Mahler worked on his Symphony No. 2 for almost seven years. He wrote its first movement as early as 1888 as a continuation of his First Symphony, while the finale took shape in 1894, when the composer attended the funeral of conductor Hans von Bülow and heard a poem by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock. “Thou shalt rise again, yes, thou shalt rise again after a brief sleep” — these lines became the basis for the symphony’s finale.

During Mahler’s lifetime, the Second Symphony was one of his most popular and successful works. It was his first major composition in which he expressed his vision of the beauty of the afterlife and resurrection.