This is a brief introduction to Gustav #Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (DLvdE). This is Part 1 of 3. The next two parts will be up next week. A six song symphonic composition by the Austrian giant. In many ways DLvdE reiterates the expressive range of Mahler’s creativity.
During a turbulent time in his life Mahler worked to compose a song cycle from ancient Chinese poetry, he also incorporated the anhemitonic pentatonic scale system, that gave the composition a new feel and engagement with its listeners.
I’ll discuss in brief detail what led to the creation of DLvdE. Why did this work signify for Mahler calling it his most personal composition. And above all, why does this oeuvre move us very differently than his other works. Finally, I’ll suggest some listening material.
This is a very general explanation of the work, perhaps in the future I might expand it, Das Lied is a massive work to analyze, what follows is just the tip of the iceberg.
Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) is a six song symphonic movement composition for tenor and alto (or baritone) with orchestra. It is in a way a farewell, a disconnection, or better yet a departure from all earthly life.
Through a resonating renunciation, this oeuvre weighs heavy with grief, love and despair. It’s arguably Mahler’s greatest creation, he delivers an enchanting idealization of the beauties of life on Earth, followed by complete resignation.
DLvdE is sometimes described as the most Mahleresque of his creations (Bruno Walter). In Gustav’s own words “The most personal thing I have ever created” As in everything to do with Mahler, the more you know of his life, the better it gets.
So let’s dive head first, hopeful new and old Mahler aficionados find it informative and above all enjoy this thread.
After completing his Eight symphony, Mahler was emotionally dazed by a myriad of events, first, his last days at the Vienna Court Opera. By May 1907 he had handed his resignation because of an antisemitic culture and the amount of work he was asked to fulfill each year.
Mahler finally decided to end his relationship with the Vienna Opera. Gustav negotiated (while in Berlin) with Heinrich Conried (Metropolitan Opera manager) a contract for four years (with only three working months per year) to begin in November of 1907.
Before he could set his mind to ponder a new job in a new country and mourn his loss of the Vienna Opera, more bad news arrived. In July 1907, Mahler suffered a terrible blow, Maria Anna his four year old daughter, died on July 12th having fallen ill of diphtheria.
The pain of losing ‘Putzi’ never really left Mahler, he even chose to be buried in her grave, this event was devastating for Mahler. Alma comments:
“She was his child. Marvelously beautiful and obstinate, at the same time unapproachable, she promised to become dangerous. Black curls, big blue eyes!”
“Though it was not granted to her to live a long life, she was chosen to have been his joy for a few years, and that in itself has eternal value”
If these nightmarish episodes weren’t enough, Dr. Blumenthal who was summoned when Alma had fallen unconscious (after Putzi’s coffin was taken from their home), examined Mahler’s health and concluded the composer had an issue with his hearth and needed to have a new diagnosis.
The specialist Dr. Kovacs, confirmed it as a “Compensated heart valve defect with narrowing of the mitral valve opening; hence all bodily exertion must be avoided striating immediately” However Mahler’s daily routine and perhaps even inspiration came from his activities outside.
Mahler enjoyed the outdoors and exercise were salient for him, so having to avoid these activities left him feeling dismayed and anxious.
Das Lied von der Erde was composed with these emotionally draining events in mind. Mahler and his family needed a pause, they left Maiernigg for Tyrol (Northern Italy border with Austria) to work. Here he returned to reading a book he had previously started, Hans Bethge’s:
Anthology Die chinesische Flöte, a translation from a collection of poems of the Eight century A.D. Tang Dynasty. However, Bethge’s anthology was in fact a summary of other authors
Léon d’Hervey de Saint-Denys ‘Poésies de l’époque des Thang’, Judith Gautier ‘Livre de Jade’, Hans Heilman ‘Chinesischer Lyrik’.
The Chinese poets were Li-Po, Qian-Qi, Mong Koa Yen and Wang-Wei. Interestingly for Mahler, nature, the journeyman/wonderer, beauty and death, were central to their poetry. Suffice it to say Mahler was intrigued. Mahler used seven poems for the six songs in Das Lied.
