Compositions by Gustav Mahler - Symphonies by Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 6, Symphony No. 8, List of Compositions by Gustav Mahler (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 39. Chapters: Symphonies by Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 6, Symphony No. 8, List of compositions by Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 1, Symphony No. 10, Das Lied von der Erde, Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 7, Symphony No. 3, Kindertotenlieder, Symphony No. 5, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Symphony No. 4, Symphony No. 9, Lieder aus "Des Knaben Wunderhorn," Das klagende Lied, Piano Quartet, Ruckert-Lieder, Lieder und Gesange. Excerpt: The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertory. Because it requires huge instrumental and vocal forces it is frequently called the "Symphony of a Thousand," although the work is often performed with fewer than a thousand, and Mahler himself did not sanction the name. The work was composed in a single inspired burst, at Maiernigg in southern Austria in the summer of 1906. The last of Mahler's works that was premiered in his lifetime, the symphony was a critical and popular success when he conducted its first performance in Munich on . The fusion of song and symphony had been a characteristic of Mahler's early works. In his "middle" compositional period after 1901, a change of direction led him to produce three purely instrumental symphonies. The Eighth, marking the end of the middle period, returns to a combination of orchestra and voice in a symphonic context. The structure of the work is unconventional; instead of the normal framework of several movements, the piece is in two parts. Part I is based on the Latin text of a 9th-century Christian hymn for Pentecost, Veni creator spiritus ("Come, Creator Spirit"), and Part II is a setting of the words from the closing scene of Goethe's Faust. The two parts are unified by a common idea, that of redemption through the power of love, a unity conveyed through shared musical themes. M...