4th Symphony (Mahler)

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The 4th Symphony in G major is a symphony with soprano solo by Gustav Mahler . The text is based on a poem from Des Knaben Wunderhorn .

Emergence

Gustav Mahler composed the 4th symphony in the summer months of 1899 and 1900. Mahler finished the fair copy on January 5, 1901. The composing process only comprised three movements, since the finale was already fixed. For this, Mahler used the song "Das himmlische Leben" from the songs he set to music by Des Knaben Wunderhorn . The song was written in 1892 while working on the 2nd symphony . Mahler originally planned to conceive his 4th Symphony as a symphonic humoresque . Here vocal elements should be integrated much more generously than was ultimately done. Three of the planned six movements should consist of Wunderhorn songs , as the earliest movement plan from 1896 shows. The only thing the actual implementation has in common with this plan is the key of G major and the final movement.

To the music

occupation

4 flutes (3rd and 4th with piccolo ), 3 oboes (3rd with English horn ), 3 clarinets (second to-E-flat clarinet, 3. with bass clarinet ), 3 bassoons (3rd with contrabassoon ), 4 horns , 3 Trumpets , timpani , percussion ( bass drum , cymbals , triangle , tam-tam , bells , glockenspiel ), harp , first violin , second violin, viola , cello , double bass

The orchestral line-up of the 4th symphony is therefore significantly smaller than usual for Mahler's standards. What is particularly striking is the complete absence of the trombones and tuba (although there are 3 trumpets and timpani), which both belong to the late Romantic standard orchestra and are also used in all of Mahler's other symphonies.

1st movement: thoughtfully. Do not rush

The first movement is largely in the classical sonata form , which is sometimes ironically broken. A flute motif on a throbbing, rhythmic background of the bells is continued by the main dance theme of the strings. At first it looks cheerful and sings carefree. Towards the end, a motif appears in the woodwinds which is reminiscent of the children's song " A Bi-Ba-Butzemann dances ". Mahler, who found the song "Das himmlische Leben" on which the finale was based, to be childlike, allowed this style to flow into the work again and again. Shortly afterwards the strings intone the second theme. This is of a solemn mood and already points to the 3rd movement. A third thought that emerges suddenly is again of a dance-like structure and is only to be seen as a secondary thought, as it leads directly to the repetition of the main theme. The initial motif then reappears, whereupon the solo violin, then the horn and flute, expose fragments of motifs. This part corresponds to the beginning of the implementation in the classical form. The action is becoming increasingly confusing and chaotic, as the most varied of topics and hints of new motifs come together. The main theme, which recurs a little differently and which corresponds to the beginning of the recapitulation , provides an orderly structure . This is unusually regular for Mahler's standards. The movement fades away with a slower processing of the main theme. Only shortly before the end does the action accelerate and fade away with a few cautiously optimistic chords from the whole orchestra.

2nd movement: In leisurely movement without haste

The second movement of the symphony is a haunted scherzo . The solo violin , tuned up by one note, represents a screaming, raw embodiment of ghostly physical death. Mahler sets this to music with a grotesque and ironic form of humor that is based on Jean Paul . The horn begins with an accompanying motif, on which the solo violin unfolds an eerie and distorted melody. This music opposes the childlike cheerfulness that Mahler contrasts, for example, through the text of the song on which the finale is based. The first trio represents a short Länders who, due to the restless accompaniment, cannot become the calm opposite of the eerie singing. Mechanically, the constant melody of the solo violin starts again according to the horn motif and determines the further course of the scherzo. Only with a drastic trumpet fanfare can the second trio begin. In this, a waltz develops in an extremely restrained way , which is interrupted by the threatening sounds of the bass voices. A bright harp chord can, however, lengthen the idyll for a brief moment before the opening motif sounds softly and brings back the singing of the solo violin. However, on the accompanying chords of the woodwind, this no longer unfolds as eerily as it did at the beginning. The Scherzo ends with restrained notes from the woodwinds, which leave an uncertain mood. In this Scherzo Mahler placed the disturbing next to the beautiful, making the ambiguity of the brokenness of the world and the idyllic audible in an impressive way.

