The great Viennese composer and conductor Gustav Mahler died in his beloved Vienna on this day in 1911.
Mahler had a weak heart, and he had been struggling with a bacterial infection of the heart tissues for several weeks. The New York Times obituary noted that his death “was precipitated by the spread of his heart affliction to his lungs, which developed a fatal pneumonic weakness during the last few days.” He was only 50, for pete’s sakes.
See our biography of Gustav Mahler >>