Gustav Mahler and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra Tour America

About this book

"In 1909, when the troubled New York Philharmonic Orchestra needed a leader to rejuvenate and reshape it, composer and conductor Gustav Mahler accepted the challenge. By instituting regular rehearsals, developing a season with forty-six concerts (tripling the previous number), and taking the orchestra on tour, Mahler spent the final two years of his life striving to make the New York Philharmonic the best orchestra in the country and the equal of any in the world. Gustav Mahler and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra Tour America documents Mahler's tours with the orchestra during the 1909 and 1910 seasons, detailing the conditions and preparations for each tour, the outcome of each concert, and the perceptions of audience beyond New York City." "Mary H. Wagner has amassed data from more than one thousand articles to present a thorough description of the planning and reception of the Philharmonic on its first tour outside New York. She explores how Mahler designed programs to appeal to American audiences, employed one hundred musicians on the tours and presented compositions by Wagner, Strauss, Berlioz, and Bach to audiences, many of whom had never heard works played by a full romantic orchestra. The book also provides a history of touring and orchestral development at the turn of the twentieth century."--Jacket.