Mahler Foundation

Gustav Mahler score Klavierquartett, piano quartet, Movement 1: in A.---A listening guide of Klavierquartett with Lew Smoley.

The final movement culminates in a resolution. The music, also reused in the First Symphony (in the Scherzo “Funeral March in Callot’s manner”), is subdued and gentle, lyrical and often reminiscent of a chorale in its harmonies. Its title, “Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz” (“The Two Blue Eyes of my Beloved”), deals with how the image of those eyes has caused the Wayfarer so much grief that he can no longer stand to be in the environment.He describes lying down under a linden tree, all...

Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) is a song cycle for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mahler. The words of the songs are poems by Friedrich Ruckert (1788-1866).The original Kindertotenlieder were a group of 428 poems written by Rückert in 1833-1834 in an outpouring of grief following the illness (scarlet fever) and death of two of his children. Karen Painter describes the poems thus: “Rückert’s 428 poems on the death of children became singular, almost manic documents of the ps...

A listening guide of Kindertotenlieder – Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n with Lew Smoley.

A listening guide of Kindertotenlieder – Nun seh’ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen with Lew Smoley.

A listening guide of Kindertotenlieder – Wenn dein Mütterlein with Lew Smoley.

A listening guide of Kindertotenlieder – Oft denk’ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen with Lew Smoley.

A listening guide of Kindertotenlieder – In diesem Wetter, In diesem Braus with Lew Smoley.

Das klagende Lied is a work in which Mahler comes closest to the opera. This is because the composition is pervaded by drama and its elaboration in a text that regularly gets the character of a theatrically very effective dialogue.Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was fourteen years old when his younger brother Ernst Mahler (1862-1875) died. The loss touched him deeply and gave him a gnawing guilt. A few years later he started Das klagende Lied, his first major work. Mahler himself wrote the text. He...

This song is the first of the Wunderhorn Lieder for Voice and Piano. It is titled “Um sclimme Kinder artig zu machen” (To make bad children good) and is much longer than any from the previous collection. The quick and witty style will challenge the novice tubist with soft dynamics and repeated articulations.“To teach naughty children to be good”. Original German folk song: “Es kam ein Herr zum Schlösseli”.---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Un Schlimme Kinder Artig...

“I went joyfully through a green wood,” is a beautiful slow melody challenging the tubist to keep a consistent color of sound in the low register of the bass tuba. The first note is the lowest in the entire collection, a low G. Fingered 2-3-4-5 on a German Rotary F tuba, this pitch is a whole step above the fundamental of the instrument and somewhat unresponsive with less secure intonation and tone.Starting the C major arpeggio on a low G, this opening phrase serves as a wonderful exercise fo...

The majority of the songs in this collection begin with very soft dynamics. Eleven of the fourteen songs begin with the dynamic of piano, one song begins at pianissimo, and the remaining two songs (this song and the last song in the collection) begin at the dynamic of forte. The tubist should take advantage of this diversity of dynamics and style. The eighth song in this collection, “Aus! Aus!” (Over! Over!), has a strict sense of time. While some of the songs have a lyrical quality that allo...

One of the challenges with the ninth song in this collection, “Starke Einbildungskraft” (Strong imagination), concerns clarity of articulation. Sixteenth-note passages sound unclear with the piano part due to the imbalance of lower tones produced by both the piano and tuba. Changes have been notated in the tuba version to reflect these issues of clarity. Staccato markings and accents on the fronts of passages as well as the sixteenth-notes should ensure a clearer melodic line. The tubist coul...

The tenth song in this collection, “Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz” (At Strasbourg on the battlement), starts with a very colorful piano entrance marked “as a folk tune” and “imitating the shawm.” As Donald Mitchell points out, this is of a type very characteristic of Mahler in his vocal as well as symphonic output: the slow farewell song or funeral march…We have a relatively simple example of the kind, remarkable chiefly for the piano’s imitation of the “Schalmei,” the chalumeau or herdsm...

