6th Symphony (Mahler)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 6th Symphony in A minor is a symphony by Gustav Mahler .

Emergence

The 6th symphony was written between 1903 and 1904, immediately after the 5th symphony . For the most part, Mahler wrote the work in Vienna , where he worked as the director of the court opera. At that time he was highly regarded as a conductor and composer in Vienna and was able to develop ideally as an artist. The symphony is sometimes given the nickname “tragic”, which, however, does not come from Mahler himself. Mahler was of the opinion, however, that the new work would "give up riddles".

To the music

Cast and duration of performance

Piccolo , 4 flutes (3 and 4 also piccolo), 4 oboe (3 and 4 also English horn ), English horn, clarinet in Es and D, 3 clarinets in B and A, bass clarinet in B and A, 4 Fagotte , Contrabassoon , 8 horns in F, 6 trumpets in Bb and F, 4 trombones (4th also bass trombone ), bass tuba , percussion (4 timpani , snare drum , bass drum , cymbal , triangle , tam-tam , rod , hammer , glockenspiel , xylophone , Herd bells , low bells , wooden rattles , tambourine ), 2 harps , celesta , first violin , second violin, viola , cello , double bass . In total, more than 110 musicians are required for the performance.

The performance lasts about 85 minutes.

1st movement: Allegro energico. Violent but pithy

Mahler 6 - rhythm motif - often referred to as the fate motif

The main movement begins with a pounding rhythm of the low strings, after which a marsh melody develops. This develops from an A minor triad which, when transitioned to the secondary motif, develops from an A major sound in combination with a distinctive rhythm. This motif - often referred to in reception history as the "fate motif" - appears in a veiled manner in all movements of the symphony (most strikingly in the first and fourth). A chorale- like motif of the woodwind , reminiscent of Bruckner , calms the turbulent events. Then the strings intone a second, restless thought, which soars to enormous size. This thought probably represents an homage to his wife Alma . Mahler probably dedicated it to her with the words: "I tried to hold you on a topic - I don't know if I succeeded, you have to put up with it." The whole The exposition is then repeated almost verbatim, which is unusual for Mahler. The re-starting march rhythm directs the development section include, but are not unusually, the two main themes in the focus, but the rhythm of the "fate motif". In the center of the development there is a musical standstill and herd bells can be heard softly, as if from a distance, to the xylophone and gentle woodwind accompaniment. An idyll in the middle of the gloomy march. Short motifs from the woodwinds maintain the image of the Austrian natural idyll for minutes. Only the cautious return of the march rhythm ends the delicate insertion, which looks like a small idyllic island in the middle of the raging events. The pounding rhythm intensifies in the recapitulation . In the rousing coda , the pounding of the timpani accelerates further, which leads to a relatively sudden end after a likewise accelerated motif of the second theme.

2nd movement: Scherzo. Massive

The Scherzo immediately follows the marching rhythm of the first movement in A minor, but is kept in 3/8 time, which can also be interpreted in relation to the "fate motif". Furthermore, the key speaks for its position in second place in the symphony. A hardly articulated topic unfolds with great unrest on this rhythm. A slow end to the stamping leads to a trio that is rhythmically more irregular and incomparably gentler than the main theme. The brass section then suddenly hears the marching rhythm, which leads to the return of the scherzo. From this a new, restless, dance-like theme unfolds, which is interrupted again and again suddenly by the marching rhythm. A trio then sounds again, which is similar to the first, but does not represent its repetition. Then, completely suddenly, there is a dramatic tutti chord , which leads to an immediate standstill, which is overcome by timid woodwind motifs, but lets the movement end with a few menacing motifs. Due to its sudden upheavals and changes in character, the sentence appears very restless and lacking in continuity.

3rd movement: Andante moderato

The Andante in E flat major is the resting point of this symphony. The lyrical theme is also often interpreted as asserting his wife Alma. The instrumentation is more moderate and restrained compared to the other movements. A lyrical mood unfolds very slowly in the strings and woodwinds. The timid and uncertain beginning of the movement is overcome by the intonation of an elegiac chant, which only comes to full sound in the epilogue. A second section is heralded by the woodwinds. The elegiac main motif can be heard in the background in the solo horn. A wave of growth then spreads across the entire orchestra, without a musical breakthrough being achieved that only takes place at a comparable, later point in the movement. A short folk motif in the country rhythm, again using the cowbells, then appears quite suddenly. A brief fading of the main motif is overwhelmed by the dramatic tremolos of the strings. Supported by herd bells, it has the effect of a brief happy moment in the distance, which, however, is dramatized by its appearance in a minor key and the stirring string accompaniment. Motifs of sighs, which are reminiscent of the "fate motif" from the first sentence, are particularly prominent here. Shortly thereafter, the brief musical breakthrough succeeds in that the theme is sung in sublime beauty by the strings and is able to produce a brief moment of happiness. With a few soothing chords, the poignant movement fades away in the delicate E flat major chord of celesta and strings.

