Night music

Plagued by writer’s block, Gustav Mahler travelled to the Lake Wörth in 1905. A trip out to the shore eased his creative tension, and the introduction to his new symphony – No. 7 – came to him once his oar made contact with the water. The work received the alternate title “Song of the Night” for its dismal and troubled beginning and the two movements in the middle, which Mahler called “night music”. Yet, in accordance with the maxim per aspera ad astra – “through hardships to the stars” – the work becomes increasingly optimistic and ends in a furiously celebratory apotheosis, with a theme distantly reminiscent of Richard Wagner’s Meistersinger overture.

DIGITAL Introduction (in German)

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Photo © Ludwig Olah