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III. In ruhig fließender Bewegung

The third movement is a scherzo in C minor. It opens with two strong, short timpani strokes.

It is followed by two softer strokes and then followed by even softer strokes that provide the tempo to this movement, which includes references to Jewish folk music.

Mahler called the climax of the movement, a blistering B ♭ m/C chord in triple-forte which occurs near the end, sometimes a "cry of despair", and sometimes a "death shriek".

The movement is based on Mahler's setting of "Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt" from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, which Mahler composed almost concurrently; in correspondence, Mahler expressed amusement that his sinuous musical setting could imply St. Anthony of Padua was himself drunk as he preached to the fish.

In 1967–68, the movement was used by Luciano Berio for the third movement of his Sinfonia, where it is used as the framework for constructing a musical collage of works from throughout the Western classical tradition.