Todtenfeier, and Das klagende Lied
"Todtenfeier" was intended to be the first movement of Symphony No. 2, but after completing "Todtenfeier," Mahler found himself uncertain of how to proceed--a case of musical "writer's block." He put the full Symphony aside, during which time he performed "Todtenfeier" as a stand-alone work. Several years later, his writer's block gone, he revised "Todtenfeier" and incorporated it as movement I of Symphony No. 2.
"Das klagende Lied" was composed to his own text while he was a student at the Vienna Music Conservatory. He did say it was his "own Opus #1" and the first work in which he truly found his style as "Mahler." He never performed DkL in its original form as a three-part work, for orchestra, chorus, and 6 soloists, with off-stage wind band.
Later he revised the work, eliminating Part I, "Waldmärchen," the two "knaben" soloists, one adult soloist, and modifying the orchestration.
When the manuscript of "Waldmärchen surfaced in our times, a three-part version was often performed and recorded several times in a "hybrid" version, that is, the original Part I, and the revised Parts II and III.
MahlerFest performed Mahler's original version, using the Critical edition authorized by the International GM Gesellschaft, Vienna.
"Todtenfeier" was intended to be the first movement of Symphony No. 2, but after completing "Todtenfeier," Mahler found himself uncertain of how to proceed--a case of musical "writer's block." He put the full Symphony aside, during which time he performed "Todtenfeier" as a stand-alone work. Several years later, his writer's block gone, he revised "Todtenfeier" and incorporated it as movement I of Symphony No. 2.
"Das klagende Lied" was composed to his own text while he was a student at the Vienna Music Conservatory. He did say it was his "own Opus #1" and the first work in which he truly found his style as "Mahler." He never performed DkL in its original form as a three-part work, for orchestra, chorus, and 6 soloists, with off-stage wind band.
Later he revised the work, eliminating Part I, "Waldmärchen," the two "knaben" soloists, one adult soloist, and modifying the orchestration.
When the manuscript of "Waldmärchen surfaced in our times, a three-part version was often performed and recorded several times in a "hybrid" version, that is, the original Part I, and the revised Parts II and III.
MahlerFest performed Mahler's original version, using the Critical edition authorized by the International GM Gesellschaft, Vienna.
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