Overview

Gustav Mahler once said, “With song you can express so much more in the music than the words directly say. The text is actually a mere indication of the… hidden treasure within.” Over fourteen years, from 1887-1901, he devoted his compositional output almost exclusively to texts and ideas drawn from a collection of German folk poetry entitled Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Alte deutsche Lieder, resulting in twenty-four songs which heavily inspired his first four symphonies. This study explores Mahler’s songs based on this poetry and identifies the connections the composer found between these products of Germany’s folk past and his own contemporary environment. The songs he created comment on and engage with Vienna’s musical life, Freudian theory, Mahler’s religious life, his family relationships, his views on women and romance, economic inequality, and wartime violence. As remnants of a folk tradition, the poems contained in Des Knaben Wunderhorn served the purpose of instructing young people on ways of conducting themselves, just as fairy tales do today. Mahler’s adaptation of these stories and his updating of them to serve audiences of his own time demonstrate the universality of the lessons these poems provide, both to audiences of Mahler’s day, and also to our own.

Full Product Details

Author:   Molly M. Breckling
Publisher:   Clemson University Digital Press
Imprint:   Clemson University Digital Press
ISBN:  

9781638040408

ISBN 10:   1638040400
Pages:   280
Publication Date:   01 May 2023
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

"Introduction   Chapter 1: Gustav Mahler's Lieder from Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Questions of Conception, History, and Genre   PART ONE: Cultural Commentary in Mahler’s Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn   Chapter 2: ""The Misery of a Pioneer"": Mahler’s Musical Responses to Critics and Audiences Chapter 3: ""Highly complicated activity of the mind"": Songs with a Freudian Slant   PART TWO: Social Commentary in Mahler’s Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn   Chapter 4: “Wrestling with God”: Mahler and religion Chapter 5: “A ‘Solid Human Being’ Will Yet Emerge in You”: Mahler Raises His Younger Siblings Chapter 6: ““Vehement and Consuming Longing, Mixed with Dread and Anxiety” Mahler’s Thoughts on Love and Romance   PART THREE: Political Commentary in Mahler’s Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn   Chapter 7: “The Brutal Bourgeoisie”: Mahler and Socioeconomic Equality Chapter 8: ""A final remnant of a sense of duty"": Mahler’s Sentiments on Militarism   Epilogue  "

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Author Information

Molly M. Breckling is an Assistant Professor of Musicology at Rollins College. Her research interests include Nineteenth-Century Lieder, particularly that of Gustav Mahler, and Music History Pedagogy. Dr. Breckling has presented her research at national meetings of the American Musicological Society, the American Comparative Literature Association, and the German Studies Association and at an International Mahler Centenary Conference held at the University of Surrey in 2010. She has published writings in anthologies on Mahler and ethical approaches to Music History Pedagogy and in journals such as Notes and Ars Lyrica.

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