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Gustav Mahler
Family of Gustav Mahler

Family of Gustav Mahler

Mahler’s family came from the land below Blaník Hill. The surname “Mahler“ appeared first on a list of Jews of 1793 in the municipality of Chmelná, near Vlašim. The family’s founder, Abraham Mahler was, based on the above list of Jews, a synagogue singer who earned his living by preparing kosher foods. Gustav’s grandfather Simon Mahler was born in Chmelná in 1793, and after marrying Maria née Bondy he went to Lipnice near Německý Brod (after 1945 it was renamed Havlíčkův Brod). There Bernhard Mahler, father of Gustav Mahler, was born on August 2, 1827. In the same year the family moved to the municipality of Kaliště, near Humpolec, and settled in house No. 52, which included a distillery. Simon Mahler was first a tenant, and in 1838 he became the owner of this distillery. The prosperity of his business was also helped greatly by abolition of the harshest laws, which in the revolutionary years of 1848-1849 limited both the movement and the business of Jews.

Gustav’s father, Bernhard Mahler, marketed the different types of spirits. The most frequent destination of his journeys was Jihlava, but for instance he also used to visit Znojmo. In 1857 Bernhard married Maria Herrmann (born 2 March 1837 in Ledeč nad Sázavou), the daughter of the rich merchant and soap boiler Abraham Herrmann. Her considerable dowry enabled Bernhard to buy house No. 9, with a pub and a shop, in Kaliště and to set up on his own. In 1858 his son Isidor was born, but he died next year. One year later, on July 7, 1860, the second son, Gustav, was born.

Bernard Mahler Marie Mahler Gustav Mahler 1865

Bernhard Mahler Marie Mahler Gustav Mahler

née Herrmann 1865

In the same year both Simon’s and Bernhard’s families moved from Kaliště. Simon Mahler settled in Německý Brod, where he became the founder of a big textile and knitting factory (today’s PLEAS). Bernhard’s family moved to Jihlava. Soon afterward his brother David and other relatives also came there, and all of them engaged in trade.

At that time Jihlava was the second biggest town in Moravia, with population of 17,000, mostly of German origin. However, it was the Jewish entrepreneurs, several hundred of whom came to the town from surrounding municipalities, who took credit for the unprecedented economic development of Jihlava in the 1860’s. Moreover, on February 18, 1860, Emperor Franz Joseph I permitted acquisition of property in the town by Jews. Subsequently all the important institutions were established there: the Jewish school, the Jewish religious association, and the Jewish Community. In 1863 a stately synagogue in the Moorish style was built on Nová Street (Neugasse, today Benešova Street), and in 1869 the Jewish cemetery was established on the western border of the town.

The family arrived in Jihlava on October 22, 1860. The Mahler family settled on the first floor of the house on land reg. No. 265 on what was then Brtnická Street (Pirnitzergasse, today Znojemská 4), and the very next day Bernhard signed up for permanent residence.

As in Kaliště, also in Jihlava Bernhard Mahler wanted to deal in hard liquor production and sale. Therefore he filed an application for production, draught, and sale of sweet liqueurs. Since, however, at that time a great number of these licences had been issued, Bernhard did not obtain the licence, but at the beginning he could establish at least the grocery shop. When in 1861 he finally obtained a permit to produce hard liquor, various types of sweet liqueurs, and rosolio (Maraschino), simultaneously with a permit for draughting spirits, he opened a taproom on the ground floor of the house where he lived. Gradually he began to also lease taprooms of other owners, and there he sold in particular his hard liquor, various types of sweet liqueurs, and rosolio. He also continued to extend his permits for sale of other types of goods. Through his tenacity and prosperous business Bernhard gained access to the town’s dignitaries, and thanks to the “December Constitution” of 21 December 1867 (which emancipated the Jews) the family’s financial status improved to such an extent that Bernhard could afford to buy the neighbouring house land reg. No. 264 (today Znojemská 6). In the following year this house was radically reconstructed. On the ground floor a taproom and back rooms were established, and in the yard wing a distillery was installed which produced bulk quantities of hard liquor and liqueurs. The Mahler family’s apartment was on the first floor. It comprised a big kitchen, vestibule, bedroom, and a stately room called the “drawing room.” In two rooms of the section that faced the yard, connected with the front section of the house via a courtyard gallery, the maids, wet nurse, and taproom staff lived.

After ten years of continuous residence in one town or village each citizen of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy could apply for a grant of the right of domicile in the place of residence. Bernhard Mahler, whose domicile was still Kaliště, applied for a change in November 1873 – thirteen years after his arrival in Jihlava. He satisfied the condition for granting a burgher’s right by a sufficiently long stay and by purchasing a house, i.e., by keeping certain property. The municipal committee’s statement concerning Bernhard’s application was positive and thus Bernhard Mahler became a citizen of the royal mining town of Jihlava, after payment of the relevant fee.

Bernhard Mahler was extraordinarily enterprising, strong-willed, and ambitious, but he was also a fiery-tempered, rough man with a craving to excel at any price. This is evidenced by numerous records of fines at the Jihlava court (quarrels, fights, unauthorized sale, etc.). Gustav’s mother Maria was the opposite of her husband: subtle, sensitive, however, also bodily weak due to an inborn cardiac defect. There were frequent wild quarrels and domestic scenes between the parents.

The family of Bernhard and Maria Mahler was numerous. From 1858 to 1879 they had 14 children, of whom, however, eight died in childhood. Even when at the end of the 19th century the death of small children was a very common thing and roughly half of all newborn babies died during the first years of life, excessively frequent deaths in the family left terrible scars on the family’s life, particularly on the psyche of the mother, to whom the sensitive Gustav was most attracted. Little Gustav was strongly affected by the death of his one-year-younger brother Ernest (1861-1875), which inspired him later in his first opera, Ernest, Duke of Swabia (1879). From the memories of Alma Mahler we come to know that Gustav’s sister Justine even played at death: “As a child she glued candles around her bed. Then she lay down, lit the candles, and almost believed that she was dead.“ (In: MAHLER, A.: Gustav Mahler. Memories. Prague 2001, p. 13)

These tragic childhood experiences remained deep in the heart of the future composer and they primarily influenced his deep spiritual relationship with his siblings.