Misprints are rare, but this song contains one incorrect note in the piano part. In measure 3 of the IMC edition, the first left hand note should be A instead of F. Few instances exist where Mahler uses a hemiola effect in the piano. Measures 10 and 11 are a wonderful example of this effect, where the pianist can bring out the left hand duple feel by playing stronger.“The changing of the summer guard”. ---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Ablösung Im Sommer wit...

“Scheiden und Meiden” (Partings) explores the metric juxtaposition of two versus three used in “Ablösung im Sommer.” “Trumpetlike” is the first expression in the music as F major arpeggios rise from the tuba and piano. Despite the repeated ascending passages, the first dynamic is piano so the tubist should strive to be precise to start with soft dynamics.In this song, the pianist must take care to follow dynamics, which do not always coincide with those of the tubist. The rhythmic motor of th...

Balancing the soft low texture with piano remains one of the main challenges for tubists in the penultimate song in this collection, “Nicht wiedersehen!” (Never to meet again). It is scored very low on the piano and would be easy to lose the melody inside of the harmony of the accompaniment. Mahler instructs the pianist to use the pedals freely, however perhaps the dampening pedal should be the most important. The effect of the sustain pedal will be too much for this song, especially when the...

The final song, “Selbstgefühl” (My mood), starts with a dynamic of forte. To maintain a high level of playfulness, the tubist must observe the strict dynamic indications. Mahler indicated that the octave in the left hand of the piano part can be omitted throughout the song if the additional low notes create too thick of a texture in this register.The piano extends the melodic line throughout this final song, playing the same melody in the right hand and completing the soloist’s musical though...

Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) is a composition for two voices and orchestra by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Composed between Year 1908 and Year 1909 following the most painful period in Mahler’s life (Year 1907). The songs address themes such as Living, Parting and Salvation.Mahler had already included movements for voice and orchestra in his Symphony No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 8. Das Lied von der Erde is the first work giving a complete integration of song cycle and symphony. ...

The first movement continually returns to the refrain, Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod (literally, 'Dark is life, is death'), which is pitched a semitone higher on each successive appearance. Like many drinking poems by Li Bai, the original poem 'Bei Ge Xing' (a pathetic song) mixes drunken exaltation with a deep sadness.The singer's part is notoriously demanding, since the tenor has to struggle at the top of his range against the power of the full orchestra. This gives the voice its shrill...

This movement is a much softer, less turbulent movement. Marked ‘somewhat dragging and exhausted’, it begins with a repetitive shuffling in the strings, followed by solo wind instruments. The orchestration in this movement is sparse and chamber music-like, with long and independent contrapuntal lines.The lyrics, which are based on the first part of a Tang Dynasty era poem by Qian Qi, lament the dying of flowers and the passing of beauty, as well as expressing an exhausted longing for sleep.--...

The third movement is the most obviously pentatonic and faux-Asian. The form is ternary, the third part being a greatly abbreviated revision of the first. It is also the shortest of the six movements, and can be considered a first scherzo. First this movement was called ‘Der Pavillon aus Porzellan’ (‘The pavilion made of porcelain’).---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Von der Jugend with Lew Smoley.

The music of this movement is mostly soft and legato, meditating on the image of some 'young girls picking lotus flowers at the riverbank'. Later in the movement there is a louder, more articulated section in the brass as the young men ride by on their horses.There is a long orchestral postlude to the sung passage, as the most beautiful of the young maidens looks longingly after the most handsome of the young men.---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Von der Schönheit with Lew Smoley.

The final movement is nearly as long as the previous five movements combined. Its text is drawn from two different poems, both involving the theme of leave-taking. Mahler himself added the last lines. This final song is also notable for its text-painting, using a mandolin to represent the singer’s lute, imitating bird calls with woodwinds, and repeatedly switching between the major and minor modes to articulate sharp contrasts in the text.---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Der Ab...

