Music and Poetry in the Songs of Gustav Mahler

This study sets out to shed some light on the subject - as fascinating as it is elusive - of the relationship between music and poetry in song. It does so by means of a detailed examination of all Mahler's songs - an area of the composer's work which has attracted surprising- ly little critical attention. Close analysis of Mahler's musical response to his poetic texts demonstrates that comment on the interaction between words and music need not be confined to the superficial.