The Song of the Earth

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Das Lied von der Erde is a symphonic song cycle by Gustav Mahler . The work does not belong in the series of numbered Mahler symphonies, but is de facto Mahler's ninth work of this genre. However, only the following work was given the title 9th Symphony .

Emergence

The song from the earth was written in Toblach between 1907 and 1908 . During this time Mahler occupied himself with Hans Bethge's collection The Chinese Flute, with adaptations of old Chinese poetry. Mahler composed the work at a time of personal blows of fate. Mahler's older daughter Maria Anna died of diphtheria at the age of four . In addition, he had to resign as director of the Vienna Court Opera after an anti-Semitic press campaign against himself . Eventually that year he was diagnosed with serious heart disease that resulted in his death a few years later. Shortly before completing the work, Mahler wrote to Bruno Walter : “I was very hardworking. [...] I do not know how to say how the whole thing could be named. I had a wonderful time and I think it's probably the most personal thing I've done so far. ”These lines show Mahler's great appreciation for his work and at the same time uncertainty about the classification of the form. The work stands between orchestral song cycle and symphony.

To the music

construction

The song from the earth consists of six parts in which Mahler set seven poems from the collection The Chinese Flute by Hans Bethge to music. Bethge did not translate the poems directly from Chinese into German, but rather freely copied Hans Heilmann's German translations of the French translations by Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys and Judith Gautier . Mahler set the following songs in the song of the earth:

  1. The Drinking Song of the Sorrows of the Earth ( Li-Tai-Po , first half of the Song of Sorrows )
  2. The Lonely One in Autumn ( Qian Qi , first part of Old Style Poem: Long Autumn Months )
  3. From the youth (Li-Tai-Po, banquet in the Táo family pavilion )
  4. From beauty (Li-Tai-Po, lotus picking song )
  5. The drunk in spring (Li-Tai-Po, feelings when waking up from an intoxication on a spring day )
  6. Farewell ( Mong-Kao-Yen , overnight stay in Master Yès Bergklause, waiting in vain for Brother Dīng , and Wang-Wei , farewell )

The identification of the Chinese poets of "Der Einsame im Herbst" and "Von der Jugend" was very difficult because of serious problems with Judith Gautier's translations.

occupation

Old - (or baritone -) and tenor solo , 3 flutes , piccolo , 3 oboe , English horn , 3 clarinets in B, clarinet in Es , bass clarinet , 3 Fagotte , 4 horns , 3 trumpets , 3 trombones , bass drum , percussion , 2 harps , Mandolin , strings and celesta .

1st movement: The drinking song of the misery of the earth. Allegro pesante

The first movement is a four-verse song for tenor solo. A major-minor-indifferent horn fanfare with the tone sequence eag ends with a c in a pentatonic sequence, which is also characteristic for the further movements of the symphony. The dynamic beginning of the movement finally calms down with a falling melody on the violins. The tenor begins with the drinking song, the positive intermittent laugh of which leads over a secondary theme (“When sorrow approaches”) into the G minor refrain (“Dark is life”). The second stanza varies the beginning with stretching and augmentation and modulates according to D and A flat minor. It thus loosely functions as an implementation . The third stanza is the most musically intensive and begins instrumentally at first. The tenor only begins with a side theme variation. The fourth stanza includes the climax of the sentence on the word "life". Immediately afterwards follows in A major the sentence "Now take the wine [...] empty your golden goblets". The pathetically stretched refrain, a harmoniously varied epilogue and finally a dull fortissimo beat of the brass finish the drinking song.

2nd movement: The lonely one in autumn. Slightly creeping. Tired

The song takes on the function of a slow movement and begins with a lament from the woodwinds, which plays a formative role in this movement. As in “Farewell”, individual downward woodwind motifs symbolize human loneliness. Only in the transition between the second and third verses do the strings take the lead. “My heart is tired” already anticipates the departure of the last stanza. The words “I'm crying” in the last stanza lead to the emotional climax of the sentence. This ends with the oboe motif at the beginning of the movement and the clarinets.

