#like Mahler is everything

[jaysideblog]

Article: Classical music helps with concentration and creativity

Me, the moment Mahler comes to my playlist:

[sixty-silver-wishes]

Tumblr's Guide to Shostakovich- Asides- Ivan Sollertinsky

So, in addition to my weekly posting for Tumblr's Guide to Shostakovich, I decided I want to do a series of related "asides" posts. These will be posted irregularly (as opposed to weekly) and cover aspects related to Shostakovich that don't fit neatly into one post focusing on one part of the chronological timeline. In this case, I want to talk about Ivan Ivanovich Sollertinsky, specifically his role in Shostakovich's life and music. Sources I'll be citing include Elizabeth Wilson's Shostakovich: A Life Remembered, Shostakovich's own letters to Sollertinsky and Isaak Glikman, Dmitri and Lyudmila Sollertinsky's Pages from the Life of Dmitri Shostakovich, Pamyati I.I. Sollertinskogo (Memories of I.I. Sollertinsky), and I.I. Sollertinsky: Zhizn' i naslediye (Life and Legacy), the latter two both by Lyudmila Mikheeva. Photo citations include the DSCH Publishers website and the DSCH Journal photo archive.

(Dmitri Shostakovich and Ivan Sollertinsky, Novosibirsk, 1942.)

Ivan Ivanovich Sollertinsky was born in Vitebsk, present-day Belarus, on December 3, 1902. He was a polymath, excelling in humanities fields, including linguistics, philosophy, musicology, history, and literature- particularly that of Cervantes. He specialized in Romano-Germanic philology, and spoke a wide range of languages; sources I've read vary from claiming he spoke anywhere from 25 to 30. (He specialized in Romance languages, but I can also confirm from sources that he studied Hungarian, Japanese, Greek, Sanskrit, and German. I've heard it said that he kept a diary in ancient Portuguese so nobody could read it, but I haven't seen this verified.) He had a ferocious wit, which he used to uplift friends and skewer enemies (there's a hilarious anecdote where he once saddled a critic opposed to Shostakovich with the nickname "Carbohydrates" for life), and worked as a professor, orator, and artistic director of the Leningrad Philharmonic. And yet, this impossibly bright star would burn out all too soon at the age of 41 due to a terminal heart condition, leaving his closest friend devastated- and inspired.

Dmitri Shostakovich first met Ivan Sollertinsky in 1921, when they were both students at the Petrograd Conservatory. While Shostakovich claimed he was at first too intimidated to talk to Sollertinsky the first time he saw him, when they met again in 1926, Shostakovich was waiting outside a classroom to take an exam on Marxism-Leninism. When Sollertinsky walked out of the classroom, Shostakovich "plucked up courage and asked him":

"Excuse me, was the exam very difficult?"

"No, not at all," [Sollertinsky] replied.

"What did they ask you?"

"Oh, the easiest things: the growth of materialism in Ancient Greece; Sophocles' poetry as an expression of materialist tendencies; English seventeenth-century philosophers and something else besides!"

Shostakovich then goes on to state he was "filled with horror at his reply."

(...Yes, these are real people we are talking about. According to Shostakovich, this actually happened. And I love it.)

Later, in 1927, they met at a gathering hosted by the conductor Nikolai Malko, where they hit it off immediately. Malko recalls that they "became fast friends, and one could not seem to do without the other." He further characterizes their friendship:

When Shostakovich and Sollertinsky were together, they were always fooling. Jokes ran riot and each tried to outdo the other in making witty remarks. It was a veritable competition. Each had a sharply developed sense of humour; both were bright and observant; they knew a great deal; and their tongues were itching to say something funny or sarcastic, no matter whom it might concern. They were each quite indiscriminate when it came to being humorous, and if they were too young to be bitter they could still come mercilessly close to being malicious.

(Shostakovich and Sollertinsky, 1920s.)

Sollertinsky and Shostakovich appeared to be perfect complements of each other- one brash, extroverted, and confident, and the other shy, withdrawn, and insecure, but each sharing a sarcastic sense of humour and love for the arts that would carry throughout their friendship. In Shostakovich's letters to Sollertinsky, we see him confide in him time and again, in everything from drama with women to fears in the midst of the worsening political atmosphere. When worrying about the reception of his ballet "The Limpid Stream," Shostakovich writes in a letter from October 31, 1935:

I strongly believe that in this case, you won't leave me in an extremely difficult moment of my life, and that the only person whose friendship I cherish, the apple of my eye, is you. So, write to me, for god's sake.

And, in a moment of frustration from August 2, 1930 Shostakovich writes:

"You have a rich personal life. And mine, generally, is shit."

(Famous composers, am I right? They're just like us.)

In addition to a friendship that would last until Sollertinsky's untimely death, he and Shostakovich would influence each other greatly in the artistic spheres as well. Sollertinsky dedicated himself primarily to musicology after meeting Shostakovich (his first review of an opera, Krenek's Johnny, appeared in 1928, after they had become friends), and in turn, Sollertinsky introduced Shostakovich to one of his greatest musical inspirations- the works of Gustav Mahler. Much is to be said about Mahler's influence on Shostakovich's music, to the point where it deserves its own post, but it goes without saying that without Sollertinsky, Shostakovich's entire body of work would have turned out much differently. Starting with the Fourth Symphony (1936), Shostakovich's symphonic works began to take on a heavily Mahlerian angle (in addition to many vocal works), becoming a permanent fixture in his distinct musical style.

(Colorized image of Shostakovich, his wife Nina Vasiliyevna, and Sollertinsky, 1932. One of my absolute favourite photographs.)

Shostakovich's letters to Sollertinsky, from the 20s to early 30s, are characterized by puns and literary references, snide remarks, nervous confessions, and vivid descriptions of the locations he traveled to during his early career. However, as the 1930s progressed and censorship in the arts became more restrictive, signs of worry begin to take shape in the letters. This would all culminate in January 1936, with the denunciation of Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District in Pravda. I'll go further into detail about the opera and its denunciation in a later post, but for now, I want to focus on its impact on Shostakovich and Sollertinsky's friendship.

As one of the first world-famous composers whose career began in the then-relatively young Soviet Union, targeting Shostakovich proved to be a calculated move. Due to his prominence and the acclaim he had previously received, both in the USSR and abroad, the portrayal of Shostakovich as a "formalist" meant someone had to take the blame for his supposed "corruption" towards western-inspired music and the avant-garde. The blame fell upon Sollertinsky, who was lambasted in the papers as the "troubadour of formalism." To make matters worse, Sollertinsky had long showed a fascination with western European composers, such as the Second Viennese School, and had previously praised Lady Macbeth in a review as the "future of Soviet art." An article in Pravda from February 14, 1936, about less than a month after the denunciation, stated:

“Shostakovich should in his creation entirely free himself from the disastrous influence of the ideologists of the ‘Leftist Ugliness’ type of Sollertinsky and take the road of truthful Soviet art, to advance in a new direction, leading to the sunny kingdom of Soviet art.”

Critics who had initially praised Lady Macbeth had begun to retract their positive reviews in favour of negative ones, and a vote was cast on a resolution on whether or not to condemn the opera.  According to Isaak Glikman, their mutual friend, Shostakovich spoke with Sollertinsky, who was conflicted on what to do, beforehand. Although Sollertinsky didn’t want to condemn his friend, he supposedly told Glikman that Shostakovich had given him permission to “vote for any resolution whatsoever, in case of dire necessity.” When denouncing the opera (supposedly with Shostakovich's permission), Sollertinsky had commented that in order to develop a “true connection” to the Soviet public, Shostakovich would have to develop a “true heroic pathos, and that Shostakovich would ultimately succeed “in the genre of Soviet musical tragedy and the Soviet heroic symphony.” After Shostakovich’s second denunciation in Pravda of his ballet, “The Limpid Stream,” and the withdrawal of his Fourth Symphony- arguably the most Mahlerian of his middle period works- the Fifth Symphony, easily interpreted to follow these criteria, had indeed restored him to favour. Sollertinsky’s reputation, too, was saved.

