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Mahler’s Youth and a Brief Analysis of his Second Symphony Essay

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The main focus of this paper is going to be about Mahler’s youth and also his second symphony ‘Resurrection’. Since there is little information regarding his youth in Vienna (1875-1880)it is necessary to do a situational analysis of Mahler’s context, in which I will try to establish a connection between the socio-political context and the young Mahler, based on situational logic. It is also necessary to recall Mahler’s childhood years to understand the whole effect of his work. Therefore, this paper will be divided into a) a brief recount of his childhood, b) a situational analysis of the socio-political factors of Vienna in 1875-1880, and c) a brief analysis of his 2nd Symphony..
Gustav Mahler was born on July 7, 1860 in Kalischt, on …show more content…

Mahler lived in an era of Germanic alienation; he lived in an era of profound change in every cultural and also geographical area in Central Europe.
His early youth is characterised by the conflict between his inner Bohemian-Moravian idiosyncrasy and his alienation within the Austrian-German imperialism. As a child Mahler was understandably immersed in the Bohemian folk culture. In fact, he actually learned to speak Czech fluently and played Czech melodies often (Barham, 11). Nevertheless, Iglau was a part of a German enclave, within an Austrian Empire that became increasingly alienated from the norther German states. This would generate confusion in the growing Mahler,who as a young adult would feel contempt for the Bohemian Moravian culture, as he aligned with the growing Wagneriasm of the German Empire.
For these causes, Mahler never had a solid and constant view of either cultural world; he lived in a cultural borderland. And this conflict marked his music in a special way that only his genius could have expressed in the way he did. Respectively he would affirm: ‘I am thrice homeless: as a native of Bohemia in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans and as a Jew throughout all the whole world. Everywhere an intruder, never welcomed’ (Rosenzweig, 30)

Certainly, Mahler never had a place he would feel entirely identified with. If the culture in his infancy, although already

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