Talk:Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Mahler)

Article title
Doesn't it seem like "(Mahler)" or some variant thereof should be in the title? The lead-in suggests that this article is about Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The title suggests that the article is about the familiar singers' standard-rep collection Lieder aus "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" (i.e. the twelve Humoresken--what DrG will hear if he goes to a concert with "Mahler, Songs from 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn'" listed). And the body is about Mahler's use of use of Des Knaben Wunderhorn throughout much of his life.

In fact, Mahler's interaction with the Arnim and Brentano collection (beyond just the Humoresken) is a fascinating, important, and much written-about subject. The musicologist Donald Mitchell has written a 500-page book on Mahler's "Wunderhorn years" alone. (Donald Mitchell, Gustav Mahler: The Wunderhorn Years, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2005)

Perhaps this article should be refactored to help DrG and the many others who are naturally and understandably confused by the whole issue. Conkle (talk) 23:04, 12 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't find the article confusing in the least. It proceeds with clarity and concision, and is logically organised. At the start, it tells you what DKW is; then it tells you that people have made settings of its lyrics; then it tells you that the title when encountered usually refers to Mahler's settings; then it tells you about Mahler's settings. The only thing lacking is an amplifying reference to those other composers' settings, and that could easily be addded without changing anything else. Pfistermeister (talk) 15:48, 13 July 2008 (UTC)


 * In that case (i.e. that this article is about multiple composers' settings of DKW), suggest merging with Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Conkle (talk) 04:24, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Translation of titles
Is someone with good German going to translate the titles of the songs in the first two volumes shown in the article? I'd have a go myself, but I doubt that my schoolboy German is up to it! -- Mike H.

Confusion
This article is still very confusing. If I went to a performance of this work, what should I expect to hear? You can't tell by reading this article. DrG 16:55, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

I get German folk poetry from this Mokaiba11 (talk) 05:36, 26 July 2011 (UTC)