Music for the Age of Uncertainty

Karol Berger

A new analysis of Mahlers symphonies, placing each within the context of his musical way of being in and experiencing the world.

Between 1888 and 1909 Gustav Mahler completed nine symphonies and the orchestral song cycleDas Lied von der Erde; his tenth symphony was left incomplete at his death in 1911.Mahlers Symphonic Worldprovocatively suggests that over his lifetime, the composer pursued a single vision and a single, ideal symphony that strived to capture his personal outlook on human existence. Writing at the turn of the twentieth century, when all trust in firm philosophical and spiritual foundations had evaporated, Mahlers music reflected a deep preoccupation with human suffering and transience and a search for sources of possible consolation.

In Karol Bergers reading, each of the symphonies follows a similar trajectory, with an opening quest leading to the final unveiling of a transcendent, consolatory vision. By juxtaposing single movementsthe opening Allegros, the middle movements, the Finalesacross different works, Berger traces recurring plotlines and imagery and discloses the works multiple interrelationships as well as their cohesiveness around a central idea. Ultimately,Mahlers Symphonic Worldlocates Mahlers music within the matrix of intellectual currents that defined his epoch and offers a revelatory picture of his musical way of being in the world.