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Program Notes, ©2012 Lori Newman

Gustav Mahler
Born 1860, Kalischt, Bohemia
Died 1911, Vienna, Austria 

Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection” (1888–1894)

What is it about program music, or the lack thereof, that so fascinates us? What compels us to assign a detailed story to any piece of music that even remotely offers a narrative? Perhaps Berlioz is to blame with that fantastical, albeit opium-driven, tale from his Symphonie Fantastique. Not all music has a story, and certainly not all program music possesses a detailed script as did Berlioz’s; but the audience and critics nevertheless still try to weave one, sometimes justly, sometimes simply grasping at straws.

Mahler, much like Tchaikovsky, seemed to bristle at the notion of programs being attached to his music. It appears that the composers had no issue writing works that were influenced by a “program” or “story,” as it were, they just didn’t appreciate how the program (perceived or accurate) detracted from their music. They took issue with the audience wondering if that was the exact moment our hero lost his battle, or if that’s where the music reflected our lovebirds’ reunion, or whatever climactic moment may have occurred in that particular work. The composers wanted the music to speak for itself, not take a back-seat to the program or distract the listener. It is for this reason that the detailed programs that were initially attached to Mahler’s first three symphonies were later retracted by the composer.

Surprisingly, Mahler is not responsible for the “Resurrection” moniker which has firmly implanted itself in the symphony’s title. If one truly wants to understand Mahler, his works, and their actual or purported programs, one must first understand Mahler the man, and the driving forces behind his life and his compositions. Undoubtedly most composers would be described on their Wikipedia page as “being one with their music,” or “not knowing where the composer left off and where the music began.” In the instance of Mahler however, it is truly the case. He was fascinated by the subjects of metaphysics, existentialism, cosmology, the meaning of life and death and what happens to us after we die. He attempted his whole life to interpret these issues and the eschatological questions that naturally resulted from the study of these subjects. He worked his questions out as best he could through his music—not by offering detailed programs for the audience’s entertainment, but by using these questions as sublime inspiration for his music. His quest for answers in his Second Symphony center around such questions as, “Why have you lived? Why have you suffered? Is all of this just a terrible joke? What is this life and this death? Is there a hereafter for us? Is all of this a wild dream, or has this life and this death a meaning?” His search for knowledge and use of the Resurrection subject matter is far less religious and far more existential in nature.

Mahler composed the first movement of his Second Symphony in 1888, dubbing it Todtenfeier (“Funeral Rites”). There is strong evidence that he perhaps considered turning Todtenfeier into a single-movement tone poem, rather than making it the opening to his Second Symphony. Mahler was concurrently working on other movements of his Second Symphony in 1888, but it is unknown whether or not he intended for Todtenfeier to be the opening movement of Symphony No. 2. He continued to compose the symphony throughout the next six years. As initially reluctant as Mahler was to publish any programmatic element associated with Todtenfeier, he did go so far as to say that he felt it served as a funeral for the hero from his First Symphony, “The Titan.”

In 1891 Mahler turned to the esteemed conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow for feedback on his newly composed Todtenfeier. While Mahler played his new composition, Bülow listened intently, however, with his hands over his ears the entire time. Mahler, confused by the behavior of one of the most respected musicians of the time, would occasionally halt his performance.  Bülow insisted he continue to the end. This was followed by a long silence, perhaps one of the longest silences of Mahler’s career. Finally Bülow broke the obvious tension by saying, “If what I have just heard is still music, then I no longer understand anything about music!” Although crestfallen, Mahler persevered and continued work on his Second Symphony.

The second movement posed somewhat of a problem for Mahler. He composed the first and second movements independently of each other, and initially, needed no reason for them to connect, thematically or otherwise. The Sturm und Drang of the first movement was replaced by idyllic and dance-like melodies in the second movement. Mahler was quite aware of this “discrepancy” as he referred to it, and included in the score that a break “of at least five minutes” was to be observed between the first and second movements.

Most Mahler-enthusiasts know that Mahler used several sections of his Des Knaben Wunderhorn (a collection of German stories and songs that Mahler set to music) in many of his works, including his second through fourth symphonies. The third movement was composed quickly in 1893, first as a voice and piano duo, and then transcribed to the instrumental third movement scherzo. Mahler used portions of the Wunderhorn song “Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt” (“St. Anthony of Padua’s Sermon to the Fishes”). His choice was two-fold: he needed a brisk basis for his scherzo which “Fischpredigt” provided, and also the absurdity of the text (St. Anthony preaching to the fish because the church was lacking in parishioners), gave Mahler a nice parable for the oft-perceived futility of life.

The fourth movement is the resplendent “Urlicht” (“Primeval Light”) for mezzo-soprano soloist and orchestra. The song is once again pulled from the Wunderhorn set. The poem and song are in ternary form, but Mahler chooses to create a motto from the words “Oh, Little Red Rose,” using it in an eleven-bar chorale introduction. The second stanza becomes slightly livelier in tempo when the vision of the angel appears. Mahler also changes the orchestration in this section beautifully. He uses a small group of instruments for the angelic vision, relying on just the clarinets, glockenspiel, harp, and solo violin to accompany the text. Mahler’s use of the mezzo-soprano soloist in the penultimate movement is a means of introduction of the vocal element to the symphony—a foreshadowing of the finale and its choral component.

