Thanks. Turns out I was taught me something completely wrong about Mahler! I just spoke to my parents (who were responsible for much of my musical education) and told them this, too. It seems they knew it from their parents, too.

Wow, those poems are wrenching, even in translated form. They really are an open door to somebody's personal grief.

Have a look at the Todesfuge: eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVwLqEHDCQE or http://www.celan-projekt.de/todesfuge-deutsch.html and http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com.au/2010/01/paul-celan... (the translation doesn't seem nearly as wrenching as the German to me, though).

Der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland.