Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of folk poems and songs, was a great source of inspiration to Mahler, who created settings of apparent folkloric simplicity, concealing a complexity of musical craft and symbolic meaning.

Mahler was deeply conversant with the tradition of the Romantic Lied, and often drew on his own vocal music as source material for symphonic writing. There are close associations with events in his personal life, most tragically in the case of Kindertotenlieder, which he came to regard as a premonition of his daughter’s death.

Hosted by composer Julian Philips and pianist Laura Roberts, we explore the richly evocative world of Mahler’s songs with contributions from visiting musicologists and performers from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.