Transcript
For a first Mahler’s Symphony is a remarkable achievement, the high level of musical sophistication and creativity is outstanding for a first effort at writing a symphony, although there is some slight evidence that Mahler may have written several earlier symphony’s, none of them have survived, so we have little material with which to trace his development is as simple as before his first published Symphony.
The dramatic character of the first Symphony places it squarely within the romantic tradition, Bruno Walter called the symphony Mahler’sWerther, after Goethe’s novel. Mahler himself acknowledged that the first was inspired by his ill-fated love affair with Marion von Vabre, the wife of the composer Comrie Yvonne Weber’s grandson model, and met her while engaged in completing Weber’s unfinished opera do dry Pintos.
The affair was a profound embarrassment and may have been the direct cause of Captain Weber’s mental collapse that occurred shortly after the illicit relationship had been discovered. But Mahler tried to de-emphasize the significance of the affair in relation to the dramatic conception of a symphony.
I would like to see it emphasized he said, that the symphony begins at a point beyond the love affair that lies as the basis of it, in that it dates from earlier in the Creative Artists emotional life, but the outer experience was the occasion for the work, not its content, said more. The first symphonies, style, and temperament are primarily inherited from the Austro Germanic tradition, based upon Beethoven’s structural conceptions, Schubert’s melodic invention, Liszt’s tone painting, and Wagner’s and Bruckner’s orchestration and dramatic nuance, nearly always inventive use of ironic and cacophonous orchestral effects also proves a strong influence.
Yet this earliest surviving Mahler Symphony already bears traces of a highly individualized and remarkable modern style. Building upon musical material from his Gesellen song cycle, Mahler fashions a work that goes far beyond the concept of song Symphony that has been ascribed to it. He expands upon the literary premise of the Gesellen Songs, by envisioning their singer as a hero, who triumphs over negative forces that threaten his very existence in a redemptive finale. That concludes what could well be described as a musical Bildungsroman, or a journey through life.
Models quotations from the Gesellen songs are used symphonically not merely as appendages to the musical content an avowed Wagnerian and close friend of Bruckner Mahler would be expected to conceive as symphonic frescoes in a large framework, not only extensive in duration but sizable in orchestration.
While not nearly as enormous as the orchestral forces used in his later symphonies, Mahler’s orchestra is still larger than for instance, the one Brahms used in his Symphony.
The first symphonies duration, between 50 and 60 minutes is not at all extreme for a romantic symphony of the late 19th century. The position of the movements of Mahler’s First Symphony with the outer movements broader in scope and more extensive and content than the inner movements are quite typical of the period. Mahler shows himself as already having mastered the art of instrumentation. As a conductor, he was keenly aware of the way in which each instrument could produce a particular effect. For example, in the opening measures of the First Symphony, Mahler has clarinets play military tattoos, usually given to horns or trumpets. He made the substitution in order to take advantage of the clarinets, mellow, Reedy timbre, and thus create a sense of distance and veiled mystery that would be more difficult to engender on trumpet. His use of instruments for special effects and colorations are also quite imaginative, even the timpani as Mahler delighted and pointing out as a goal with a theme toward the end of his symphonies the first movement.
Another important aspect of Mahler’s orchestral treatment is his use of spatial effects such as an offstage band to create the effect of polar musical dimensions. here already used in an offstage band in does clog in the lead. Many stylistic nuances contained in the first Symphony serve to further the development of a dramatic symphonic form.
The creation of witches model his greatest achievement, trumpet tattoos and horn fanfares service tropes consoling the hero who becomes the principal character, in most if not all of Mahler’s symphonies, bird calls and other natural sounds evoke a magical Sylvian atmosphere that pervades the symphonies of his Wunderhorn period and returns as reminiscences and later symphonies. Dance rhythms, particularly the Austrian Ländler, countrified waltz provide earthy and vitality, and Joie de vivre.
One already senses in the First Symphony, a predilection for imaginative use of popular music, such as fashioning a funeral march on the popular nursery tune for Irish ARCA. These and other stylistic nuances are handled with a mature grasp of technique, and self-assurance of organization and musical flow would sell the manifest itself at such an early stage. Yet certain aspects of the first Symphony might be considered somewhat antiquated stylistically, given when it was written. By the 1880s. The Romantic era was already on the wane, with complex psychological and philosophical ideas.
Were at work to undermine faith in the dramatic narrative as the proper genre through which to present a worldview. You had Mahler’s first is steeped in romantic illusions characteristic of an earlier period. A mere glance at the program submitted by Mahler for the symphonies premier performance in Budapest in 1889, could easily be mistaken for one relating to an orchestral composition of the 1830s or 40s by the likes of barrios or spore. It is entitled a symphonic comb in two parts, and a subtitle Titan.