(Aleksandr Gauk, Shostakovich, Sollertinsky, Nina Vasiliyevna, and an unidentified person, 1930s.)

In 1938, Sollertinsky contracted diphtheria. Ever tireless, he continued to dictate opera reviews and even learned Hungarian while hospitalized, although he became paralyzed in the limbs and jaw. Shostakovich wrote to him often with touching concern:

Dear friend, It's terribly sad that you are spending your much needed and precious vacation still sick. In any case, when you get better, you need to get plenty of rest.

By the time the letters from this period break off, it's because Shostakovich was able to visit Sollertinsky in the hospital, which he did whenever he was able.

While Sollertinsky was able to recover, their friendship would face yet another test in 1941, due to the German invasion of the Soviet Union during WWII. Sollertinsky evacuated with the Leningrad Philharmonic to Novosibirsk, while Shostakovich chose to stay in Leningrad. However, as the city fell under siege, due to the safety of his family, Shostakovich fled with Nina Vasiliyevna and their two children to Kubiyshev (now Samara) that October, having spent about a month in Leningrad during what would be one of the deadliest sieges of the 20th century. It was in Kubiyshev that Shostakovich would finish his famous Seventh Symphony (which, again, will receive its own post), before eventually moving permanently to Moscow (although he still taught for a time at the Leningrad Conservatory).

During this period of evacuation, Shostakovich's letters to Sollertinsky are heartbreaking. We not only see him pining for his friend, but worrying for his safety and that of his family, including his mother and sister, who were still in Leningrad at the time. Still, he reminisces of their time together before the war, with the hope that he and Sollertinsky would be back home soon. In a letter from 12th February, 1942:

Dear friend, I painfully miss you, and believe that soon, we will be home, and will visit each other and chat about this and that over a bottle of good Kakhetian no. 8 [a Georgian wine]. Take care of yourself and your health. Remember: You have children for which you are responsible, and friends, and among them is D. Shostakovich.

In 1943, Sollertinsky arrived in Moscow, where Shostakovich was living at the time, to give a speech on the anniversary of Tchaikovsky’s death. At long last, they finally were able to see each other, and anticipated that soon enough, their long period of separation, made bearable only by letters and phone calls, would come to an end: Sollertinsky, living in Novosibirsk, was planning to return to Moscow in February of 1944 to teach a course on music history at the conservatory. When he and Shostakovich said their goodbyes at the train station, neither of them knew it would be the last time they saw one another.

Sollertinsky's heart condition, coupled with his tendency to overwork, poor living conditions, heavy drinking, and added stress, often left him fatigued. On the night of February 10th, 1944, due to a sudden bout of exhaustion, he stayed the night with conductor Andrei Porfiriyevich Novikov, where he died unexpectedly in his sleep. His last public appearance had been the speeches he gave on February 5th and 6th of that year- the opening comments for the Novosibirsk premiere of Shostakovich’s 8th Symphony.  A remarkable amount of telegrams and letters from Shostakovich to Sollertinsky survive and have been published in Russian. Some seem hardly significant; others carry great historical importance. Sollertinsky took many of them with him from Leningrad during evacuation; those letters were considered among his most prized possession. His son, Dmitri Ivanovich Sollertinsky, was named after Shostakovich- breaking a long tradition in his family in which the first son was always named "Ivan."

As for Shostakovich, we have letters to multiple correspondents detailing just how distraught he was for months after receiving news via telegram of Sollertinsky’s death. To Sollertinsky’s widow, Olga Pantaleimonovna Sollertinskaya, he wrote:

“It will be unbelievably hard for me to live without him. [...] In the last few years I rarely saw him or spoke with him. But I was always cheered by the knowledge that Ivan Ivanovich, with his remarkable mind, clear vision, and inexhaustible energy, was alive somewhere. [...] Ivan lvanovich and I talked a great deal about everything. We talked about that inevitable thing waiting for us at the end of our lives- about death. Both of us feared and dreaded it. We loved life, but knew that sooner or later we would have to leave it. Ivan lvanovich has gone from us terribly young. Death has wrenched him from life. He is dead, I am still here. When we spoke of death we always remembered the people near and dear to us. We thought anxiously about our children, wives, and parents, and always solemnly promised each other that in the event of one of us dying, the other would use every possible means to help the bereaved family. ”

Shostakovich stuck to his word, making arrangements for Sollertinsky's surviving family to return to Leningrad after it had been liberated, going through the painstaking process of acquiring the necessary documentation and allowing them to stay at his home in Moscow in the meantime.

 In 1969, he would write to Glikman:

“On 10 February, I remembered Ivan Ivanovich. It is incredible to think that twenty-five years have passed since he died.” 

Furthermore, Shostakovich recalled:

Ivan Ivanovich loved different dates. So he planned to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of our acquaintance in the winter of 1941. This celebration did not take place, since the war had ruined us. When in our last meetings, we planned the 25th anniversary of our friendship for 1947. But in 1947, I will only remember that twenty-five years ago life sent me a wonderful friend, and that in 1944 death took him away from me.

And yet, there was still one more tribute left to make. Shostakovich had already dedicated a movement of a work to Sollertinsky- a setting of Pasternak's translation of Shakespeare Sonnet no. 66 in Six Romances on Verses by English Poets- but after Sollertinsky's death, he completed his Piano Trio no. 2 in August of 1944, a work that had taken months to finish. While he had started the work before Sollertinsky's death and mentions it in a letter to Glikman as early as December 1943, it would since bear a dedication to Sollertinsky's memory.

The second movement of the Trio is a dizzying, electrifying Allegro con Brio- and probably my favourite work of classical music, ever. Sollertinsky's sister, Ekaterina Ivanovna, was said to have considered it a "musical portrait" of her illustrious brother in life, with its fast-paced, jubilant air. The call-and-response between the strings and piano seem, to me, to reflect one of Shostakovich and Sollertinsky's early Leningrad dialogues- the image of two friends out of breath with laughter, each talking over each other as they deliver witty comebacks and jokes that only they understand. For the few minutes that this movement lasts, it is as if Shostakovich and Sollertinsky are revived, if not for just a moment, the unbreakable bond that defied decades of hardship now immortalized in the classical canon, forever carefree and happy in each other's company.

And then comes the pause.

It is this silence between the Allegro con Brio and Adagio that is the loudest, most powerful moment of this piece as eight solemn chords snap us into reality, like the sudden revelation of Sollertinsky's death- as Shostakovich said, "he is dead; I am still here." These eight chords form the base of a passacaglia, the piano cycling through them and nearly devoid of dynamics as the cello and violin sing a lugubrious dirge. The piano- Shostakovich's instrument- seems to mirror the stasis of grief, the inability to move on when paralyzed by loss.

The final movement of the Trio, the Allegretto, seems to speak to a wider form of grief. By 1943, the Soviet Union was receiving news of the Holocaust, and the Allegretto of Shostakovich's Trio no. 2 is among the first instances of Klezmer-inspired themes in Shostakovich's work (not counting the opera Rothschild's Violin, a work by his student Veniamin Fleischman that he finished after Fleischman's death in the war). The idea that the fourth movement is a commentary on the Holocaust is the most popular interpretation for Shostakovich's use of themes inspired by Jewish folk music, but other interpretations include a tribute to Fleischman (who was Jewish), or a nod to Sollertinsky's birthplace of Vitebsk, which had a substantial Jewish population until the Vitebsk Ghetto Massacre in 1941 by the Nazis. (While I haven't read anything confirming that Sollertinsky was ethnically Jewish, the painter Marc Chagall and pianist Maria Yudina, both carrying associations with Vitebsk, were.) Whether the grief expressed here was personal or referencing the larger global situation, the quotation of the fourth movement's ostinato followed by the final E major chords suggest a peaceful resolution after a long movement of aggressive tumult and grotesque rage.

