The Symphony No. 1 in D Major by composer Gustav Mahler, was originally known as “Titan”. The work was considered unusually grand and ambitious for the late 1800’s, especially for a composer who was then not yet thirty and better known as a conductor.
Mahler’s first symphony was premiered in 1889 at the Vigadó Concert Hall in Budapest conducted by Mahler. The work was poorly received by the Budapest audience. Its second performance took place three years later in Hamburg after Mahler had made major revisions to the work.
Mahler continued to revise the work up until the score was first published in 1899. A typical performance lasts around 55 minutes, making it one of Mahler’s shortest symphonies.
The work would not win full acceptance in the concert hall until conductor Leonard Bernstein began advocating and performing Mahler’s symphonies in the 1960s.
Here is Leonard Bernstein leading the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the Symphony #1 by Gustav Mahler:
