The reanimation of humanity after the last trumpet sounds (with a Universalist tweak to the standard Christian doctrine) seems to have little to do with the traditional Easter pageant, but then I'm hardly an expert on the matter. It's all mythology to me.
James
I don't think it's a matter of mythology; it's more a matter of theology. The theology behind Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony has always been something that has intrigued me, and for which I have never gotten an insightful answer, even from a theologian, to whom I posed the question. I think that this will always be something for which no one, even the best of those versed in theology, may never be able to give a definitive answer. As to what the work means spiritually to its many advocates, you likely will have as many meanings as there are advocates.
As Mahler hoped that the work wouldn't be an imitation of Beethoven's Ninth, I personally feel that there is a spiritual connection. What was a once personal and spiritual dilemma for Mahler (the "God Seeker") obviously resulted in the cosmic work we now have, M2. In a religious sense, the symbolic relationship between Christ's Resurrection becomes transmuted to Man's resurrection as a better, spiritual being. This transmutation can possibly be connected to M2, and I believe that Mahler felt that the programmatic "hero" (or anyone else experiencing a similar spiritual crisis) in M2 became a better, spiritual being, with the huge "spiritual" question finally answered with completion of the work. Now that the spiritual crisis is resolved, the connection to Beethoven's Ninth can now be made: Beethoven, in selecting Schiller's "Ode to Joy" said that "All men shall be brothers".
Men cannot be brothers until they have become better spiritual beings.
