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The Music Plays On — Mahler Symphony №8
The process of composing for Mahler was often incredibly arduous and difficult. He did not have time to compose for most of the year because his job as the General Music Director for the Vienna Hofoper was all-consuming. He only could write music during his summer holidays and it would often take weeks for him to decompress and get into the proper mindset. Then he would often only partly finish the symphony just as the summer holidays were coming to a close. No so for his Symphony №8.
Inspired by the 9th century Pentecostal Latin hymn, Veni Creátor Spíritus, Mahler immediately began writing his new symphony upon his arrival to his summer villa in Maiernigg in July, 1906. It took just six weeks for him to write a symphony that required the largest, most complicated forces. Originally conceived in the typical four movement structure, it quickly morphed into just two parts: Part I, which uses the Veni Creátor Spíritus text and lasting approximately twenty minutes; and Part II, which uses text from the closing passages of Goethe’s Faust. What binds these seemingly disparate texts — one sung in Latin, one sung in German — is the meaning behind both of them: redemption through love.
