Mahler's Symphony No. 6 'Tragic'

Sinfonia n.º 6 «Trágica» de Mahler

Live music 20€

Sunday 21 February · 17:00

Mahler's Symphony No. 6 'Tragic' is a monumental four-movement work composed between 1903 and 1904, exploring dark and devastating emotions, especially in the final movement.

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 6, 'Tragic', was largely composed during the summers of 1903 and 1904, during a break from his duties as director of the Vienna Opera, a position he had held since 1897. The work, in four movements, premiered on May 27, 1906, in Essen, with the score already subject to revision, under the musical direction of the composer himself. Symphony No. 6 was composed at an important time in his life, preceded by his marriage to Alma Schindler in 1902 and the birth of his two daughters, Maria Anna and Anna, in 1902 and 1904, respectively. In this symphonic work we hear grand, almost sublime romantic gestures, as well as marked moments of an almost martial character. However, the overwhelming final movement offers the listener a play of dark and devastating emotions, where the world seems to collapse upon a man in deep despair and agony. Mahler uses the great orchestra in all its monumentality, building a range of textures and varying emotional intensities, sometimes with fragmented musical ideas. In the years following the work's premiere, a dramatic period of his life began, marked by criticism of his work and subsequent dismissal from the Vienna Opera, the death of his eldest daughter, Maria, and the discovery of his serious heart condition.