Program Notes: Mahler 3
Notes on our January 20 program by Ken Meltzer
Symphony No. 3 (1896)
Gustav Mahler was born in Kaliště, Bohemia, on July 7, 1860, and died in Vienna, Austria, on May 18, 1911. The first complete performance of the Symphony No. 3 took place in Krefeld, Germany, on June 9, 1902, with the composer conducting. Approximate performance time is ninety-nine minutes.
In the summer of 1894, Gustav Mahler completed his Symphony No. 2. Known as the “Resurrection,” the Mahler Second is a massive work in five movements, featuring two vocal soloists, a large chorus, and orchestra. A performance of the “Resurrection” Symphony lasts approximately eighty minutes. It seemed that with the “Resurrection,” Mahler had stretched the boundaries of epic symphonic expression to their limits.
Then, in the summer of 1895, Mahler began work on his Symphony No. 3. The Third would represent a departure from the subject matter of his first two Symphonies:
The greatest problems of humanity, those which I have evoked and attempted to solve in the Second (why do we exist? Do we continue to exist after death?), can no longer touch me here. What, in fact, do they amount to in the face of the All-Powerful, of the Pan in whom everything lives and must live? Can a spirit that, as in this symphony, mediates on the eternal truths of creation and divinity die? Thus one becomes convinced that everything is blissfully created forever, human sorrow and misery have no further place here. Sublime gaiety reigns, an eternally sunny day—for the gods, naturally, not for men—for them all this is terrifying and monstrous, and eternally elusive.
During the summer of 1895, Mahler composed five of the Third Symphony’s six movements. The following summer, Mahler worked on the remaining movement, which would serve to open the Symphony. Mahler completed the score on August 6, 1896. He conducted the work’s premiere on June 9, 1902, in Krefeld, Germany (selected movements from the Symphony had been performed previously).
In 1895, Mahler confided to Natalie Bauer-Lechner:
It is really inadequate for me to call (the Third) a symphony, for in no respect does it retain the traditional form. But to write a symphony means, to me, to construct a world with all the tools of the available technique. The ever-new and ever-changing content determines its own form. In this sense, I must always learn anew to create new means of expression for myself, even though (as I feel I can say myself) I have complete technical mastery…
The following year, however, as Mahler approached the completion of the first movement (and thus, the entire Third Symphony), he discovered:
To my surprise—and likewise to my delight—I see that in this movement, as in the whole work, there is the same structure and the same foundation (without my having wanted it or even thought about it) which is found in Mozart or, in a more highly developed form, in Beethoven, but which was really devised by old Haydn. It must be established according to profound and eternal laws, which Beethoven observed and which I find again in my own work as a kind of affirmation.
In these seemingly contradictory statements, Mahler encapsulated the singular greatness of his Third Symphony. On the one hand, it is true that Mahler’s Third Symphony is a work that appears to transcend all boundaries established by the masters of the Classical era. The first movement of the Mahler Third alone is longer than most complete symphonies of Haydn and Mozart, as well as some by Beethoven. And the number and variety of musicians required for the Mahler Third far exceed what Haydn, Mozart, or Beethoven could have envisioned.
Nevertheless, for all the epic length, profusion of ideas, and vast performing forces, the Mahler Third is a work notable for its sense of structural integrity, proportion, and inexorable progression. It is also in many ways (perhaps surprisingly) an intimate work, often radiating a depth of expression that makes the Mahler Third one of the truly exalted symphonic experiences.
First Part
I. Kräftig. Entschieden (Forceful. Determined)—Mahler provided the following general description of his Third Symphony:
My work is a gigantic musical poem; it includes all the phases of evolution and depicts its gradual rise: it begins at the heart of inanimate nature and progresses to the love of God! Men will take some time to crack these nuts which I have shaken off the tree…
As for the opening movement, originally subtitled, “Pan’s Awakening, Summer Marches in (procession of Bacchus)”, Mahler noted:
It is hardly music anymore, just the voice of nature: one shudders at this motionless, soulless material (I could have called this movement “What the rocks tell me”), from which, little by little, life frees itself and finally conquers, developing and differentiating step by step: flowers, animals, men, right up to the kingdom of the spirit and that of the angels. In the introduction there is the scorched, brooding atmosphere of midday in summer, when all life is suspended and not a breath of wind stirs the vibrant, flamboyant air, drunk with sunshine. Life, the young prisoner of ever-motionless, inanimate nature, cries out in the distance and begs for freedom, until…this life breaks out victoriously.
Second Part
II. Tempo di Menuetto. Sehr mässig (Very moderate)—Mahler described the second movement, “What the flowers of the field tell me,” as:
the most carefree music I have ever written, as carefree as only flowers can be. It all sways and ripples like flowers on limber stems sway in the wind…That this innocent flowery cheerfulness does not last but suddenly becomes serious and weighty, you can well imagine. A heavy storm sweeps across the meadow and shakes the flowers and leaves. They groan and whimper, as if pleading for redemption to a higher realm.
III. Comodo. Scherzando.Ohne Hast (Without Haste)—The third movement, “What the animals of the forest tell me,” evokes:
the quiet, undisturbed life of the forest before the appearance of man. Then the animals catch sight of the first human being (annotator’s note: represented by an off-stage posthorn) and, although he walks calmly past them, the terrified (animals) sense that future trouble will come for them.
IV. Sehr langsam (Very slowly). Misterioso. Durchaus (Throughout)—For this movement, “What man tells me,” Mahler employs a setting for alto solo and orchestra of the “Midnight Song” from Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra.
V. Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck (Merry in Pace and Bold in Expression)—For this movement, originally subtitled, “What the angels tell me,” Mahler turns to one of his favorite sources, Des Knaben Wunderhorn (“The Youth’s Magic Horn”), a 19th-century anthology of German folk poems. The children’s chorus imitates the sound of bells, while the women’s chorus sings the Wunderhorn text, entitled “Es sungen drei Engel” (“Three angels sang”).
VI. Langsam, Ruhevoll, Empfunden (Slow, Calm, With Feeling)—Mahler entitled this movement, “What love tells me.” Here, it is appropriate to recall that Mahler acknowledged that he was referring to “the love of God.” For the depiction of this subject, Mahler chose to conclude his Symphony not with a traditional quick-tempo finale, but with expansive, serene music.
The finale is essentially based upon two themes, both introduced by the strings. The finale presents metamorphoses of the themes, finally proceeding to the majestic apotheosis with which the Symphony concludes.