Mahler Foundation – Détails, épisodes et analyse

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn -  Urlicht with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

The final movement culminates in a resolution. The music, also reused in the First Symphony (in the Scherzo “Funeral March in Callot’s manner”), is subdued and gentle, lyrical and often reminiscent of a chorale in its harmonies. Its title, “Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz” (“The Two Blue Eyes of my Beloved”), deals with how the image of those eyes has caused the Wayfarer so much grief that he can no longer stand to be in the environment.

He describes lying down under a linden tree, allowing the flowers to fall on him. He wishes to return to his life before his travels. He asks that the whole affair had never occurred: “Everything: love and grief, and world, and dreams!”  

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A listening guide of Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen – Die Zwei Blauen Augen with Lew Smoley

The final movement is nearly as long as the previous five movements combined. Its text is drawn from two different poems, both involving the theme of leave-taking. Mahler himself added the last lines. This final song is also notable for its text-painting, using a mandolin to represent the singer’s lute, imitating bird calls with woodwinds, and repeatedly switching between the major and minor modes to articulate sharp contrasts in the text.

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A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Der Abschied with Lew Smoley.

Boisterous timpani joined by blazing brass set the scene for the riotous fifth movement. The long, arduous first movement, after three shorter movements developmental in mood, is finally equalled by a substantial ‘daylight’ finale. The movement is a rondo combined with a set of eight variations, capped off by a dramatic coda. There are parodies of Richard Wagner (1813-1883) – Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Franz Lehar (1870-1948) – The Merry Widow.

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A listening guide of Symphony No. 7 - 5th Movement with Lew Smoley.

“Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving” (Gustav Mahler).

• Part I is based on the (sacred) Latin text of a 9th-century Christian hymn for Pentecost, Veni creator spiritus (“Come, Creator Spirit”).
• Part II is a setting of the words from the (secular) closing scene of Goethe’s Faust. The depiction of an ideal of redemption through eternal womanhood (das Ewige-Weibliche).

The two parts are unified by a common idea, that of redemption through the power of love, a unity conveyed through shared musical themes.

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A listening guide of Symphony No. 8 - Intro with Lew Smoley.

Veni Creator Spiritus (“Come Creator Spirit”) is a hymn believed to have been written by Rabanus Maurus in the 9th century. When the original Latin text is used, it is normally sung in Gregorian Chant. As an invocation of the Holy Spirit, in the practice of the Roman Catholic Church it is sung during the liturgical celebration of the feast of Pentecost (at both Terce and Vespers).

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A listening guide of Symphony No. 8 - 1st Movement with Lew Smoley.

The second part of the symphony follows the narrative of the final stages in Goethe’s poem-the journey of Faust’s soul, rescued from the clutches of Mephistopheles, on to its final ascent into heaven.

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A listening guide of Symphony No. 8 - 2nd Movement with Lew Smoley.

Symphony No. 9 by Gustav Mahler was written between 1908 and 1909, and was the last symphony he completed. Though the work is often described as being in the key of D major, the tonal scheme of the symphony as a whole is progressive. While the opening movement is in D major, the finale is in D-flat major.

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A listening guide of Symphony No. 9 - Intro with Lew Smoley.

The first movement embraces a loose sonata form. The key areas provide a continuation of the tonal juxtaposition displayed in earlier works (notably the Symphonies No. 6 and No. 7). The work opens with a hesitant, syncopated rhythmic motif (which Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) suggested is a depiction of Mahler’s irregular heartbeat, which is heard throughout the movement).

The brief introduction also presents two other ideas: a three-note motif announced by the harp that provides much of the musical basis for the rest of the movement, and a muted horn fanfare that is also heard later. The main theme quotes the opening motif of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)‘s Piano Sonata No. 26 “Les Adieux”, Op. 81a, which coincidentally marked a turning point in Mahler’s early musical career as he performed “Les Adieux” during his graduation recital in college.

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A listening guide of Symphony No. 9 - 1st Movement with Lew Smoley.

The second movement is a series of dances, and opens with a rustic Ländler, which becomes distorted to the point that it no longer resembles a dance. It contains shades Mahler’s Symphony no.4, Movement 2: In gemächlicher Bewegung, in the distortion of a traditional dance into a bitter and sarcastic one.

Traditional chord sequences are altered into near-unrecognizable variations, turning the rustic yet gradually decaying C major introductory Ländler into a vicious whole-tone waltz, saturated with chromaticism and frenetic rhythms. Strewn amidst these sarcastic dances is a slower and calmer Ländler which reintroduces the “sighing” motif from the first movement. The movement ends with a cheeky pianissimo nod from the piccolo and contrabassoon. 

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A listening guide of Symphony No. 9 - 2nd Movement with Lew Smoley.