Symphony No. 4 (Mahler)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Symphony No. 4
by Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.4 by Gustav Mahler, Cover.jpg
Score cover c. 1911
KeyG major
Composed1899–1900
Published1902
Movements4
Premiere
Date25 November 1901 (1901-11-25)
LocationMunich
ConductorGustav Mahler
PerformersKaim Orchestra

The Symphony No. 4 in G major by Gustav Mahler was composed from 1899 to 1900, though it incorporates a song originally written in 1892. The song, "Das himmlische Leben", presents a child's vision of heaven and is sung by a soprano in the symphony's Finale. Both smaller in orchestration and shorter in length than Mahler's earlier symphonies, the Fourth Symphony was initially planned to be in six movements, alternating between three instrumental and three vocal movements. However, the symphony's final form—begun in July 1899 at Bad Aussee and completed in August 1900 at Maiernigg—would retain only one vocal movement (the Finale) and is in four movements: Bedächtig, nicht eilen (sonata form); In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast (scherzo and trio); Ruhevoll, poco adagio (double theme and variations); and Sehr behaglich (strophic variations). The premiere was performed in Munich on 25 November 1901 by the composer and the Kaim Orchestra, but it was met with negative audience and critical reception over the work's confusing intentions and inadequacy compared to the Second Symphony. The premiere was followed by a German tour, a 1901 Berlin premiere, and a 1902 Vienna premiere, which were all met with near unanimous condemnation of the symphony, including criticisms of its "grotesque" and "vulgar" nature. Mahler continued conducting performances of the symphony, sometimes to warm receptions, and the symphony received its American and British premieres in 1904 and 1905, respectively. Mahler revised the symphony several times, and his changes were included in Universal Edition's versions of the symphony published since the 1902 first edition. After Mahler's death, the work still received performances, including a 1930 Japanese recording that was the first electrical recording of any Mahler symphony.

History[]

Composition[]

Gustav Mahler's Fourth Symphony is the last of the composer's three Wunderhorn symphonies (the others being his Second and Third Symphonies).[1] These works incorporated themes originating in Mahler's songs of Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy's Magic Horn),[2][3] which were musical settings of poems from the poetry collection of the same name.[4] The core of the Fourth Symphony is built around a single song, "Das himmlische Leben" ("The Heavenly Life"), set to text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn but not included in Mahler's namesake song cycle.[5] Mahler considered the song both the goal and the inspiration for the Fourth Symphony,[6] calling it the "tapering spire of the edifice."[7] Fragments of the song are heard in the first three movements before it is sung in its entirety by a solo soprano in the fourth movement.[8][9]

Black and white photograph of a man with glasses wearing a suit and tie
The composer in 1892

Mahler completed "Das himmlische Leben" in 1892,[A] as part of a collection of five Humoresken for voice and orchestra.[5][11] He adapted the text of "Das himmlische Leben" from the original poem "Der Himmel hängt voll Geigen" ("The world through rose-coloured glasses") in Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The poem describes images from a child's vision of heaven.[12] Mahler later considered using the song as the seventh and final movement of his Third Symphony. While remnants of "Das himmlische Leben" can be found in the Third Symphony's first, fourth, and fifth movements—including a quotation of the song in the fifth movement's "Es sungen drei Engel" ("Three Angels were Singing")—Mahler eventually decided to withdraw the song from the work.[13] He instead opted to use the song as the finale of a new symphony, his Fourth.[14][15] Consequently, there are particularly strong thematic and programmatic connections between the Third and the Fourth through "Das himmlische Leben",[16] though the composer also realized that the Fourth was closely related to his First and Second Symphonies as well.[17] Natalie Bauer-Lechner describes the Fourth Symphony as the conclusion to the "perfectly self-contained tetralogy" of Mahler's first four symphonies: the First depicts heroic suffering and triumph; the Second explores death and resurrection; the Third contemplates existence and God; and the Fourth, as an extension of the Third's ideas, explores life in heaven.[16]

Per Paul Bekker's 1921 synopsis of the symphony, Mahler drafted an early program sketch titled Sinfonie Nr. 4 (Humoreske) that has the following six-movement form:[B][19][20]

  1. Die Welt als ewige Jetztzeit (The World as Eternal Now) – G major
  2. Das irdische Leben (The Earthly Life) – E-flat minor
  3. Caritas – Adagio in B major
  4. Morgenglocken (Morning Bells) – F major
  5. Die Welt ohne Schwere (The World Without Gravity) – Scherzo in D major
  6. Das himmlische Leben (The Heavenly Life) – G major[C]

