Gustav Mahler: "Mein lieber Trotzkopf, meine süße Mohnblume": Briefe an Anna von Mildenburg (review)

With the publication of Gustav Mahler: "Mein lieber Trotzkopf, meine süße Mohnblume": Briefe an Anna von Mildenburg the last major collection of the composer's letters is now in print. Not entirely unknown, the Mildenburg collection, which includes not only letters, but other materials related to the famous Wagnerian soprano's career, is part of the Theatersammlung of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Vienna, Austria), an archive physically separated from the Musikabteiling of the same institution. While some of the contents of the letters have been already published, as in Mildenburg's article "Aus Briefen Gustav Mahlers" (Moderne Welt 3, no. 7 [1921– 1922]: 13–14) and in Alma Mahler's Gustav Mahler: Briefe (Berlin: Paul Zsolnay, 1924), they are printed in their entirety here for the first time. Although some of the previously available letters have been intriguing, the collection as a whole is useful in shedding light on both Mahler's career from his time in Hamburg through the early part of his years in Vienna, and also on his close association with the singer Anna von Mildenburg.

The relationship between Gustav Mahler and Anna von Mildenburg is known primarily for the involvement of the young conductor with the talented soprano whom he essentially discovered and promoted in the early part of her career. While director of the Hamburg opera, Mahler was responsible for Mildenburg's professional debut in the role of Brünnhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre on 11 September 1895 in a performance that he himself conducted. Mildenburg was successful from the start, and she became one of the noted Wagnerian performers of the day. As her mentor, Mahler became close to Mildenburg, and the evidence of these letters suggests that their professional association developed into a more personal one. Mildenburg preserved Mahler's letters and, when viewed as the whole presented in this volume, they offer a glimpse of one side of their relationship as well as some perspectives on the culture in which these two musicians were deeply involved.

One of the foremost conductors of his day, Mahler was known for the exacting standards that he brought to the opera house, both in the musical and dramatic sense. As a proponent of Wagner's works, he brought integrity to performances in Hamburg. In fact, as documented in these letters, he early on made a gift to Mildenburg of Wagner's writings, a gesture that certainly underscores his intention of giving her even more background for her performances. Mildenburg herself became internationally known for her Wagnerian roles, especially as Brünnhilde and Isolde, and her career extended beyond Hamburg, to Bayreuth and other venues. Later in her career, when she no longer performed, Mildenburg gave master classes, and thus conveyed her experience and training to new generations of singers, among them the noted soprano Sena Jurinac (a photo of the two working together appears on p. 466).

This volume contains about 225 letters, mainly by Mahler (with some by Mildenburg), organized in three sections: September 1895 to May 1896, fifty-nine letters from the time when they worked together in Hamburg; June 1896 to April 1897, seventy-eight letters from the period when Mahler left Hamburg to the time he was named director of the Vienna Hofoper; and April 1897 to December 1907, eighty-eight letters that cover essentially the entirety of Mahler's period when he led the Hofoper in Vienna. This volume also includes twenty-four of Alma's letters to Mildenburg, an extensive concluding essay (Nachwort), and several appendices that support the volume.

Willnauer has presented each letter in a diplomatic transcription that resembles the style used in Gustav Mahler Briefe, edited by Herta Blaukopf (Vienna: Paul Zsolnay Verlag, 1982; rev. ed., 1996). Following the style of that edition, annotations accompany each letter...