The second scherzo of the work is provided by the fifth movement. Like the first, it opens with a horn theme. In this movement Mahler uses an extensive variety of key signatures, which can change as often as every few measures. The middle section features a solo violin and solo flute, which represent the bird the singer describes.---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Der Trunkene im Frühling with Lew Smoley.

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (‘Songs of a Wayfarer’) is a song cycle by Gustav Mahler on his own texts. The cycle of four Lieder for low voice (often performed by women as well as men) was written around 1884-1885 in the wake of Mahler’s unhappy love for soprano Johanna Richter (1858-1943), whom he met while conductor of the opera house in Kassel, Germany, and orchestrated and revised in the 1890s.---A listening guide of Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen – Intro with Lew Smoley.

The first movement is entitled “Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht” (“When My Sweetheart is Married”), and the text discusses the Wayfarer’s grief at losing his love to another. He remarks on the beauty of the surrounding world, but how that cannot keep him from having sad dreams. The orchestral texture is bittersweet, using double reed instruments, clarinets and strings.---A listening guide of Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen – Wenn Mein Schatz Hochzeit Macht with Lew Smoley.

The second movement, “Ging heut Morgen übers Feld” (“I Went This Morning over the Field”), contains the happiest music of the work. Indeed, it is a song of joy and wonder at the beauty of nature in simple actions like birdsong and dew on the grass. “Is it not a lovely world?” is a refrain. However, the Wayfarer is reminded at the end that despite this beauty, his happiness will not blossom anymore now that his love is gone.This movement is orchestrated delicately, making use of high strings a...

The third movement is a full display of despair. Entitled “Ich hab’ein glühend Messer” (“I Have a Gleaming Knife”), the Wayfarer likens his agony of lost love to having an actual metal blade piercing his heart. He obsesses to the point where everything in the environment reminds him of some aspect of his love, and he wishes he actually had the knife.The music is intense and driving, fitting to the agonized nature of the Wayfarer’s obsession.---A listening guide of Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesel...

The final movement culminates in a resolution. The music, also reused in the First Symphony (in the Scherzo “Funeral March in Callot’s manner”), is subdued and gentle, lyrical and often reminiscent of a chorale in its harmonies. Its title, “Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz” (“The Two Blue Eyes of my Beloved”), deals with how the image of those eyes has caused the Wayfarer so much grief that he can no longer stand to be in the environment.He describes lying down under a linden tree, all...

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Intro with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Phantasie Aus Don Juan with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Serenade Aus Don Juan with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Erinnerung with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Frühlingsmorgen with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Maitanz Im Grünen with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Im Lenz with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Winterlied with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A beautiful, but proud queen would like to get married but do not know who. She conceives of a competition: the man who first brings her the very special flower that grows in the forest may marry her.Many men from the kingdom accept the challenge, including two brothers. The eldest brother is brave, mean and reckless, the youngest brother kind, gentle and curious. Soon the youngest brother finds the flower, picks it and places it on his hat. Satisfied he takes a nap against a tree.The eldest ...

A minstrel that runs through the forest finds a bone under a tree, and cuts a flute. When he plays the flute, the voice of the murdered youngest brother, who tells the story of his unfortunate death, sounds. The minstrel feels that he can not leave this story untold and goes on his way to the castle to reveal the true nature of the queen’s fiancée.---A listening guide of Das Klagende Lied – Der Spielmann with Lew Smoley.

On the day that the minstrel arrives at the castle there is just a party going on for the occasion of the upcoming wedding of the queen and the eldest brother. The murderer is pale and feels guilty about the way he earned his royal engagement.The minstrel plays the flute and the song of the murdered brother, the complaining song, sounds. The eldest brother takes the flute and plays it himself. Again the voice of his brother sounds and accuses him of the murder. The piece ends in chaos: the qu...

Rückert-Lieder is a song cycle of five Lieder for voice and orchestra or piano by Gustav Mahler, based on poems written by Friedrich Ruckert (1788-1866). Lied Ruckert 1: Blicke mir nicht in die LiederLied Ruckert 2: Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft!Lied Ruckert 3: Um MitternachtLied Ruckert 4: Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommenLied Ruckert 5: Liebst du um Schoenheit---A listening guide of Rückert-Lieder – Intro with Lew Smoley.

