Composer Conversations

Lecture

Composer Conversations Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 In Search of Eternal Life

Tom Cimarusti, Ph.D., Program Coordinator and Professor of Music History, Florida Gulf Coast University

A post-Romantic composer obsessed with death and the afterlife, Gustav Mahler often pondered “Why have you lived? Why have you suffered? Is this some sort of awful joke?" Arguably, there is no symphonic work that addresses these questions more intently than Mahler's Symphony No. 2, The Resurrection. Join Tom Cimarusti in exploring Mahler's personal struggles, his spiritual conversion and, ultimately, his search for the meaning of life. This is a symphony that everyone should not only explore but also experience as the Naples Philharmonic performs the work this season.

This presentation is part of Tom Cimarusti's Composer Conversations series.

Tom Cimarusti

Tom Cimarusti

A native of Los Angeles, Tom Cimarusti received his Ph.D. at Florida State University and is currently a professor of music history at Florida Gulf Coast University. Although his primary research interests include 18th- and 19th-century Italian opera and song, chamber music and the music of communal utopias, he also lectures on world music and is an avid accordionist. He has presented his research at conferences in Europe, Asia and the United States. He is currently working on an edition of hymns associated with the late 19th-century religious cult, the Koreshan Unity. He has been the recipient of numerous research grants and excellence-in-teaching awards. In 2016, he founded the Center for Public Musicology, an organization that provides lectures, demonstrations and performances at venues throughout Southwest Florida. He lives in Naples with his wife, Christy, and two boys, Paul and Christopher.