Shostakovich would continue to grieve and remember Sollertinsky, but the ending of this piece- composed over the course of about nine months- perhaps implied closure and healing. In the following years, the war would end, Shostakovich would form new connections (such as a lasting friendship with the composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg), and, as he had done through tragedy before, would continue to write music. Sollertinsky was gone, but left a mark on Shostakovich's life and work, his memory carried in every musical joke and Mahlerian quotation that found its way onto the page.

(Shostakovich at Sollertinsky's grave, 1961, Novosibirsk.)

(By the way, check the tags. ;) )

[s-cullayy]

going to watch m*estro. pray for me

[supercantaloupe]

hiii do you have a fav orchestral oboe solo? I love the one in mahler 2 mvmt 4 :)

this is lexi btw for some reason my asks only go through on anon so I'm going to tag myself @recapitulation

ohh that's such a tough question...i don't think i could choose just one. but tchaik 1 mvt 2 is Speaking to me right now though. those slow lyrical ones from the late romantic era i think are some of the hardest but most rewarding ones to play well, and some of the absolute sweetest to listen to

[symphonybracket]

YouTube links: Mahler 2, Tchaikovsky 6

Comments:

Mahler 2

Have you ever wanted to feel like you're going to shake apart into a billion pieces if someone so much as looks at you. That's how I feel after listening to this beast. This symphony changed my life for real. It's famous for it's ending and for good reason!! It truly feels like your soul is getting blown up and steamrolled. Listening to it live was like getting peeled by god. It calls for 10 horns which is how you know it's going to fuck severely. It comes in 5 movements: good lord oh my god, hehe teehee, oh so that's why they call it the death shriek, crying on the floor for 5 minutes, and I Have Died. The part known as the "Death Shriek" is shown below! And if you're interested in learning more about the symphony, here's my favorite analysis website!

It's an everything in the universe piece and when I sang in the choir for it I think I actually ascended to a higher plane of existence for 15 minutes

I came across (imo) a good video giving a summarised background of Mahler 2, it’s called ‘Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 2: Explained in 3 Minutes’ by orchestra of the music makers on YouTube

There is also a piano arrangement!

Tchaikovsky 6

Everyone bangs on about the 4th movement but it's the 3rd movement that really hits

tchaik 6 is what i would listen to if i had an hour to live

the 5/4 movement of the tchaik lives rent free in my mind and i think about it every day

It’s beyond gorgeous. The melodies soar, the orchestra swells, and you just need to lie down for a while after listening to it. It’s Romanticism at its zenith. You want to weep and sigh, and it’s impossible to listen to it without literally feeling something.

Symphony No. 6, titled “Pathétique”, was Tchaikovsky’s final symphony. It is an intensely emotional piece, and to many scholars demonstrates the emotional turmoil that characterized much of Tchaikovsky’s life. He died about a week after its premiere, a fact which leads many scholars to debate about whether the content of the piece itself reflects the possibility that he may have committed suicide. The title itself is often translated to mean “impassioned suffering”, although this was most likely a later addition by Modest and not actually part of Tchaikovsky’s vision. Given these facts, many scholars interpret this piece to be about death and suffering. However, this piece can also be seen to represent life and all its contrasting moments. This interpretation is more holistic and inclusive of all of the moments captured in this piece, and also serves to break down the common narrative of Tchaikovsky as a tragic figure.

More comments about Tchaikovsky 6 below the cut (length warning):

Scholarship surrounding Tchaikovsky’s music tends to focus heavily on the ways his confliction over his homoerotic desires appears in his writing. However, his personal letters reveal a much more balanced understanding of himself that goes beyond the common narrative. In one letter written to Modest describing a new relationship with another man, he writes: “I awoke today with a feeling of unknown happiness and with a complete absence of that emotional sobriety that used to make me repent in the morning for having gone too far the day before.” Many of the letters he wrote regarding his relationships demonstrate no shame and no anguish beyond what can be expected of a man living in a homophobic society. It is important to take this information into account when listening to a piece such as this one that has been discussed so frequently, and to understand it beyond the turmoil and strife that it is seen to represent. Like many of Tchaikovsky’s works, this symphony displays a range of human emotions. It is not only representative of tragedy and “impassioned suffering”; it is a depiction of what it is like to live. It is also interesting to note that this piece is used as a signifier of queer desire in the novel "Maurice" by E.M. Forster, a novel also notable for its radical portrayal of a queer man who gets a happy ending. Much to think about there.

The first movement begins with a lone bassoon soloist playing a plaintive minor melody, which later comes back in the strings. As the movement progresses, it grows in intensity and texture. More instruments are added, and the music becomes more frantic, building and building towards the dramatic trumpet fanfare. Throughout this piece, Tchaikovsky continues to make significant use of contrasting dynamics and melodies, reflecting the emotions he hopes to convey through the music. Dramatic, tumultuous sections are interspersed with pastoral woodwind melodies, and the angry brass fanfares give way to a quiet ending.

The second movement is reminiscent of a waltz, and uses the strings and woodwinds more than the brass to achieve its floating melodies. The dynamics ebb and flow to build tension, but this movement never reaches the same levels of anguish that the previous movement does. Tchaikovsky makes use of pizzicato in the strings to convey a lighter, more cheerful mood, and features the upper woodwinds prominently. He also repeats themes frequently, giving the audience something familiar to listen out for as the movement progresses.

The third movement begins with frantic energy in the strings and woodwinds. As more instruments join the rush of music, the underlying eight note accompaniment does not let up, continuing the vivacious beginning through the whole movement. Instruments pass the melodies between each other and engage in conversations across the orchestra. Like the first movement, the brass play a prominent role in creating dramatic climaxes in the music, as well as supporting the march-like conclusion. Conductor Myung-Whun Chung describes the deceptively dramatic ending as, “one of the greatest, most thrilling, but most empty of victories in musical history,” observing that this movement has the energetic finality of a final movement. The reversal of having the true finale be a slower movement represents a shift away from the “Beethovian model of light over darkness” common in most other symphonies of this time period.

As mentioned before, ending on a movement with a slow tempo was a significant shift away from the standard of the time. This innovation inspired many other future composers to use the same technique, most notably Mahler in his Ninth Symphony. The quiet beginning builds up towards a chaotic rush of fast runs throughout the orchestra, only to stop abruptly and continue in halting, cautious bursts of melody. The movement continues with this cycle of rushing up to a climax and backing away as the movement progresses. Tchaikovsky highlights the horns in this movement, giving them both angry, blaring notes which cut through the string melodies and the flowing, lyrical lines that are passed throughout the orchestra. As the piece ends, the instruments fall away until all that is left are steady repeated notes in the basses, bringing this lament of a movement to an understated close.

[ironwoman359]

i saw your tag about how in 500 years we WON'T be calling britney spears' "toxic" classical music, and i am willing and able to hear this rant if you so wish to expand upon it :3c

You know what, it's been over six months, so sure, why not, let's pick today to have this rant/lesson!

To establish my credentials for those unfamiliar Hi my name's Taylor I was a music teacher up until last year when the crushing realities of the American Education SystemTM led me to quit classroom work and become a library clerk instead. But said music teaching means that I have 4+ years of professional classical training in performance and education, and while I'm by no means a historian, I know my way around the history of (european) music.

So, now that you know that I'm not just some rando, but a musical rando, let me tell you why we won't be calling Britney Spears or [insert modern musician(s) that'd be especially humorous to today's audience to call classical] "classical music."

