“Das Lied von der Erde” by Gustav Mahler in genre and style aspect

Abstract

Mahler’s work Das Lied von der Erde is considered in terms of genre belonging, properties of genre and ethnic styles. The genre heterogeneity of the work is argued. The belonging of this work to the genre of the symphonic song cycle, which crystallized in Mahler’s opus and received intensive development in the 20th century, is substantiated. A stylistic description of the literary basis and musical text of the work is given, related to the song and symphonic nature of the work. Special attention is paid to elements of the ethnic style of Chinese music. At the level of the musical text stylistic heterogeneity of Das Lied von der Erde also clearly manifests itself. Its origins are as follows: a) the authentic style of the German and Austrian folk song (das Lied), which Mahler learned at a young age; b) the refined style of the songromance cycles of Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann and other romantic composers, indirectly related to national folk music, but tending to the expression of individual musical and philosophical concepts; c) the style of romantic symphonic music, first of all in the tradition of large-scale and sharply dramatic works of Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner; d) the conventional “style of Chinese music” as it was imagined by Mahler and other European musicians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, represented by a pentatonic scale, mechanistic rhythm, sharp colors of the timbre palette, forced sound of the high register of the voice and instruments; e) artistic and aesthetic guidelines of the new European artistic intelligentsia, which are perceived today as the styles of modernism (secession, Jugendstil) and expressionism. The aesthetic reception of “Songs about the Earth” in the Chinese musical and cultural environment is reflected. The practical significance of genre and style analysis for the development of the performance concept of a musical work is emphasized.