4th movement: Finale, Sostenuto - Allegro moderato - Allegro energico

In this movement Mahler's fears and despair come to the fore, which can also be found, for example, in his vocal cycle Kindertotenlieder . The finale of the symphony is often interpreted as an anticipation of personal and historical catastrophes to come.

The fateful final movement is a kind of extended sonata movement. It lasts over 30 minutes and is one of the longest symphonic movements in Mahler and in music history at all. A cautious opening thought is quickly stifled by a whipping tutti chord accompanied by the rhythm of the "fate motif". The result is an early musical standstill in which short scraps of motifs can be heard. A mystical appearance of the celesta sounds in indecision. The lashing "fate motif" at the beginning of the movement reappears, the parallels of which with the first movement of the symphony are even more striking here.

A chorale from the deep winds then sounds in sublime drama. Again and again there are short, lively dramatic outbursts in this collection of motifs. After a while there is an increasing march-like run that connects to the first two movements. For a short time the theme even turns to major, before it is driven forward with rousing dynamics. Mahler often moves on the edge of tonality here . After a while there is a musical calm, in which again subdued motifs sound and the cowbells can also be heard again. From this a new tumult develops, which is a dramatic development, at the climax of which a hammer blow is heard in full force . The total collapse is not yet the result of this musical condensation. Nevertheless, the action piles up, as it were, in cascades of notes and strives towards the return of the march rhythm. A lyrical intermediate thought then leads directly to the second hammer blow, which has a dramatic effect. A musical outcry of complex tone structures piles up, only to plunge down into the "fate motif" with a bang in connection with the hoopla after a caricature recording of the march rhythm. At the latest after this further tutti blow, the clay structure collapses. It is only with great effort that a few empty chords on the bassoons and harp bring the musical events back to life. The mystical Celesta theme at the beginning of the sentence reappears, as well as other motifs.

For the last time, there is a dynamic process of increase, which briefly culminates in a few radiant tuttiac cords and accelerates the action. The march sounds again in an extended form. An unprecedented increase develops on the edge of tonality, in which sudden tone modulations from major to minor dominate. This passage, in combination with the rhythm of fate, pulls everything with it, until at the tremendous end of which there is the devastating final hammer blow. In a later version of the symphony, Mahler removed this third blow of the hammer at Alma's request, thereby also taking account of his own superstition. Instead, a bang can be heard slowly fading away. This is followed by a few troubled harp chords and string motifs that rebound for the last time and slowly fall to the ground and into the void. In a kind of concluding funeral march, dissonant wind chords convey only an empty and mystical sound; the last beat has irretrievably destroyed the musical event. A softly exhaling double bass is suffocated by a sudden outcry from the orchestral tutti to the rhythm of fate, which acts like a seal of collapse. The work fades away in musical hopelessness and despair in pianissimo .

On the problem of sentence order

The order of the two middle movements Scherzo and Andante has not been clearly established. Originally Mahler wanted to place the Scherzo before the Andante movement, and the first edition of the symphony was published by CF Kahnt in this form. Before the premiere in 1906, Mahler decided to change the order to Andante - Scherzo. Mahler himself only ever performed the work in this form. Mahler interpreter Willem Mengelberg asked Mahler's widow Alma in 1919 for the correct order. However, this propagated the older sequence Scherzo - Andante. In the first edition of the critical complete edition (1963) the symphony was also printed in this order of movements. Many conductors today perform the symphony in the order Scherzo - Andante, which contradicts Mahler's last verifiable statement on this subject.

In terms of composition, there is a lot to be said for the Andante in third place. The Scherzo begins with A minor and a step in lockstep of the bass and thus ties in directly with the first movement. It supplements this from the recapitulation, since Mahler saves the due re-entry of the key A minor for the beginning of the scherzo. The C minor, with which the final movement begins, is clearly based on the E flat major of the Andantes. This makes it clear that the basic conception of the symphony took place in the sequence Scherzo - Andante and was only changed later.

effect

The first performance of the symphony took place on May 27, 1906 in the hall building in Essen as the highlight of the Tonkünstlerfest of the Allgemeine Deutsche Musikverein . The Essen Philharmonic played together with the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra under the direction of the composer. In addition to the world premiere, Mahler conducted only two other performances of the work: in Munich on November 8, 1906, and for the last time in Vienna on January 4, 1907. This performance is the only one in which the now sometimes familiar epithet "Tragic Symphony" was on the program . Although Mahler probably did not use this title himself, he accepted the mention of the name in the program booklet for this performance. However, Mahler never added this designation to the printed score , which is why the name cannot be used officially.

In contrast to the world premiere of the 5th symphony , the 6th symphony was met with goodwill. Many critics praised the clarity of expression and the classic form of the work. The differentiated orchestral sound with its innovative uses of the percussion was also praised , for example, in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik . Negative comments by contemporaries were mostly limited to an orchestra that was too large and the resulting sometimes noisy character of the music. Richard Strauss spoke of an “over-instrumentation” of the work. The tragic tone of the symphony, which expresses longing, lamenting and despair, was largely understood by the audience and found creatively valuable. It is precisely this depth of feeling that makes the work one of Mahler's most difficult symphonies, and one that continues to present a great artistic challenge to this day. The symphony is considered to be one of Mahler's strongest works, but due to its pessimistic character it is not performed as often as some of the composer's other symphonies.