The simple answer is that "Old music =/= Classical music," which is usually the joke being made when you see this joke in the first place.

As funny as this joke can be when executed well (this is one of my favorite versions of said joke, especially since this is a future world where there's very little accurate surviving info about the culture from the 21st century), there is VERY little likely of this actually being how music from today is referred to in the future, because, again, music being OLD does not automatically make music CLASSICAL.

If you'd indulge me a moment, have a look at these three pieces from the early 1900s, which is now over 100 years ago. That's pretty old! You don't have to listen to the whole of all of them if you don't want to, but give each around 30 seconds or so of listening.

All three pieces are over 100 years old, but would you call "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" classical? Or "The Entertainer?" Most likely not. You'd probably call these songs "old timey" and you may even be savvy enough to call "The Entertainer" by it's actual genre name, ragtime. But if either of these songs came on the radio, you wouldn't really call them classical, would you? They're just old.

Whereas Mahler's Symphony No. 5, now that sounds like classical music to you, doesn't it? It's got trumpets, violins, a conductor, it's being played by a philharmonic! That's a classical musicy word!

The short answer of why we in the real, nonfictional world won't be calling Britney Spears's "Toxic" classical music in 100 years is it simply doesn't sound like classical music.

.....and the long answer is that Mahler's Symphony No. 5 isn't actually classical either.

See, music, just like everything in culture from dress to art to architecture changed with the times, and therefore 'classical music' is technically (although not colloquially) only one of about four to five musical periods/styles you're likely to hear on one of those "classical music tunes to study to" playlists.

Our dear friend Mahler up there was not a classical composer, he was a composer of the late romantic era.

So now, because I have you hostage in my post (just kidding please don't scroll away I had a lot of fun writing this but it took me nearly 3 hours) I'm going to show you the difference between Classical music and the other musical eras.

These are the movements we'll be dealing with, along with the general dates that define them (remembering of course that history is complicated and the Baroque Period didn't magically begin on January 1st, 1600, or end the moment Bach died) :

The Baroque Period (1600-1750)

The Classical Period (1750-1820)

The Romantic Period (1820-1910)

The Impressionist Movement (1890-1920)

You'll notice that as time goes on, the periods themselves grow shorter, and there starts to become some overlap in the late 19th to early 20th century. The world was moving faster, changing faster, and music and art began changing faster as well. Around the beginning of the 20th century music historians quit assigning One Major style to an entire era of history and just started studying those movements themselves, especially since around the 20th century we were getting much more experimentation and unique ideas being explored in the mainstream.

Even the end of the classical to the beginning of the romantic period can get kind of fuzzy, with Beethoven, arguably one of the most famous classical (and yes he was actually classical) composers in history toeing the line between classical and romantic in his later years. The final movement of his 9th symphony, known as Ode to Joy, far more resembles a romantic work than a classical one.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

To oversimplify somewhat, here are the main characteristics of said movements:

The Baroque Period (1600-1750)

Music was very technical and heavily ornamented. This coincided with a very "fancy" style of dress and decoration (the rococo style became popular towards the latter half of this period). The orchestras were far smaller than we are used to seeing in concert halls today, and many instruments we consider essential would not have been present, such as the french horn, a substantial percussion section, or even the piano*. Notable composers include Vivaldi (of the Four Seasons fame), Handel (of the Messiah fame) and Bach:

*the piano as we know it today, initially called the pianoforte due to its ability to play both softly (piano) and loudly (forte) in contrast to the harpsichord, which could only play at one dynamic level, was actually invented around 1700, but didn't initially gain popularity until much later. This Bach Concerto would have traditionally been played on a harpsichord rather than a piano, but the piano really does have such a far greater expressive ability that unless a group is going for Historical Accuracy, you'll usually see a piano used in performances of baroque work today.

The Classical Period (1750-1820)

In the classical period, music became more "ordered," not just metaphorically but literally. The music was carefully structured, phrases balanced evenly in a sort of call and response manner. Think of twinkle twinkle little star's extremely balanced phrasing, itself a tune that Mozart took and applied 12 classical variations to, cementing it in popularity. And speaking of twinkle twinkle, memorable melody became more important to the composition than ornamentation, and many of our most universally known melodies in the west come from this period. The orchestra also grew bigger, adding more players of all kinds as now we didn't have to worry about overpowering the single-volume harpsichord, and additional instruments like more brass and woodwinds were added. Notable composers include Haydn (of The Surprise Symphony fame) Beethoven (of, well, Fame), and Mozart:

Pay attention to the size of the orchestra here, then go back to the Bach concerto. Notice how in that very typical Baroque setting, the orchestra sits at maybe 20 people, and that here in a Classical setting, there's nearly two times that!

The Romantic Period (1820-1910)

In the romantic period, it was all about BIG FEELINGS, MAN. It was about the DRAMA. Orchestras got even bigger than before, the music focused less on balance and became more dramatic, and there was a big focus on emotions, individualism, and nationalism. Discerning listeners will notice a lot of similarities between romantic symphonies and modern film scores; John Williams in particular is very clearly influenced by this era, any time I'd play the famous Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner in a class, the kids would remark that it sounds like it should be in Star Wars. A lot of romantic composers were German, including Beethoven, if you want to call his later works romantic (which I and many others argue you can, again, compare Ode to Joy to one of his earlier works and you can hear and see the difference), but you also have the Hungarian Liszt (of the Hungarian Rhapsodies fame), the Russian Tchaikovsky (of the Nutcracker and 1812 Overture fame), and the Czech Dvořák:

See how this orchestra is even bigger still? Modern orchestras tend to vary in size depending on what pieces they are playing, but the standard is much closer to this large, romantic size, and it's far less typical to see a small, intimate Baroque setting unless specifically attending a Baroque focused concert. Also I know I embedded Dvořák because Symphony From a New World slaps but please also listen to Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 it's one of my all time favorite pieces and NOT just because of the Tom and Jerry cartoon, alright? Alright.

The Impressionist Movement (1890-1920)

A bit after it began but definitely still during the romantic period, a counter movement began in France that turned away from the emotional excess of romanticism and focused less on standard chord progression and explored more unconventional scales. This music was less worried about how it 'should' sound and was more concerned with evoking a certain emotion or image, giving you an "impression" of an idea. Debussy is by far the most well known name in this movement, even though he personally hated the term 'impressionism,' lol.

Notice the way the periods build on each other naturally, literally, physically builds on the orchestras that came before, evolving in style and structure until you get to the late 19th and early 20th century when things were built up so big that a response to that excess started to develop, first in the impressionist movement, and then into 20th century music in general, which got much more experimental and, as we say, "weird." (frickin 12 tone scales, man)* *i do not actually dislike the sound of 12 tone, it's interesting and unique, but it is HELL to analyze in music theory, which is unfortunately when a lot of us classical musicians are first introduced to it, therefore tarnishing our relationship to the genre as we cannot separate it from our own undergrad anguish

Even if you're not a super active listener and you have a harder time discerning the difference between, say, late baroque and early classical, you cannot deny that the first piece I've linked by Bach and the last piece I've linked by Debussy sound completely different. They're both orchestral pieces (I intentionally chose all orchestral pieces as my examples here, getting into solo works, opera, and chamber ensembles would take too long), but other than that, they couldn't be more different.

Wait, so what are we talking about again?

Classical Music is first a period of music, a specific artistic movement with music typically written in Europe between 1750 and 1820 with a specific sound that is distinct from these other styles I've outlined here.

And Classical Music is second a genre. Because while academically and historically Baroque music is not classical, and Romantic music is not classical...colloquially it is. They sound similar enough that it makes sense to put them on the same playlists, the same radio stations, the same 'beats to study to' youtube compilation videos. While individuals may have favorites and preferences, it's not far fetched to say that if you like listening to one of these styles, you'll at least like one of the others.

