[close] Bridging the nineteenth- and the twentieth-centuries, the late-Romantic tradition and the beginnings of modernism, Mahler's music is an intimate reflection of his life and thought - and his continual self-questioning on matters of belief and the role of mankind. In this revised and enlarged edition of his Master Musicians volume, Michael Kennedy has drawn on new documentary evidence which has enabled him to give a much fuller account of Mahler's childhood and youth, and of his years as an opera conductor in Cassel, Prague, Leipzig, Budapest, Hamburg, and Vienna. All of Mahler's works are discussed and for the reprint in 2000 the author has added a new chapter covering recent research on the composer. [close]