Title

Calligraphy

Paper

Manuscript structure and collation

Provenance

Facsimiles

This facsimile, though useful, is potentially misleading, since it crops the pages (with some minor losses to the autograph notation) and, more seriously, it omits images of the blank pages, giving a wholly inaccurate impression of the overall structure of the document (see the link above for details of the manuscript structure).

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Notes

In its current form this document appears to be a single, bound autograph fair copy containing three piano and voice scores: an early version of the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, the '9 Lieder Aus „des Knaben Wunderhorn”'  (Lieder und Gesänge, vols II, III) and the '5 Gedichte' (published as Lieder und Gesänge vol. I). There is no indication at what date the manuscript was bound, but an examination of it reveals that during the process three leaves – the conjugates to the title pages for the three groups of songs – were removed, from which one might speculate that these missing leaves were originally the rear leaf of wrappers for the three sections. So the possibility that prior to binding these three constituent sections led independent existences cannot be discounted.

The original function of these manuscripts is also uncertain. They are not working copies: they are neatly prepared and the formality of the title pages and headings suggest that they were intended to seen by others and Henry-Louis de La Grange reports that according to Alfred Rosé, Mahler copied the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for his sister Justine, because she liked them so much (HLGIIF, 959). Assuming this to be the case, it leaves the date of the copy unspecified although, given the major differences between it and the later autograph full score and piano and voice version, an early date (1884ff.) seems most likely. Moreover, Rosé's report offers no rationale for the preparation of the copies of the other two works.

One possible motivation for the preparation of the copies of the '9 Lieder' and 'Gedichte' was Mahler's decision (probably made in the summer of 1891) to seek a publisher for his existing works, and his subsequent approach to Ludwig Strecker, the owner of B. Schott's Söhne, which focused on the songs (FWGMV, 81):