The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig is perhaps the finest account of Mahler's Vienna. Written as an autobiography and ending with his suicide note from 1942, this eyewitness account details the unique cultural life of Vienna before the First World War and the extraordinary developments in architecture, music, literature and painting. The lecture explores the cultural environment and the background to Mahler's music and his role as the Music Director of the Vienna State Opera. It also provides an account of the tumultuous events that shaped Mahler's posthumous reception.

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