- In order of year.
- See also: Paintings, drawings and silhouettes.
- See also: Sculpture.
- Photos can be found in the Chronology.
Year 1889. Poking fun at Mahler’s conducting at the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 in Budapest. Der Malheur-Syphon. Hans Kossler (1853-1926) (professor Budapest Musicacademy) on the drum, Odon von Mihalovich with cat miauws and Gustav Mahler conducting. (Bolond Istok 24-11-1889)
Year 1890. Mahler rides Ferenc von Beniczky (1833-1905), who departs as the head of the Budapest Royal Hungarian Opera House.
Year 1891? Budapest. Caricature by Geza Farago (1877-1928).
Year 1897. By Fritz Gareis (1872-1925), mocking Mahler’s energetic conducting gestures.
Year 1897. ‘Wilhelm Jahn (1835-1900) holds the reins, bur the whip is better in the hands of Mahler’. Wilhelm Jahn (1835-1900) was still director of the Vienna State Opera (Hofoper, Wiener Staatsoper) when Mahler joined as a conductor. (Der Floh 35)
Year 1897. Mahler rebukes Ernest van Dijck (1861-1923), famous tenor in Vienna, for continuing to employ a claque at the Opera.
Year 1897. Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) triumphs over his predecessor Wilhelm Jahn (1835-1900). Cartoon by Theo Zasche (1862-1922).
1897? ‘Director Mahler’s Klagendes Lied’.
1897? ‘Mahler metamorphoses’. This cartoon criticizes the composer for writing music that embraces the styles of too many other composers, including Richard Wagner (1813-1883), Franz Liszt (1811-1886), Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) and Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864).
Year 1897. Mahler was presented to Vienna in this cartoon as ‘the latest paintbrush in Vienna’s artistic life’.
Year 1897. Mahler introduces a wind of change into the Vienna State Opera (Hofoper, Wiener Staatsoper). Director change. (Humoristische Blatter, 17-10-1897)
Year 1898. Singers complain about overrehearsing: ‘So now we can try the sound when we are hoarse’.
1898? Mahler tells Director Schlenther that with his bad luck in producing classical opera, he’d be better off presenting Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)‘s Maria Stuart as a ballet.
Year 1899. The opera singers wait for Mahler: The caption: ‘Through this empty alley he must come’ refers to the well-known quotation from Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)‘s play William Tell, on which Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) based his opera.
Year 1899. By Otto Bohler (1847-1913). Illustriertes Wiener Extrablatt. 14-01-1899. (Otto Boehler). 1899 Concert Vienna 19-02-1899?
Year 1899. By Otto Bohler (1847-1913). 1899 Concert Vienna 19-02-1899?
Year? Silhouette by Otto Bohler (1847-1913). Titled “Dancing Vienna”. Mahler is shown dancing on the left. The other dancers include the actor Georg Reimers (middle) and the critic Gustav Schonaich (1840-1906) (right).
Year 1899. ‘The baton of Cosima Wagner (1837-1930), with which she makes the most money’.
Year 1899. The singer Sophie Sedlmair (1857-1939) (as a barmaid) tells Mahler he is a tease: ‘You call me, and when I come, you ask who called me, and you order nothing’.
Year 1900. A caricature of Mahler conducting the first performance of Symphony No. 1 in Vienna. (Illustriertes Wiener Extrablatt 25-11-1900)
Year 1900. Mahler arranging money for 120 members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO) in Paris.
Year 1900. An attack about the need to protect ‘our opera darlings’ from Mahler. (Kikeriki 08-02-1900)
Year 1900. Mahler escorts the conductor Hans Richter (1843-1916) as Lohengrin to his swan-boat. Mahler had replaced Hans Richter (1843-1916) as director of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO).
Year 1900. ‘Megalomania: soon it won’t just be a question of “improving” Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)‘s symphonies, but of making suitable changes to his momument’. (Kikeriki 04-03-1900)
Year 1901. ‘At our opera Freia and Wotan will soon look like this’.
Year 1901. By Hans Schliessmann (1852-1920). Caricature called ‘A hypermoderne conductor’. ‘Kapellmeister Kappelmann, conducts his Symphony diabolica.’
Year 1902. ‘Latest progress in naturalistic art: modern painters paint as they see. Why shouldn’t modern musicians compose as they hear?’ (Kikeriki 17-04-1902)
Year 1902. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) accuses Mahler of ‘disfiguring’ his music. Kikeriki 24-04-1902. (See: Max Klinger (1857-1920)) (Kikeriki 33)
Year 1902. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) first promotes his operas. (Der Floh)
Year 1902. Mahler is rebuked for the way he treats his singers (Grete Forst).
Year 1902. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) asks God’s help because Mahler’s ‘repairs’ to ‘Don Giovanni’.
Year 1902. Mahler on the podium and in front of the wedding altar. (Der Floh 12)
1902? One singer tells Mahler that by carrying her to the theater he’ll get better results.
1903? A singer complains to Mahler about unfair bad publicity.
Year 1903. Vienna. Cartoon of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) from a Viennese newspaper. The caption reads ‘Reichmann is going too!’ and (below) ‘The Jew Mahler as a scarecrow driving away our best singers’. Theodor Reichmann (1849-1903) was a leader baritone at the Vienna State Opera (Hofoper, Wiener Staatsoper) who had difficulties with Mahler. An attack on Mahler as a scarecrow who drives away the best singers.
