While Mahler
While Mahler was composing his first song cycles, Hans Rott was completing his first symphony on a monumental scale. This work, on which he labored with great devotion between 1878 and 1880, became his defining work. After completing the comparatively manageable first movement at the age of 19, he added three considerably more complex movements two years later. Although the symphony remained undiscovered for over a century and was not performed until the 1980s, Gustav Mahler recognized its value early on and had access to his classmate's estate. Tragically, Rott fell victim to the fierce Viennese music controversy between the followers of Brahms and Wagner when he submitted his work to the scholarship committee. Brahms, in particular, rejected the work on the grounds that Rott had incorporated too many foreign elements.