Berg’s concerto, requested by violinist Louis Krasner, ended up with the composer’s distress and sorrow at the death of young Manon Gropius (daughter of Walter Gropius and Alma Mahler) emerging transformed into a memorial work dedicated to her. Mahler’s symphony, from 35 years earlier, channels the composer’s interest in a poem from Das Knaben Wunderhorn, where the words of children who have died describe what it is like in Heaven. Continue reading At Seattle Symphony, Music on the Death of Little Children