ABSTRACT
On 11 August 1883 Gustav Mahler broke off his summer vacation at his parents' house in Iglau and went off to Kassel, the city where he would take on his new role as 'Royal Music and Choral Director' at the Hoftheater. On 1 January 1881 he joined the Kassel Hoftheater and took part in the reconstruction of the opera ensemble in progress at that time. When he was back in Kassel after the end of the holidays, things nevertheless continued on their effusively romantic course. On New Year's Day in Kassel, 1885, 'the bells were ringing and the solemn chorale resounded from the tower'. This is how Mahler described it in his letter. If the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen were the immediate expression of the love affair in Kassel, then the Symphony reached beyond the love affair: at its root was a decisive confrontation with the profound spiritual crisis.
