The Budapest Years of Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler died on 18th May 1911. In 2011 we will remember the 100th anniversary of the composer’s death. He was a prominent musician of the fin de siècle. His period spent in Budapest as a conductor and theater-leader was determinative in the history of Hungarian Opera. His short Hungarian stay deserves consideration not only due to his important personality; although the period around the turn of century is considered as the golden age of Hungarian opera, sadly, the era is more about the history of narrow-minded, undeserving conflicts, unfullfillment of professional ambitions, the need of building the national character from a foreign person having brought up on German culture. The story which emerges from the period articles and letters confronts the Hungarian society itself, and the problems of the past are present today. Therefore not only goal of this film project to commemorate the anniversary. Although many biographies and films are available on Mahler, a second goal is to document Mahler’s Budapest period that has been overlooked in previous pieces.
Mahler was invited to direct the Opera House just four years after the building was constructed. Until then, performances were staged in the old National Theater intermixed in the none-musical theater repertoire. The new building had to be filled with a new organization and operational structure. Before Mahler's arrival the Opera House was in a deep crisis. Although the Opera House’s budget was on the Parliament’s agenda annually, the support it received was less and less every year. The deputies constantly criticised the Opera House’s leadership for being unable to find a director, a right native person; in the end, the 28-year-old, Austrian-jewish musician was selected to stabilize the Hungarian national opera. Although he was contracted for ten years, he found himself in the crossfire of attacks and after two short years Mahler resigned his position. The next intendant was again unsuccessful. Curiously, the situation at the Hungarian Opera House today is not that different from what it was in the past.
The documentary film plans to use Mahler as an excuse to refer today’s problems. The articles from period newspapers and reports of Parliament sessions faithfully describe the situation at the Opera House in the past and today.
The film is based on an interview that takes place in the rehearsal room where the orchestra rehearses Mahler's I. Symphony premiered in Budapest 100 years ago. The interview incorporates past events as feature-film elements. Mahler in his letters to his sister also reports of his personal life. From his words clearly emerge Mahler’s own character and the society around him.