But whether you're being broad and referring to our modern idea of the classical genre, or you're being pedantic like me and referring to a specific period of musical history (or modern compositions emulating that style, because yeah, modern compositions of all of theses styles do exist), I think we can all agree that, as much as it slaps, "Toxic" by Britney Spears is not classical music, and 500 years is unlikely to change our perspective of that.

A Traditional Ballad though?

Yeah, I can see us calling it that in 5 billion years.

(the full version of this scene is age restricted for some reason, but you can watch it here)

Anyway, thanks for reading y'all, have a good one!

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

My father has been pushing me around about my eating habits and how little I eat.

However, counterpoint: I do not feel hunger cues. Or at least I feel them very rarely.

As a kid this was fairly easy to monitor. Because we had routine meals and even if my texture/sensory issues were acting up and I was punished for it, sometimes we did midnight snacks! Which was fantastic until that was forbidden.

We stopped having routine meals around the time I turned twelve and we moved to a new place.

Now I have no idea how to schedule meals + everything else I have to do On Time, or else.

Help?

Hi there,

It sounds like you have some interoception issues. This means you are having trouble understanding what you feel inside your body. Like hunger or feeling thirst.

Edited this to include an article about this in case people are wondering what it is:

Have you tried eating some snacks throughout the day? It might help. You can eat small meals during the morning, afternoon, and evening. I don’t think it matters what time you eat. As long as you’re eating meals.

Maybe my followers can provide some advice and tips too.

I hope this helps. Thank you for the inbox. I hope you have a wonderful day/night. ❤️

[cedarxwing]

What was the most romantic scene in Hannibal for you?

The end sequence of Antipasto, hands down. Just everything about it. It makes me tear up every time.

The way Hannibal, heartbroken at Bedelia's rejection and betrayal, sits alone on the train en route to Palermo with Antony Dimmond's corpse in his trunk, recalling his last dinner with Abel Gideon while Ravel's Pavane plays.

The way even Gideon, who was always the Ripper's biggest fan, now finds Hannibal banal and tiresome, calling him pathetic and lonely to his face. The way Hannibal is disgusted by Gideon's poor manners, but puts up with him because he's that desperate for connection.

HANNIBAL: Why do you think I'm allowing this? GIDEON: Snails aren't the only creatures who prefer eating with company. If only that company could be Will Graham.

The way Hannibal is speechless at that. Not only does Gideon call out his obsession with Will, but he compares Hannibal, Mr. Firefly himself, to a snail. That's what Will's reduced him to.

Side note: LOVE how Gideon becomes a prophetic figure as he approaches death, "becoming brighter" as Hannibal puts it. Remember, this exchange takes place before S2b, sometime between Futamono and Yakimono.

Gideon can see how Hannibal longs for the kind of cannibal date night Will gives him at the end of Naka Choko, but refuses, out of sheer pettiness, to be his perfect dinner partner, snarfing down those snails with the utmost incivility. Love him. <3

"I'm just fascinated to know how you will feel when all this... happens to you." <- referencing how Mason will try to eat Hannibal, but on a deeper level how Hannibal's heart will be eaten as in the first sonnet of Dante's La Vita Nuova (which he quotes earlier in the episode):

Joyous love seemed to me, the while he held My heart within his hands, and in his arms My lady lay asleep wrapped in a veil. He woke her then. Trembling and obedient, She ate that burning heart out of his hand; Weeping I saw him then depart from me.

The way Hannibal looks SO SAD as he folds the Vitruvian Man into an origami heart, obviously still thinking about La Vita Nuova and how Will's eaten his heart. The way he extends the heart metaphor into the Three of Swords tarot presentation in the Norman Chapel to signify betrayal. The way the soundtrack swells with violins and the solemn heartbeat of a drum over beautiful close ups of Dimmond's skinned carcass.

Side note 2: I have searched high and low for the track that plays during the Vitruvian Man folding, but it doesn't seem to have been published anywhere. Tunefind says that it was adapted from Hayley Westenra's Never Say Goodbye (which is sooo romantic lol), but it doesn't sound anything like that song to me.

Finally, this is the most insight we, the audience, get into the conception of any Ripper tableau and it's a valentine for Will. Oughhhh. I'm going to cry just thinking about it.

[The Naka Choko dinner scene is a close second tho! The audacity they had to score it with Mahler's Adagietto... And the end of TWOTL would be my third pick.]

[fieldofdaisiies]

When We'll Be Lovers, Lovers at Last

secret santa gift for @iftheshoef1tz ❤️ @acotargiftexchange ship: Azriel x Eris type: angst (with a hint of fluff and smut) word count: 12,8k words warnings: talk about trauma, mentions of politics & WW2, mentions of homophobia, explicit descriptions, talks about illnesses summary: Entangled in an illicit and secret love affair, both Eris Vanserra, a well-known doctor, and Azriel Singer, a theatre director of East Berlin, dream of a life where their love for each other won't have fatal consequences. Amidst the turmoil of East Berlin, their dream seems elusive, yet their desire and longing for each other is too strong to stay apart.  Will their love have a chance at last? Or will the continue to bow to the regime and go separate ways in the end?

Part 1: Afraid to Get Close (Dec. 20th)

Part 2: Flesh (Dec. 24th)

Part 3: Lovers At Last (Dec. 26th)

Dear, @iftheshoef1tz I really hope you will enjoy reading the story, I most definitely enjoyed writing it for you. I can only once again say that I completely freaked out when I got assigned as your secret santa...because omg! I honestly still can't believe it, it feels like such an honour to write an Azris story for you. I hope you have the best holiday season, you deserve it. Everything else I had to say, I sent you in the message❤️ but here is some more background info on the story for you:

This story is not only inspired by the German series Charité, where one season takes place at that time, but also by the Austrian doctor Otto Prokop and another Austrian doctor and author Arthur Schnitzler who Eris is based on. In addition, Azriel is inspired by Gustav Mahler, a composer and director.

Taking into account, that you like music, and especially classical music it was soon very clear that one of them would work in the musical branch and that classical music would play a big part (not only classical, all titles and chapter titles also have song titles or parts of them). Simce I love Eris as a doctor, and Azriel also canon wise is musically talented the decision was quite simple who would be the theatre director. You offered me wonderful answers, which made it very easy for me to hopefully create a story exactly how you imagined it. Funnily, the story is based exactly in the same time you are writing a story in (I didn’t know that when I started working on the gift and most definitely not when I started planning it.)

link ao3

[newnitz]

girl idk if you've seen that vid or not, but a very vocal hindu activist talks about whatever wikipedia is doing to you all it is also doing to the hindus and fuck if we're not all terrified.

if i can get a little personal, my mom always did tell me wikipedia was not the free speech and though or it presented itself to be, but i was an idiot and didn't listen. i saw the editings in wikipedia pages and how jewish information was distorted but it wasn't until i read leonard berstein's page that i rlly grasped it. there's no mention of him being jewish. NONE. same with mahler. im a huge classical music fan and to see this represented and distorted like this is disgusting.

even in india the rise in antisemitism is so fucking disgusting and this is a country where there was very little antisemitism as recent as 2022. unfortunately, completely unrelated events are hijacked and made all about how israel is the one responsible for everything bad in the world which is another level of deranged idiocy, but even the barest mention of how some of the most reputed celebrities here are slipping into very casual and very mask off antisemitism here invites absolutely deranged hate.

hoping for the best for you all, and hope all of this ends soon.

