The Cleveland Orchestra has today announced it is now the owner of the complete original manuscript of Mahler’s 2nd Symphony. The work was donated by one of its trustees, the Austrian media executlive Herber G. Kloiber, who purchased it anonymously in 2016 at auction at Sotheby’s following the death of its previous owner Gilbert Kaplan. Kloiber has now decided to make the orchestra the permanent home of the historic document, which will preserve the manuscript in partnership with the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Written in Mahler’s own hand in 1894, the score is the only complete autograph manuscript of the complete symphony in existence, and contains the composer’s alterations and annotations. In celebration of receiving the work, The Cleveland Orchestra will give two performances of Mahler’s Symphony No 2 with Music Director, Franz Welser-Möst on September 29 and 30, opening the Orchestra’s 105th season. The manuscript will be on display for public viewing for those attending the concerts.

Franz Welser-Möst commented on receiving the autograph edition, ‘Personally, and on behalf of The Cleveland Orchestra, I am incredibly grateful for my dear friend Herbert Kloiber for his most generous gift of the Mahler autograph score… To see Mahler’s handwriting on the page and to follow his process, one feels even closer to the composer and to this masterpiece.’