The portrait we currently possess of Gustav Mahler reveals one consistent feature of his personality, which I believe holds the initial key to an eventual understanding of the meaning of his symphonic works. What Friedrich Nietzsche termed ‘the problem of life’ not only consumed the composer wholly throughout his career, governing most of his creative output, but essentially, it characterized him. The incessant agitation and dissatisfaction distinctive of Mahler’s demeanour among acquaintances in his ‘private sphere’ is evident particularly in the records of the composer’s conversations and articulations on life, death, philosophy and God. For example, in Bruno Walter’s Gustav Mahler the author presents an image of a man continuously tormented by the questions and problems of human existence.