The Art of Possibility 8 of 15: Mahler’s 9th
January 29, 2010 by dr. lam
One of Zander’s violinists, Anne Hooper, brought back on her vacation a tape of Mahler’s 9th symphony to be played for her enjoyment on a boom box. Her little 5-year-old niece, Katrine, asked her aunt what the music was about. Anne spun an elaborate tale as the music played about a princess who was captured by a fearsome dragon and who was eventually saved by a handsome prince. With that invention, Katrine imagined this storyline and asked to listen to the music again and again, enraptured by the musical passion of it all.
The niece then asked her aunt, “Auntie Anne, is that really what the composer intended when he wrote this piece of lovely music?” Anne truthfully replied, “No, actually Mahler grew up in a household where sickness ruled and his seven siblings all died from illness during their childhood. His father was an angry drunk who terrorized the house, including his invalid mother. Mahler’s four-year-old daughter also died, and he never quite got over it. He lost his beloved job at the Vienna Opera House because he was Jewish. Shortly before writing his piece, he was diagnosed with a heart condition, for which he was told he had only a short time to live. This symphony was an expression of how Mahler imagined himself dying and that is why it ends in a whisper. Mahler was also a happy man in his life who laughed loud and loved long swims! Let’s not forget that.” Katrine went on to listen to Mahler’s 9th over 100 hundred times that summer.
Later that fall, Katrine and her family made the four-hour drive from upstate New York to Boston to hear Mahler’s 9th at Jordan Hall and was mesmerized throughout the performance. Katrine scrawled a thank you to Zander on a small notecard: “Ben Zander, Love Katrine. Thank you for Mahler Ninth. I loved it.” This note, Zander carries with him wherever he goes, as a reminder to how often we don’t give children an A, who deserve it. We too often give failing grades to everyone around us because that is what we are accustomed to do.
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I won’t forget this one! Wonderful!
Thanks.
thanks nord. zander is inspirational!
Man, that kid is so cute!!! Hmm, perhaps I need to catch up first. Nice point but didn’t catch it from the story. Okay, so I’m blonde…LOL