The sketch indicates that Mahler originally planned for the Fourth Symphony to have three purely symphonic movements (first, third, and fifth) and three orchestra songs: "Das irdische Leben" (composed c. 1893), "Morgenglocken" (completed in 1895 as the Third Symphony's "Es sungen drei Engel"), and "Das himmlische Leben". However, the symphony would be modified until only the program sketch's first and last movements would be realized as their respective movements in the symphony's final form,[D][18][23] resulting in a Fourth Symphony of normal symphonic length (around 45 minutes) as opposed to the composer's significantly longer earlier symphonies.[7]

During Mahler's 1899 summer vacation in Bad Aussee, the Fourth Symphony, in Bauer-Lechner's words, "fell into his lap just in the nick of time" in late July. The vacation served as Mahler's only chance the entire year when he was free to compose, but his productivity heretofore was hindered by poor weather and what the composer called "ghastly health-resort music". As the vacation neared its end, Mahler worked on the symphony for ten days, during which he drafted "about half" of the three instrumental movements and sketched the variations of the Adagio, according to Bauer-Lechner. Mahler later finished the Fourth during his summer vacation in Maiernigg the next year; following another bout of unproductivity that summer, Mahler eventually found his working rhythm and completed the symphony's Partiturentwurf (first full orchestral score) on 5 August 1900.[E][26][27] The symphony's completion suddenly left Mahler feeling "empty and depressed because life has lost all meaning",[28] and Bauer-Lechner reports that he was "deeply upset to have lost such an important part of his life".[29]

Later that year during the Christmas holidays, Mahler revised the Scherzo movement, finalizing its orchestration on 5 January 1901.[30] Though Mahler published his programs for the First and Second symphonies, he refrained from publishing a program for the Fourth. In the words of the musicologist James L. Zychowicz, Mahler intended for "the music to exist on its own."[31] Mahler was also opposed to giving any titles for the symphony's movements, despite having "devised some marvelous ones", because he did not want critics and audiences to "misunderstand and distort them in the worst possible way."[32]

Premiere[]

Black and white drawing of a concert hall with many seats, a hanging light, and a large stage
1895 drawing of the Kaim-Saal, locale of the Fourth Symphony's premiere

During the first half of 1901, Richard Strauss considered conducting the first complete performance of Mahler's Third Symphony. After learning that the Fourth Symphony required "only modest orchestral means", Strauss wrote to Mahler on 3 July asking whether he could conduct the Fourth's premiere instead. Mahler in his response revealed that he had already promised the premiere to Munich, "where the Kaim Orchestra and the Odeon are having such a tug-of-war over it that I'm finding it hard to try to choose between them".[33] The Vienna Philharmonic had also asked Mahler several times whether they could perform the symphony's premiere,[34] but Mahler by then had promised the premiere to Felix Weingartner, head of the Kaim Orchestra.[35] Not long after the exchanges with the Philharmonic, the composer asked for Weingartner's permission in August or September 1901 to conduct the premiere himself, citing his anxiety over the symphony and its performance.[36]

Eventually, it was planned for Mahler to conduct the Kaim Orchestra in Munich for the world premiere, after which Weingartner and the Kaim Orchestra would perform the work on tour in various German cities and Mahler himself would conduct another performance in Berlin.[37][38] To review the symphony's orchestration before its publication, Mahler arranged a reading rehearsal with the Vienna Philharmonic on 12 October that doubled as a rehearsal of the Vienna premiere scheduled for January next year. Mahler was not satisfied with the results, making corrections to the score and fully rehearsing the work four times before the symphony's premiere.[39] Though the Munich premiere was originally planned for 18 November, Mahler requested in late October that Weingartner postpone the performance to 25 November, citing "insurmountable difficulties". He also opposed including a vocal work before the symphony in the premiere's program, as he wanted the Finale's soprano "to come as a complete surprise".[40][41] Henry-Louis de La Grange writes: "the Fourth Symphony had cost Mahler more toil and anguish than the monumental symphonies that had preceded it, and, notwithstanding he was apprehensive of the reactions of its first audience, he secretly hoped that its modest dimensions and the clarity of its style would finally win him the approval of both the public and the musicians."[40]

