The Giant Symphony And Instruments Of Legend

Gustav Mahler is one of the representatives in the late romanticism, and is alsoconsidered one of the most important composers in the music history. His music works,especially the creation of symphony and style of orchestration have become a focusedsubject in the research of music. This thesis takes “Symphony No.2”,“Symphony No.5” and“Symphony No.8” as example to make related analysis in detail.The first part mainly introduces Mahler’s life story, background, and the reasonscontributing to the formation of his composing style. At last his creation of symphony isdescribed in three periods.The second part analyses three representative symphonies out of three periods, and theanalysis is carried out in two main aspects. In one hand, the presentation for the backgroundof the creation of symphony makes it clear to understand. In other hand, the analysis consistsin the musical structure in the view of orchestration.The third part contributes to analyze the orchestration of three symphonies, in theaspects of establishment of band, melody, harmony, polyphony, texture, timbre and etc.The forth part concerns the influence of Mahler’s works, which plays a very importantrole in the music history.