Symphonic Metamorphoses: Subjectivity and Alienation in Mahler’s Re-Cycled Songs

by Raymond Knapp

This revelatory new book takes readers far beyond most existing critical analyses of Mahler's work, escaping the tired traps of broad historical survey and formalist plot summary. Symphonic Metamorphoses considers Mahler's early practice of basing his symphonies on pre-existing songs and elaborates how this practice informs the techniques and tropes of Mahler's musico-cultural discourse, involving montage, social satire, subjectivity, autonomy, alienation, childhood, absolute music, time and cosmology. Raymond Knapp explores these themes with persuasive readings backed by impeccable scholarship, providing insights into the organic link between Mahler's music and his historo-cultural sphere. Knapp's look at Mahler is unique in terms of both the depth of its inquiry and the freshness of its approach. Symphonic Metamorphoses is a graceful and vital addition to Mahler studies and to musicological studies in general.

348 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2003

About the author

Raymond Knapp came to UCLA in 1989, with degrees from Harvard (BA cum laude in music), Radford (MA in composition), and Duke (PhD in musicology). He has authored four books and co-edited a fifth: Brahms and the Challenge of the Symphony (1997), Symphonic Metamorphoses: Subjectivity and Alienation in Mahler’s Re-Cycled Songs (2003), The American Musical and the Formation of National Identity (2005; winner of the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism), The American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity (2006), and Musicological Identities: Essays in Honor of Susan McClary (2008, with UCLA alumni Steven Baur and Jacqueline Warwick). His published essays address a wide range of additional interests, including Beethoven, Wagner, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, nationalism, musical allusion, music and identity, and film music. His current projects include a book that considers Haydn and American popular music in the context of German Idealism, and a book co-edited with Stacy Wolf and UCLA’s Mitchell Morris (forthcoming from Oxford). He has originated courses on Mozart and on the American Musical, and has recently given seminars on nationalism, Mahler, Haydn, Mozart, absolute music, allusion, and the American musical.