Natalie bauer-lechner recollections of gustav mahler biography

Austrian musician (1858–1921)

Natalie [Natalia Anna Juliana] Bauer-Lechner (Penzing, Vienna, 9 May 1858 – Vienna, 8 June 1921) was an Austrian violist who is best known to musicology for having been a close and devoted friend of Gustav Mahler^[1] in the period between 1890 and the start of Mahler's engagement to Alma Schindler in December 1901.

During this period, she kept a private journal which provides a unique picture of Mahler's personal, professional and creative life during and just after his thirties, including an exclusive preview of the structure, form, and content of his third symphony.

Biography

Bauer-Lechner was the eldest child of five children (four girls and a boy) born to the Viennese bookshop owner and publisher Rudolf Lechner (1822–1895) and his wife Julie, née von Winiwarter (1831–1905).

She was educated privately, and from 1866 to 1872 she and her sister Ellen (28 July 1859 – 24 March 1940) studied at the Vienna