Um Mitternacht moves from the most brilliant day to deepest night, and the change is once more immediately apparent in its coloration. Mahler calls for an orchestra without strings. In addition to pairs of woodwinds (with a single oboe d’amore replacing the usual oboes), three horns, two trumpets, three trombones, a single tuba, and timpani, both harp and piano are prescribed.The length, weight and scale of the song match its theme. Five six-line stanzas (each of which begins and ends with “U...

The poetic theme of “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,” one of Mahler’s most beautiful and moving songs, is again unusual. It evokes the peace achieved through the poet’s withdrawal from the everyday turmoil of the world and his absorption in the most meaningful and central aspects of his life: his heaven, his life, and his song. (By implication the last is the product of the preceding two).---A listening guide of Rückert-Lieder – Ich Bin Der Welt Abhanden Gekommen with Lew Smoley.

Revelge is the most intense and manic of the Wunderhorn settings, and also by far the most extended. It is a persistent march of a magnitude matching the great march movements of the symphonies. The speaker is a fallen drummer boy whose comrades pass him by on the march and leave him for dead. For most of the song, a persistent military rhythm in the trumpets is omnipresent, becoming obsessive in its insistence.A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Revelge (Reveille) with Lew Smoley.

Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder explores a more unusual theme. It warns the listener not to be too inquisitive about the process of creation, and suggests that the poet does not trust himself to inquire too much: only the finished work counts, not how it was achieved. The analogy made with the work of bees in the second stanza provides Mahler with the basis for his musical imagery. A brief introduction establishes a kind of perpetuum mobile with a subtle buzzing produced by an orchestra o...

Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft is perhaps unique in musically evoking a fragrance, the delicate fragrance of the lime tree with which the poet associates his love. The color of the setting is still more transparent, and much brighter than “Blicke mir nicht.” The orchestration again consists of single winds, horn and harp, but only violins and violas are called for, and a celesta has been added. The continuing even motion in the strings suggests the quiet wafting of the scent through the air.---...

The most traditional of the songs was the last composed, “Liebst du um Schönheit.” It is the most clearly strophic in form, with the four stanzas presented in pairs, with a very brief orchestral interlude in the middle. The first three stanzas are clear variants of one another.The fourth begins as if it were to continue in the same pattern, but underscores the central message of the song by stressing the words “liebe” (love) and “immer” (always) through rhythmic prolongation and emphasis on t...

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Verlorene Müh’ with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

Tamboursg’sell is the last composed of Mahler’s Wunderhorn settings. Like Revelge, it is sung by a doomed drummer. Rather than lying in the field, however, this drummer lies in prison. Where Revelge was manic, this song is more heavy and mournful. The drum rolls here are slower and more deliberate, and are balanced by lamenting woodwind trills. The song itself is most effective at a slow tempo.---A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Der Tambourgsell with Lew Smoley.

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Lob Des Hohen Verstandes with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Wo Die Schonen Trompeten Blasen with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Lied des Verfogten Im Turm with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Rheinlegendchen with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Das Irdische Leben with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Wer Hat Dies Liedlein Erdacht with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Trost Im Ungluck with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Der Schildwache Nachtlied with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

The Symphony No. 1 in D major by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was mainly composed between late 1887 and 03-1888, though it incorporates music Mahler had composed for previous works. It was composed while Mahler was the second conductor at the Leipzig Opera, Germany.Although in his letters Mahler almost always referred to the work as a symphony, the first two performances described it as a ‘Symphonic poem’ or ‘Tone poem’.---A listening guide of Symphony No. 1 - Intro with Lew Smoley.

Very restrained throughout, D major. The first movement is in modified sonata form, with a substantially slow introduction. The introduction begins eerily with a seven-octave drone in the strings on A, with the upper octaves being played on harmonics in the violins. A descending two-note motif is then presented by the woodwinds, and eventually establishes itself into the following repeated pattern:This opening, in its minimalist nature and repeated descending motif, alludes to the first movem...

