JACOB JR, MY JEWISH WORLD. GUSTAV MAHLER BIRTHPLACE, KALISTE/CZECH REPUBLIC

1860 - 1860 House Gustav Mahler - House No. 9 (Birthplace) Kaliste / Czech Republic

Sunday, Nissan 9, 5778. March 25, 2018.

Shalom! World.

 Gustav Mahler

His father, Bernard Mahler (1827 - 1889), rented the cottage from Jakub Fischer (domain of Karl Joseph Franz, prince of Palm; estate of Dolní Kralovice). Rebuilt on the original lay-out after fire in 1937. Reconstructed 1997 - 1998, ceremonially opened on 19 - 09 - 1998.

In this house lived: Bernard Mahler (1827-1889). Father. Moved to House Gustav Mahler Jihlava 1860 - 1872 (Znojemska street. No. 4/1089, Pirmitzer Gasse No. 265), City of Jihlava. Marie Mahler-Hermann (1837-1889). Mother. Moved to  House Gustav Mahler Jihlava 1860-1872 (Znojemska street No. 4/1089, Pirmitzer Gasse No 265), City of Jihlava. Isidor Mahler (1858-1859). Brother. Born here, died  here. Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Birthplace. Moved to House Gustav Mahler Jihlava 1860-1872 (Znojemska street No 4/1089, Pirmitzer Gasse No. 265), City of Jihlava. 

Birthplace of Gustav Mahler:  July 7, 1860

Registry of births led  by the Jewish congregation in Dolni Kralovice, with na entry of Gustav's birth. 07 - 07 - 1860 was registered as the day  of  the circumcision, carried out by David Kraus from Ledec. Ignaz Weiner and Anton Kern, both from Ledec, are registered as godfahters. 

Mahler's family came from the land below Blanik Hill. The surname "Mahler" appeared first on a list of Jews of 1793 in the municipality of Chmelna, near Vlasim. The family's founder, Abraham Mahler (1720-1800) was a synagogue singer who earned his living by preparing kosher foods.  

Early life

Bus Station - Humpolec

Mahler was the son of  na Austrian Jewish distiller and taverna keeper living in the Bohemian village of Kaliste, in the southwestern corner of what is now the Czech Republic. Within months of his birth, the Family moved to the nearby town of Jihlava, where Mahler spent his childhood and  youth. These simple facts provide a first clue to his tormented personality: he was afflicted by racial tensions from the beginning of his life. As part of a German-speaking Austrian minority, he was as outsider among the indigenous Czech population and, as a Jew, an outsider among that Austrian minority; later, in Germany, he was as outsider as both an Austrian from Bohemia and a Jew. 

Mahler's life was also complicated by the tension existing between his parentes. His father, a self-educated man of fierce vitality, had married a delicate woman from a cultured family and coming to resent her social superiority, resorted to physically maltreating her. In consequence Mahler was alienated from his father and had a strong mother fixation, which even manifested itself physically: a sligh limp was unconsciously adopted in imitation of his mother's lameness. Furthermore, he inherited his mother's weak heart, which was to cause his death at age 50. Finally, there was a constant childhood background of  illness and death among his brothers and sisters.

This usettling early background may explain the nervous tension, the irony and skepticism, the obsession with death, and the unremitting quest to discover some meaning in life that was to pervade Mahler"s life and music. But it does not explain the prodigious energy, intelectual power, and inflexibillity of purpouse that carried  him to the heights as both a master conductor and a composer. The positive elements in his makeup stemmed no doubt from his father's side of the family, as did his great physical vitality. Despite his inherited heart trouble, he was na extremely active man - a ruthless musical director, a tireless swimmer, an indefatigable mountain walker.

His musical talento revealed itself early and significantly. Around the age of four, fascinated by the military music at a nearby barracks and the folk music sung by the Czech working people, he reproduced both on the accordion  and on the piano and began composing pieces of his own. The military and popular styles, together with the sounds of nature, became main sources of his mature inspiration. At 10 he made his debut as a  pianista in Jihlava and at 15 was so proficiente musically that he was accepted as a pupil at the Vienna Conservatory. After winning piano  and composition prizes and leaving with a diploma, he supported himself by sporadic teaching while trying to win recognition as a composer. When he failed to win the Conservatory's Beethoven Prize for ccomposition with his first significant work, the cantata The Song of Complaint, he turned to conducting for a more secure livehood, reserving composition for the lengthy summer vacations.

Gustav Mahler died May 18, 1911, Vienna, Austria.

My route, from Praha to Havlickuv Brod by train; from Havlickuv Brod to Humpolec by train, and from Humpolec to Kaliste by bus.

Shalom! Aleichem.

Suporte cultural:  Jacob Jr. B.A.C.E., avec L'Integration d'Association avec Israel et dans le Monde/Cz.