Research On Mahler’s Artistic Character

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) is one of the greatest musicians ofthe West in the late19th century and the early20th century. Mahler’sartistic achievements are mainly concentrated in two areas:conducting and composition. He is not only a world-renownedconductor but also a controversial composer. During his lifetime,Mahler, as the world’s top conductor, has led the development ofVienna opera into a golden age. However, because of the hugestructure and prominent title of his music pieces, the value of themhas been controversial, which makes Mahler’s achievements incomposition submerge for decades.Mahler is an avid music artist. He insists on his composition fordecades in his spare time of busy conducting work and is called"summer composer". Mahler believes that music is the faithfulexpression of inner feelings due to the hardship of his life and writingexperience and he has practiced his music beliefs for his whole life.Although his music is the expression of his own life experiences andinner feelings, Mahler is not a mere supporter of catharsis theory ofemotion. He excels in sublimating his artistic thoughts whenconveying his ideas or feelings and in using words to bearphilosophical thinking in music, which blends the emotions in hismusic pieces and philosophical metaphors organically. Because all of this, Mahler and his music have always been concerned and studiedby scholars from home and abroad.Most of the research for Mahler is focused on creativetechniques, aesthetic ideology, music analysis and other aspects,which are meaningful but not sufficient. Artists’ style of works isaffected by many factors, of which the artist’s personality is one ofthe most important factors. Personality is synthesis of individual’sphysical and mental organization with distinguishing features formedin the process of socialization. Personality not only affects theindividual’s way of thinking and behavior styles in a unique way butalso influences and determines individual’s lifestyle and professionalstyle. It is necessary to have an intensive study on the artists’personalities to get a real understanding of their music pieces. Basedon previous studies of senior scholars and the psychologicalperspective, this thesis analyzes and discusses Mahler’s artisticpersonality, characteristics attribution and the influences of hisartistic personality on his art style. The purpose is to present a betterunderstanding of his music and artistic style through the research ofMahler’s artistic personality, to enrich Mahler’s research resultsfurther and provide reference for the model of contemporary artists’personality.Based on the principles and methods of personality psychology,this thesis sorts out and analyzes Mahler’s artistic personality. The whole thesis mainly consists of three parts. The first part sorts outand discriminates the definition of personality and artistic personality.The second part analyzes and discusses characteristic of Mahler’sartistic personality and its influencing factors. The third part mainlyfocuses on the influence of Mahler artistic personality on his artisticstyle.