Mahler grew up in his family’s tavern in Iglau (modern Jihlava, Czech Republic), an important commercial center between Prague and Vienna. The environment exposed him to a variety of musics: the town had an amateur orchestra and opera, hosted frequent military parades, and welcomed diverse travellers who brought their own culturally-unique song and dance. 

The popularity of the fast-paced waltz spread like wildfire from Vienna throughout Europe, and became the rage at balls for tuxedo and gown-clad members of high society. The waltz’s origins can be found in the rustic ländler, prevalent amongst the various groups Mahler encountered in childhood. The second movement is a farewell that is personally nostalgic, yet ominous. For Mahler, the intrusion of urban modernity threatened the rural innocence of the communities of his youth. 

The movement contrasts three tempos. The first is the moderate ländler. Winds evoke a country folksiness, and the violins erupt with a simple, jubilant dance. Without warning, the faster second tempo barges in with biting dissonances that make for a garish caricature of the waltz. Even fragments of the original ländler melody appear, but fail to survive in this fast-paced environment. The juxtaposition of the two cannot be understated. For Mahler, the greedy engines of capital and industry were a menacing threat to society’s most vulnerable. 

The third tempo, the slowest, appears after the waltz, and bids “Adieu” with sighing figures recalling the opening movement. The final ländler has an ominous energy, and eventually decays. Fragments of the ländler linger about as if dreaming nostalgically of a past that is gone for Mahler, and the world.