Mahler Places in Vienna

Gustav Mahler was director of the Viennese State Opera, then and today among the world’s best opera houses, for ten years – his dream job. Right from the stairway the Gustav Mahler Room is located, and an expressive bust by Auguste Rodin can be found as well in the Vienna State Opera.

In the Haus der Musik, there is an interactive room dedicated to Gustav Mahler – next to the rooms of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, Schönberg, Berg and von Webern.

The room is designed by Peter Mahler, Gustav Mahler’s grand nephew. Reading screens deal with the works of Mahler and his conducting performances during his time as director of the Viennese Royal and Imperial Opera. Images on the trees (a “wood” fills the room) show Mahler the public figure and Mahler in private. Of the exhibits, his farewell letter announcing his departure from opera and his unusual contract with Universal Edition are worth a special look. The death-mask by Arnulf Rainer is also on display.

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Gustav Mahler Room in the Vienna State Opera – © WienTourismus/Paul Bauer

Many Gustav Mahler’s manuscripts can be found in the archives of the Arnold Schoenberg Center, a top address for music connoisseurs, as well as the International Gustav Mahler Society Vienna which was founded in 1955 initiated by the Vienna Philharmonic.

The baroque St. Charles Church where Mahler married Alma on March 9, 1902, is worth a visit. Gustav and his daughter Maria are are buried together in Grinzing Cemetery. Cose to their grave Alma Mahler-Werfel and her daughter Manon Gropius have their last home.

There exist other Mahler places, but as they are privately owned they can not be visited inside: Mahler’s accommodation from 1898 to 1909 (3., Auenbruggergasse 2, memorial plaque) was built by art nouveau architect Otto Wagner. The Carl-Moll-House (19., Hohe Warte, Wollergasse 10) was home to the painter of the same name and Mahler’s base in Vienna from 1909 to 1911. Mahler died at the Sanatory Loew (9., Mariannengasse 20, memorial plaque) on May 18, 1911.

Mahler's music is regularely on the program at Vienna's concert halls, for example at the Konzerthaus (there is also a Gustav Mahler memorial plaque) or at the Musikverein, which houses the Archive of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde - a rich source for Mahler specialists.