The world premiere of the symphony was performed on 25 November 1901 in Munich at the Kaim-Saal,[42] with Mahler conducting the Kaim Orchestra and as soprano.[38] Many musicians attended the performance, including Max von Schillings, Ludwig Thuille, Max Reger, Siegmund von Hausegger, and  [de]. Bauer-Lechner writes that the first movement was met with both applause and boos since a number in the audience were "unable to follow the complexity of events in the development". The Scherzo proved more confusing to the audience and received even more booing. However, Michalek's performance in the Finale "saved the day"; her youth and charm was said to have "poured oil on the troubled waters".[43] Despite this, the premiere left many in its audience "enraged",[38] and the Munich press was quick to report.[44] The Allgemeine Zeitung, though praising the first movement, described the symphony as "not readily accessible and, in any case, impossible to judge after only one hearing". It also criticized the work's "pretensions" and unjustified use of "the grotesquely comic" before accusing it of "[trespassing] against the Holy Spirit of music".[45] The  [de] and the Bayerischer Kurier both expressed disappointment when comparing Mahler's Fourth to what they considered his superior Second Symphony; the former assessed the Fourth to be a "succession of disjointed and heterogeneous atmospheres and expressions mixed with instrumental quirks and affectations" while the latter said the work was full of "incredible cacophony".[46] Likewise, Die Musik claimed that "the bad seeds" in parts of the Second grew into "immense spiky thistles" in the Fourth.[47] The symphony did find some praise in the Kleine Journal—which lauded the Finale as "quite simply a work of genius" despite calling the whole work "transparent, sensitive, almost hysterical"—and the Münchener Post, which hailed the symphony to be a "great step forward on the road to artistic clarity".[48]

Subsequent performances and reception[]

Black and white photograph of a man wearing a suit and tie
Felix Weingartner in 1910

Weingartner and the Kaim Orchestra's tour of the symphony following its premiere saw performances in German cities including Nuremberg, Frankfurt-am-Main, Karlsruhe, and Stuttgart. Most of the cities gave unanimously negative receptions towards the Fourth, with Stuttgart being the sole exception.[38][49] In Nuremberg, a false report of a successful Munich premiere prompted some applause, but the city's General-anzeiger gave a harsh review, praising only the symphony's orchestration. In Frankfurt, the audience's "angry and violent" hissing was likened to "the sound of an autumn wind blowing through the dead leaves and dried twigs of a forest" by the  [de].[49] In Karlsruhe, the concert began with an almost empty audience, and Weingartner chose only to conduct the symphony's Finale. In Stuttgart, the press was mixed: the  [de] praised Mahler as a rising star and considered the work a "wreath of good-humored melodies and folk dances"; on the other hand, the Neues Taggblatt condemned the symphony for its "vulgar passages".[50] The tour's failure discouraged Mahler and traumatized Weingartner; the latter never conducted a piece by Mahler again.[51]

The Berlin premiere was performed on 16 December 1901 at the Berlin Opera, with Mahler conducting the and as soprano. The work's reception was hostile; La Grange writes that "the Berlin press took a malicious delight in tearing the new work to shreds", with negative reviews in the  [de], Berliner Tageblatt, and Vossische Zeitung.[52] The Vienna premiere on 12 January 1902 at the Grosser Musikvereinsaal was also conducted by Mahler, who led the Vienna Philharmonic and the soprano . Once again, the reception was a near unanimous condemnation of the symphony.[53] Max Kalbeck barely considered the work adequate for a "pantomime ballet", Theodor Helm found it "impossible to take Mahler's Fourth Symphony seriously" due to its "grotesque musical humour" and "old-fashioned, even childlike melodies",[54] Richard Heuberger could not decipher Mahler's intentions due to the lack of a program,[55] and Max Graf found the Finale "medieval" and its conclusion to have "bizarre, ugly, shrill and tortured sounds".[56]

Mahler conducted a 23 January 1903 performance at the Kurhaus, Wiesbaden, where he was surprised by the friendly reception.[57] That year later saw a performance in Düsseldorf.[58] On 23 March 1904, the composer conducted the Fourth at the Staatstheater Mainz,[59] which received warm applause but reviews criticizing the work's "naïveté".[60] This was followed by a number of international performances. In 1904, Mahler traveled to Amsterdam to conduct a double performance of the symphony on 23 October at the Royal Concertgebouw with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the soloist  [de].[61] The American premiere on 6 November 1904 in New York City saw Walter Damrosch conduct the New York Symphony Society and the soprano .[62][63] The British premiere on 25 October 1905 was a Proms concert delivered by Henry Wood, who conducted the Queen's Hall Orchestra and his wife as soprano.[64] Mahler conducted another performance on 18 January 1907, this time in Frankfurt's Saalbau.[65] Mahler's last performances of the symphony were with the New York Philharmonic and the soprano Bella Alten in Carnegie Hall on 17 and 20 January 1911.[38][66][67]

Black and white photograph of many musicians
Hidemaro Konoye (center) and the New Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo during the first recording of the Fourth Symphony

