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Mahler's last vocal music and his penultimate completed work, Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song of the Earth"), finished in 1907, is also his crowning masterpiece. Written for tenor, contralto (or baritone) and orchestra, Das Lied consists of six movements, each setting a selection from Das chinesische Flöte ("The Chinese Flute"), a collection of German translations of ancient Chinese poetry that Mahler had been given by a friend some years before. The first, third, and fifth movements are sung by the tenor, the others by the contralto or baritone.
The texts are, generally speaking, meditations on the impermanence of earthly things, with many picturesque references to nature and the passing of the seasons and of youth. The music is a wondrous example of Mahler's ingenious orchestration, with chamber-music-like textures and unexpected instrumental combinations and effects throughout. The vocal writing, too, is exquisite. The close of Abschied ("Farewell"), the half-hour-long final movement, is one of the great endings in all music: the singer repeats, painfully slowly, a sighing two-note figure on the world ewig (forever) as the orchestra slowly fades into silence around her. The effect is shattering, a testament to Mahler's absolutely sure touch with the orchestra and voice. The Ninth and unfinished Tenth Symphonies remained to be written, but that final ewig has the unmistakable air of a farewell to Mahler's troubled life.
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