This book not only tells the wonderful trajectory of a musician who, born in a dark city of Bohemia, became director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of New York. In addition, it relates a fundamental page of the history of culture, that of music at the beginning of the twentieth century in central Europe and, above all, in Vienna. During his ten years as artistic director of the Opera of the Austrian capital, Mahler aroused enthusiasm and passionate controversies. His marriage to Alma Schindler and the dramas of his family life contributed to his celebrity. His work - rooted in the end of romanticism but aimed at clearing the way for a new musical language - and the prestige of his person made him a major figure in a city like Vienna, a true melting pot of artistic and intellectual transformations that still today They do not stop fascinating us. The publication between 1979 and 1984 of the three volumes that constitute the great biography dedicated by Henry-Louis of La Grange to Gustav Mahler was a real event, which contributed to reveal a genius of music with a fascinating and moving life , Who aspired to his work to reflect "the whole creation" and which became "an instrument of the universe." The need to facilitate the access of as many people as possible to such a great company led to a shorter edition that, without being schematic, summarized the essence of the almost four thousand original pages. The result has the reader in his hands: without a doubt, the definitive biography of one of the fundamental composers of the history of music.