Gustav Mahler und das Volkslied seiner Heimat

Abstract

That folk song found its way into Mahler's music is often stated but never demonstrated. The term 'folk song' must only be taken to cover the kind of song absorbed by him during his youth; later in life he did not concern himself with folk tunes. The songs of his homeland, on the border between Bohemia and Moravia, include (a) Moravian songs with archaic features, (b) Czech and German-Bohemian folk songs with clearly defined stylistic elements from the eighteenth century, and (c) songs of the bordering German lands of Bavaria and Silesia. Analysis has shown that Mahler used formulae from Moravian folk song, including the lydian fourth, and that there is a basic relationship between his music and the folk songs of his homeland. His melodies tend to be rhythmically free and to use repeated notes. Rhythmic features, such as short notes on strong beats, syncopation, and feminine endings, point to Czech folk song. Repetition of short formulae, and chain- or open forms occur, as in Czech and Moravian folk song. His writing for strings aims at producing the characteristic tone of folk fiddles in Iglau, and displays the heterophony between voice and accompaniment characteristic of that region.