The cycle of four lieder for medium voice (often performed by women as well as men) was written around 1884–85 in the wake of Mahler's unhappy love for soprano Johanna Richter, whom he met as the conductor of the opera house in Kassel, Germany,[1] and orchestrated and revised in the 1890s.
[3] He subjected the score to a great deal of revision, probably between 1885 and 1886, and some time in the early 1890s orchestrated the original piano accompaniments.
The lyrics are by the composer himself, though they are influenced by Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of German folk poetry that was one of Mahler's favorite books, and the first song is actually based on the Wunderhorn poem "Wann [sic] mein Schatz".
The first song is entitled "Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht" ("When My Sweetheart is Married"),[5] and the text discusses the Wayfarer's grief at losing his love to another.
The second song, "Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld" ("I Went This Morning over the Field"), contains the happiest music of the work.
Indeed, it is a song of joy and wonder at the beauty of nature in simple actions like birdsong and dew on the grass.
This movement is orchestrated delicately, making use of high strings and flutes, as well as a fair amount of triangle.
Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld, Tau noch auf den Gräsern hing; Sprach zu mir der lust'ge Fink: "Ei du!
Auch die Glockenblum' am Feld Hat mir lustig, guter Ding', Mit den Glöckchen, klinge, kling, Ihren Morgengruß geschellt: "Wird's nicht eine schöne Welt?
Entitled "Ich hab' ein glühend Messer" ("I Have a Gleaming Knife"), the Wayfarer likens his agony of lost love to having an actual metal blade piercing his heart.
He obsesses to the point where everything in the environment reminds him of some aspect of his love, and he wishes he actually had the knife.
Note: while the translation of "glühend" as gleaming is not totally incorrect, "gleaming" misses an important point: "glühend" includes an element of heat, as in "glowing with heat"; a potentially better translation might be any of "glowing", "burning", "scorching".
Wenn ich aus dem Traum auffahr' Und höre klingen ihr silbern Lachen, O weh!
The music, also reused in the First Symphony (in the slow movement), is subdued and gentle, lyrical and often reminiscent of a chorale in its harmonies.
He describes lying down under a linden tree, finding rest for the first time and allowing the flowers to fall on him; and somehow (beyond his own comprehension) everything was well again: "Everything: love and grief, and world, and dream!"
Ich bin ausgegangen in stiller Nacht wohl über die dunkle Heide.
Auf der Straße steht ein Lindenbaum, Da hab' ich zum ersten Mal im Schlaf geruht!
Unter dem Lindenbaum, Der hat seine Blüten über mich geschneit, Da wußt' ich nicht, wie das Leben tut, War alles, alles wieder gut!
Although Songs of a Wayfarer is the title by which the cycle is generally known in English, Fritz Spiegl has observed[where?]
The title hints at an autobiographical aspect of the work; as a young, newly qualified conductor (and budding composer), Mahler was himself at this time in a stage somewhere between 'apprentice' and recognized 'master' and had been moving from town to town (Bad Hall, Laibach, Olmütz, Vienna, Kassel).