The plaintive song (Mahler)

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The plaintive song is a fairy tale - Cantata of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) for soloists, boys' choir , mixed choir , large orchestra and remote orchestra . The text by Gustav Mahler is based on Ludwig Bechstein's fairy tale Das klagende Lied , as well as on the fairy tale The Singing Bone by the Brothers Grimm . The original version of the three-part work was created between 1878 and 1880 and was referred to by Mahler as his "Opus 1" a few years after its creation. Mahler revised the work in 1893 and 1898, before he premiered it on February 17, 1901 in Vienna in a two-part version. The performance of the entire three-part work is around 70 minutes.

Origin and premiere

Mahler had completed his three-year training at the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in 1878 at the age of 18, and in the same year he also passed the school leaving examination. He then conceived several musical works, which he rejected while he was still working. In the same year he wrote the poem for the lamenting song . Mahler took over the title and the motif of the red flower from Bechstein, but followed the Brothers Grimm in the rest of the story. From 1879 he began with the composition, which was completed on November 1, 1880 as " fairy tale in three departments ". In 1881 he applied for the Beethoven Prize of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna with this composition , but was rejected by the jury in advance. He then tried to submit the work to other competitions, but was just as unsuccessful.

As a result, Mahler revised the work for the first time in 1883 and reduced its enormous dimensions. With this purification he eliminated the 1st part, "The Forest Fairy Tale", as well as the distant orchestra in the 2nd and 3rd parts. He reduced the number of soloists from 11 to 4, and the boys' voices were also omitted. The number of harps has also been reduced from 6 to 2. It was not until 1898, when Mahler was already director of the Vienna Court Opera , that Mahler found a publisher. Before going to press, Mahler revised the work again, including the remote orchestra in the third part.

On February 17, 1901, Mahler was able to premiere the work in this revised two-part version under his direction and with well-known soloists. Das klagende Lied received little positive feedback from the criticism . The music critic and Brahms biographer Max Kalbeck wrote: “ What is interesting about the work for the musician is its technique. We shudder to give her our appreciation. "

occupation

original version

Revised two-part version from 1898

  • Soloists: soprano, alto, tenor (plus boy alto ad. Lib. )
  • Orchestra: 3 flutes (+ 1 piccolo), 3 clarinets, 3 oboes (+ English horn), 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 bass tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, tam-tam, bass drum, 2 harps, strings
  • Distance orchestra: 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 4 clarinets, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, triangle, cymbals

content

1. Forest fairy tale

Mahler's poem takes up the form of the ballad . The prehistory is told in the forest fairy tale. "It was a proud queen ...". A young queen rejects any suitor and only wants to consort those who find a certain red flower in the forest. From now on, the text follows Grimm's fairy tale in the version from 1819. Two brothers, the older of whom is violent, the younger but gentle, set off to look for the flower. After the younger one has found the flower, he puts it on his hat and lies down to sleep. The older brother pierces the sleeping man under a willow tree with his sword and takes the flower.

2. The minstrel

The motif of the willow tree is taken up again as a transition.

  “By the willow tree in the cool fir,
  the owls and ravens flutter,
  there lies a blond
  knight buried under leaves and flowers. ... "

The chorus "O sorrow, oh pain sorrow!" Runs from now on also musically leitmotif through the plant.

A traveling minstrel passing the willow finds a white bone and carves a flute out of it . The moment he puts the bone flute to his mouth, the flute begins to sing:

  "Oh minstrel, dear minstrel mine,
  I have to complain
  about that for a beautifully colored little flower.
  My brother killed me
  In the forest my young body is pale!
  My brother frees a wonderful woman! "

Every time the minstrel plays the flute, the same gruesome song sounds.

3. Wedding piece

On his travels, the minstrel comes to the royal palace, where the young queen is celebrating the wedding of the fratricide. The song of the bone sounds again. The king snatches the flute from the minstrel and puts it to his mouth himself. At that moment the song of the singing bone turns into an accusation against the king:

  "Oh brother, dear brother my ..."

The queen passes out, the guests flee, and the castle collapses.

Performance practice

The score of the original version was retained and passed on to her son Alfred Rosé via Mahler's favorite sister Justine . He directed the first performance of the first part in Brno in 1934 . In 1935 he combined the first part with the revised version of the 2nd and 3rd parts, resulting in a mixed version. He withheld the rest of the original version and did not publish it, but sold the score in 1969 to the collector James M. Osburn , who in turn donated it to Yale University .

The work is now available in three versions, although initially only Mahler's revised two-part version from 1898 prevailed. In 1970 Pierre Boulez recorded the mixed version including the forest fairy tale. The original version was published in 1997 in a critical complete edition by Reinhold Kubik and premiered in the same year under Kent Nagano . The German premiere of the original version took place on November 28, 1997 again under the direction of Kent Nagano in the Hamburg Laeiszhalle .

classification

The plaintive song is still in the tradition of the musical late romanticism under the influence of Wagner , but even in the original version shows Mahler's independent personal style. The use of leitmotifs is characteristic . Like Mendelssohn before him, Mahler found his own tonal language at the age of 19. Mahler's previous youth compositions are largely lost.

First recordings

literature

  • Kurt Blaukopf : Gustav Mahler or The Contemporary of the Future . Molden, Vienna 1969. Paperback edition: dtv, Munich 1973, ISBN 3-423-00950-0
  • N / A author: Mahler. The plaintive song . Supplement to the recording of the original version under Kent Nagano. 1998
  • Elisabeth Kappel (ed.): The plaintive song: Mahler's “Opus 1” - synthesis, innovation, compositional reception (= studies on valuation research, volume 54). Universal-Edition, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-7024-7182-8 .
  • Janina Klassen: Found as a Mahler. The original version of the "Klagende Lied" . In: Program of the NDR Symphony Orchestra from November 28, 1997 , on the occasion of the German premiere
  • Reinhold Kubik: Work history and versions. On Mahler's revisions of the “Klagende Lied” . In: Program of the NDR Symphony Orchestra from November 28, 1997

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mahler. The plaintive song . Supplement to the recording of the original version 1998, p. 10.
  2. ↑ Quoting from Mahler's original score by Janina Klassen: Found as Mahler. The original version of the "Klagende Lied" . In: Program of the NDR Symphony Orchestra from November 28, 1997 .
  3. ↑ cit. after: Kurt Blaukopf: Gustav Mahler or The Contemporary of the Future . Molden, Vienna 1969. Paperback edition: dtv, Munich 1973, ISBN 3-423-00950-0 , p. 51.
  4. ↑ a b Reinhold Kubik: Work history and versions. On Mahler's revisions of the “Klagende Lied” . In: Program of the NDR Symphony Orchestra from November 28, 1997 .