All I c can say is same 💔

[recapitulation]

ok follow up question: what's the ideal number of horns to have integrated with a full orchestra?

i gave this some serious thought. its the most important question in the world to me. ok so schoenberg's guerre-lieder has 10 horns which really lent strength behind everything However i didnt feel like it was very "horn forward"... vs mahler 4 has only 4 hours and yet it Does feel horn forward (to me). aka i can hear it clear as a bell and it has solos i love etc. this could be my own mahler bias tweaking my perception but anyway what i want to say is that the way the horn is used is more important to me than how many there are. which can also of course be influenced by the conductor and what they are bringing out. and of course what the listener is listening to... 🤡

anyway all that to say i dont much care how many there are as long as they're the star of the show. but then again i do get really excited when im watching a recording of a piece and i see the horn section is absolutely loaded up. since that is usually a symptom of the composer wanting to bring it forward 📯🩷

[sunskate]

You’re putting words in my mouth. I’m not remotely implying that maintaining tension while skating to ‘soft’ music isn’t difficult, of course it is. But it’s like skating to Romeo and Juliet after the age of like, 20…it’s just not authentic any more. The same way the hand kissing choreo in Seasons is cringeworthy rather than sweet - it’s a mood forced upon performers who have already done that style more successfully in the past.

Wuthering Heights is deeply unpleasant, yes, I’m well aware of the plot and character arcs given that it’s my all time favourite book. The toxicity is exactly why I wanted them to do it. It’s vastly more complex to try and portray than a true love story to sweetly romantic music. They were good enough actors post-Carmen to make it work, and I don’t think many teams since then have been good enough. Pride and Prejudice they could do in their sleep, which is why I think it would’ve been a retrogressive step.

answering anon asks by nature isn't a back and forth conversation- i have no way of knowing who you are or what you meant besides the words you wrote 😅 i post some anons bc they have a different opinion than mine. i'm not arguing when i put my opinion underneath - i'm just saying what i think, and ppl can read both if they like

my original question was would you trade any of their programs for a Pride and Prejudice one? i didn’t restrict it to any period of their career - there were seasons where it wouldn’t have been a step back. you wanted to talk about them in their later career, i wanted to talk about Mahler - why are you mad? we're passionate about skating and clearly pretty opinionated. and that’s why i have this blog, so i can talk about it, and whoever’s reading this is kind enough to indulge me. no disrespect intended if i don’t get everything you meant, go off on a tangent or have different preferences

[fuckyeah-jessicabiel]

Jessica Biel for Los Angeles Confidential July-August 2006

THE REAL BIEL When the "sexiest woman alive" also turns out to be refreshingly down to earth, you have to believe she really was heaven-sent. By Cristina Kinon • Photographs by Brian Bowen Smith/Montage WE ALL GOT TO KNOW JESSICA BIEL as Mary Camden, the rebellious reverend's daughter on 7th Heaven. Soon after, she was screaming her way through The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, slaying vampires in Blade: Trinity, flying a killer plane in Stealth, and looking sexier than every other woman alive on the cover of 2005's Esquire. These days, she's just trying to cope with turn of the century Vienna society in The Illusionist—all while living the life of a normal 20-something girl in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES CONFIDENTIAL: Let's talk about your new film The Illusionist with Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. What's it about? JESSICA BIEL: The film is... really hard to describe. It's unique and beautiful, an old-school style romance filled with the mystery and suspense of 1900s Vienna society and culture. It's about what these two people sacrifice trying to be together even though they are from very different parts of society.

LAC: How was it to act in a period piece? It's a very different style from your most recent roles. JB: It was very challenging, but really fun. Having an accent was great, but it took a lot of work. It was exciting for me to do something I haven't done before and that I don't have in my repertoire. The costumes, the locations, everything really helped to create this person who lived 100 years ago.

LAC: What kind of research did you do for the role? JB: [Director] Neil Burger lent me a handful of different books on the Habsburgs, who were kind of royalty living in Vienna at that time. I studied what women did every day—their lifestyle, culture, what was allowed, how they were supposed to behave in society and at home... just how different it really used to be. And I modeled my character, Princess Sophie, after Alma Mahler, composer Gustav Mahler's wife. I read this book—it was basically her diary—about her life and it really opened my eyes. She basically felt like a bird in a cage. And that's how Sophie feels in this movie. She just wants to fall in love with the person that she truly cares about, not just someone that's good for her in theory and for her family. She just wants to live life.

LAC: You mentioned your "repertoire," which is quite eclectic. Is that some-thing you've done consciously, or have these roles just come along at the right time? JB: I think it's been a bit of both. I've always been interested in doing dif-ferent things, trying to never repeat styles—at least not back to back. Whatever I had just done, I was intrigued and inspired to do the complete opposite.... Texas [Chainsaw Massacre] came about and I couldn't turn it down, so I didn't really want to do another action movie, but then Blade came up, and then Stealth. It's sort of just luck of the draw—roles pop up that you can't say no to, but it is a conscious choice to not only do action movies, like with The Illusionist.

LAC: What is your dream role? JB: I'm hoping someone will ask me to do some sort of a life story—an auto-biography of a musician, something with music. Or film noir, like a 1930s sus-pense scandal story about Hollywood.

LAC: How do you feel about 7th Heaven being picked up for another sea-son? Will you make any more appearances? JB: I know, it's crazy! But I have no idea. 7th Heaven has been wonderful to and for me, and I will always be grateful for that. I love the entire cast and everyone involved in the show so it's always a definite possibility.

LAC: What was the driving force behind your initially leaving the show? JB: Initially, I just wanted to go to college. I hadn't experienced traditional-style high school. I wanted to be around kids my own age and to stop work-ing full time. I was burned out.

LAC: You've spoken out in the past about how you won't pose for certain men's magazines like FHM and Maxim. Do you still feel that way, and what provoked that decision? JB: I do still feel that way. I think my experience working with Gear magazine [in 2000; some have said the controversial topless shoot led to Biel being let out of her 7th Heaven contract] was the number one reason.Plus, I feel like I've already done that, and I'm not interested in it anymore.

LAC: Well, regardless of your attitude toward them, these magazines still vote you onto their "hottest" lists year after year. Do you pay attention to that? JB: Not really, but I do always think it's flattering to be in the company of the caliber of people on those lists.

LAC: What about Esquire voting you "sexiest woman alive" last year? JB: That was totally different. I really respect Esquire, and for them to [give me that title] was extremely flattering. When I found out I was just like, Who voted for me? My parents? It was unbelievable. And the photographs were super classy and very beautiful.

LAC: What do you do in LA for fun? JB: I think it's such a great city to be in when you're 20-something. Lately my thing has been going to see movies in the Hollywood cemetery. It's a really unique LA experience. Sometimes friends and I will sing karaoke at the Gaslight. And I love taking my dog to the dog beach in Huntington. LAC: What's up next for you? JB: I have Home of the Brave, a movie about American soldiers coming home from Iraq coming out in 2007, and right now I'm in the middle of shooting Next, a romantic action movie with Nick Cage and Julianne Moore.

LAC: I read you were once offered a role in Broadway's Rent—is that true? JB: I did audition for the Broadway production of Rent and was offered the Maureen role. I ended up not taking it because I really wanted to create character from scratch and being on Broadway in a show like Rent that character is already there and you're really working inside a box. But it is one of my favorite musicals ever, and sometimes I look back and I wouldn't say regret it, but I do think it could have been amazing.

LAC: So you're a singer, too. Think you'll ever cross over and put out a CD? JB: Singing was my first passion. I had been singing since I was eight year old and was always the musical theater geek, even up until I landed 7th Heaven. I'd like to bring it back, but it's really hard to transition from film to music unless you're extremely talented. There are so many good female artists around today, I would be wary of trying anything right now unless got together a great band—definitely not as a solo artist. *

[symphonybracket]

YouTube links: Mahler 2, Prokofiev 5

Thoughts from submitters below!