3rd movement: Calm

"Serene" - Third movement of the 4th Symphony by Gustav Mahler.

As in Beethoven's 9th Symphony , the Adagio is a series of double variations . It creates a solemn and poignant mood next to threatening abysses of music. Some tensions are never resolved, whereby the feelings of post-romanticism find an exemplary expression here. The appearance of total collapse is awakened several times, but this is warded off by an explosive breakthrough, which equates to a look at the vision of heaven. The movement begins with the solemn and vocal main theme of the strings. The double basses accompany the other strings with pizzicati . The flowing, moving vocals continue to sing, and finally the woodwinds join in. The vocals slowly fade to the deep sounds of the harp and a plaintive oboe motif is intoned. It unfolds and, with the help of the accompanying strings and a sloping motif from the brass section, creates a profound and sometimes profound drama. Eventually the action intensifies with the orchestra's tutti chords and comes to a climax, which leads to a brief standstill. A short, threatening motif on the cello looks like resigned hopelessness. The pizzicati of the beginning, now recorded by the woodwinds, provide new movement. This is followed by a cheerful and lively variation on the main theme. Fast accompanying voices from oboe and clarinet decorate the slightly accelerated singing of the strings. The further course is also determined by the woodwinds, which lead to the variation of the second part. In the middle of it bursts a threatening tutti blow from the orchestra and pulls the musical events back into the mood of doom. Here, within a very short time, the greatest tensions arise, which can hardly be resolved. The gloomy cell motif reappears. After it has changed briefly between major and minor, the optimistic chant of the varied main theme can be established. In addition, there are further decorative elements, such as the abrupt accompanying chords of the strings. After a folksong-like melody fragment that seems completely over the top, the solemn mood of the beginning is restored. Quite unexpectedly, an orchestral tutti in E major breaks into the calm G major mood, in which trumpets and horns quote the main theme of the first movement. Only then does the music return to the solemn G major tuning, and the movement fades away in piano .

4th movement: Very comfortable

The fourth movement sets to music in four stanzas and a coda the text of the poem "Heaven hangs full of violins" ("The heavenly life") from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, which was slightly changed by Mahler . The movement opens with an orchestral prelude with the childishly naive melody theme, as Mahler sees the text as a seemingly naive vision of paradise. The opening motif of the first movement is quoted between the stanzas. However, it appears in a stormy and lashing shape, which is the opposite of the sacred stanza ends. In the second stanza, Mahler takes this dramatically forward-moving style into the accompaniment of the orchestra. The text calls for such an increase: "John leaves out the lamb, the butcher Herod fits on it". Between the third and fourth stanza there is a longer, pastoral interlude. The last stanza should then be performed "very gently and mysteriously to the end". The themed resurrection of the dead is presented as a mystery and appears mysterious instead of powerful. The dulling, suffocating ending makes the vision of paradise fade. The last words of the fourth stanza (“No music is not on earth”) are repeated before the music dies.

effect

The first performance of the symphony took place on November 25, 1901 with the Kaim Orchestra and the soprano Margarete Michalik under the direction of Gustav Mahler in Munich . The work failed and caused astonishment in the audience. Compared to the two previous Wunderhorn symphonies, the less large-scale and pompous style disappointed the audience. The move away from romantic pathos also caused confusion. The music critic Theodor Kroyer accused Mahler, for example, of the fact that the symphony contained "no original feeling". Everything is "technology, calculation and inner mendacity, a sickly, tasting over-music." The Allgemeine Musikische Zeitung spoke of an "uncomfortable impression". Few of its critics recognized the progressive value of the new work. Mahler's friend Ernst Otto Nodnagel praised the premiere as "the first real musical event in the 20th century". Theodor W. Adorno later said: "A masterpiece like the fourth symphony is an as-if from the first to the last note". Today Mahler's 4th Symphony is one of the composer's most popular works and is performed frequently. Mahler himself described the symphony as one of his best works.

