THE three major works occupying Mahler's creative energies during
the three final years of his life arc closely related to each other, not only
by thematic affinities and a similarity of mood, but also through the
'programme' they have in common: the composer's farewell to life
and preparation for death. Ever since the fatal day in July 1907,
when, following closely on the tragic death of his elder child, a
country doctor by chance discovered a dangerous heart disease,
Mahler had lived, as it were, under sentence of death. He believed
himself doomed and probably estimated his expectation of life even
lower than events were to prove. Under medical orders he had to
change his way of life and, having savagely taxed his physical energies
in times gone by, he became a valetudinarian. The necessity to find
a new modus vivendi coincided with his departure from the Vienna
Opera ( December 1907). Oncoming illness and a feverish will to
live clashed head-on and created a crisis in his existence which some-
how seemed to awaken new impulses. He was in a state of almost
hysterical euphory at times, alternating with fits of the deepest de-
pression. This is reflected in a letter to Bruno Walter, written from
New York early in 1909, which reads like a commentary on the three
works under discussion and reflects the composer's state of mind
during the completion of Das Lied von der Erde and the planning of
the ninth Symphony:

. . . I have been going through so many experiences (for the last year and
a half) that I can hardly discuss them. How should I attempt to describe
such a colossal crisis? I see everything in such a new light and am in such
continuous fluctuation; I shouldn't be surprised to discover that I had
acquired a new body (as Faust does in the final scene). I am thirstier than
ever for life and I find the 'habit of life' sweeter than ever. These days are
just like the Books of the Sybils. . . .

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