Blumine translates to ‘floral’, or ‘flower’, and some believe this movement was written for Johanna Richter (1858-1943), with whom Mahler was infatuated at the time. The style of this movement has much in common with Mahler’s earlier works but also shows the techniques and distinct style of his later compositions.---A listening guide of Symphony No. 1 - Blumine Movement with Lew Smoley.

Moving strongly, but not too quickly, restrained, a trio Ländler. The second movement is a modified minuet and trio. Mahler replaces the minuet with a Ländler, a 3/4 dance-form that was a precursor to the Austrian waltz. This is a popular structure in Mahler’s other symphonies, as well as Franz Schubert’s. One main theme repeats throughout the Ländler, and it gathers energy towards a hectic finish. The main melody outlines an A major chord.The trio contains contrasting lyrical material; howev...

Solemnly and measured, without dragging, very simple, like a folk-tune, once again somewhat more agitated, as at the start. A funeral march based on the children’s song “Frère Jacques” (or “Bruder Jacob”). The third movement acts as the slow movement in the four-movement plan. The extra-musical idea behind it is that of a hunter’s funeral and a procession of animals that follows.---A listening guide of Symphony No. 1 - 3rd Movement with Lew Smoley.

Energisch, Stormily agitated – Energetic. The fourth movement is by far the most involved, and expansive. It brings back several elements from the first movement, unifying the symphony as a whole. The movement begins with an abrupt cymbal crash, a loud chord in the upper woodwinds, string and brass, and a bass drum hit, all in succession. This contrasts greatly with the end of the third movement. As the strings continue in a frenzy of notes, fragments of a theme in F minor appear, presented f...

The ink was barely dry on the score of his First Symphony in 1888 when Mahler began to toy with the idea of a new large symphonic work in c. The opening movement was soon completed and named Todtenfeier (Funeral Ceremony), but it then languished among his papers until 1891, the year in which he left the Budapest Opera to become conductor in Hamburg. There he attracted the attention of the great conductor Hans von Bulow (1830-1894), well known as a champion of new music. When Mahler played him...

Based on the poem Todtenfeier by Adam Mickiewicz.With deeply serious and solemn expression. With this funeral march and the eloquence of its thematic material, the power of its architectural structures, the emotional thrust of its inspiration and its concision of thought, Mahler assumes for the first time the full stature of a symphonist in the great German tradition. The shadow of Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) hovers over the opening bars with a long tremolando and a first subject on the lower ...

Very leisurely. Never hurry. Two sections alternate in this idyllic movement, so different in style, atmosphere and scale from the first that Mahler specified their separation by a few minutes’ pause. The first section is a graceful ländler in the major, the second a triplet theme in the minor. Mahler was particularly proud of the cello countermelody that accompanies the principal theme’s second exposition.---A listening guide of Symphony No. 2 - 2nd Movement with Lew Smoley.

With a gently flowing movement. The tragic, or at least pessimistic, the conception of this symphonic Scherzo seems worlds away from the humour of the Wunderhorn song in which St. Anthony preaches to the fishes, who understand nothing of his sermon and look on with a glazed expression. Yet they are sister works that use identical musical material.Two timpani strokes, dominant-tonic, unleash the Scherzo’s “senseless agitation”, an uninterrupted and intentionally monotonous double ostinato in t...

Primeval Light. Very solemn but simple (In the manner of a chorale). After the “tormenting” questions of the opening movement and the grotesque dance of the Scherzo, humankind is freed from uncertainty and doubt. The Wunderhorn-Lied brings with it the first ray of a light that will shine in glory at the end of the finale. A solemn chorale, gently stated on the brass, affirms the innocent faith of childhood; later on, an expanded version of this same ascending theme will become the final ...