3rd movement: Of the youth. Comfortably cheerful

The short, scherzo-like song leads from a lonely person's turning away from life into a love for life, in a bright community of youthful, carefree joy. The song is designed almost completely pentatonic and creates the image of a Chinese garden. Two rapid major parts frame a slower trio in G minor.

4th movement: From beauty. Comodo. Dolcissimo

This movement is also pentatonic and, according to tempos and structure, represents an inverse scherzo . A fast middle section is surrounded by two slow, but melodically agitated “serenades”. The main trio theme in G major modulates unexpectedly to E major in the second stanza. The middle section begins purely instrumentally as an allegro subito with a loose march-like section. Increasingly powerful winds play on a lively background of arpeggios and quick figures. Fanfares of the fifth call in an almost humorous, pentatonic marching polka, until the alto / baritone voice describes the arrival of the riders and their delicate interaction with the girls. The second section of the scherzo also begins instrumentally and is eclipsed with the raw sounds of the brass in C minor. This is followed by demanding vocal passages: constant eighth notes in increasing tempo and lower register represent the hoof kick of the horses. The trio recession differs from the beginning mainly through its higher density. The movement ends peacefully with a longer empathic epilogue of the strings, harps, oboes and flutes.

5th movement: The drunk in spring. Allegro. Cheeky but not too fast

The drinking song is a rather ironic burlesque that initially revives the drinker, who has been disappointed by the lost spring of life, and his subsequent disenchantment with life. The text ends with the phrase: “What does spring concern me? Let me be drunk ”. The drinking song is thus a bridge between the life-affirming middle movements and the final movement, under which the development of the song series finally turns from light to dark. The burlesque itself is symmetrical, with a romanticizing middle section.

The movement begins in A major with moving horn fanfares on woodwind figures. The tenor melody "If Life is Only a Dream" begins, however, one chromatic level higher in B flat major. The second half-strophe is followed by a violin melody which, with its dotted figures and large intervals, can be considered a major variant of Mahler's head motif ( 7th symphony ). It appears in the middle part as a "nature theme". The second stanza is unusually just a quotation, not a variation on the first. The middle section is initially only performed in A major and later modulates into related keys. Mahler creates a cheerful bird's voice concerto first with the oboe and later with further delicate instrumentation. The pseudo-redeeming “Lenz is here” sounds in D flat major. This is followed by a chromatic ascent with variants of the nature motif. The burlesque revival focuses on the drinker again and reveals his lust for alcohol as stronger than his romance. The defiant final statement of the drinker ("What does spring concern me? Let me be drunk!") Concludes the sentence.

6th movement: Farewell. Heavy

The last movement, about as long as the first five movements together, is the transcendent climax and goal of the work. It is characterized by the fragmentation of musical themes, a long struggle for a climax, deep loneliness and wandering into nothingness (and thus into darkness). Only through this half-hour finale does the song sequence become a symphonic song cycle. The structure largely dispenses with the sonata form.

The sequence of three basic motifs in the first section is varied several times in the later parts: an oboe motif with a double beat as a constant motif, the falling thirds of the accompaniment and the theme of the recitative. The text begins naturally: “The sun separates behind the mountains”. The alto / baritone part is supplemented in many bars by a counterpoint from the solo flute. The second part in F major varies the aforementioned motifs and is characterized by an additional harp ore pendulum. An instrumental intermediate section brings an initial increase in intensity, which soon collapses and returns to the third pendulum. The part ends with a musical breakdown, marked by solo parts of the bass clarinet.

