- Chronology: Year 1908.
- Location: Exhibition Concert Hall.
- Nature: Tenth and last philharmonic concert of the jubilee exhibition. Festival marking the Diamond Jubilee of Franz Josef I, Emperor (1830-1916).
- Program: Mahler.
- Composition Mahler:
- Symphony No. 7 (Premiere).
- Soloist: No.
- Conductor: Gustav Mahler (1860-1911).
- Orchestra: Ausstellungs orchester (exhibition orchestra), i.e. Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, reinforced by approximately 40 musicians from the Orchestra of the Neues Deutsches Theatre (State Opera), a total of 100 players. Regular conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Vilem Zemanek had prerehearsed the work.
- Chorus: No.
- Concert number: c208.
- Notes: World premiere. The general rehearsal took place at 18-09-1908 at 12:00 am. The tensions in the Bohemian capital, between Czech an German elements, were reflected within the orchestra itself. Mahler had insisted on a group of a hundred instrumentalists for an event such importance as the world premiere of his new symphony, and a “Exhibition Orchestra” had been formed with musicians from the Orchestra of the Neues Deutsches Theatre (State Opera) and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the members of which disapproved of the very idea of inviting a German-speaking Czech to impose his large-scale symphony upon them.
Guests (all helped to revise the orchestration and to copy the parts)
- Otto Klemperer (1885-1973)
- Bruno Walter (1876-1962)
- Arthur Bodanzky (1877-1939)
- Gerhard von Keussler
- Alban Berg (1885-1935)
- Karl Horwitz (1884-1925)
- Klaus Pringsheim (1883-1972)
- Albert Neisser (1855-1916)
- Arnold Berliner (1862-1942)
- Ossip Gabrilowitsch (1878-1936)
- William Ritter (1867-1955) (detailed)
Reviews
- Prager Tagblatt 19-09-1908 by Richard Batka
- Prager Tagblatt 20-09-1908 by Richard Batka
- Bohemia 20-09-1908 by Felix Adler
- Prager Abendblatt 21-09-1908
- Den 22-09-1908 by Zdenek Nejedly. Page 1-2.
- Dalibor 31-1908 by A. Silhan. Page 4.
- Narodni listy 22-09-1908 by A. Silhan
- Hudebni revue 01-1908 by O. Nebuska. Page 404-405.
- Czechische Revue III 01-1908 by Zdenek Nejedly. Nr. 2. Page 150-153.
1908 Concert Prague 19-09-1908 – Symphony No. 7 (Premiere).
See also:
