From the New York Times of Nov. 30, 1909. The last lines are: "...the airship passes over the plains, the mountains, the valleys, and the cities, the thunderstorm, the landing, and finally the destruction of the aerocraft by fire. Gustav Mahler's latest symphony will be ready for production early in the new year." In 1908, Zeppelin's LZ-4 dirigible had exploded in Echterdingen, fortunately causing no deaths; a massive fund-raising drive kept the count's enterprise afloat. The Mahler symphony in question would seem to be the Ninth. If Mahler saw this item, one can imagine that he felt a twinge of frustration at seeing his latest masterpiece mentioned in such a context.
Is Bungert's monumental Wagnerian tetralogy Die Homerische Welt — Kirke, Nausikaa, Odysseus’ Heimkehr, and Odysseus’ Tod — worthy of revival? On the basis of a glance at the vocal score of Part III, I would guess not. But I wouldn't mind some day hearing the Zeppelin symphony, which also bears the title Genius triumphans. Nicolas Slonimsky, in his immortal Music Since 1900, refers enticingly to "engines working in fugal counterpoint, the propeller whirring in the kettledrums, and the lyrical Zeppelin leitmotiv soaring over Germany," not to mention a climactic, catastrophic "gust of ascending chromatic thirds." On the other hand, life is short.
Update: Robert Holzer of Yale University writes to say that the "latest symphony" of Mahler is more probably the Eighth. Although the Ninth was essentially finished by late 1909, the Eighth was then being readied for publication, with a premiere to follow in September 1910.