In the Amsterdam Mahler Festival of May 1920, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Willem Mengelberg's direction performed nine concerts during which Mahler's complete opus was played for the first time.[68] The Fourth Symphony received its recording premiere in May 1930, with Hidemaro Konoye conducting the New Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo and the soprano . The recording was released under Japanese Parlophone and is the first electrical recording of any Mahler symphony.[69] The symphony was first performed by boy soprano in 1983, when soloist James Westman performed and recorded the Fourth with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Zander.[70]

Revisions, publication, and arrangements[]

Following the symphony's 1901 world premiere, Mahler revised the work a number of times, including changes in instrumentation, dynamics, and articulation for Julius Buths (c. 1903);[71] revisions for a 3 November 1905 performance in Graz;[72] changes made in the summer of 1910; and Mahler's last autographed revisions in 1911, made after his final performances of the symphony in New York.[73][74]

The symphony's first edition was published in 1902 by of Vienna as a quarto score.[74] The symphony was later taken up by the Vienna publisher Universal Edition, which reprinted the score in octavo format (c. 1905).[75] Universal Edition published a subsequent edition in 1906,[76] incorporating Mahler's early revisions, and reprinted this edition in 1910 and 1925.[77] However, Universal Edition failed to carry out any of Mahler's further changes since the 1906 edition. Publishing rights of some of the symphony's editions were later transferred to Boosey & Hawkes, but Boosey & Hawkes' 1943 edition also failed to include Mahler's late revisions.[77] Universal Edition eventually published a new edition in 1963, which saw Erwin Ratz incorporate Mahler's yet unpublished revisions. However, these new changes were met with criticism from Hans Redlich, who wrote in 1966: "Only the musical texts of the Symphony published between 1902 and 1910 carry full authenticity for posterity."[78]

Josef Venantius von Wöss arranged the symphony for four-hands piano, a version which was on sale at the time of the symphony's first publishing.[79] Erwin Stein's 1921 and Klaus Simon's 2007 arrangements both call for a reduced orchestration, though Stein's 1921 version is scored for a smaller ensemble since it omits bassoon and horn.[70]

Form[]

Although Mahler described the symphony's key as G major,[80] the work employs a progressive tonal scheme of B minor/G major to E major, as classified in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.[81] Deryck Cooke estimates the duration of the symphony to be 50 minutes, a moderate length for a symphony that Mahler considered to be "of normal dimensions".[80][82] The symphony is in four movements:

  1. Bedächtig, nicht eilen (Deliberate, unhurried) – Sonata form in G major[83][84]
  2. In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast (In measured tempo, unhurried) – Scherzo in C minor with two trios in F major[85][80]
  3. Ruhevoll, poco adagio (Calm, somewhat slowly) – Double theme and variations in G Major (first theme) and E minor (second theme)[86][87]
  4. Sehr behaglich (At ease) – Strophic variations beginning in G major and ending in E major[88][89]

Mahler attempted to unify the four movements through cyclic form, linking movements by reusing themes such as that of the bells in the first movement's opening (which returns in the Finale) and "Das himmlische Leben" in the last movement (anticipations of which can be heard in the first three movements).[90][91]

I. Bedächtig, nicht eilen[]

At approximately 20 minutes in length, the movement is one of Mahler's shortest first movements.[83] Cooke characterizes it as a "pastoral 'walk through the countryside' movement".[92] The introduction is played by flutes and sleigh bells:[93]

\relative c'' { \clef treble \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \key g \major \slashedGrace { g'8( } <fis b,>8-.)\p \slashedGrace { g( } <fis b,>-.) \slashedGrace { g( } <fis b,>-.) \slashedGrace { g( } <fis b,>-.) \slashedGrace { g( } <fis b,>-.) \slashedGrace { g( } <fis b,>-.) \slashedGrace { g( } <fis b,>-.) \slashedGrace { g( } <fis b,>-.) }

The first theme in G major is then heard, marked Recht gemächlich (very leisurely):[94]

\relative c'' { \clef treble \key g \major \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \partial 8*3 d8(\p\upbow^"grazioso"\< e fis\!\glissando | g\pp b,16) r b4.(\downbow c32 b a b c8 d ) | dis4( e4.)\< fis16\!->( e\> d c b a)\! | g8.([ a16 b8. c16)] cis( d e d) \grace { c!8([ d] } c16-> b c a) | g8-. }

Theodor Adorno notices a Schubert-like sound in the first theme, and Constantin Floros calls the theme "remarkly short".[95] The second theme is in D major, marked Breit gesungen (broadly sung):[94]

\relative c' { \clef treble \key d \major \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \partial 8*1 a8\p(\downbow fis'4--) fis-- fis4.-- fis8( | g\< fis g e)\!\glissando b'4(\> a)\!\breathe }

