Mahler’s “Des Knaben Wunderhorn,” “Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen”: A Ghostly Nocturnal Vision
Songs gave rise to symphonies during Gustav Mahler’s “Wunderhorn years.” This was the period from 1887 to 1904 when Mahler composed his first four symphonies, all of which are rooted in nature and song. In some cases, songs provided the seeds for symphonic movements. The texts for Mahler’s twelve-song cycle, Des Knaben Wunderhorn (“The Boy’s Magic Horn”) were based on a collection of anonymous German folk poems of the same title, compiled and …