Gustav Mahler spent the first fifteen years of his life (1860 -1875) in Jihlava before he ventured into the world of music. He lived with his parents and siblings just a few steps away from the town square, where he could watch the performances of military bands, go to the Heulos Forest Park, and hear Catholic mass at St. James Church. He certainly showed himself to the public in Jihlava as an excellent pianist at concerts in the Municipal Theatre or in the Czap Hotel. Today we cannot even know where he used to meet his friends. He was less than thirty years old when both his parents died and he never returned to the town of his childhood after that. Yet he retained his home rights there until the end of his life and maintained written contacts with his friends and teachers.
