Mahler, Fritz, 1901-1973

Fritz Mahler was an Austro-American conductor, composer, music teacher and radio personality.

Mahler was born on July 16, 1901 in Vienna, where his father was professor of Oriental languages at the university. He came from a family with some musical background; he was a third cousin of the composer Gustav Mahler. He studied musicology with Guido Adler at the University of Vienna (1920-1924), conducting with Leopold Reichwein, and composition with Schoenberg, Webern and Berg. By the time he graduated from the University of Vienna in 1924, Fritz Mahler had already conducted orchestras in Bad Hall (1920-1924), the Vienna Opera, the National Theater in Mannheim, as well as the Volksoper in Vienna. Soon after graduation, Mahler conducted the Berlin Radio Symphony. In 1930, he moved to Copenhagen to conduct the Danish State Symphony Orchestra. Mahler was a permanent conductor for this orchestra from 1930-1935. Invited by the Columbia Broadcasting Company to conduct a series of concerts in New York, Mahler came to the USA in 1935. Shortly after his arrival, he took on duties as musical director of Phildadelphia's La Scala Opera Company. In 1939, Mahler became a United States citizen and married Pauline Koner (a dancer and choreographer).

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