Mahler 5 by Karina Canellakis

In 1900, Gustav Mahler celebrated his fortieth birthday. Three years earlier he had been appointed opera director of the Vienna Hofoper and a year later music director of the Vienna Philharmonic. Mahler was a hard worker who did not spare himself, and in 1901 he paid a high price for it. He conducted two opera performances in one day and was stricken with a hemorrhage that nearly killed him. While recovering, he immersed himself in the works of his great examples Bach and Beethoven. In the euphoria of his recovery, he threw himself with renewed energy into the composition of a Scherzo.

From darkness to light

In that scherzo, Mahler for once does not refer to previously composed songs, and the Fifth is a purely instrumental work. In the fall he became acquainted with Alma Schindler, a meeting that led to marriage a few months later. He expressed his love for Alma in an Adagietto. Together those two movements form the foundation of the Fifth Symphony, which begins with a funeral march in c-sharp minor and ends with a radiant Finale in D major. From darkness to light.