Five things about Song of the Earth

So with our national tour just around the corner, we thought it was time to fill you in on some of the tales that surround Song of the Earth.

If at first you don’t succeed…

1) In 1959, six years before it first saw the light of day, MacMillan took a trip to the Royal Opera House and asked whether he might use Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in a new commission for the Royal Ballet. He was turned away on the grounds that the work wasn’t suitable for ballet. But thankfully for future generations, John Cranko, Director of the Stuttgart Ballet was much more enthusiastic and in 1965, he commissioned it instead. Naturally, it was a huge success and the Royal Ballet took the piece into its repertory six months later.

From tragedy comes triumph

2) The symphony it’s set to has a rather tragic back story, being composed after one of the worst periods of Mahler’s life. In summer 1907, anti-semitism and political wrangling forced him to resign as Director of Vienna Court Opera, his daughter Maria died, and Mahler himself was diagnosed with a terminal heart defect.

T’angs for the inspiration

3) The lyrics to Song of the Earth are translated from 8th century Chinese poems. Mahler was sent a book of T’ang dynasty poems the year after he found out he was dying and as their subject was life’s sadness and transience, he was inspired to set them to music.

Ballet for angry young men?

4) Song of the Earth reflects the influence of postwar theatre and the ‘angry young men movement’ on MacMillan’s work. He was a particular fan of John Osborne and enjoyed delving into darker territory. As MacMillan himself said in an interview 25 years later: “I prefer to explore the human psyche…to make people sometimes feel uncomfortable in the theatre. I have always been drawn to real people and what they feel.”

Get a unique insight into Song of the Earth – hear Tamara Rojo and Deborah MacMillan discuss this masterwork with Sarah Crompton at St Martins Lane, in the video below.