An investigation of Mahler's distinctive voice, seeking to take readers beyond most existing critical analyses of Mahler's work, escaping the tired traps of broad historical survey and formalist plot summary. Raymond Knapp considers Mahler's early practice of basing his symphonies on pre-existing songs and elaborates how this practice informs the techniques and tropes of Mahler's musico-cultural discourse, involving montage, social satire, subjectivity, autonomy, alienation, childhood, absolute music, time and cosmology. Knapp explores these themes with persuasive readings backed by scholarship, providing insights into the organic link between Mahler's music and his historo-cultural sphere.