In the summer of 1907 composer Gustav Mahler experienced a crisis of such magnitude that some thought he would never recover. His five-year-old daughter died of scarlet fever after 15 days, and a doctor diagnosed him with a congenital heart defect. Mustering his courage and tapping in to his genius, Mahler transformed his despair into a great piece of music. It was something entirely new: a “song-symphony” based on ancient Chinese verses. The film presents dramatizations of the poems, commentary by renowned experts, and excerpts from a brilliant performance featuring Metropolitan Opera stars Thomas Hampson and Paul Groves with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Neeme Järvi. The documentary explores the biographical, cultural and philosophical context of The Song of the Earth, a masterpiece often singled out as the composer’s most personal musical statement.
For the Love of Mahler: The Inspired Life of Henry-Louis de La Grange
For the Love of Mahler presents a portrait of the famed French-American music historian Henry-Louis de La Grange, now 90. The film joins him on his annual migration from Marrakech to Paris and to Toblach in the Italian Alps, while he busily works on revising his epic four-volume biography of Gustav Mahler. How Mahler’s music inspired his life, and how Henry-Louis channeled what could have been a self-indulgent obsession into a lifetime of groundbreaking discoveries, famous friendships and award winning accomplishment, demonstrates the remarkable power of music to change lives.