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.
Sketch Movement 1: Bedachtig-nicht eilen-recht gemachlich.
Sketch Movement 1: Bedachtig-nicht eilen-recht gemachlich.
Sketch Movement 1: Bedachtig-nicht eilen-recht gemachlich.
Manuscript Movement 1: Bedachtig-nicht eilen-recht gemachlich.
Bedächtig. Nicht eilen—Recht gemächlich (Deliberately. Unhurriedly—Very leisurely). A few bars of introduction in which the sound of flutes and sleighbells predominate (the ‘fool’s cap and bells’, according to Adorno, who compared this opening with the ‘once upon a time’ of fairytales) lead into the first movement proper, which begins ‘as if it did not know how to count to four’. The initial ascending theme, typically Viennese in character, belongs to a larger family of similar melodies in Mahler’s works. It is shortly followed by a second theme on the lower strings that is as calm as it is pastoral in nature. But such simplicity is soon belied by a development section in which the different motifs are combined, linked together, transformed and inextricably intertwined or, in the words of Erwin Stein, ‘shuffled like a pack of cards’. Time and again they engender new motifs, while at the same time remaining recognisable in their own right, constantly juxtaposed or superimposed in ever new combinations.
Listening Guide