Mahler Symphony No. 4

Not only in his fi rst symphony, but also in his third and fourth, Gustav Mahler repeatedly struggled with the various movements: whether to include them, or how to put them in the right place in the work. Symphony No. 3, completed in 1896, initially had seven movements, two of them to text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. These Lieder, Es sungen drei Engel and “Das himmlische Leben” showed clear thematic similarities and were indeed meant as a pair in the symphony. But Mahler decided to remove the latter Lied, which he had meant to be the seventh movement. The symphony was already quite long, and perhaps two Lieder from Des Knaben Wunderhorn was a bit too much of a good thing. Ultimately this Lied, which Mahler actually wrote in 1892, found a place in his Symphony No. 4, which he completed in 1901.