Sorrowful Voices: Performing Mahler's Kindertotenlieder

Gustav Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder is arguably one of the most daunting of song cycles, not only on account of its technical demands but due to the intrinsic emotional weight of Ru¨ ckert’s poetry. In performance the singer becomes the conduit of the textual and musical expression and bears the artistic weight of enabling both poet and composer to ‘speak’. This paper considers the multiple ‘voices’ that inform and inhabit performance of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder in addition to those of poet and composer. It explores the 'performing voices’ as represented by the interpretative gestures of iconic performances, including those of Kathleen Ferrier and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, considers the ‘mythological voices’ emanating from the superstitions surrounding the work, and finally considers the ‘personal voice’ of the performer with its entwined physical and emotional characteristics. This paper underlines the role of vocal technique and controlled nuances of expression in the ability of the singer to convey the multilayered ‘sorrowful voices’ of the Kindertotenlieder to the listener.