FWF – Austrian Science Fonds
Project number: Lise Meitner Project M 1494-G21

Principal investigator: Dr. Milijana Pavlovic

This project is based on a manuscript document representing a section of the first movement of Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony, uncovered during research for the applicant’s doctoral thesis at the University of Ferrara, Italy. The manuscript belongs to a private collection. The project leader has been given the exclusive permission of the owner to study it and determine its significance. The aim of this project is to perform thorough research of the first-hand source material and to establish the role of the newly found manuscript in the genesis of the symphony, as well as to determine how the manuscript affects not only the known order of events, but also the evolution of the philosophical concept. The method of research is philological in the first instance, combining studies of sources with an analysis of the compositional process. The hermeneutical studies are based on these layers of philological research. An additional dimension addressed is presented by structural and tonal issues, which have varying hermeneutical consequences. International experts are involved in the project.