Floros identifies a similarity between this theme and a theme from the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 13.[95] The exposition closes with a coda marked Wieder sehr ruhig (very calm again).[94]

The ensuing development section climaxes on a dissonant fortissimo and a trumpet fanfare that Mahler named "Der kleine Appel" ("The little summons").[94][96] The development also contains anticipations of the Finale's main theme.[94][97] The recapitulation follows and reaches what Paul Stefan describes as "an almost Mozartian jubilation" towards its end.[98] The movement concludes with a calm and slow coda.[99]

II. In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast[]

Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle by Arnold Böcklin, the inspiration for the scherzo

The second movement has a five-part structure, beginning with a scherzo part in C minor that alternates with a trio part in F major.[85][96] The scherzo's prelude presents a horn call,[100] followed by what Stefan terms a "ghostly theme" (see below) in a solo scordatura violin that begins the scherzo's first section in C minor.[98]

\relative c'' { \clef treble \time 3/8 \key c \minor \partial 16*3 b16\mf(\< ees g\! | fis8.\p\< d16 b\!\f f') | ees(\p f ees d c ees) | des( c des) f-. ees-. d-. | ees(\>[ d c\!)] }

A brighter middle section in C major is then heard, before a reprisal of the C minor section. The scherzo closes with a horn postlude.[100][101] The two trios interpolated into the movement's three scherzos have the character of a Ländler and are in a "lazily cheerful" style that contrasts with the scherzo's grotesqueness.[102] La Grange describes the second movement as Mahler's "only true ländler movement" since the First Symphony's Scherzo.[101] Floros finds that certain melodies in the trio anticipate themes from the Finale.[103]

The scherzo was originally named "Freund Hein spielt auf" ("Friend Hein Strikes Up", or "Death takes the fiddle" as paraphrased by Cooke). "Freund Hein" is a personification of Death in German folklore, whose fiddling is represented in the music by the harsh sound of the scordatura violin.[F][92][106] The printed program for the 1904 Amsterdam performance even included the title "Todtentanz" ("Dance of Death") for the movement, though this was never published in the symphony's first edition.[96] According to Mahler's widow, Alma, the composer took inspiration for this movement from the 1872 painting Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle by the Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin.[96][107] Kurt Blaukopf writes that the violin's passages betray "Mahler's penchant for the ludicrous and the eerie". Despite this, he notes that Freund Hein "is not frightening in effect" but is instead "uncanny".[108] Stefan also characterizes Mahler's depiction of Death as "very good-natured".[98]

III. Ruhevoll, poco adagio[]

The third movement is an Adagio set of double variations in G major.[80] 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,

\relative c' { \clef treble \key g \major \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 b1\pp( | c) | d2..( e8) | e1 | fis2.( g4) | a2( fis4 g) | a( c b g) | fis( e d a8 b) | c1( | b2.) c8( d) | e2( d4 cis) | d2. e8( fis) | g2( fis4 e) | fis( e d2)\glissando | e4( d) c( b) | b2( a) }

but the true variations do not appear until section A3, although the theme is developed slightly within the preceding sections; sections A1, A2, B1 and B2 are in bar form. This movement remains mostly in G major, but does modulate to D minor, E minor and E major; the B2 section has a rather unstable tonality, being more chromatic and moving through many keys.

IV. Sehr behaglich[]

The fourth movement opens with a relaxed, bucolic scene in G major.

\relative c' { \clef treble \key g \major \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \partial 4*1 \times 2/3 { d8(\pp b' g } | d'2 \slashedGrace { e8 } d2-> | \slashedGrace { e8 } d2-> \slashedGrace { c8 } b8.->[ a16 g8.-> a16] | d,2->) }

A child, voiced by a soprano, presents a sunny, naive vision of Heaven and describes the feast being prepared for all the saints.

\relative c' { \clef treble \key g \major \autoBeamOff \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 r d8 d d4 b'8 g | d'8.[( e16 d8. e16] d8.[ e16 d8. e16] | \times 2/3 { d8[ c b]) } \times 2/3 { a[ b] g } d8.([ e16)] d8 } \addlyrics { Wir ge- nie- ßen die himm- li- schen Freu- den, }

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 traditional symphonies, the fourth movement of Mahler's No. 4 is essentially a song, containing verses, with interludes, a prelude and a postlude (a strophic structure). By the time the postlude is heard, there is a modulation to E major (the tonic major of the relative minor) and unusually stays in this key, ending the symphony away from the tonic of G major. Several ties to Symphony No. 3 can be heard in these passages as well.

