Reflections on Mahler 2

It’s been roughly three days since I’ve returned home from my amazing experiences at the Grand Teton Music Festival, and I can’t help but to reflect on the beauty and symbolism of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony.

The work has always had tremendous symbolic meaning, especially within Mahler’s personal life. His life was not an easy one, and Mahler found himself in a shroud of darkness after the death of his children. Inspired by his pain, he composed Kindertotenlieder, (Literally translating to Children Dying Songs) a work of music and poetry about the death of children. This work angered his wife, who thought that the continued death in the family was due to Mahler’s macabre work. Mahler was inspired once more, perhaps to undo the damage of the past, or to bring some comfort.

Mahler 2 was born, and the famous final fifth movement, involving full chorus, orchestra, and two soloists, inspired the namesake “Resurrection Symphony”.

As I discussed in a previous post, the poetry in “Auferstehen” (literally meaning Resurrection) carries deep meaning about transcending death, in both the biblical manner of Christ’s resurrection, but also in Mahler’s personal struggle with death and loss.

I couldn’t help but to compare the experience of the current live musician to that of a kind of resurrection. For many musicians, it has been nearly three years since we have been able to perform in large groups for live audiences. In fact, the last time a choir performed at the Grand Teton Music Festival was in 2019, three summers ago.

While performing together in a large group, I noticed our perseverance. Here we were, after years apart, making music about transcending death, a kind of power that earthly people do not have. And yet, there we were, in a musical resurrection of our own. Our music, our culture of performance, and our passion, had survived nearly three years of absence and pandemic, and had been born again on that stage, fittingly to the music of Mahler 2.

For many musicians and live performers, the time of pandemic has brought upon them more than just literal death from illness, but a loss of career, of livelihood, passion, and community. It has been felt hard, and across all nations in the world.

So when I picked up my black folder and walked on to that stage, I felt the immense meaning of the occasion. This group of people I performed with represented the musician, the artist, and the performer reborn to a new era. When we sang the word “Auferstehen” we sang of our own resurrection, our own return to life from the “death” of our lost years. We represented the hope, the joy, and the courage to continue making art, through some of humanity’s darkest years.

My hope is that we can continue, as a community of musicians, artists, performers, and as all of mankind, to make music. I hope that we can continue to have many more “Auferstehen” as the pandemic slowly crawls to a manageable level, and that soon the musicians of the world can resume doing their work, safely, knowing that we have transcended this formidable and frightening challenge that was, and is, global pandemic.