Status

The 6th symphony stands in the middle of the three purely instrumental symphonies from Mahler's 5th - 7th symphonies. Formally, this symphony is quite traditional, as it is in four movements and the corner movements are in the sonata form . Alongside the 4th symphony , it can therefore be described as his most classic. Compared to the previous 5th symphony , the longer duration of the performance, which follows the formal extension of the 3rd symphony , is noticeable. The orchestra has also been expanded to a large extent here. It represents the largest instrumentation of all Mahler's symphonies, with the exception of the 8th symphony . The creative phase that began with the 5th symphony finds a new climax here. This work, too, is at the limit of tonality in some places and uses progressive chromatics . This clearly points to the 9th Symphony , in which Mahler finally leaves tonal space behind and finds his way into the transcendent of music. The unique selling point of the 6th symphony, however, is its fundamentally tragic, sometimes desperate tone. With the tragic ending of the last movement, the work is unique among Mahler's symphonies. All other symphonies end in a larger final apotheosis in the optimistic tone, with the exception of the 9th symphony , which ends in a kind of transcendent resignation. This is a procedure that at first glance is not justified biographically. The period of creation falls into a really happy time for the composer. The intensity of the musical and tragic statement of the work thus suggests that Mahler expresses deeper emotional states here. Mahler also seems to anticipate coming personal and historical catastrophes. The sound of a hammer, heard three times in the last movement of this symphony, indicates this. Alma Mahler said that her husband was later felled by three mighty strokes of fate, one of which was the death of his daughter. She relates these strokes of fate to the three sounding of the hammer in the final movement. She sees the hammer blows as a kind of foreshadowing the later fate of Gustav Mahler. The third hammer blow in bar 783 was canceled by Mahler in 1907 when the symphony was revised, presumably for superstitious reasons (“The hero of the three blows of fate gets, of which the third falls like a tree”). However, it was restored by the editors of the critical complete edition of Gustav Mahler's works. The anticipation of the coming historical catastrophe of the First World War also seems to be included in the powerful finale.

This symphony represents a new quality of what can be musically expressed. Similar to Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony , the music expresses deepest and innermost feelings of despair. Such an intense depiction of emotional abysses is an extremely rare case in music history of this intensity. Alma Mahler reported on this: “No work has flowed so directly from his heart. The sixth is his most personal work and a prophetic one on top of that. "

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Letter to Richard Specht . Quoted from: Herta Blaukopf: Briefe, 295.
  2. ^ New York Philharmonic (Ed.): 2016 program notes . June 17, 2019 ( nyphil.org [accessed June 20, 2019]).
  3. ↑ 6th Symphony (Mahler). Retrieved June 20, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Probably authentic in: Alma Mahler-Werfel: Gustav Mahler, 90.
  5. ↑ Peter Gülke: "How whipped - how angry drive - like a blow of an ax". In: Renate Ulm: Gustav Mahler's Symphonies, 179.
  6. ↑ Based inter alia. on Alma Mahler's remarks: Alma Mahler-Werfel, Gustav Mahler, 90f, 123,146f.
  7. ↑ Temporarily deleted for superstitious reasons (“The hero of the three blows of fate, of which the third falls like a tree”). In addition: Alma Mahler-Werfel: Gustav Mahler, 90.
  8. ↑ Peter Gülke: "How whipped - how angry drive - like a blow of an ax". In: Renate Ulm: Gustav Mahler's Symphonies, 177.
  9. ↑ Alma Mahler speaks of the "most terrible last anticipated sentence": Alma Mahler-Werfel: Gustav Mahler, 123.
  10. ↑ Follows Gülke's technical composition considerations: Peter Gülke: "How whipped - how angry drive in - like a blow of an ax". In: Renate Ulm: Gustav Mahler's Symphonies, 177.
  11. ↑ Jens Malte Fischer : Gustav Mahler. The strange confidante. 501
  12. ↑ Max Hehmann: Article in “Neue Zeitschrift für Musik”, June 6, 1906, In: Renate Ulm: Gustav Mahler's Symphonies, 185.
  13. ^ Alma Mahler-Werfel: Gustav Mahler, 91.
  14. ↑ Alma Mahler-Werfel: Gustav Mahler, 90.
  15. ↑ According to Peter Gülke, this testifies to the artist's dangerous identification with what he has composed and shows Mahler's always given possibility of substituting more musical causalities for personally related ones. Compare: Peter Gülke: "How whipped - How angry drive in - Like a blow of an ax". In: Renate Ulm: Gustav Mahler's Symphonies, 177.
  16. ↑ Alma Mahler-Werfel: Gustav Mahler, 90.

literature

Web links