imperial Opera in Vienna, Austria, in 1897. In 1907 Mahler went to New York City, where he conducted at the Metropolitan Opera and with the New York Philharmonic. In his symphonies, Mahler was influenced by German composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Wagner. His use of choral and solo vocal music in the symphony completes the implications of Beethoven's similar procedure and also achieves a musical and dramatic union similar to that sought by Wagner. Mahler's orchestration anticipated the 20th century in its emphasis on the color of individual instruments and small combinations of instruments, and its inclusion of unusual instruments such as the mandolin and harmonium.