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Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder: Connecting The Movements Of The Song Cycle Through Schenkerian Analysis, Gabriel Quinton Fleetwood

MSU Graduate Theses

Gustav Mahler composed the song cycle Kindertotenlieder at the beginning of the 1900s. Depicting a mournful subject based on the poems of Friedrich Rü;ckert, the Lieder explore the different emotions and perspectives of a grieving parent who has lost his children to death. This discussion connects the movements of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder through a discussion of discoveries unveiled through Schenkerian analysis; harmonic, melodic, and motivic connections are highlighted throughout the composition. The tonal centers of the movements are discussed in an effort to illustrate the work as a whole, and not just as individual Lieder.