This is followed by a purely instrumental funeral march that brings two new motifs with a rising pentatonic scale and a swaying violin melody. At the beginning of the march, the lower strings dominate until the action almost escalates to a tutti. The march is followed by the central climax of the movement with two sudden blows . This is a final attempt to liven up the musical scene. It is only followed by a swan song in a ten-minute final. In it the vocal element becomes more and more a subordinate instrument. This final part brings the last empathic climax, which begins in major and simultaneously turns to minor: “Where am I going? I'm hiking in the mountains - I'm looking for peace and quiet for my lonely heart. ”In the final Morendo , for the first time in the entire song cycle, the celesta with multiple scales that swing upward is added. The work ends between mourning farewell and nearness to eternity and thus anticipates the 9th symphony .

effect

The premiere took place posthumously on November 20, 1911 in the Munich Tonhalle under Bruno Walter, with Sara Cahier and William Miller as soloists . The work was largely positively received. The Allgemeine Musikische Zeitung wrote after the premiere: “All in all, the 'Lied von der Erde' can be counted among the best that Mahler ever created.” Mahler's composing colleagues also received the work very positively again. Anton Webern wrote to Alban Berg : “It is like the passing of life, better of what has been lived, to the soul of the dying. The work of art condenses; the factual evaporates, the idea remains; so are these songs. "

Mahler's friend and contemporary Bruno Walter remained for many years one of the most important interpreters of the Lied von der Erde, which he repeatedly conducted and recorded on record, thus making a significant contribution to the spread of the composition. The chamber orchestra version of the Lied von der Erde left behind as a fragment by Arnold Schönberg (completed by Rainer Riehn ) is also very popular today. In general, the work is considered one of Mahler's strongest compositions and can often be found in the repertoire of large orchestras and singers.

Status

Gustav Mahler's last creative phase begins with the Lied von der Erde , which finally leads to the abandonment of tonality in the final 9th symphony . The farewell theme that dominates the last movement, as in the 9th Symphony, has led to various mystifications. Thanks to Arnold Schönberg , the focus was again on the fact that most of the great symphonic composers had not come out on a 9th symphony. For example, Ludwig van Beethoven , Antonín Dvořák and Anton Bruckner already wrote exactly nine numbered symphonies and died before completing a tenth or wrote no more. Schönberg wrote: “Those who wrote a ninth were too close to the hereafter. Perhaps the riddles of this world would be solved if anyone who knew them tithed. And that's not supposed to be the case. ”Mahler himself displayed a certain superstition regarding this question. So he later unofficially called the song of the earth his 9th symphony in order to bypass the seemingly magical border. Ultimately, however, he too should die before the completion of his 10th symphony .

The conception of the work is not clear. The work meets the form criteria of the symphony just like the other late Mahler symphonies, so that it can be viewed with equal justification as a song cycle and a symphony cantata. In the previous 8th symphony , the vocal element is also present throughout, but here more in the Wagnerian sense of the musical drama . Due to its conception, the Lied von der Erde is comparable with the earlier Wunderhorn symphonies ( 2nd , 3rd and 4th symphonies ). These also integrate entire song movements into the form of the symphony. Some of these songs come from the Des Knaben Wunderhorn collection . The songs in the Lied von der Erde, on the other hand, do not come from a separate cycle, but only occur within this symphony. The gigantic last movement (“Abschied”) in particular gives the work the character of a symphony. This movement represents one of the longest symphonic movements in Mahler's entire oeuvre. It represents the climax of the work in terms of both content and form. This movement, like most of the other main movements, also contains a great march, typical of Mahler . The tonal language of the work consistently follows the path of progressive chromatics that began with the 4th and 5th symphonies . However, Mahler does not yet reach the limits of tonality in this work; this only happens in the following 9th Symphony . With this it also represents a double work in terms of content on the subject of parting . Here it presents a certain emotional challenge to performers and listeners. Bruno Walter remarked: “Is it really the same person who built the building of the eighth 'in harmony with the infinite' that we now find in the drinking song of the misery of the earth ? Who creeps lonely in autumn to the cozy resting place, thirsting for refreshment? Who looks with a friendly old age look at the youth, with gentle emotion at the beauty? Who seeks to forget the senseless earthly existence in the drunkenness and finally says goodbye in melancholy? […] It is hardly the same person and composer. All works up to that point were created out of the feeling of life [...] The earth is disappearing, a different air is blowing in, a different light shines over it [...]. "About Mahler's attitude to the composition he reports:" When I [the Autograph] brought him back, almost unable to speak a word about it, he turned to 'Farewell' and said: 'What do you think? Is that even bearable? Will not people kill themselves afterwards? ' Then he pointed out the rhythmic difficulties and asked jokingly, 'Do you have any idea how to conduct this? Not me!'."

