Adagietto from the 5th Symphony

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The Adagietto is arguably Mahler’s best-known composition, particularly for American audiences. Although it is often associated with death (Leonard Bernstein conducted it at a memorial for President Kennedy), according to conductor Willem Mengelberg, Mahler actually composed it as a musical love letter to Alma during their brief courtship. Mengelberg wrote, “This Adagietto was Mahler’s declaration of love to Alma! Instead of a letter he sent her this in manuscript: no accompanying words. She understood and wrote to him: he should come!!! Both told me this!” The intimacy of the Adagietto, scored for strings and harp, foreshadows the essence of Mahler and Alma’s tempestuous marriage, which was full of tenderness, passion, and irreconcilable conflict.