7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7so proficient musically that he was accepted as a pupil
at the Vienna Conservatory. After winning piano and
composition prizes and leaving with a diploma, he sup-
ported himself by sporadic teaching while trying to win
recognition as a composer. When he failed to win the
Conservatory’s Beethoven Prize for composition with
his first significant work, the cantata Das klagende Lied
(completed 1880; The Song of Complaint), he turned to
conducting for a more secure livelihood.
Career as a Conductor
The next 17 years saw his ascent to the very top of his
chosen profession. From conducting musical farces in
Austria, he rose through various provincial opera houses
to become artistic director of the Vienna Court Opera in
1897, at the age of 37. As a conductor he had won general
acclaim, but as a composer, during this first creative period,
he encountered the public’s lack of comprehension that
was to confront him for most of his career.
Since Mahler’s conducting life centred in the traditional
manner on the opera house, it is at first surprising that his
whole mature output was entirely symphonic (his 40 songs
are not true lieder but embryonic symphonic movements,
some of which, in fact, provided a partial basis for the
symphonies). But Mahler’s unique aim, partially influenced
by the school of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt, was
essentially autobiographical—the musical expression of a
personal view of the world, particularly through song and
symphony.
Musical Works: First Period
Each of Mahler’s three creative periods produced a sym-
phonic trilogy. The three symphonies of his first period