...Our lovely beginning had turned to gloom and misery. His friends could not ever be friends of mine. Since his early youth he had had them clamped to his feet like iron, and i could never regard them with anything but dislike. ...
...So there we were--together again, happy and free of case. But in the next room my downfall was decreed. ...
...He had lived the life of and ascetic and was completely at a loss. The strain of apprehension and self-torture was terrible; sometimes he longed for death, sometimes for life at its firecest. ...
...Only the spirit was to count. I know to-day that he was afraid of my youth and beauty. He wanted to make them safe for himself by simply taking from of any atom of life in which he himself played no part. ...
... Mahler and Strauss enjoyed talking to eath other, perhaps because they were never of one mind. ...
...If and adagio seemed to be lost on the audience, he slowed the tempo down instead of quickening it, as was commonly done. ...
Goldmark & Mahler:
- Well, Master, won't you come to the Opera?
-No, I never listen to Wagner. I'm afraid of getting to like him.
-But, you eat beef without becoming an ox.
...He and I were jealous of each other,at first I of him more than he of me. I was jealous of his past, which in my innocence I used to think very objectionable. He was jealous of my future and that I can now understand.
(Translator: Basil Creighton)
19 July 2010
Quotes & Memos(1) from Gustav Mahler: Memories and Letters (by Alma)
...He trusted people blindly, but once his eyes had been opened his distrist knew no bounds. ...
..."Now, what are you going to do about it if he proposes?"
"Accept," I said calmly.
...Suddenly he burst out:"It's not simple to marry a person like me. I am free and must be free. I cannot be bound, or tied to one spot. My job at the opera is simply from one day to the next." ...
A feeling of suffocation came over me. He laid down the law without thinking of consulting my feelings. After a moment's silence I said: "Of course. Don't forget that I am the child of artists and have always lived among artists. And, also, I'm one myself. What you say seems to me obvious." ...
..."Now, what are you going to do about it if he proposes?"
"Accept," I said calmly.
...Suddenly he burst out:"It's not simple to marry a person like me. I am free and must be free. I cannot be bound, or tied to one spot. My job at the opera is simply from one day to the next." ...
A feeling of suffocation came over me. He laid down the law without thinking of consulting my feelings. After a moment's silence I said: "Of course. Don't forget that I am the child of artists and have always lived among artists. And, also, I'm one myself. What you say seems to me obvious." ...
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