Gustav Mahler vs Jacqueline du Pré
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Gustav Mahler | Jacqueline du Pré | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Composer | Classical |
| Born | 1860 | 1945 |
| Died | 1911 | 1987 |
| Country of birth | Austria | United Kingdom |
| Star sign | Cancer | Aquarius |
Who they are
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler described the symphony as a world that must contain everything. He was not speaking metaphorically. His nine completed symphonies range in duration from forty-five minutes to nearly two hours, deploy orchestras of up to one hundred and forty players, incorporate vocal soloists, choirs, offstage bands, and in the case of the Eighth Symphony — known as the Symphony of a Thousand — require a performing force so large that the piece can barely be staged. This was not grandiosity for its own sake. It was Mahler's attempt to make music coextensive with human…
Full biography of Gustav Mahler →
Jacqueline du Pré
There is a recording made in 1965, when Jacqueline du Pré was nineteen years old, that classical musicians still use as a reference point for what the cello can express. She was performing Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor — a late, elegiac work that Elgar wrote in 1919, after the destruction of the First World War, and which had been considered a minor piece of his output until du Pré played it. Her performance — large-scaled, deeply personal, technically sovereign — transformed the concerto's reputation overnight. It is now considered one of the great…
Full biography of Jacqueline du Pré →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
Where they part
- Born in different countries: Austria and United Kingdom.
- 85 years separate their births (1860 and 1945).
- Their lifetimes never overlapped.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Gustav Mahler or Jacqueline du Pré?
- Gustav Mahler. Gustav Mahler was born in 1860, Jacqueline du Pré in 1945.
- What field is each of them in?
- Gustav Mahler is filed under Music (Composer). Jacqueline du Pré is filed under Music (Classical).
- Were they contemporaries?
- No - their lifetimes do not overlap.