Honors Recital: "5 Lieder" by Alma Mahler (1879-1964)
Faculty Sponsor(s)
Johnandrew Slominski
Location
Vivian A. Bull Music Center: Delkin Recital Hall
Subject Area
Music
Description
Alma Mahler composed over one hundred art songs before the age of twenty-two when she met her first husband, Gustav Mahler. However, Alma’s life as a socialite, her affairs, and marriages to an impressive lineup of artistic men, have completely overshadowed her validity as a composer. But what of Alma’s creative ability as an accomplished romantic composer? Alma’s first published compositions, 5 Lieder, offers a glimpse into what inspired the passionate young composer. Though the set was published in 1910, it is estimated that she composed the pieces between 1898 and 1902, during a period when she experienced her first ardent feelings of love and enjoyed the attention of a long line of suitors. These pieces express the passion and instability of young love with flourishing arpeggios and a continuous pendulum of rich chromatic tension.
Recommended Citation
Dixon, Keri, "Honors Recital: "5 Lieder" by Alma Mahler (1879-1964)" (2019). Linfield University Student Symposium: A Celebration of Scholarship and Creative Achievement. Event. Submission 38.
https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/symposium/2019/all/38
Honors Recital: "5 Lieder" by Alma Mahler (1879-1964)
Vivian A. Bull Music Center: Delkin Recital Hall
Alma Mahler composed over one hundred art songs before the age of twenty-two when she met her first husband, Gustav Mahler. However, Alma’s life as a socialite, her affairs, and marriages to an impressive lineup of artistic men, have completely overshadowed her validity as a composer. But what of Alma’s creative ability as an accomplished romantic composer? Alma’s first published compositions, 5 Lieder, offers a glimpse into what inspired the passionate young composer. Though the set was published in 1910, it is estimated that she composed the pieces between 1898 and 1902, during a period when she experienced her first ardent feelings of love and enjoyed the attention of a long line of suitors. These pieces express the passion and instability of young love with flourishing arpeggios and a continuous pendulum of rich chromatic tension.
