Mahler was an inveterate song and song cycle composer, songs which sometimes found their way into his symphonies.
Examples:
The melody of the second song of the cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen [Songs of a Wayfarer] entitled Ging heut’ Morgen über’s Feld [I went this morning over the field], for which the composer wrote his own texts, is also the first subject of the opening movement of his Symphony No. 1.
Mahler wrote a number of songs using texts from the collection of folk poems, put together by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, entitled Des Knaben Wunderhorn [The Boy’s Magic Horn] and then used the material in his symphonies numbers two to four. For instance, the music of the song below – St. Anthony of Padua’s Fish Sermon – became (without the voice) the scherzo of his Second (Resurrection) Symphony.
At the turn of the century Mahler’s style changed, becoming more contrapuntal/linear. This change is reflected in the two song cycles he wrote at this time setting the texts of the poet and orientalist Friedrich Rückert – Kindertotenlieder [Songs on the death of children] and Rückert-Lieder [Rückert songs]. Here is the last of the Kindertotenlieder…
…and the five Rückert songs in their entirety, plus several interpretations of the last song in this performance (Mahler himself wasn’t too sure about the ordering of the songs!), Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen [I am lost to the world]:
Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder! 00:30
Ich atmet einen linden Duft 02:17
Um Mitternacht 05:35
Liebst du um Schönheit 12:33
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen 15:33∙
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Pontarddulais!
The Art of Listening 