Schmahl was born in 1929 in Herford (Westphalia) the son of a violinist and grew up in Berlin. He received his first violin lessons at the age of seven.[1] In his parental home Hausmusik was cultivated, the concerts of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin had a formative effect on the young Schmahl.[2] After attending secondary school and passing his Abitur in 1949, he studied for two semesters with the violin virtuoso Max Strub at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold.
The writer and journalist Martin Ahrends [de] (born 1951), who took his wife's name when he married, and the trumpeter Daniel Schmahl (born 1969) are his sons. An Ausreiseantrag [de] (application for departure) by Ahrends to the Federal Republic of Germany was granted in 1984. In Hamburg, he worked as an editor for the weekly newspaper Die Zeit.[15] Like other musicians, Schmahl was in contact with the former German Chancellor and Zeit publisher Helmut Schmidt and his wife Loki Schmidt at Brahmsee.[17]
Gabriele Baumgartner: Schmahl, Gustav. In Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (ed.): Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ, DDR. Vol. 2: Maassen – Zylla. K. G. Saur Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN3-598-11177-0, p. 783.
Günther Buch: Namen und Daten wichtiger Personen der DDR. 4th revised and extended edition, Dietz, Berlin among others 1987, ISBN3-8012-0121-X, p. 279.
^ abcdefConversation with Georg Antosch: Virtuoso, juror and music teacher. In the Neue Zeit, 5 July 1980, Vol. 36, edition 157, p. 7.
^Die Preisträger der FDJ. In: Neues Deutschland, 31 May 1950, Vol. 5, edition 123, p. 3.
^Our best up-and-coming soloists: Final round for the III FDJ. World Festival. In the Neues Deutschland, 27 July 1951, Vol. 6, edition 171, p. 4.
^Reinhard Schmiedel: Album sheet for Prof. Günter Kootz on the occasion of his 90th birthday. In MT-Journal No. 47, June 2019, p. 85f.
^Emil Gilels: 2. Tschaikowski-Wettbewerb. In die Neue Zeit, 4 January 1962, Jg. 18, edition 3, p. 1.
^Reiner Gebauer: A city honours its composer: a review of the 22nd Handel Festival. In the Neue Zeit, 21 June 1973, vol. 29, edition 144, p. 5.
^Violin Concerto premiere. In the Neue Zeit, 23 March 1982, vol. 38, edition 69, p. 4.
^Das Arte-Trio und Christian Ferras: Neue Veranstaltungen der beliebten Konzertreihe. In the Berliner Zeitung, 24 January 1958, Jg. 14, edition 20, p. 6.
^Hans Peter Altmann: Zum Tod des Geigers und Lehrers Gustav Schmahl. In the Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 7 October 2003, p. 8.
^E. H. Meyer wieder Vorsitzender. Händel-Gesellschaft wählte ihren neuen Vorstand. In the Neue Zeit, 23 June 1971, vol. 27, edition 145, p. 7.
^Committee for the Beethoven Honour 1977. In the Berliner Zeitung, 17 December 1976, Vol. 32, edition 300, p. 6.
^Glückwünsche für das neue Verbandspräsidium: Wolfgang Lesser als Präsident wiedergewählt. In the Berliner Zeitung, 14 February 1987, Vol. 43, edition 38, p. 7.
^Christoph Rink: Chronologie des Händelpreises. In Mitteilungen des Freundes- und Förderkreises des Händel-Hauses zu Halle e.V. 1/2012, pp. 20–25, here p. 24.
^Ehrentafel. In Universitätszeitung der Karl-Marx-Universität Leipzig, Nr. 45/1984, 7 December 1984, p. 2.