Ending the symphony, and correctly ordering the movements, proved to be problematic for Mahler. He reversed the order of the Andante and Scherzo movements, finally settling on the order performed today. But how to end such a behemoth of a work? In death, came the answer. The aforementioned conductor Hans von Bülow, died in Cairo in 1894. It was at his memorial service that everything became clear. Mahler wrote:

I had long contemplated bringing in the choir in the last movement, and only the fear that it would be taken as a formal imitation of Beethoven [Ninth Symphony] made me hesitate again and again. Then Bülow died, and I went to the memorial service.—The mood in which I sat and pondered on the departed was utterly in the spirit of what I was working on at the time.—Then the choir, up in the organ-loft, intoned Klopstock’s Resurrection chorale.—It flashed on me like lightning, and everything became plain and clear in my mind! It was the flash that all creative artists wait for—“conceiving by the Holy Ghost”! What I then experienced had now to be expressed in sound. And yet—if I had not already borne the work within me—how could I have had that experience?

Within three months, the symphony was complete. The first two stanzas of the text for the fifth movement are written by the German poet, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, and the rest by Mahler himself. The text that Mahler penned, especially that which deals with “Judgment Day,” combines Christian ideals as well as modern thought. It is far less “fire and brimstone,” and seems to conceive “Judgment Day” by way of its overall sense of love and acceptance. The fifth movement uses themes from previous movements, and while written in a modified sonata form, is better understood as a two-part movement, consisting of the first section that is solely instrumental, and the second section where the choir enters. Mahler did not include in his revised score of the fifth movement certain text indications, again, perhaps because of the potential programmatic distraction element. However, throughout the movement he often indicated sections with very detailed descriptions such as “Fright Fanfare,” “Eternity and Ascension Theme,” “Announcement of Judgment Day,” and “Resurrection: The True Apocalypse.”

Mahler’s contributions to music, especially symphonic music, are astounding. The expansion of symphonic forces is one of the most important legacies the composer left. His Second Symphony calls for a massive orchestra consisting of 4 flutes (all doubling on piccolo); 4 oboes (3rd and 4th doubling on English horn); 5 clarinets including the use of Bb, A, C, bass, and 2 Eb clarinets; 4 bassoons (3rd and 4th doubling on contrabassoon); 10 French horns; 8-10 trumpets; 4 trombones; tuba; 7 timpani to be played by three players; an extended percussion section requiring a total of seven players; two off-stage brass and percussion ensembles; organ; strings (the score indicates “the largest possible contingent of strings”); 2 harps; soprano soloist; mezzo-soprano soloist; and a mixed choir. By way of comparison, other large-scale symphonies of the time would have had wind and brass counts closer to 3/3/3/3/4/3/3/1, not the above outlined 4/4/5/4/10/10/4/1.

Related to the expansion of symphonic forces, Mahler also reinvented the way symphonies were orchestrated; or rather he changed opinions as to what was deemed acceptable orchestration. Some of his trademark innovations which our audience can listen for include unusual combinations of instruments used simultaneously; sudden and unexpected juxtapositions of sound and sonority; thinly-scored passages of instruments playing far apart in uncommon registers for each instrument; use of common sounds (often during very serious parts of the symphony) from the outside world like bird-calls, bugle fanfares, “popular” music, and military marches; and the use of expansive chamber music sections within the symphony that surpass the heretofore winds versus strings writing mentality of earlier symphonists.

Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 premiered in Berlin on December 13, 1895 by the Berlin Philharmonic with the composer conducting. The United States premiere was on December 8, 1908 by the New York Symphony (who would later merge with the New York Philharmonic), at Carnegie Hall, again with Mahler on the podium. His Second Symphony was one of Mahler’s more successful symphonies and received relatively positive reviews during his lifetime. This symphony continues to be widely performed and popular with audiences all over the world. One of its most poignant recent performances was in 2011, reflecting on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy in a concert entitled A Concert for New York.

For further reading see, Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies by Constantin Floros; translated from the German by Vernon Wicker (Amadeus Press, Pompton Plains, NJ, 1993).


 Text Translation: Mahler Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection” Movements IV and V

Primal Light (Movement IV)
Oh, little red rose,
Mankind lies in great need,
Mankind lies in great pain,
Rather I would Heaven claim
Then I came upon a wide, broad way,
Where a little angel came and wanted to send me away,
Oh no, I did not let myself be sent away.
I am from God, I want to return to God.
The loving God will grant me a little light,
Will light my way to blissful life eternal and bright.
— from Des Knaben Wunderhorn

Resurrection (Movement V)
Arise, yes, you will arise,
Dust of my body, after a brief rest!
Immortal life
Will he, who called you, grant to you.

You are sown that you might bloom again!
The Lord of harvest goes
And gathers sheaves,
Gather us, who died.
Text by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock

Oh, believe, my heart, nothing is lost for you!
Yours, yes, yours alone is what you longed for,
What you loved, and what you fought for.
Oh believe, you were not born in vain,
Nor have you lived or suffered in vain!

That which was created must perish,
What perished will arise!
No longer tremble!
Prepare to live!

Oh agony, you piercing pain,
From you I have escaped!
Oh death, all-conquering claim
Now you are defeated!

With wings that I have gained,
In seeking to perfect my love
Will I ascend
Into the light which no eye has ever reached.

With wings that I have gained
Will I ascend.
I will die to be alive!

Arise, you will arise,
My heart, within a moment!
What you have conquered,
To God, to God it will bear you up.
Text by Gustav Mahler

 

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