Lastly, my first recommendation: this is my favorite DLvdE, it’s from 1952 (there’s a 1948 version with Ferrier and Walter as well). Arguably not the best, but Ferrier’s angelic voice moves you profoundly in Der Abschied. open.spotify.com/track/5knRnjEC…
Der Abschied (Bruno Walter, Patzak & Vienna Philharmonic).
Hay muchas razones para que la Séptima sinfonía sea mi favorita de Mahler: es incómoda, desbalanceada, tétrica, y carnavalesca. El último movimiento me recuerda a los circos que mis padres nunca me llevaron (malditos),
pero sabía de los silbidos, el estruendo, los gritos de niños, estímulos sensoriales de todas partes, luces, animales, sombreros, gimnastas, esto es el Rondo de la 7ma., pero me estoy adelantando. La Séptima fue completada en 1905.
Una sinfonía enigmática que “Se rehúsa a ser una sinfonía de Mahler” (S. Hefling) y el “Niño problema del canon Mahaleriano” (D. Mitchell). Pero qué la hace ser la más controversial e impopular de su ciclo sinfónico? Comencemos con la premier, la cual se presentó en
A brief introduction thread to Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony.
For this thread, I decided to write less about the history and background of this symphony, and opted to describe more about the goings-on in the music, in each movement. My focus is to pause a bit with this Mahler composition, and for you to follow the work.
I believe that this is a better way to do this thread, because there are so many shifts, twists and turns in it, that I find it can be a little difficult to grasp. The Fifth Symphony, (composed 1901-02) is a five movement tour de force.
Breve hilo introductorio a la Novena Sinfonía de Gustav #Mahler. El hilo en esta ocasión es en Español, disculpen los errores gramaticales y traducción, y espero convencerlos a escuchar esta sinfonía, para mí, la más bella y desoladora composición de Mahler.
Mahler nos presenta su experiencia en los últimos años de su vida. Sus biógrafos la definen como una creación de los golpes de vida al Austríaco en 1907: la muerte de su hija y el diagnóstico de su enfermedad cardíaca, y la terminación de su vinculo con la Ópera de Viena.
Gustav comenzó la sinfonía en 1908 y la concluyó en 1909. El estreno póstumo fue por Bruno Walter el 26 de Junio de 1912 con la Filarmónica de Viena. Pocas veces me detengo a analizar la Novena sinfonía,
Illness or disease, sexuality or desire, and morality or being. This can be said are the focus of both Opera and Psychoanalysis. Dramatic narrative, complex music, subjective discourse, a conductor/analyst and a singer/analysand, play a part in these two crafts.
The visual and the auditory, free association and musical bliss. The individual, the social and the cultural represents opera, and again, I believe psychoanalysis.
Although Freud disliked music in general, he mentions in his writings: Beethoven’s Fidelio (1805), Weber’s Der Freischütz (1821), Offenbach’s La Belle Helene (1864) and Tales of Hoffman (1881), Wagner’s Tannhäuser (1845), Lohengrin (1848) and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1867)
Continued thread on Psychoanalysis/Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.
Lastly, a few words on how analysis helps. If you are asking yourself how talking cures, I’d say in many ways, first, analysis helps you to learn how to think the unthinkable.
You learn how to process and think about emotions differently, so you develop self-agency and not be paralyzed by what you feel, for example by fear, guilt, or sadness.
Learning to know yourself requires you to first understand how your mind works. The analyst helps you do this by making you notice how the mind gets obfuscated by unconscious fantasies that have scared you for years.
What can we expect from starting Psychoanalytic psychotherapy or Psychoanalysis? There’s debate about their differences, but I won’t get into that today, since they rest on most of the same principles and goals for patients. 1 of 2 threads 🧵
My main goals here are: 1. Describe in a very general way, the reasons one might be inclined to start treatment. 2. Comment on how an analyst works (though there are several Schools of thought regarding theory and technique).
3. Explain why Psychoanalysis/Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a fulfilling and great (though a complicated type of treatment) long-term therapeutic process.