"The Beauty Of Image" In Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied Von Der Erde

Das Lied von der Erde is an outstanding product of the cross-cultural communication between China and West.A thorough interpretation of its multiple cultural passwords,and further unmask its glamour of the integration of Chinese and Western cultures,has always been the common expectation of Chinese and Western scholars.The modern aesthetic discourse of image comes from the theoretical and cultural atmosphere of China,as the theoretic essence of Chinese and Western culture,it shows the potential of a new interpretation of this unique musical text.Based on this modern aesthetic discourse of image,and the mutual infiltration with the Western discourse of image in itself,this dissertation interprets the beauty of images in Das Lied von der Erde,and rethinks the relationship between Chinese and Western elements in this work.The writer considers it is Mahler’s Chinese concept of Orientalism established in this special period of crisis.The dissertation consists of introduction and five chapters.The panorama of Mahler’s"Chinese concept"is outlined in the following four categories:the beauty of the images of"Trinklied",the beauty of youthful images,the beauty of natural images,and the beauty of the Eternal Feminine images.The writer will give a new interpretation of the composer’s musical images.It will show the value of these discourse of image in interpreting this Chinese concept of Orientalism.In the first chapter,based on the meta-theoretical background of Chinese and Western discourse of image,the author studies the theoretical orientation of the musical languages in this musical work,and explains the framework of the writing of images in Das Lied von der Erde.The second chapter analyzes the beauty of the images of "Trinklied".Irony is the key element in Mahler’s musical language and it had a deep evolvement in the images of Mahler’s later style.The ironic elements have very close relationships with the the images of Trinklied,and thus lead to the realms of deep desolation,it contains a rational generosity of spirit with absolute loneliness.The other quality is an absurd mode,which contains the sound of"nervous splendour" and the related traits of the images of dreams lead to irrational abyss.The third chapter analyzes the beauty from the youthful images.Happy memories of youth and the death of youth make people sigh with regret interwoven in the mind of Mahler in his later years.The category of youth contains two qualities,one is the image of porcelain pavilion contains fresh vitality in the sentimental elements,the other is the break in lingering feeling,the image of "duanchang"and the moon both obtain new understandings in the middle movements.The fourth chapter analyzes the beauty from the natural images.Mahler had an unique experience of sounds,colors and the circulation in nature.The qualities of this area include the leading sounds of an ape,a horse and birds,and through Mahler’s reconstruction of the images of seasons and the images of day and night,"the convergence in the mixing and circulation"appears in music.The fifth chapter is about a new exploration of the beauty from the Eternal Feminine image,it’s divided into three stages:the turning level,the intermediary level and the conclusive level.The turning level is about the evolution from the endless longing and lust to salvation,fenale images are the core of this process,and it’s under the profound influence of Schopenhauer and Wagner.The intermediary level builds a new order by the images of ladder.The conclusive level analyzes the delight diffuse from the eternal and resting center.