‘"A Time of Gifts": Mahler’s Eighth, Fassbinder’s Cinema, and Musical Politics'

Barham, JM (2011) ‘"A Time of Gifts": Mahler’s Eighth, Fassbinder’s Cinema, and Musical Politics' In: The Total Work of Art: Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in Context. Studien zur Wertungsforschung, 52 . Universal Edition, Vienna & London, pp. 61-80. ISBN 978-3-7024-7075-3

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Abstract

This essay examines the use of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in the New-German cinematic works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. It first places this usage in the context of the wider history of employing Mahler's music within film soundtracks, a practice which stretches back to the 1960s. The socio-political implications of Mahler's monumental national 'gift' of this Symphony are considered alongside the ambivalent ideological preoccupations of Fassbinder with regard to the Germany of the 1970s and the political heritage of its imperial past. The three filmic works in question (Chinese Roulette (1976), Lili Marleen (1980), and Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)) engage with Mahler’s music in different cultural and historical contexts, yielding a variety of personalized and universalized readings of the German condition.

Item Type:	Book Section
Divisions :	Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences > Department of Music and Media
Authors :	Name Email ORCID Barham, JM
Editors :	Name Email ORCID Kappel, E
Date :	2011
Uncontrolled Keywords :	Fassbinder, Mahler, Symphony 8, New German cinema
Related URLs :	Publisher
Depositing User :	Symplectic Elements
Date Deposited :	27 Jun 2012 10:39
Last Modified :	05 Mar 2019 10:14
URI:	http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/id/eprint/668651

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