Wunderhorn Symphonies

Abstract The Second, Third and Fourth Symphonies are usually classified as the Wunderhorn symphonies because of their links with Mahler’s settings of poems from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. This could apply equally to the First Symphony, for the words of Das klagende Lied and the Gesellen cycle are Mahler’s pastiche of the Wunderhorn poems, proving how deeply embedded in his mind were the style and spirit of the anthology. Mahler’s first settings of Wunderhorn poems were for voice and pianoforte, although obviously conceived for orchestral accompaniment, and were written in the late 1880s. Twelve more, originally entitled Humoresken, date from 1892 to 1901. They alternate between a charming fairy-tale delicacy and a grimly ironic, nightmarish realization and interpenetration of the moods of military bluster and nocturnal mystery. They are outstanding for the quivering sensitivity of the composer’s response to the text of each poem and, once again, for the beauty and aptness of sound with which this response is matched. The cornerstones of Mahler’s style were cross-reference, variation and development, and even in such small-scale works as the songs the constant change enacted gives them a scope beyond the ordinary. Even in such an overtly simple and ‘innocent’ (though seductive) song as Rheinlegendchen, the range of tonality beyond the nominal home key of A major is remarkable. In Das irdische Leben the development by means of major-minor contrasts gives the song its psychological depth. Mahler’s exploitation of contrast, his genius for savage juxtapositions, can be heard at their starkest in the ‘duologue’ Wunderhorn songs such as Der Schildwache Nachtlied.