This article focuses on Dika Newlin (1923-2006), an eccentric individual who was a musical prodigy in her early life and deemed a teenaged protégé of Arnold Schoenberg. Dika took an interest in punk rock later in life, and even joined a punk rock band. The author seeks to understand Dika's transition from protégé to punk rocker by describing some of her various phases as scholar, pianist, composer, and militant iconoclast. This paper was presented at the Music Library Association Conference in Denton, TX, on October 3, 2014.

There has been relatively little scholarship to date on Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder. The writings about this song cycle that do exist primarily focus on the disparate nature of the poems and justify Kindertotenlieder as a cycle by highlighting various musical connections between the songs, such as keys and motivic continuity. Mahler, however, has unified the cycle in a much more complex and sophisticated way. His familiarity with Wagner’s music and methods, and his mastery of the human voice and orchestral voices allowed him to weave a dramatic grief-laden narrative.