Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 7, 2010

Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) was an Austrian late-Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. After graduating from the Vienna Conservatory in 1878, he held a succession of conducting posts of rising importance in the opera houses of Europe, culminating in his appointment in 1897 as director of the Vienna Court Opera (Hofoper). During his ten years in Vienna, Mahler's innovative productions and insistence on the highest performance standards ensured his reputation as one of the greatest of opera conductors, particularly as an interpreter of the stage works of Wagner and Mozart. The compositions of Mahler's maturity are confined to the genres of symphony and song. His symphonies were often controversial when first performed, and were slow to receive critical and popular approval; an exception was the triumphant premiere of his Eighth Symphony in 1910. After 1945 the music was rediscovered and championed by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a situation that continues into the 21st century. (more...)

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