At the same speed as the Scherzo. In a wild outburst. The Scherzo’s “cry of despair” is recalled, then answered by a hesitant statement on the horns of the emerging “Resurrection” theme. There follows a “voice calling in the wilderness”, again on the horns, but this time offstage, before the contours are once again blurred by a descending triplet figure that works its way down through the orchestra.---A listening guide of Symphony No. 2 - 5th Movement with Lew Smoley.

Symphony No. 3 by Gustav Mahler was written between 1893 and 1896. It is his longest piece and is the longest symphony in the standard repertoire, with a typical performance lasting around ninety to one hundred minutes.In its final form, the work has six movements, grouped into two Parts. The first movement alone, with a normal duration of a little more than thirty minutes, sometimes forty, forms Part One of the symphony. Part Two consists of the other five movements and has a duration of abo...

The symphony, particularly due to the extensive number of movements and their marked differences in character and construction, is a unique work. The opening movement, colossal in its conception (much like the symphony itself), roughly takes the shape of sonata form, insofar as there is an alternating presentation of two theme groups; however, the themes are varied and developed with each presentation, and the typical harmonic logic of the sonata form movement (particularly the tonic statemen...

In the tempo of a minuet. A major.Mahler dedicated the second movement to “the flowers on the meadow”. In contrast to the violent forces of the first movement, it starts as a graceful Menuet but also features stormier episodes.---A listening guide of Symphony No. 3 - 2nd Movement with Lew Smoley.

The third movement, a scherzo, with alternating sections in 2/4 and 6/8 metre, quotes extensively from Mahler’s early song “Ablösung im Sommer” (Relief in Summer). In the trio section, a complete mood changes from playful to contemplative occurs with an offstage posthorn Bb (or flugelhorn Bb) solo. The reprise of the scherzo music is unusual, as it is interrupted several times by the posthorn melody. See The Post restaurant.---A listening guide of Symphony No. 3 - 3rd Movement with Lew Smoley.

Very slowly, mysteriously. A minor. “Midnight song”.At this point, in the sparsely instrumentated fourth movement, we hear an alto solo singing a setting of Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Midnight Song” from Also sprach Zarathustra “O Mensch! Gib acht!” (“O man! Take heed!”), with thematic material from the first movement woven into it.---A listening guide of Symphony No. 3 - 4th Movement with Lew Smoley.

The cheerful fifth movement, “Es sungen drei Engel”, is one of Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn songs, (whose text itself is loosely based on a 17th-century church hymn, which Paul Hindemithlater used in its original form in his Symphony “Mathis der Maler”) about the redemption of sins and comfort in belief. Here, a children’s choir imitating bells and a female chorus join the alto solo.---A listening guide of Symphony No. 3 - 5th Movement with Lew Smoley.

Of the great finale, Bruno Walter wrote, “In the last movement, words are stilled—for what language can utter heavenly love more powerfully and forcefully than music itself? The Adagio, with its broad, solemn melodic line, is, as a whole—and despite passages of burning pain—eloquent of comfort and grace. It is a single sound of heartfelt and exalted feelings, in which the whole giant structure finds its culmination.The movement begins very softly with a broad D-major chorale melody, which slo...

The Symphony No. 4 in G major by Gustav Mahler was written in 1899 and 1900, though it incorporates a song originally written in 1892. The song, “Das himmlische Leben”, presents a child’s vision of Heaven. It is sung by a soprano in the work’s fourth and last movement. Although typically described as being in the key of G major, the symphony employs a progressive tonal scheme (‘(b)/G–E’).Mahler’s first four symphonies are often referred to as the “Wunderhorn” symphonies because many of their ...

Moderately, not rushed, Sonata form. Flutes and sleigh bells open the unusually restrained first movement (and used later with a melodic theme known commonly as the ‘bell theme’, which helps define sections throughout the movement) often described as possessing classical poise. As would be expected for the first movement of a symphony, the first movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 is in sonata form.A listening guide of Symphony No. 4 - 1st Movement with Lew Smoley.

