German Classical Music
Artists of Classical Music
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Gustav Mahler
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Arnold Schönberg
- Robert Schumann
- Karlheinz Stockhausen
- Richard Wagner
Gustav Mahler, 1860 - 1911
This Austrian musical director and composer is famous for his symphonies and song collections, among which the most well known are Das Lied von der Erde (1909) and the Symphony No. 9 in D minor (1909). One of his most recognizable characteristics is the length, depth and tortuous emotion of his works that deal with the duality between his love for nature and life and his fear of death. His composition Kindertotenlieder ("Songs of Dead Children" would be an approximate translation) is a good example of this.
Mahler's orchestral music is clear and complex at the same time and his musical imagery covers the whole spectrum, from heaven to banality.