The first part is called from the days of youth, youth, fruit, and Thorn pieces. It is comprised of three movements. The first is, is entitled spring without in the introduction depicts the awakening of nature at the earliest dawn. The second movement, which was later removed, called flower chapter. And I’m done with the third movement called Full Sail, which was the skirt So, part two was then entitled Commedia omana, and it consisted of the last two movements. The Fourth Movement, called shipwrecked, a funeral march in kallos manner, the hunters funeral, and the program goes on to say, the following may if necessary, serve as an explanation.
The external impulse of this piece was given the composer by the parrot mystic picture, the hunters funeral, well known to all children in South Germany, from an old book of fairy tales, and the program describes this picture.
The forest animals follow the hunters coffin. hares carry the Penan, a band of bohemian musicians goes in front, accompanied by cats, toads, crows, etc. playing instruments and stags roll deer, foxes, and other four-legged and feathered creatures of the woods. Follow the procession in comic attitudes. Here this piece has to be thought of as the expression of a mood sometimes of ironical Merriman, sometimes of sinister brooding, followed immediately by the fifth and last movement, intitled, doll infierno al Paradiso, which is described as the sudden expression of a hard wound into its depths.
Even the symphonies original subtitle Titan, evokes the early Romantic era, characterized by folktales or eta Hoffman, heroic novels of Jean Paul Richter, historical dramas of Schiller, and idyllic poetry of grit. It was an era that by Mahler’s time would already have been considered the good old days. john paul rector’s popular novel Titan is presumed to be the source for the subtitle Mahler gave to the work in its original form. After he referred to the novel in connection with the symphony, he later denied and the obvious relationship between them those familiar with the novel can understand Mahler’s denial his close friend and confidant Natalie Bower Lesnar completely rejects the contention that Mahler had the novel in mind while composing the symphony. What he did intend to portray, according to her, was a powerful heroic individual, his life and suffering, struggles and defeats at the hands of fate. He had Bruno Walter informs us that Mahler spoke often of john Paul’s heroic novel.
According to Walter, Mahler would insist that an element of the principal character in the novel is self-centeredness, self-tormenting, scornful and imperiled spirit exists in every gifted individual and has to be conquered before productive powers can come into play. Although no obvious relationship exists between the storyline of the novel and the symphony, some of the original subtitles for the movements can be found in John Paul’s work, for example, Blumine Flower movement.
Constantine points out, however, that most of the movements original subtitles relate more directly to Dante is Commedia or mana. Whatever the actual literary source of the symphony the spirit of the work is deeply rooted in the legendary heroic character of German romanticism.
Another extra-musical reference in Mahler’s original program notes concerns the funeral march movement, possibly the most inventive movement in the entire Symphony mall is a reference to kallos.
Painting the hunter’s funeral in connection with his movement relates more to the ironic strain on the music than any intention to depict its content in musical terms. It is more likely that the true extra-musical sorts of Mahler’s inspiration was the popular woodcut by Maurice, depicting a funeral procession for a dead hunter being led to his beer by the very animals that he had stopped his prey. The allegorical nature of the scenario with its obvious theme of poetic justice could not have escaped Mahler’s notice. Given his acute sense of the injustices of human life. It would not be far-fetched to imagine that since Mahler probably saw himself as the hero of the symphony, he also may have made the same connection to the dead Hunter, who was born to his grave by those he sought to capture.
Ironically, prophetic Amala zone and the appearance of bohemian Jewish and Slavonic Gypsy music in this Symphony undoubtedly had its source in the music of local bands that played in the town of eek lava, where Mahler spent his childhood.
These references are further evidence that the dramatic nature of the First Symphony is autobiographical. Mahler’s use of a minor key version of Farish, aka known in German as Buddha Martin, is a personal reference and considering the reasons for his choice of a child’s nursery rhyme as a principal theme for a funeral march. Mahler is said to have revealed that even as a child, Buddha Martin struck him not as being gay, as it always was sung, but rather deeply tragic and that he already heard in it, what it was later to become for him aside from this direct reference to a well-known nursery rhyme tune, many commentators have pointed out musical material that seems to quote or paraphrase works by other composers. For example, a grande makes reference to several segments from Schumann’s Third Symphony, the fifth movement, and the Fourth Symphony first movement that may have been unintentionally quoted or paraphrased in the first and fourth movements of Mahler’s First Symphony.
While it is always fascinating to point out the numerous references or intimations of other composers music in Mahler symphonies, la grande recognizes that such an exercise and outsourcing should not be taken too seriously. Notwithstanding these so-called extra-musical references, Mahler came to realize that pronouncements about the meaning of his symphonies that he provided in the form of program notes, could cause more misunderstanding than elucidation.
