Development

Among the performers to join the Court Opera in this period, it was Marie Gutheil-Schoder and, above all, Leo Slezak, who would succeed in leaving a legacy far beyond Mahler’s time as director. 

“His ‘recipe’ for working, if I can put it like that, was very simple: He would not violate the work or the performer by imposing a dominant interpretation from the outset, and he would not allow his own prejudices to close off an opportunity for individual development. His compelling authority, which was founded not on a childish, tyrannical approach to wielding power, but rather on his personal powers of persuasion and unconditional devotion to each work, meant he could dispense with the need to elevate his word to the status of absolutist dogma without fear of his position being undermined. Often, he would pick up on seemingly com­pletely trivial points that would then beginning to blos­som in his hands and, when they were all brought together, would produce an unbeliev­ably colourful feel. This respect Mahler had for the individuality of each and every performer was almost unlimited, and it was the key to all the unusual aspects of his work that the indignant flock of orthodox traditionalists used to hold against him.” (Marie Gutheil-Schoder, 1921)