Instrumentation[]

The symphony is scored for a smaller orchestra compared to Mahler's other symphonies,[80] and the work is absent of trombones and tuba; however, Michael Steinberg calls the percussion section "lavish".[109] The instrumentation is as follows:[38]

Woodwinds:
4 flutes (3rd and 4th doubling piccolos)
3 oboes (3rd doubling cor anglais)
3 B♭, A, C clarinets (2nd doubling E♭ clarinet,
     3rd doubling bass clarinet)
3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon)

Brass:

4 horns
3 trumpets

Percussion:

4 timpani
bass drum
cymbals
triangle
sleigh bells
tam-tam
glockenspiel
Voices:
soprano solo (used only in fourth movement)

Strings:

harp
1st violins
2nd violins
violas
cellos
double basses

Fourth movement text[]

"Das himmlische Leben"
(aus Des Knaben Wunderhorn)[110]

Wir genießen die himmlischen Freuden,
D'rum tun wir das Irdische meiden.
Kein weltlich' Getümmel
Hört man nicht im Himmel!
Lebt alles in sanftester Ruh'!

Wir führen ein englisches Leben!
Sind dennoch ganz lustig daneben!
Wir tanzen und springen,
Wir hüpfen und singen!
Sankt Peter im Himmel sieht zu!

Johannes das Lämmlein auslasset,
Der Metzger Herodes d'rauf passet!
Wir führen ein geduldig's,
Unschuldig's, geduldig's,
Ein liebliches Lämmlein zu Tod!

Sankt Lucas den Ochsen tät schlachten
Ohn' einig's Bedenken und Achten;
Der Wein kost' kein Heller
Im himmlischen Keller;
Die Englein, die backen das Brot.

Gut' Kräuter von allerhand Arten,
Die wachsen im himmlischen Garten!
Gut' Spargel, Fisolen
Und was wir nur wollen,
Ganze Schüsseln voll sind uns bereit!

Gut' Äpfel, gut' Birn' und gut' Trauben;
Die Gärtner, die alles erlauben!
Willst Rehbock, willst Hasen?
Auf offener Straßen
Sie laufen herbei!

Sollt' ein Fasttag etwa kommen,
Alle Fische gleich mit Freuden
     angeschwommen!
Dort läuft schon Sankt Peter
Mit Netz und mit Köder,
Zum himmlischen Weiher hinein.[G]
Sankt Martha die Köchin muß sein!

Kein' Musik ist ja nicht auf Erden,
Die unsrer verglichen kann werden.
Elftausend Jungfrauen
Zu tanzen sich trauen!
Sankt Ursula selbst dazu lacht!
Cäcilia mit ihren Verwandten
Sind treffliche Hofmusikanten!
Die englischen Stimmen
Ermuntern die Sinnen!
Daß alles für Freuden erwacht.

"The Heavenly Life"
(from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, translated by Deryck Cooke)[110]

We revel in heavenly pleasures,
Leaving all that is earthly behind us.
No worldly turmoil
Is heard in heaven;
We all live in sweetest peace.

We lead an angelic existence,
And so we are perfectly happy.
We dance and leap,
And skip and sing;
Saint Peter in Heaven looks on.

Saint John has lost his lambkin,
And butcher Herod is lurking:
We lead a patient,
Guiltless, patient,
Darling lambkin to death.

Saint Luke is slaying the oxen,
Without the least hesitation;
Wine costs not a farthing
In the Heavenly tavern;
The angels bake the bread.

Fine sprouts of every description,
Are growing in Heaven's garden.
Fine asparagus, fine herbs,
And all we desire,
Huge platefuls for us are prepared.

Fine apples, fine pears and fine grapes,
The gardeners let us pick freely.
You want venison, hare?
In the open streets
They go running around.

And when there's a holiday near,
All the fishes come joyfully
     swimming;
And off runs Saint Peter
With net and with bait,
Towards the celestial pond.
Saint Martha will have to be cook!

There's no music at all on the earth
Which can ever compare with ours.
Eleven thousand virgins
Are set dancing.
Saint Ursula herself laughs to see it!
Cecilia with her companions
Are splendid court musicians.
The angelic voices
Delight the senses,
For all things awake to joy.