Mahler 2 (2 submittals)

Have you ever wanted to feel like you're going to shake apart into a billion pieces if someone so much as looks at you. That's how I feel after listening to this beast. This symphony changed my life for real. It's famous for it's ending and for good reason!! It truly feels like your soul is getting blown up and steamrolled. Listening to it live was like getting peeled by god. It calls for 10 horns which is how you know it's going to fuck severely. It comes in 5 movements: good lord oh my god, hehe teehee, oh so that's why they call it the death shriek, crying on the floor for 5 minutes, and I Have Died. The part known as the "Death Shriek" is shown below! And if you're interested in learning more about the symphony, here's my favorite analysis website!

It's an everything in the universe piece and when I sang in the choir for it I think I actually ascended to a higher plane of existence for 15 minutes

Prokofiev 5 (1 submittal)

No notes

[streetlegal1978]

@barstoolblues tagged me for 6 albums ive been listening to lately ^_^ yayy ty shiv

Mr. Spock’s Music From Outer Space by Leonard Nimoy: a novelty album with a 1960’s space age lounge music/bossa nova vibe. Theres also some silly spoken word tracks on there that make me smile. I absolutely adore the track, “Music to Watch Space Girls By.”

Bitches Brew by Miles Davis: a surreal jazz soundscape. Timeless and unpredictable. Love to listen to this at work it stresses me out in a good way 👍

Leonard Bernstein The Complete Mahler Symphonies: I have nothing to add other than go to www.youtube.com and look up Leonard Bernstein conducting symphony no. 2 in C minor “resurrection V” music is everything <3

Timely!! By Anri: 1980’s Japanese City Pop. Full lush productions—a little disco sounding. Favorite track is “I Can’t Stop the Loneliness” a cheery upbeat pop track with melancholy lyrics it gives me this vibe:

The Genius of Esquivel by Esquivel!: another mfing 1960’s lounge music/bossa nova album on my list. Whatever. Very eclectic, somehow manages to be very much a product of its time but way ahead of its time at the same time. Idk if this a corny thing to say but it’s like captain beefheart lounge music.

I tag: @oreganosbaby @holdoncallfailed @toastysalt @cineshemp @philcollinsenjoyer

[thee-achilles]

GUSTAV MAHLER: A PARTIAL NATAL CHART ANALYSIS (HOUSES 1-6)

🧿DO NOT STEAL MY WORK OR KARMA WILL FIND YOU.🧿

hey guys :) i was searching through my old projects and i found this! i did this analysis for a creative project in order to get my position as drum major. if it seems too over-explanatory, it’s because i was describing all of this to people who didn’t know anything about astrology. also, this was written like a year ago, so my knowledge on astrology and placements has definitely expanded since then. if anything seems “out-of-date,” that’s why. either way. i hope y’all enjoy!! i had a lot of fun making this post to share this analysis with you all!! :) <3 (also i do not know the titles of these paintings. i do know that the middle one is mahler, though! so if anyone can tell me the names and their artists, it would be much appreciated!!!!)

WHO WAS GUSTAV MAHLER?

Gustav Mahler was a composer during the romantic period. He is of Austro-Bohemian decent, and is best known for his 10 symphonies. A fun fact about him is that a the main tune for “Be Our Guest” from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast came from his Symphony No. 3. Like most amazing artists, he didn’t become famous until years after his death. The performance of his music was banned in most of Europe during the era of Nazi rule and later rediscovered by new listeners. Since then, he has become one of the most recreated composers and has since kept this position going into the 20th century. (source(s): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Mahler, https://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/be-our-guest-and-mahlers-symphony-no-3-54610.html)

INTRODUCTION:

This is Gustav Mahler’s birth chart. He was born on Saturday, July 7, 1860, in Kalischt, Czech Republic at 10:15 p.m. Everything in a chart has an important meaning; from the degree, to the house, to the sign, to the planet. To give a breakdown, the top left of the screen is his birth time information, below that is his planet’s signs and degrees, the tiny chart below that is the elements and modalities in his chart, and the tiny triangle under that are his chart’s aspects. To the right of all of that, is his chart. Each chart has 12 houses. These houses start from the AC, or the ascendant. However, today, I will only be evaluating 6 out of the 12 houses.

As you can see from Mahler’s chart, his ascendant is in Pisces at 9°. His first house also contains his Neptune, which is the planetary ruler of Pisces. From the other charts of talented musicians that I have evaluated, a lot of them seem to have heavy Pisces influence. This even extends to the talented musicians within our own community. (3 of excellent musicians in the band) are all Pisces suns. My brother has multiple planets in Pisces, which forms a stellium in his chart. A stellium is when 3 or more planets are in a sign or when 3 or more planets are in a house. Sometimes, these 3+ planets can ALL reside in the same house, which focuses a ton of energy of that chart towards that house.

STELLIUMS

In reference to stelliums within Mahler’s chart, he has a stellium in Leo which resides in his 6th house. His Venus, Mercury, Saturn, and Jupiter are all in Leo and all reside in his 6H.

However, we will get to what all of that means later. As of right now, I want to break his chart down house by house, planet by planet, sign by sign.

HOUSE 1: THE HOUSE OF SELF

So, let’s start with the first house. As I said before, Mahler has a Pisces ascendant, so his first house is in Pisces. His first house contains his Neptune at 29°. The first house represents how we see ourselves and others’ first impressions of us when they meet us. The planets or sign of this house can ultimately affect our personality, and the 1H is The House of Self.

Neptune is the ruler of illusions and delusions, intuition and dreams, mysticism, the imagination, mental illness, the unknown, and is a major pinpoint of isolation (along with Saturn). This planet is also said to rule celebrities, as they give the public an illusion of what they’re like vs. what they’re actually like. His Neptune is in its house sign of Pisces, so the sign and the planet are in harmony meaning they will act in the same mannerisms. However, his Neptune is at 29°. 29° is the highest degree at which signs in planets can go to, making this a critical degree. 29° emphasizes the energy of the planet and its rulerships and can even signify fame. This degree is ruled by Leo.

Mahler was known, according to Connolly Music, to “suffer from skepticism, nervous tension, and an obsession with death.” The fact that Neptune is so prevalent in his chart is one of the main reasons why he is this way. The themes of Neptune and its critical degree, as you can see, affected his overall personality.

About the unknown and mysticism part of Neptune, Mahler hid from his wife the fact that he was Jewish and even converted to Christianity in order to have a successful conducting career. Alma, Mahler’s wife, was insanely anti-semitic, and never knew he was Jewish for a long time.

About the isolation part of Neptune, Mahler had a composition hut in Austria in which he used to finish his Second and Third Symphony and a few songs from his Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Funnily enough, this hut was positioned by Lake Attersee. Neptune, in Roman mythology, is known as the God of Freshwater and the Sea. Not only did he like to work in seclusion, he also liked to work near a body of water. He was also known as “an avid swimmer and mountain walker.” It’s just very funny for me to see things like this work hand in hand.

HOUSE 2: THE HOUSE OF VALUE

Mahler’s second house is in the sign of Taurus. While it should be in Aries, Mahler has what is called Intercepted Houses. This is when the sign of a house skips or repeats itself. However, this doesn’t mean that Aries does not exist in Mahler’s chart, however all 30 degrees of it is in the 1H. The reason why this happens is because the northern and southern latitudes of the 12 houses are not evenly spaced. This results in a sign being hidden and not easily accessible, though it is still there.

In this case, the house intercepted is in Aries. Aries governs over confidence and passion. It is ruled by Mars. As we can see by the description of Mahler’s personality, he suffered from skepticism and feared the unknown. He was unable to channel that Martian energy in his chart, thus leaving him unconfident.

