馬勒對詩人有明顯的個人偏好,他比較少用當代詩人的作品,卻喜歡用德國傳統文學詩集《少年魔號》譜曲。我們可以發現他的《青年時期歌曲與歌唱集》其中的《少年魔號》五首歌曲有愉快、憂傷、詼諧的心情,也有談情說愛與生氣憤怒的情感。 〈教訓壞小孩〉是一首滑稽的民歌風格,全曲為紳士和婦人之間的對話,音樂不斷地模仿杜鵑鳥鳴聲;〈我愉快地走過一座綠林〉呈現矇矓溫柔的感受,馬勒在鋼琴上模仿管絃樂,例如有號角與長笛音型;我們可以很容易聽見〈出發!出發!〉的鋼琴伴奏含有軍樂的風格,它是一首出征的男人與送別的女人兩人之間的對話歌;〈強大的幻想力〉也是女孩跟男孩兩人的對話,屬於民謠風格;〈夏天裡的換班〉是幽默的歌曲,歌唱旋律輕快,全曲也有杜鵑鳥聲。 馬勒喜歡以民謠題材為主導,鋼琴的寫作傾向管絃樂化,並且特別喜愛寫入鳥鳴聲,許多歌曲顯示軍樂和民謠風格,但是歌詞的語韻搭配良好,歌唱旋律優美動聽,歌曲兼有戲劇性與抒情性。雖然他的德文藝術歌曲數量不豐富,但是卻能夠綻放新穎、耀眼的光芒。
Gustav Mahler has obvious personal preference to poets. He seldom composes music based on the works of contemporary poets, while German traditional literature ‘The Youth’s Magic Horn’ is his favorite. We can find that happiness, sadness and humor interspersed, and also love and anger appear simultaneously in the five songs, created based on ‘The Youth’s Magic Horn’ in his creation ‘Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit’. “Um schlimme Kinder artig zu machen” is of funny folk genre, the singer sings out the conversation between the gentleman and the woman, the piano constantly imitates the chirp of cuckoos. “Ich ging mit Lust durch einen grünen Wald” demonstrates a dim and gentle feeling, and Gustav Mahler imitates many orchestras on the piano, such as horn and flute. We can easily hear military music style in the piano accompaniment melody of “Aus! Aus!”, it’s a dialogue song between a marching boy and a saying farewell girl. The folksong-like “Starke Einbildungskraft” is of simple conversational piece between a girl and a boy, the music belongs to dialogue song, too. “Ablösung im Sommer” filled with humour, it sounds upbeat, and also has the chirp of cuckoos. Gustav Mahler likes to compose with material of folks, the piano part tends to orchestral, and he is especially in fond of composing with birdcall in his creations. Many of his songs show military and folk music style, with excellent collocation between piano and word rhythm of text, his creation possesses dramatic and lyric at the same time.Although his German Kunstlied amount isn't abundant, but can bloom novel and dazzling ray of light.