The symphony's final form—begun in July 1899 at Bad Aussee and completed in August 1900 at Maiernigg—retains only one vocal movement (the Finale) and is in four movements: Bedächtig, nicht eilen (sonata form); In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast (scherzo and trio); Ruhevoll, poco adagio (double theme and variations); and Sehr behaglich (strophic variations).

The premiere was performed in Munich on 25 November 1901 by the composer and the Kaim Orchestra, but it was met with negative audience and critical reception over the work's confusing intentions and perceived inferiority to the more well-received Second Symphony.

[1] These works incorporated themes originating in Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy's Magic Horn),[2][3] a song cycle setting poems from the folk poetry collection of the same name.

[5][11] He adapted the text of "Das himmlische Leben" from the original Bavarian folk song "Der Himmel hängt voll Geigen" ("Heaven is Hung with Violins" or "The World through Rose-colored Glasses") in Des Knaben Wunderhorn.

4 (Humoreske) that has the following six-movement form:[19][20][B] The sketch indicates that Mahler originally planned for the Fourth Symphony to have three purely symphonic movements (first, third, and fifth) and three orchestra songs: "Das irdische Leben" (composed c. 1893 as a Des Knaben Wunderhorn song), "Morgenglocken" (completed in 1895 as the Third Symphony's "Es sungen drei Engel"), and "Das himmlische Leben".

[7] During Mahler's 1899 summer vacation in Bad Aussee, the Fourth Symphony, in Bauer-Lechner's words, "fell into his lap just in the nick of time" in late July.

The vacation served as Mahler's only chance during the entire year when he was free to compose, but his productivity heretofore was hindered by poor weather and listening to what he called "ghastly health-resort music".

"[32] Mahler was also opposed to giving any titles for the symphony's movements, despite having "devised some marvelous ones", because he did not want critics and audiences to "misunderstand and distort them in the worst possible way.

[36] Not long after the exchanges with the Philharmonic, the composer asked for Weingartner's permission sometime in August or September 1901 to conduct the premiere himself, citing his anxiety over the symphony and its performance.

"[41] The world premiere of the symphony was performed on 25 November 1901 in Munich at the Kaim-Saal,[43] with Mahler conducting the Kaim Orchestra and Margarete Michalek[F] as soprano.

[39][G] Bauer-Lechner writes that the first movement was met with both applause and boos since a number in the audience were "unable to follow the complexity of events in the development".

[39][54] A false report of a successful Munich premiere prompted some applause after the Nuremberg performance, but the city's General-Anzeiger gave a harsh review of Mahler's "Vaudeville-Symphony", praising only its orchestration.

In Frankfurt, the audience's "angry and violent" hissing was likened to "the sound of an autumn wind blowing through the dead leaves and dried twigs of a forest" by the Musikalisches Wochenblatt [de].

The Stuttgart press was mixed: the Schwäbischer Merkur [de] praised Mahler as a rising star and considered the work a "wreath of good-humored melodies and folk dances"; on the other hand, the Neues Taggblatt condemned the symphony for its "vulgar passages".

[61] On 23 March 1904, the composer conducted the Fourth at the Staatstheater Mainz,[62] which received warm applause but reviews criticizing the work's "naïveté".

[72] Mahler's protégé Bruno Walter[73] conducted the symphony in Moscow in 1923, but he had to convince the concert's Russian organizers not to alter the religious references in "Das himmlische Leben".

Paul Stefan notes the "fairly numerous" woodwinds and strings,[79] while Michael Steinberg calls the percussion section "lavish".

[96] La Grange compares the first theme to a similar passage in the first movement exposition of Schubert's Piano Sonata in E-flat major, D.

[95] Mitchell finds that the themes, textures, and rhythms of the exposition suggest Neoclassicism, but Mahler's style changes in the ensuing development section when "a radically different sound-world manifests itself".

[93][95] The recapitulation section reaches what Stefan describes as "an almost Mozartian jubilation" towards its end,[101] and the movement concludes with a calm and slow coda.

[99] According to Mahler's widow, Alma, the composer took inspiration for this movement from the 1872 painting Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle by the Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin.

[85] Mahler called the movement his "first real variations",[85] and he composed it under the inspiration of "a vision of a tombstone on which was carved an image of the departed, with folded arms, in eternal sleep".

[119] La Grange writes that the ostinato bass motif is "always present in some form or other" and gives the movement "a strong passacaglia feeling".

[124][125][126] La Grange analyzes the fourth movement as a strophic durchkomponiert in three main sections[M] separated by orchestral refrains and ending with a coda.

[128] An orchestral prelude in G major begins the Finale:[129] The soprano then sings the first verse or strophe of "Das himmlische Leben", beginning with the movement's main theme over "Wir genießen die himmlischen Freuden" (We revel in heavenly pleasures):[88][127] The verse is sung "with childishly gay expression" over text describing the joys of heaven.

This orchestral passage is marked Sehr zart und geheimnisvoll bis zum Schluß (very gentle and mysterious until the end), and the final strophe that follows is sung in E major over a variation of the main theme.

[88][127][129] This strophe corresponds to the text's final verse with images of "most gentle restfulness",[132] and Mitchell calls it "an extraordinary experience without parallel elsewhere in Mahler".

Gut' Spargel, Fisolen Und was wir nur wollen, Ganze Schüsseln voll sind uns bereit!

And when there's a holiday near, All the fishes come joyfully     swimming; And off runs Saint Peter With net and with bait, Towards the celestial pond.

These changes were met with criticism from Hans Redlich, who wrote in 1966: "Only the musical texts of the Symphony published between 1902 and 1910 carry full authenticity for posterity.