Status

Mahler's 4th symphony is one of his most remarkable works. It is the last of the three symphonies that set poems from the Des Knaben Wunderhorn collection by Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim . Mahler describes all three symphonies as related in terms of content. The two previous Wunderhorn symphonies ( 2nd and 3rd symphonies ), however, are formally very different from the 4th symphony. This is much shorter, keeps the classic four-movement form and requires a smaller orchestra. The work is often referred to as Mahler's Classicist Symphony . In contrast to its predecessors, it avows itself to a new simplicity which, however, is not based on Haydn or Mozart , which is why the name "classical" is actually not appropriate. Rather, the work represents a departure from late Romantic pathos and great emphasis. In this, the work already points to the musical epoch of New Music and Mahler's own late style. With the 5th symphony at the latest, the departure to new standards that began in the 4th symphony manifests itself. The 4th symphony in particular points specifically to Mahler's 9th symphony , which represents the definitive beginning of the new musical epoch. Mahler himself wrote about his 9th symphony that it was "most likely to be placed alongside the fourth". Some similarities in content can actually be found in the two works. In these symphonies, the theme of “farewell” and the transition from earthly to heavenly life is set to music. Both symphonies also contain a scherzo of grotesque humor, which is typical of Mahler's tonal language and was inspired by his Jean Paul reading. The solo violin is tuned up by one note here to sound like a "fiddle for the dead". The entire 4th symphony juxtaposes the disturbing and the cheerful in a provocative manner in a dialectical process. The ambiguity of brokenness of the course of the world on the one hand and idyll on the other becomes impressively audible. This leads to the caricaturing of both worlds and makes Adorno's characterization of the music as an “as if from the first to the last note” plausible. The form of musical expression constantly opposes the text of the song on which the finale is based, which seems childlike and naive to Mahler. This happens, for example, through the grotesque Scherzo or plaintive sections of the Adagios. This is one of Mahler's deepest and most sublime slow movements. It reaches an enormous depth of sensation without bearing the pathos of the Adagios of the 3rd Symphony . Here, too, it points to Mahler's changing compositional style. What is particularly striking about the conception of the 4th symphony, however, are the strong thematic links between the four movements and the sole focus of the musical events on the final movement. To such an extent this approach is unique in Mahler's symphonies.

Edits

Arrangements for chamber ensemble were created by Erwin Stein and Klaus Simon .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walter Werbeck: An as-if from the first to the last note. In: Renate Ulm: Gustav Mahler's Symphonies, 128.
  2. ↑ Walter Werbeck: An as-if from the first to the last note. In: Renate Ulm: Gustav Mahler's Symphonies, 134.
  3. ^ Theodor Kroyer: Article in "Die Musik", December 1901. In: Renate Ulm: Gustav Mahler's Symphonies, 140.
  4. ↑ Karl Pottgiesser: Article in the general musical newspaper , December 1901. In: Renate Ulm: Gustav Mahler's Symphonies, 140.
  5. ^ Theodor W. Adorno: Vienna speech. In: Gustav Mahler, Tübingen 1966, 194
  6. ^ Letter to Bruno Walter. Quoted from: Blaukopf, Briefe, 368. In: Renate Ulm: Gustav Mahler's Symphonies, 273.
  7. ^ Theodor W. Adorno: Vienna speech. In: Gustav Mahler, Tübingen 1966, 194
  8. ^ Letter to Georg Göhler. Quoted from: Herta Blaukopf, Gustav Mahler - Briefe, Vienna 1982, 403.
  9. ↑ Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 4 in G major. Arrangement for soprano and chamber ensemble by Erwin Stein , Verlag Josef Weinberger, accessed on May 12, 2020
  10. ↑ Gustav Mahler: 4th Symphony (arranged by: Klaus Simon) , Universal Edition, accessed on May 12, 2020