The Pacific Symphony Blog

To read last week’s blog on Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, click here.

This week’s blog contains on the poetry used in Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony and some interpretations of the text.

The text for Movement IV “Urlicht” (Ancient light, or original light) comes from a collection of German folk poems and songs called Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn). The first volume published in 1806, second and third volumes published in 1808. It was edited by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, and it became an important source of idealized folklore popular across the German-speaking world.

Movement IV Urlicht

This poem portrays an image of human suffering and a longing for peace. Along the path to peace, a little angel tried to turn the man away. The man refused to be turned away, making a declaration of identity and purpose: “I am from God and want again to return to God.” The “little light” mentioned at the end of the verse symbolizes divine guidance, hope, and the assurance of salvation. This poem’s simplicity and directness reflects a pure, unshakeable trust in God.

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock was an 18th-century German poet, best known for his epic poem Der Messias (“The Messiah”) and Die Auferstehung (“The Resurrection”) that Mahler later used in his Symphony No. 2. Klopstock wrote many poems, odes, and dramas. Many have Nordic mythological inspiration or religious themes, and his odes frequently became beautiful hymns. He died more than 90 years before the funeral of Hans von Bülow where Mahler heard Die Auferstehung. Some of the text in the finale of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 comes from Klopstock’s original poem, but Mahler added in some verses of his own to emphasize certain ideas and conclude the movement with personal expression.

As mentioned above, this poem is a combination of words from Klopstock and Mahler. The German is deeply religious – many of the words used are not commonly used in conversational German today. There are many interpretations of the English translation in terms of words and phrasing, so this is just one version of how the story can be told in English instead. 

Klopstock’s poetry speaks to the listener, saying that after a “short rest,” you will rise again and be granted eternal life. It says that the Lord of the Harvest sows (plants) us as seeds, and gathers us together after death. Mahler continues in his own words, assuring the listener that nothing is lost in death: everything you have fought for, longed for, and loved in life is yours to keep. He declares that our suffering in life is not futile or forgotten, and that everything that lives must die and what dies will find new life. This is a story of hope and redemption, indicative of how Mahler was grappling with the meaning of life, death, and afterlife. 

He goes on with a reminder to live and not be afraid. He personifies Pain and Death, and declares himself free from them. We see this theme of the “light” return when Mahler writes about the “wings” won through the passionate struggle through life, which are used to rise to a “light to which no eye has ever seen.” Again, he writes about resurrection, saying that the challenges you have conquered will be the things that bring you back to God. This text shows a way that Mahler chose to cope with the larger-than-life questions that plagued him throughout his life.

Keep reading for a look into how Mahler explained his own interpretation of the story: 

In 1901, several years after the completion of Movement V of his Symphony No. 2, in a letter to Alma Schindler (his future wife), Mahler explained,

 “A voice is heard crying aloud: the end of all living beings is come, the Last Judgment is at hand, and the horror of the day of days has broken forth. The earth quakes, the graves burst open, and the dead arise and stream on in endless procession. The great and the little ones of the earth, kings and beggars, righteous and godless – all press on; the cry for mercy and forgiveness strikes fearfully on our ears. The wailing rises higher, our senses desert us; consciousness dies at approach of the eternal spirit. The ‘Last Trump’ is heard – the trumpets of the Apocalypse ring out; in the eerie silence that follows, we can just catch the distant, barely audible song of the nightingale, a last tremulous echo of earthly life! A chorus of saints and heavenly beings softly breaks forth: Thou shalt arise, surely thou shalt rise!’ then appears the glory of God! A wondrous, soft light penetrates us to the heart – all is holy calm!” (A. Mahler, Gustav Mahler, Memories and Letters, London: Murray, 1973)

Take every chance you can get to listen to Mahler’s ingenius “Resurrection” Symphony. Artistic & Music Director Alexander Shelley conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 at 8pm on October 1-3, 2026, at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, California with Pacific Chorale. Get tickets.