THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA RECEIVES GIFT OF THE AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT OF GUSTAV MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 2, “RESURRECTION”
In September 2022, the autograph manuscript of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” was generously donated to the Cleveland Orchestra by one of its Trustees, the noted Austrian media executive and philanthropist Herbert G. Kloiber. Written in the composer’s own hand in 1894, the 232-page, unaltered document is the only complete autograph manuscript of the complete symphony in existence, and it contains the invaluable marks of Mahler’s alterations and annotations. Long recognized for its affinity with the Austro-German repertoire, The Cleveland Orchestra will preserve the manuscript in partnership with the Cleveland Museum of Art, making it available to scholars, and accessible for public viewing in the future.
The document’s provenance can be traced directly to Mahler’s widow Alma, who gave the manuscript to the Dutch conductor Willem Mengelberg. After Mengelberg’s death, the Mengelberg Foundation retained ownership and it was eventually put on deposit at the Gemeentemuseum in the Hague in 1982. In 1984, the American financial publisher Gilbert Kaplan purchased the score. Following Kaplan’s death in 2016, the manuscript was put up for auction at Sotheby’s, where Herbert G. Kloiber purchased it anonymously. In December 1910, Mahler made his only trip during his lifetime to Cleveland to conduct a concert of the New York Philharmonic at Grays Armory. The founder of The Cleveland Orchestra, Adella Prentiss Hughes, arranged that Cleveland be the first stop for the Philharmonic on its inaugural tour west from New York City.
“Personally, and on behalf of The Cleveland Orchestra, I am incredibly grateful for my dear friend Herbert Kloiber for his most generous gift of the Mahler autograph score. The first time Herbert showed me the manuscript was a deeply moving occasion. As a musician and especially as a conductor, this is one of the most special moments you can experience in your life. To see Mahler’s handwriting on the page and to follow his process, one feels even closer to the composer and to this masterpiece.” (Franz Welser-Möst)