The Seventh brings the liberation from the mental agony of the Sixth Symphony. Here, no struggles were fought out, but contrasts were compares all of the sudden.
Also for this symphony Mahler demands again some unusual instruments: tenor horn (a kind of ‘bugle’), mandolin and guitar and even, in addition to the percussion section including kettledrums, drums and triangle, a tam-tam (a flat gong instrument), a tambourine and herd bells – he used them already in the Sixth.