GUSTAV WAS HERE

 

March, 1973: I was a broke law student who went to a bar on St. Patrick’s Day with my roommate, having only pocket change between us. The crowd literally pushed me into a young woman whom I found attractive. One thing led to another and I asked her out on a first date. It wasn’t the norm at the time, but we went to the St. Louis Symphony (cheapest seats) and heard Mahler’s First Symphony, one of my favorites. 52 years later, we are hearing it again today at the SLSO.    

The Mahler Ballroom in our Central West End, https://www.mahlerballroom.com/, was a dance academy and center of St, Louis society in the early 20th Century. It has been beautifully restored and is now an event space.             

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

This blog gets me into corners of St. Louis I've never visited before. I found this on a bit of Washington Avenue between Euclid and Kingshighway that's closed to through traffic. Never seen it before.

Now I love Gustav Mahler. On our first date, I took Mrs. C to the St. Louis Symphony to hear Walter Susskind conduct the First Symphony. (I wonder what she thought she was getting into.) I'd like to imagine that I could conduct Das Lied von der Erde from memory. (Sure, I'd like to think that, but it's complete fantasy.) However, this post has nothing to do with Gustav Mahler whatever. 

Albert Mahler established a dance academy for the young in downtown St. Louis in 1860. In 1907 he built this sumptuous home for his family, complete with a 4,000 square foot / 372 square meter ballroom in the center. In 2004, new owners restored the Mahler Ballroom to opulent splendor. Now it's a space for upscale weddings and events. 

(The reference in the title, by the way, is to one of G. Mahler's song cycles, Songs Of A Wayfarer. Which, in an overblown sense, it what I was about when I found this.)