During the period that followed the first symphonies Premier, he became increasingly suspicious of programs in general and soon withdrew his program notes for the symphony. Although he recognized that the symphony like the bulk of symphonic music, since Beethoven’s time, has an implicit if not overtly expressed program. Mahler did not want to leave the impression that his first was intended to describe particular dramatic events.
Like Beethoven’s invocation of nature in the Pastoral Symphony. Mahler’s orchestral tone painting was more evocative of feeling and mood than since scenically descriptive. Although Mahler would supply even more extensive programs for his next two symphonies, he would come to repudiate them as well. However, the fact that Mahler did not wish to saddle his works with specific programs should not prevent us from using them to form some idea of the composer’s dramatic intentions. So then, Mahler’s rejection of program music notwithstanding, what is the underlying dramatic or philosophical principle of the First Symphony?
How can we make sense of its disparate movements as a whole Clearly the first movement focuses on nature and the exuberance of youth had Mahler retained it.
The original second movement called blooming flowers, complements the first movement by its intimate if the somewhat maudlin expression of natural beauty. The scarcer movement that follows is characteristic of Mahler’s pension for expressing the energy of life through dance rhythms. But when we come to consider the curiously grotesque funeral march movement, which is the next movement, it seems very remote from the theme of nature and of youth.
Yet it will become typical Mahlerian and characteristic to include a movement or section in his symphonies, that acts as the underside of counterfoil. Of what proceeds and follows it. Mahler adds an additional ironic twist, by interrupting the funeral core Taj, with a bit of nostalgic wimzie. Thus, by the end of this movement, we are in the grip of a conflict, so was central to the dualistic nature of Mahler symphonies. It is nothing more than an early example of the life-death struggle that Mahler lays bare in one form or another in all of his symphonies. That conflict is brought to the fore in the storm music with which the finale opens.
When the heroic trumpet theme enters with its relation to the opening model of descending fourths, the basic conception of the symphony becomes clear, the heroic in humankind, energized by youth, and anointed with a romantic sense of mission challenges and defeats the antagonist. It is the stuff of medieval legend, and with a first Symphony, Mahler makes it his own. As modern as original program notes indicate, he had originally scored the work as a vast symphonic poem and five movements.
When it became clear to him that the work had taken on both the proportions and characteristics of a symphony. He changed the title, calling it now a symphony instead of a symphonic poem. Despite the existence of our long symphonies already in the repertory, the sizable dimensions of the first Symphony troubled Mahler and he was advised to make cuts. much controversy persisted as to what ultimately caused him to eliminate one of the movements entirely the so called Blumine movement originally positioned Second, it seems fairly clear that prompting from his publisher and Mahler second thoughts about the musical value of the movement are probably the principal reasons for his final decision to eliminate it from the symphony. While the original score used for the symphonies premier is no longer extend.
We do have an early edition that both contains the later rejected Blumine movement and the original orchestration. The deleted Blumine movement resurfaced in 1967 as a donation to Yale University by honor rosae, the husband of Mahler’s sister Justin Jose was also concertmaster of the Vienna State Opera orchestra during Mahler’s tenure and principal violinist of the renowned rosae quartet.
As a result, Blumine has been frequently recorded, either as part of the symphony or separately, despite Mahler’s having discarded. A few other characteristics of the first Symphony are worth noting. Mahler’s polyphonic textures rarely go beyond two-part counterpoint, and he avoids canonic imitation that will later become a feature of his middle period symphonies. His basic textual approach at this early stage was supported upon a fundamentally uncomplicated contrapuntal foundation. to other aspects of Mahler’s musical style, that are evident in the first Symphony should be mentioned at this point.
Before Mahler’s time, it was perfectly acceptable for European composers, especially those of Eastern European ancestries, such as Haydn, Stamitz, and the benders to utilize folk music and their lyrical thematic material, or in earthy dance music.
Mahler makes especially creative use of both original and stylized folk themes and dance rhythms. In his first Symphony, for example, Mahler strikes up a robust and vigorous Ländler in place of the traditional classical minuet or scherzo for the second movement, while in the third, he parodies Yiddish or Gypsy dance music, contrasting it with the folk music of the German beer Hall, or of a Jewish wedding variety also significant is Mahler’s approach to thematic development, especially his use of little cells, bits of music as it were, as both thematic and multivac source material for development.
Sometimes these cells merely consist of a few notes, or even a simple interval that functions as a motto sometimes these little cells are used as thematic material, are placed independently in the score, or are used as a rhythmic motif.
A more detailed analysis of each of the movements of this Symphony also appears on this website.
By Lew Smoley