5 things to know about Mahler's Fifth Symphony

The Austrian conductor and long term leader of the Berlin Philharmonic Herbert von Karajan once said of the work, that when you hear it ‘you forget that time has passed. A great performance of the Fifth is a transforming experience’.

But why is this turn of the century composition, completed by Mahler in 1903, considered his most important piece? What led to its creation and influenced Mahler’s approach? Well, if you’ve ever found yourself pondering these questions then we’ve good news. Ahead of a performance of Mahler’s Fifth by the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra here at the Southbank Centre in May 2026, we took a closer look at the symphony.

It was born from a near death experience

At the beginning of 1901 things were looking pretty good for the 40-year-old Gustav Mahler. The inn-keeper’s son from northern Bohemia had worked his way up to hold two prestigious appointments in Vienna; director of the Hofoper (Vienna Court Opera) and principal conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic concerts. And despite the demands of these roles he was also making waves as a composer, with four well-regarded symphonies to his name.

But in February 1901 things took a dramatic turn when Mahler suffered a sudden hemorrhage, so major that according to his doctors he came within an hour of bleeding to death. As part of his recuperation, Mahler moved out of Vienna to a lakeside villa in Maiernigg, southern Austria. Here, he found the space and time to compose again, beginning with his fifth symphony.

The symphony marked a change in direction for Mahler

With the benefit of hindsight we are able to place Mahler as, in the words of John Mangum, writing for the LA Phil, ‘a crucial bridge between the Romanticism of the 19th century and the modernism of the 20th, a composer who simultaneously summed up the achievements of his predecessors and pointed the way forward.’ And if Mahler serves as a bridge for classical music, then his fifth symphony sits at the midpoint of that crossing, the commencement of his own ‘middle period’.

It shares traits with his previous symphonies – it is a huge work with great emotional scope – but unlike them it features no sung text; it is a pure orchestral work and marks a shift to, what David A. McConnell of The Classic Review describes as ‘a significant change in Mahler’s orchestral style’ with ‘a heightened use of polyphony and a brilliant, more leonine orchestration’, as it takes the listener on a journey from the tragedy of a funeral march tragedy to a triumphant Rondo-Finale.

It’s influenced by love…

Though Mahler began work on his fifth symphony during his recuperation in 1901 he did not complete it during his first year at the lake. Back in Vienna in November 1901 he met the music student and socialite Alma Schnidler and before the year’s end the pair were engaged. By the time Mahler returned to his lakeside villa in the summer of 1902 Alma and he were married and expecting their first child. Mahler would go on to complete the movements of his fifth symphony during this second summer at Maiernigg, and the emotional journey he had undertaken during its creation is reflected in the score, with the trajectory of the piece moving from mourning to triumph.

…and by two German greats

The emotional trajectory of Mahler’s fifth symphony is a trait shared with a piece it is often considered a nod to, Beethoven’s own fifth symphony. Scholars, including the musicologist Theodor Adorno, have also highlighted the similarity between the ‘short-short-short-long rhythm’ used by Mahler, particularly in the first movement’s initial fanfare, with that in the great German’s piece.

A more direct influence on Mahler’s fifth symphony is another German composer, JS Bach. During his recuperation Mahler had studied the music of Bach and subscribed to his collected works, and – according to McConnell – told a friend that ‘in Bach, all the seeds of music are combined, as God encompasses the world. There has never been greater polyphony.’ This appreciation of Bach found its way into the fifth symphony, particularly in Mahler’s use of counterpoint, which can be heard in the second, third and fifth movements of the symphony.

The symphony includes Mahler’s ‘greatest hit’

While it’s hard to dispute Mahler’s standing in the classical canon the one thing that can be said about him is that he hasn’t had, what modern marketing types might call, ‘the cut through’ of some of the other greats. As a composer known for long and emotional works, few of Mahler’s pieces could be described as catchy. The most notable exception to this comes from the final part of his fifth symphony. The Adagietto which begins this part is often performed as a stand alone piece, and gained particular attention after it was performed at the funeral of United States senator Robert Kennedy in 1968 under the baton of Leonard Bernstein.