Program notes
Mahler's life narrated by his confidante.
Filmmaker Beate Thalberg has crafted a docu-drama based on a little- known source of information on Gustav Mahler, the diaries of Natalie Bauer-Lechner, Mahler's long-time confidante. The film portraits Mahler's private and professional life from his student years in Vienna up to his marriage with Alma Schindler. The diaries evoke the man behind the artist and testify not only to Mahler's erratic character and to his humor, but also to his dramatic struggle for recognition as a composer.