Mahler on Screen: Truth, Translation, Travesty?

Mahler’s music has been used in over 130 films and television programmes. This appropriation generally falls into three categories: a) usage that apparently has no intentional regard for the music’s cultural origins or significance; b) usage that does have intentional regard for the music’s cultural origins or significance; and c) usage that has intentional regard for the music’s previous screen application. Distinctions between these categories are blurred by unpredictable differences in viewer competence and perceptual/emotional response, and by the interpretative inclinations of the critic. This paper explores ways in which the use of Mahler’s music on screen either trades—directly or more tenuously—on its inherited meanings, or reveals hitherto unsuspected semantic possibilities. Calling on a range of commercial and non-commercial screen repertoire from a variety of periods, the paper questions whether there are any aesthetic, cultural or technical limits to such acts of re-contextualization and translation of Mahler’s music