Leisurely moving, without haste. Scherzo and Trio. The second movement is a scherzo that features a part for a solo violin whose strings are tuned a tone higher than usual. The violin depicts Freund Hein, (lit. “Friend Henry”) a figure from medieval German art; Hain (or Hein) is a traditional German personification of death, invented by poet Matthias Claudius.Freund Hein is a skeleton who plays the fiddle and leads a Totentanz or “danse macabre”. According to Mahler’s widow, Alma, Mahler took...

Peacefully, somewhat slowly. Theme and variations. The third movement is a solemn processional march cast as a set of variations. Mahler uses the theme and variation structure in a more unconventional way.This movement can be divided into five main sections: A1 – B1 – A2 – B2 – A3 – CODA. The theme is presented in the first 16 bars of A1, but the true variations don’t appear until section A3, although the theme is developed slightly within the preceding sections; sections A1, A2, B1, and B2 a...

Very comfortably. Strophic. The fourth movement opens with a relaxed, bucolic scene in G major. A child, voiced by a soprano, presents a sunny, naive vision of Heaven and describes the feast being prepared for all the saints. The scene has its darker elements: the child makes it clear that the heavenly feast takes place at the expense of animals, including a sacrificed lamb. The child’s narrative is punctuated by faster passages recapitulating the first movement.Unlike the final movement of t...

The Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler was composed in 1901 and 1902, mostly during the summer months at Mahler’s cottage at Maiernigg. Among its most distinctive features are the trumpet solo that opens the work with the same rhythmic motive as used in the opening of Beethoven’s 5th symphony and the frequently performed Adagietto.The musical canvas and emotional scope of the work, which lasts over an hour, are huge. The symphony is sometimes described as being in the key of C? minor since the f...

The both first movements are in the tragic and gloomy keys of c-sharp minor resp. a minor; The only programmatic indication, Trauermarsch (funeral march), is found in the first movement. The silence is broken by the solitary fanfare of a trumpet which is one of the three main themes of this movement.Out of this comes the melancholy and heavy funeral march dominated by the strings; the woodwind players introduce the third theme in the key of a flat major thus lighting up the gloom in a charmin...

The second movement starts tumultuously and pushing forward in the key of a minor before gliding in a beautiful calm and cantabile theme in the key of f minor “in the rhythm of the funeral march” accompanied by lamentations of the wind instruments reminding on short fanfares. After the tumultuous returning to the key of a minor follows a short and melancholy interlude of cellos and bass drums, thereafter the reprise and development of the principal themes in an alternating game of chaotic tum...

As the second part of the symphony follows the above-mentioned third movement, the Scherzo. Totally unexpected, the character of the symphony seems to change: A joyful and exuberant, nearly burlesque atmosphere, caused by the typical Mahlerian rural valses, seems to spread, but it does not seem to be serious, rather forced, nearly exaggerated, as if one tries to chase away a depression by artificial cheerfulness, to turn towards a life full of force and energy in order not having to listen to...

The third part of the symphony starts with the fourth movement, a tender Adagietto, one of the most intimate compositions of Mahler and certainly therefore one of the most famous, but also because Visconti used it in his film Death in Venice. After the rather trivial Scherzo, we encounter emotion and sensuality, it is pure poetry transformed into music.One feels that after the Scherzo, there was a rupture out of which a new start arises and thus the Adagietto becomes the prelude of the last m...

Finally, the fifth movement is amazing; a long and continued tone of the F horn gives the signal to return to reality and cheerfulness. The gloomy atmosphere of the first two movements is blown away, the tender romance of the fourth movement is left behind. Serene calmness reigns, an exuberant Allegro romps around from one key to the other as if the depressions of before had never existed.The true joy of life rules again, rising to new heights still higher until the grandiose, brightly shinin...

The Symphony No. 6 in A minor by Gustav Mahler, sometimes referred to as the Tragische (“Tragic”), was composed between 1903 and 1904 (rev. 1906; scoring repeatedly revised). The work’s first performance was in Essen on 27-05-1906 and was conducted by Gustav Mahler. The tragic, even nihilistic, ending of No. 6 has been seen as unexpected, given that the symphony was composed at what was apparently an exceptionally happy time in Mahler’s life: he had married Alma Schindler in 1902, and during ...