Moving forward, the second house governs over personal finances, material items, self worth, and inner desires of gain. This house could also express one’s system of values. Mahler has his Pluto in the 2H in Taurus at 9°. Taurus is ruled by Venus and governs over the 2H, so it's right at home here. Pluto is the planet of destruction and transformation. When this is in the house of finances, a lot can go wrong as well as right. In terms of money, this route can take extreme rises as well as extreme falls. The people who have this placement can either be born into humble circumstances or be born into vast wealth. Mahler, of course, was born into humility, and had multiple rises and falls in his income. People with this placement also tend to have a small view on themselves and have a desire for control. This was very evident in the way that Mahler was described.

Since his 2H is in Taurus and intercepted houses are in effect, this means that four of the houses that continue after will be under their traditional sign of rulership. In Mahler’s chart, this is his second, third, eighth, and ninth.

HOUSE 3: THE HOUSE OF COMMUNICATIONS

The third house in Mahler’s chart is in Gemini. The third house rules communication, siblings, early education, perception, and transport. His Uranus resides in this house at 10°. Uranus rules everything eccentric, unpredictable, and creative/scientific brilliance. Having his Uranus in the 3H is a symbol of some kind of genius, though they often struggle in school.

Many reports say that Gustav Mahler was very “unreliable” in his academic school work. In order to fix this, his father had sent him away to the Newtown Gymnasium in Prague. Then, he ended up going to the Vienna Conservatory in order to study music. Here, Mahler’s rebellious flag flew as well, though he graduated. This is a fine example of transportation and struggling in school that Uranus so represents in the 3H.

Another example of his Uranus in the 3H working is that his siblings and their relationship with them weren’t “conventional”. His sister, Justine, had extreme possessiveness over Mahler and even went to extremes to make sure his romances were ruined. This was before he met Alma and told Justine that her behavior couldn’t continue. This encounter ruined Justine’s relationship with her brother. Many of Mahler’s siblings died during his early childhood including his older brother, who would’ve been the oldest of the 14 had he not passed. He also assumed responsibility for all of his surviving siblings after the death of his parents in 1889. This “unusual” responsibility can also be represented by the 10° that Uranus is in. 10° is under the rulership of Capricorn, which is ruled by Saturn. Saturn rules responsibility.

HOUSE 4: THE HOUSE OF HOME

Again, intercepted houses are at play here. Mahler’s fourth house is also in Gemini. There is not a planet in this house, meaning that only the sign is affecting this house. This also means that there is less tension pointed to this house in his chart. The 4H rules family, home, parents (specifically the mother), and the emotional base of our satisfaction.

Since Gemini is in this house, Mahler’s family life and home was constantly changing. This is very evident in his constant moving-about during his early childhood. Gemini in this house can also talk about a specific connection between one parent, though emotions in this sign are often rationalized. Mahler had a strong relationship with his father, who supported him in what would eventually be his career (music). He cared a lot for Mahler to make a stable income and put this first. Funnily enough, the 4H opposes the 10H, the house OF career.

HOUSE 5: THE HOUSE OF PLEASURE

When we talk about the 5H, we usually associate it with pleasure. This pleasure is usually derived from self-expression, creative hobbies, desire, children, and the showing of individuality. This is one of my favorite houses to talk about in astrology and placements here make it all the more interesting. Mahler’s 5H is in Cancer, the sign of emotional/physical well-being and comfort.

Traditionally ruled by Leo, Mahler’s sun in Cancer at 15° is right at home here. To me, the sun shines the brightest here because it’s in its home house. Since it’s the only planet here, it’s definitely giving the most energy.

A great explanation as to how rulership works out in astrology would be how Mahler passed away. The only reason why I bring this up here is because his 5H shows kind of a preview of what he was under before he died.

Mahler found out his heart was defective after his daughter, Maria Anna, died of scarlet fever. The discovery was made immediately after her passing. He was very stressed out beforehand and after her death, expressing his exhaustion was very hard. I believe this took a toll on his health, as he was unable to properly express himself and stress tends to build up in the heart.

He performed his last concert and left for Europe. He then was taken to a sanitarium to be treated. A few days later with no improvement, Mahler passed away. He was buried next to his daughter Anna Maria, as per request, on May 22 with only his name on his tombstone. He said this to be so because “any who come to look for me will know who I was and the rest don’t need to know.”

His death can also be represented in his sixth house, which I will further explain when we get there.

HOUSE 6: THE HOUSE OF HEALTH AND OCCUPATION

Out of all of the 12 houses in astrology, this one is definitely in my top 3 to discuss. The 6H can tell us so much about our potential careers as well as what our health could look like. This house rules health, occuations, and physical limitations. Though this house is traditionally ruled by Virgo, in Mahler’s chart it’s in Leo.

As I said before, Leo rules self-expression. One of the many ways of self-expression is performance. Frankly, if you haven’t noticed, Mahler’s got a lot of Leo in his 6H; he’s got a stellium, so it isn’t exactly surprising that he chose a career where his self most resonated and could be displayed in the public with an artistic flair. He also has his Venus, the planetary ruler of music and all things art, in this house as well at a powerful degree. Venus in his 6H is at 2° . 2° is ruled by Taurus and is often called the degree of power. It’s a very ambitious degree to have and it’s often what we pursue. 2° here under Venus shows that Mahler pursued music and put all of his ambition into it.

Here alongside Venus, are Jupiter, Mercury, and Saturn. Jupiter makes a conjunction to his Venus. Jupiter rules expansion, education, joviality, and abundance. When it is in a positive aspect to Venus, Jupiter enhances and expands Venus’s properties. This is an aspect I see in a lot of musicians as well, so I thought I would mention it here.

Like I said when I was discussing the 5H, there were a lot of factors in the 5H and the 6H that portrayed a preview of what Mahler was under before he passed. Since the 6H rules health, the 6H can tell a lot about the illness that caused Mahler’s death. Like the 5H, there is Leo influence. This again is pointing towards the heart problems that Mahler had with his heart as well as his job as a musician. Whenever my brother told me that Mahler had died of a heart condition, the first thing that caught my eye was his stellium in this house. I told him that it wasn’t surprising considering the huge amount of Leo influence here.

Mahler overexerted himself and then died in a sanitarium. Both of these things are represented by the 6H. When Mahler was on his deathbed, many people went to visit and expressed how much they loved him. Attention is ruled by Leo and Virgo/6H can represent places where health purification takes place. Him also having Saturn here, the planet of long-term effects and karma, indicates that his health issues had a long-term effect on not only him, but the people around him and that his daughter’s death could have been a factor leading to his death as well. All things health related can be pointed to the 6H and I think it is one of the easiest houses to read in astrology.

DEGREES:

Below, I listed some degrees that were indicators of his success and degrees that repeated.

Degrees of Fame and Success within Mahler’s Chart:

Neptune at 29°.

Venus and North Node at 2°.

North Node is our “path” in life and Mahler having this at 2° in Aquarius (ruled by Uranus, planet of eccentricity and community) proved that he was meant to do something that while was different from other people, was still extremely influential. His North Node resides in his twelfth house.

Repeating Degrees:

9°, 21°- Sagittarius Degrees

Sagittarian degrees, like all degrees, add the characteristics of a sign to the body it’s effecting. Sagittarius rules freedom, passion, and intellectuality. Mahler was incredibly passionate about what he wanted to do and he wanted to do it his way. Despite his uncertainty about the people around him and his true identity, he knew he found some sort of comfort in creating and learning about music while having the freedom to do so.

2°- Taurus degrees

2° is the degree of power and has extreme influence. This influence can be used for good or bad, and I’m thankful Mahler used it to elevate his musical career.

CONCLUSION:

I think all of these situations being displayed in Mahler’s chart can show that astrology can have the ability to predict events or tell of events that have already passed. Of course, you still don’t have to believe in everything I said here, I just think it’s neat! I only did 6 out of the 12 houses because this would have been probably 20 or more pages worth of information, and I did not want to make this longer than it already was. Either way, I hope you enjoyed! :)

© thee-achilles 2023