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ The piano and voice score of "Das himmlische Leben" was completed on 10 February 1892 while the orchestra and voice score was completed on 12 March 1892.[10]
  2. ^ Paul Bekker surmises that the Fourth Symphony's plans were made "almost at the same time" as the Third's (in the summer of 1895), but Constantin Floros believes the sketch's title of "Symphony No. 4" suggests it was made after the Third's completion (after the summer of 1896).[18]
  3. ^ Mahler originally labeled this movement with a duplicate Roman numeral "V", which James L. Zychowicz considers to be "a slip of the pen" in the six-movement plan.[21]
  4. ^ Donald Mitchell regards "Die Welt als ewige Jetztzeit" as the "suppressed title" of the symphony's first movement,[22] and Floros explains that the final version's Scherzo and Adagio movements do not correspond with the sketch's.[18]
  5. ^ Mitchell notes that Mahler originally inscribed 6 August 1900 at the end of the Adagio movement, but the composer's additional inscription of "Sunday" leads Mitchell to conclude that "it must have been the 5th" on which Mahler completed the symphony (the 6th was a Monday).[24] Henry-Louis de La Grange also believes that the real date was "undoubtedly" 5 August.[25]
  6. ^ During the 12 October 1901 rehearsal with the Vienna Philharmonic, Mahler was not satisfied with the violin's sound and delegated the "fiddle" part to a solo viola, still played by the Philharmonic's leader Arnold Rosé.[104] Mahler reversed this decision for the 1904 Dutch premiere in Amsterdam, which apparently used a violin with normal tuning. The present score calls for a scordatura violin.[105]
  7. ^ Mahler here omitted the following four lines of the original poem: "Willst Karpfen, willst Hecht, willst Forellen, / Gut Stockfisch und frische Sardellen? / Sanct Lorenz hat müssen / Sein Leben einbüßen,"[111]

References[]

  1. ^ Barford 1970, p. 22.
  2. ^ Zychowicz 2005, p. 45.
  3. ^ Mitchell 2005, p. 311.
  4. ^ Stefan 1913, p. 85.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Zychowicz 2005, p. 9.
  6. ^ Zychowicz 2005, p. 35.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b La Grange 1973, p. 581.
  8. ^ Zychowicz 2005, p. 18.
  9. ^ Cooke 1980, p. 67.
  10. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 725.
  11. ^ La Grange 1973, p. 249.
  12. ^ Zychowicz 2005, p. 37.
  13. ^ Zychowicz 2005, pp. 40–42.
  14. ^ Floros 1993, p. 110.
  15. ^ Blaukopf 1973, p. 159.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b Zychowicz 2005, p. 24.
  17. ^ La Grange 1973, p. 583.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b c Floros 1993, p. 111.
  19. ^ Floros 1993, pp. 110–111, 347.
  20. ^ Mitchell 2005, p. 139.
  21. ^ Zychowicz 2005, p. 48.
  22. ^ Mitchell 2005, p. 258.
  23. ^ Mitchell 2005, pp. 139, 258.
  24. ^ Mitchell 1999, p. 194.
  25. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 755.
  26. ^ Floros 1993, pp. 111–112.
  27. ^ La Grange 1995, pp. 754–755.
  28. ^ La Grange 1973, p. 585.
  29. ^ Floros 1993, p. 112.
  30. ^ La Grange 1973, pp. 606, 708.
  31. ^ Zychowicz 2005, p. 31.
  32. ^ La Grange 1973, p. 582.
  33. ^ La Grange 1973, p. 634.
  34. ^ La Grange 1973, p. 635.
  35. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 375.
  36. ^ La Grange 1973, pp. 635–636, 942.
  37. ^ La Grange 1973, pp. 645–647.
  38. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Steinberg 1995, p. 301.
  39. ^ La Grange 1973, pp. 646–647.
  40. ^ Jump up to: a b La Grange 1973, p. 647.
  41. ^ Mitchell 1999, p. 201.
  42. ^ Mahler Foundation (Munich).
  43. ^ La Grange 1973, p. 650.
  44. ^ La Grange 1973, p. 652.
  45. ^ La Grange 1973, pp. 652–653.
  46. ^ La Grange, p. 653.
  47. ^ La Grange, p. 654.
  48. ^ La Grange 1973, p. 653.
  49. ^ Jump up to: a b La Grange 1973, p. 656.
  50. ^ La Grange 1973, p. 657.
  51. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 408.
  52. ^ La Grange 1973, pp. 658–659.
  53. ^ La Grange 1995, pp. 471–472.
  54. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 473.
  55. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 474.
  56. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 475.
  57. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 557.
  58. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 604.
  59. ^ Mahler Foundation (Mainz).
  60. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 671.
  61. ^ Mahler Foundation (Amsterdam).
  62. ^ Aldrich 1904.
  63. ^ Smith 1904.
  64. ^ Mitchell 1999, p. 553.
  65. ^ Mahler Foundation (Frankfurt).
  66. ^ Mahler Foundation (New York, a).
  67. ^ Mahler Foundation (New York, b).
  68. ^ Blaukopf 1973, p. 241.
  69. ^ Smoley 1996, p. 93.
  70. ^ Jump up to: a b Mahler Foundation (History).
  71. ^ Zychowicz 1995, pp. 264–265.
  72. ^ Zychowicz 1995, p. 266.
  73. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 756.
  74. ^ Jump up to: a b Zychowicz 1995, p. 268.
  75. ^ Zychowicz 1995, pp. 268–269.
  76. ^ La Grange 1973, p. 708.
  77. ^ Jump up to: a b Zychowicz 1995, p. 269.
  78. ^ Zychowicz 1995, p. 271.
  79. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 478.
  80. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Zychowicz 2005, p. 14.
  81. ^ Franklin 2001, p. 626.
  82. ^ Cooke 1980, p. 66.
  83. ^ Jump up to: a b La Grange 1995, p. 761.
  84. ^ Zychowicz 2005, p. 13.
  85. ^ Jump up to: a b La Grange 1995, p. 764.
  86. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 766.
  87. ^ Zychowicz 2005, p. 15.
  88. ^ La Grange 1995, pp. 768–769.
  89. ^ Zychowicz 2005, p. 16.
  90. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 759.
  91. ^ Zychowicz 1995, pp. 18, 20.
  92. ^ Jump up to: a b Cooke 1980, p. 68.
  93. ^ Steinberg, p. 302.
  94. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e La Grange 1995, p. 762.
  95. ^ Jump up to: a b Floros 1993, p. 119.
  96. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Floros 1993, p. 122.
  97. ^ Floros 1993, p. 120.
  98. ^ Jump up to: a b c Stefan 1913, p. 104.
  99. ^ La Grange 1995, p. 763.
  100. ^ Jump up to: a b Floros 1993, p. 123.
  101. ^ Jump up to: a b La Grange 1995, p. 765.
  102. ^ Cooke 1980, pp. 68–69.
  103. ^ Floros 1993, pp. 123–124.
  104. ^ Mitchell 2005, p. 303.
  105. ^ La Grange 1995, pp. 764–765.
  106. ^ Steinberg 1995, pp. 302–303.
  107. ^ Steinberg 1995, p. 303.
  108. ^ Blaukopf 1973, pp. 159–160.
  109. ^ Steinberg 1995, p. 302.
  110. ^ Jump up to: a b Cooke 1980, pp. 69–70.
  111. ^ Arnim 2014, p. 177.