The first movement, which for the most part has the character of a march, features a motif consisting of an A major triad turning to A minor over a distinctive timpani rhythm. The chords are played by trumpets and oboes when first heard, with the trumpets sounding most loudly in the first chord and the oboes in the second. This motif, which some commentators have linked with fate, reappears in subsequent movements. The first movement also features a soaring melody which the composer’s wife, A...

The andante provides a respite from the intensity of the rest of the work. Its main theme is an introspective ten-bar phrase in E-flat major, though it frequently touches on the minor mode as well. The orchestration is more delicate and reserved in this movement, making it all the more poignant when compared to the other three.---A listening guide of Symphony No. 6 - 2nd Movement with Lew Smoley.

The scherzo marks a return to the unrelenting march rhythms of the first movement, though in a ‘triple-time’ metrical context. Its trio (the middle section), marked Altväterisch (‘old-fashioned’), is rhythmically irregular (4/8 switching to 3/8 and 3/4) and of a somewhat gentler character. According to Alma Mahler, in this movement Mahler “represented the unrhythmic games of the two little children, tottering in zigzags over the sand”. The chronology of its composition suggests otherwise...

The last movement is an extended sonata form, characterized by drastic changes in mood and tempo, the sudden change of glorious soaring melody to deep agony. The movement is punctuated by three hammer blows. Alma quoted her husband as saying that these were three mighty blows of fate befallen by the hero, “the third of which fells him like a tree”.She identified these blows with three later events in Gustav Mahler’s own life: the death of his eldest daughter Maria Anna Mahler, the diagnosis o...

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 was written in Year 1904 and Year 1905, with repeated revisions to the scoring. Although the symphony is often described as being in the key of E minor, its tonal scheme is more complicated. The symphony’s Movement 1: Langsam (Adagio) – Allegro risoluto, ma non troppo moves from B minor (introduction) to E minor. The work ends with Movement 5: Rondo-Finale in C Major.This symphony concludes the trio of Mahlers ‘middle’ instrumental symphonies (No. 5, No. 6 and N...

The movement is in sonata form. It begins with a slow introduction in B minor, launched by a dark melody played by a baritone horn. The accompanimental rhythm was said to have come to Mahler whilst rowing on the lake at Maiernigg after a period of compositional drought. The principal theme, presented by horns in unison in E minor, is accompanied similarly, though much faster and in a higher register.The second theme is then presented by violins, accompanied by sweeping cello arpeggios. This t...

The movement opens with horns calling to each other. The second horn is muted, however, to create the illusion of distance. Scampering woodwinds imitating somewhat grotesque bird calls pass off into the distance, as the trumpets sound the major-minor seal from the sixth symphony. The horns introduce a rich, somewhat bucolic (A) theme, surrounded by dancing strings and a march rhythm from his song “Revelge”.This theme leads to some confusion about the key, as it switches between C major and C ...

There is an undercurrent of night about the spooky third movement; while “Scherzo” means “joke”, this movement is remarkably spooky and even grim. If the first ‘Nachtmusik’ possessed a friendly mood disguised in grotesqueries, this movement is a demon sneering at the listener. This movement is a most morbid and sarcastic mockery of the Viennese waltz.The movement begins with a strange gesture: a pianissimo dialogue between timpani and pizzicato basses and cellos with sardonic interjections fr...

The fourth movement (the second ‘Nachtmusik’) contrasts with the first in that it illustrates a more intimate and ‘human’ scene. With its ‘amoroso’ marking and reduced orchestration (trombones, tuba and trumpets are silent and the woodwinds are reduced by half) this movement has been described as ‘a long stretch of chamber music set amidst this huge orchestral work’.---A listening guide of Symphony No. 7 - 4th Movement with Lew Smoley.