When Mahler was composing his Symphony No. 6, to be performed on 17 April by the NFM Symphony Orchestra and Benjamin Shwartz, his family life was very happy. Freshly married to Alma Schindler, a famous Viennese femme fatale and 19 years his junior, with whom he fell in love in November 1901, Mahler saw the birth of their first daughter while writing his Sixth. And yet the symphony was named ‘Tragic’. The name was not given by Mahler; still it seems felicitous, as the massive 80-minute-long work, based on gloomy march rhythms, is permeated with a pessimistic aura. In the final movement the percussion section has an important task to perform: three thudding sounds of a falling hammer (though hammer is not a musical instrument). The hammer sounds, according to the composer, must be short and powerful, similar to the sound produced by a falling axe. The hammer sounds have often been read as a premonition of tragic events afflicting Mahler shortly after The Sixth had its premiere. Perhaps the only serene motif of the Symphony written from 1903-1904 is the Alma theme from the first movement. But Alma’s many love affairs with other famous artists led Mahler to a nervous breakdown and made him resort to consultations with Sigmund Freud. Belle époque!