Year 1903. Mahler is told that if he continues to dismiss many singers from the Vienna State Opera (Hofoper, Wiener Staatsoper), he may get fired himself.
Year 1904. Gustav Mahler performing ‘Louise’. Opera by Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956). Unknown artist.
Year 1903. Vienna. Die Herren Theater-Directoren.
Year 1904. Unknown artist.
Year 1904. ‘Epidemic among Vienna State Opera (Hofoper, Wiener Staatsoper) singers: they are probably suffering from Mahleria’ (Kikeriki, 05-05-1904). ‘Boorish behaviour’ blows in from the sky while ‘Jewish arrogance’ clambers out of the water.
Year 1905. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) sends for Mahler because he has ruined ‘Don Giovanni’ and no one will believe in Mozart’s genius anymore. (Wiener Caricaturen, XXIV, 12-1905)
Year 1905. With Richard Strauss (1864-1949).
Year 1905. By Hans Lindloff (1878-1960).
Year 1905. The Mahler Pumping station. ‘What is his noise? It is Mahlers’ first movement of Symphony No. 3′ (In De Ware Jacob, by Ko Doncker, 07-11-1903, the Netherlands). 1903 Concert Amsterdam 23-10-1903 – Symphony No. 3.
Year 1905. The untoward incident in the Vienna State Opera (Hofoper, Wiener Staatsoper). Panic in the auditorium. Smoke above the procenium, due to a short circuit in the electric wing. Note the singer Leo Slezak (1873-1946) appealing for order from the stage. Note also the conductor’s armchair in front of the orchestra pit, immediately below the stage. (Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt 05-05-1905)
Year 1906. ‘To save money the Opera will replace all artists, choruses and the orchestra with the gramophone. An automaton will replace Mahler as conductor’. (Der Floh 1906)
Year 1906. Sketch by Hans Bohler (1884-1961). (Hans Boehler).
Year 1906. Caricature by Hans Bohler (1884-1961) (1/5).
Year 1906. Caricature by Hans Bohler (1884-1961) (2/5).
Year 1906. Caricature by Hans Bohler (1884-1961) (3/5).
Year 1906. Caricature by Hans Bohler (1884-1961) (4/5).
Year 1906. By Hans Bohler (1884-1961) (5/5). The icy stare that Mahler often directed at latecomers to his performances.
Year? Drawing by Hans Schliessmann (1852-1920). The icy stare that Mahler often directed at latecomers to his performances.
Year 1907. A cartoon depicting a month in Mahler’s life, criticizing him for being unavailable: (top left) first week, trying out his latest symphony with unknown orchestras; second week, looking for an instrument with a new sound; third week, tied down with revisions of one of his own symphonies; fourth week, resting to recover from his vacation. The sign on the door reads, ‘Office hours from 6 pm – 2 am’. (Die Zeit 20-01-1907)
Year 1907. With singers’ voices produced by gramophone, why, Mahler wonders, is it stil necesarry to pay singers’ fees?
Year 1907. Felix von Weingartner (1863-1942), Mahler’s successor at the Vienna State Opera (Hofoper, Wiener Staatsoper), asks whether raising ticket prices has been a benefit. Mahler replies, ‘Certainly, it benefited the Volksopera (the other opera house in Vienna). Box Office Talkings. (Der Floh 1907)
1907? Criticizing year-end bonuses at the Vienna State Opera (Hofoper, Wiener Staatsoper).
Year 1907. Cartoon of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) from the time of the first performance of Symphony No. 6 in Vienna. The caption reads: ‘Good Lord, I forgot the motor hora. now I can write another symphony’. (Die Muskete 19-01-1907)
Year 1907. Mahler on a bomb, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) at a rat-a-tat sewing machine, and Richard Strauss (1864-1949) with a heavy weight about to fall on the public – all combined in one performance. (Illustriertes Extrablatt 31-03-1907). Cartoon by Theo Zasche (1862-1922).
Year 1907. By Trojanski in St Petersburg (Troianski). “The enormous conductor G. Mahler, three attitudes of his conducting’.
Year 1907. In New York, by Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). The famous tenor was also a prolific artist noted for his caricatures of musical personalities.
Year 1908. ‘Holofernes at the Opera’: ‘I am the only one at whom I did not rage! I wonder who is the stronger: I or I!’. With Erik Schmedes (1868-1931), Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), Bertha Forster-Lauterer (1869-1936) and Hermann Winkelmann (1847-1912).
Year 1908. In New York, by Enrico Caruso (1873-1921).
Year 1909. In New York, by Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). (08-11-1909).
Year? Mahler by Enrico Caruso (1873-1921).
Year 1910. Caricature.
Year 1910. By Oskar Garvens (Oscar Garvens). 1899 Concert Vienna 19-02-1899?
Year 1910. Three Stars, Chicago, 25-04-1910. Alfred Hertz (conductor), Otto Goritz (1873-1929) (baritone) and Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Signee is Robert Blass (1867-1930). ‘Let me sleep’.
Year. Sketch of Mahler (lower right) and other personalities. See Robert Blass (1867-1930). ‘As I see them’.
Year 1910. Mahler is told there is no audience left in the hall because everyone is needed to perform in his mammoth symphonies.