Remarks

  1. ^ Letter to Bruno Walter. In: Gustav Mahler Briefe , ed. Herta Blaukopf, Zsolnay 1982, p. 348 books.google ; Gustav Mahler Letters 1879-1911 , Ed. Alma Mahler , Olms 1925, p. 413 books.google
  2. mahlerarchives.net , Das Lied von der Erde : The Literary Changes.
  3. mahlerarchives.net , Das Lied von der Erde : The Literary Changes.
  4. mahlerarchives.net , Das Lied von der Erde : The Literary Changes.
  5. mahlerarchives.net , Das Lied von der Erde : The Literary Changes.
  6. mahlerarchives.net , Das Lied von der Erde : The Literary Changes.
  7. mahlerarchives.net , Das Lied von der Erde : The Literary Changes.
  8. Fusako Hamao: The Sources of the Text in Mahler's Lied von der Erde . In: 19th-Century Music . tape 19 , no. 1 . University of California Press, Berkeley 1995, pp. 83-95 , JSTOR : 746721 (English).
  9. Work details of the Universal Edition .
  10. ^ Eugen Schmitz : Article in "Allgemeine Musikische Zeitung", December 1, 1911, In: Renate Ulm : Gustav Mahler's Symphonies, p. 261.
  11. ^ Letter from Anton Webern to Alban Berg, November 23, 1911. In: Renate Ulm: Gustav Mahler's Symphonies, p. 260.
  12. ^ Arnold Schönberg: Mahler . In: ders .: Style and Thought, ed. v. Ivan Vojtech. Quoted from: Renate Ulm (Ed.): Gustav Mahler's Symphonies. Origin - Interpretation - Effect , p. 274.
  13. Bruno Walter, Gustav Mahler: A portrait , p. 93f.
  14. Hermann Danuser: Gustav Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde , p. 12.

literature

  • Hans Bethge : The Chinese Flute. Adaptations of Chinese poetry. YinYang Media, Kelkheim 2007, ISBN 3-9806799-5-0 (reprint of the first edition from 1907).
  • Hermann Danuser : Gustav Mahler: The song of the earth . For Rudolf Stephan on his 60th birthday (=  masterpieces of music . Band 25 ). Wilhelm Fink, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-7705-1741-5 .
  • Hans Heilmann : Chinese poetry, from the 12th century BC. Until the present . In German translation, with an introduction and comments by Hans Heilmann. R. Piper, Munich / Leipzig 1905.
  • Léon d'Hervey de Saint-Denys : Poésies de l'époque des Thang (VII e , VIII e et IX e siècles de notre ère) . Traduites du chinois pour la première fois, une étude sur l'art poétique en Chine et des notes explicatives par le Marquis d'Hervey-Saint-Denys . Amyot, Paris 1862 (French, full text in the Google book search).
  • Judith Gautier: Le Livre de Jade, poésies traduites du chinois . Nouvelle édition considérablement augmentée et ornée de vignettes et de gravures hors texte d'après les artistes chinois . Félix Juven, Paris 1902 (French, digitized ).
  • Renate Ulm (Ed.): Gustav Mahler's Symphonies. Origin - interpretation - effect . Bärenreiter, Kassel 2001, ISBN 3-423-30827-3 .
  • Bruno Walter : Gustav Mahler: A portrait . Ed .: Richard Schaal. 4th edition. Florian Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2010, ISBN 3-7959-0305-X .

Movie

Web links