Mahler’s 9th Symphony

One perk of being a student at my age is the last minute tickets for concerts at the Fort Worth Symphony at the Bass Concert Hall just 300 yds from our place. Dan and headed down for an early dinner and bought my ticket for $10 for this masterpiece of a symphony. Because we were there early we also got to hear the lecture about Mahler and the symphony - learnt about his short life - died at the age of 51. How his music was banned in Nazi Germany because he was Jewish and his superstition over writing a 9th symphony when Schubert, Dvorak, Beethoven and Bruckner all died after writing a 9th symphony. He actually wrote what was his 9th symphony before this one but called it Das Lied von der Erde. However, he was aware that he was terminally ill when he wrote this one he named the 9th Symphony and did not live to hear the premier of its performance.

Most experts see this as an expression of his farewell to mortal life and especially the last movement that fades out at the end into silence and also has a motif that sounds just like the hymn ”Abide with Me.” The music is a powerful and moving hour and twenty minutes and is played without an intermission and no applause until the end. Quite a wonderful experience to hear played live by a large orchestra involving every instrument at strategic points. Very enjoyable evening.