Sources[]

Book sources[]

  • Arnim, Ludwig Achim (2014). Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Alte deutsche Lieder [The Boy's Magic Horn: Old German Songs] (in German). Norderstedt: Books on Demand. ISBN 978-3-8430-3044-1.
  • Barford, Philip (1970). Mahler Symphonies and Songs. London: British Broadcasting Corporation. ISBN 0-563-09274-2.
  • Blaukopf, Kurt (1973). Gustav Mahler. Translated by Goodwin, Inge. New York: Praeger Publishers. LCCN 73-109467.7
  • Cooke, Deryck (1980). Gustav Mahler: An Introduction to his Music. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23175-2.
  • Floros, Constantin (1993). Pauly, Reinhard G. (ed.). Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies. Translated by Wicker, Vernon. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, Inc. ISBN 0-931340-62-4.
  • Franklin, Peter (2001). "Mahler, Gustav". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 15 (2 ed.). London and New York: Macmillan Publishers Limited. ISBN 1-56159-239-0.
  • La Grange, Henry-Louis (1973). Mahler. 1. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-385-00524-5.
  • La Grange, Henry-Louis (1995). Gustav Mahler. 2. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-315159-6.
  • Mitchell, Donald (1999). "'Swallowing the Programme': Mahler's Fourth Symphony" and "The Mahler Renaissance in England: Its Origins and Chronology". In Mitchell, Donald; Nicholson, Andrew (eds.). The Mahler Companion. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816376-2.
  • Mitchell, Donald (2005). Gustav Mahler: The Wunderhorn Years. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press. ISBN 1-84383-003-5.
  • Smoley, Lewis M. (1996). Gustav Mahler's Symphonies: Critical Commentary on Recordings Since 1986. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29771-1.
  • Stefan, Paul (1913). Gustav Mahler: A Study of His Personality and Work. Translated by Clark, T. E. New York: G. Schirmer.
  • Steinberg, Michael (1995). The Symphony: A Listener's Guide. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506177-2.
  • Zychowicz, James L. (2005). Mahler's Fourth Symphony. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816206-5.

Other sources[]

Further reading[]

External links[]

Retrieved from ""