In the summer of 1893, Gustav Mahler began a practice that would span for many years, he withdrew to the bucolic landscape of Steinbach am Attersee, surrounded by meadows and a lake which inspired the composition of Symphony No. 3. Mahler would come to refer to the second movement as “the most carefree” of his pieces, “as carefree as flowers can be”. For the composer, the outstanding ambition of Symphony No. 3 would lead him to attempt to translate into music all of the world’s magnificence.