2 kinds of history to cover Personal history ( what was happening to him around this time) The history of the piece (did he take a long time working on it, did he started earlier then finished it later, was it written long time after the 8th, das Lied von der Erde (most of them are about lost, very devastating)
Triple blows fate???
The 9th symphony is sort of him grasping life again Analysis part
Read about the heart beat in the beginning (Bernstein first talked about it) The underlying rhythm in the beginning, it was him hearing his heart beat 3 ways to the analysis This is a sonata form (1st theme, 2nd theme, what key is it in ) Look for quotation ( Strauss walzt quotation)
What it has to do w mahlers life In the score mark sonata form (1st theme, 2nd theme and what keys they are in, mark where is the melody of Strauss waltz about enjoying life, is he using a perticular mode?, breakthrough)