Composed during the summers of 1903 and 1904 at Mahler's villa in the idyllic surroundings of Maiernigg on the Wörthersee, the Sixth Symphony is a work of profoundly tragic character. Plagued by self-doubts during final rehearsals for the premiere, Mahler became so transfixed by the Sixth Symphony's inexorable expressive power that he virtually collapsed from nervous exhaustion when conducting the premiere. For some time he agonized over reversing the order of the two central movements and he never settled on the final order. The emotionally turbulent first movement is structurally as clear-cut as any movement by Mozart (if on a much larger scale), although the unrelenting, crushing doom was like nothing heard before. But then the finale plunges US into the abyss. Opening with a despairing cry for help, this vast movement is punctuated by three hammer-blows of fate, delivered by a massive, specially constructed drum, though superstitiously Mahler later deleted the third blow in the score. This time there is no major key affirmation, merely a descent into total despair and hopelessness.