This chapter considers Mahler’s operatic and orchestral repertoire choices in light of norms for the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Particular questions addressed include: What are the characteristics of his preferred repertoire? Which composers did he favor, and whom did he neglect? What new music did he perform, besides his own? When did his choices match the norm, and when did they deviate from it? The personal qualities of Mahler’s repertoire emerge with new clarity when his decisions are situated within the broader context of Austro-German operatic and concert traditions. The contrast between Hamburg (1891–95) and Vienna (1897–1907) is particularly instructive; at the Hamburg City Theater, Mahler took orders from the intendant, Bernhard Pollini, whereas in Vienna he had free rein, at least until circumstances became unbearable and he departed for New York.

In spite of Mahler’s tyrannical bearing as an orchestral conductor, and his preference for composing in complete isolation, collaboration was in fact central to his success as a performing musician. In the realm of opera, it was collaboration that eventually enabled him to realize, in living form, his artistic aspirations and to create what we commonly think of today as the role of the modern opera director. The contributions of his collaborators in Vienna, above all the innovative graphic artist Alfred Roller (1864–1935), illustrate the areas in which Mahler relinquished his dictatorial control of operatic production, and the reasons that pushed him to this personally difficult step. Roller’s modernist reading of Wagnerian theory, informed by a belief that scenery and costumes should not fool the eye but rather “create the atmosphere of the drama,” made fundamental contributions to the style of production that became Mahler’s signature in Vienna.