Playing with Blocks
Playing with Blocks
THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE, Mahler shaped the raw material of his childhood — his "building blocks" — into new musical structures. He often extended the traditional compositional techniques he learned in the Conservatory into new musical territory with his own innovations.
Explore some of the most intriguing of Mahler's musical procedures:
"Composing is like playing with building blocks, continually making new buildings from the same old blocks. Indeed, these blocks have been there, ready to
be used, since
childhood, the
only time that is
designed for
gathering."