Tonality
The symphony's first movement begins in D minor, but by its end has defined relative F major as its tonic; and the finale concludes in D major, as would be expected. Throughout the work, traditional tonality is employed in a creative and original manner, but always logical in its ends.
The symphony is sometimes described as being in the key of 'D minor'; the 'New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians', however, represents the progressive tonal scheme by labelling the work's tonality as 'd/F--D'
Read more about this topic: Symphony No. 3 (Mahler)