mahler's symphony no. 9 an analytic sketch

8/20/2019 Mahler's Symphony No. 9 an Analytic Sketch

1/27

Mahler's Symphony No. 9: An Analytic Sketch in the Form of a Conductor's GuideAuthor(s): William DeFotisSource: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 80, No. 2, Orchestra Issue (Summer, 1996), pp. 276-301Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/742367

Accessed: 28/07/2010 15:09

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2/27

M a h le r s

S y m p h o n y

N o

:

A n

n a l y t i c

S k e t c h

i n

t h

o r m

o

Conductor s

G u i d e

William

DeFotis

"His

Ninth

is

most

strange

.. this

symphony

s no

longer

ouched n the

personal

tone."

-Arnold

Schoenberg,

tyle

and

Idea

My

choice of

epigraph

s an

attempt

to

signal

both an orientation

to

this music's

expressive

sense

("most

strange")

and the

necessity

of

"couching"

any

discussionof that

sense into mannersof

performance:

that

is,

implicit

in

any

discussion

of this score's

peculiar

qualities--its

"strangenesses"

is the

way

in

which

(or

the

"tone" with

which)

it

asksto be articulated.My title means to call attention to a discursive

methodology

which has no

name and which can be

easily

misunder-

stood

to be a sort

of

midpoint

between

analytical

formalismand

performer'shop

talk.

Instead,

what

I

mean

to do

is

show

the inter-

dependence

of

analytic

and

performance

questions, proceeding

from

the idea

that this

music resides

in the tensive

relationship

between

a

structure

and its

moments.

(By

"structure"

nd "moments" do

not

mean "form"

and

"content,"

but rather

something

more

clearly

in and

of time-perhaps "narrative" nd "events.")

I

Paul

Bekker,

in his 1920

study

of the Mahler

symphonies,

character-

ized the

Ninth with

a

simple fragment:

"A

strange

[seltsames]

ork."'

Bekker's

tudy

is a

piece

of

analytic

virtuosity:

t

manages

simulta-

neously

to connect

Mahler'sworksboth

to the

history

of

symphonic

music and to one another in Mahler'spersonalhistoryas a composer.2

It is

remarkable

hat both Bekker

and

Schoenberg

made

a

point

of

calling

the Ninth

strange;

their

quite

different

framesof

reference

converged

on

this.

The Ninth's

strangeness

s

apparent

when

Bekker

views it

in the

light

of most four-movement

symphonies,

but

what

276


3/27

Mahler's

inth:

A Conductor'suide

277

about

Schoenberg's

view of the Ninth in relation to

Mahler's

earlier

works?If we think, for comparison,of the clearlypersonaltone of the

Lieder ines

fahrenden

Gesellen

or

the

Sixth

Symphony,

we

can be

struck

by

the

scarcity

of

personal

tone

in the

Ninth,

despite

its

over-

whelming intimacy

and

intensity.

The Ninth's

discrepancy

between

tone and sense has a

distancing

effect,

an

estrangement:

he

music's

"voice"

is

foreign

to its

"song,"

as if the sense of the latter-of the

materials

themselves-were

being

handled with the most acute self-

consciousness. Each

movement seems to be

estranged

rom the

very

worlds of music it evokes, as if the entire work'sexpressivenesswere

directly

drawn

not from those

worlds

but rather from the

very

act of

evoking, combining,

and

reflecting

upon

them.

Suddenly nothing

can

be

taken for

granted any

more;

the

simplest

tunes become

intricate

complexes

of

sound,

and the most

complicated configurations

are

stripped

down to

figures

of

stark,

elemental force. And most

impor-

tant,

the

seeminglyinseparableexpressive

featuresof a

configuration

are taken

apart

and can

begin

and end

out

of

synchronization,

spilling

their

impulses

in

unexpected

directions.

This

process

of

disunion-of

figure

and

voice,

message

and

carrier-pervades

the Ninth

Symphony

to the

point

where

fundamen-

tal

questions

of musical

identity

arise: what do

we

perceive

at

any

particular

moment as the musical

subject?

Is it the

theme,

or has the

"tone"

taken on an

independent

life? Are

we

hearing

a

waltz,

or the

tempo

of

waltz?A

march,

or three

trumpets?

Of

course we

hear both

figure

and voice at

the

same

time,

and

recognize

that

both are

impor-

tant to the whole. But Mahler

in

his Ninth

Symphony

gave

discrete

identities to seeminglyinseparable eatures(such as tempo, motive,

and

tone),

confounding any

facile answer about

exactly

what

is

hap-

pening

at

any

moment in this music-which

perhapsexplains

Schoen-

berg's

characterization"most

strange."

There is

something

paradoxical

about his

characterizationwhen

we view

it in

the

light

of Walter Pater's

amous

assertion,

"It is the

additionof

strangeness

o

beauty

that constitutes the

romantic charac-

ter

in

art."3

Schoenberg

was

apparently

dazzlednot

only

by

the

Mahler Ninth's strangenessbut also by the source of that strangeness:

an absence

of

precisely

the

personal

tone that

would

presumably

have

been

quintessentially

romantic. Does this

mean that

Schoenberg, by

connecting

"strange"

and "no

longer

.

.

.

personal,"

found Mahler's

strangeness

here to contradict Pater'sdefinition of

romanticism?Yes

and

no,

I think.

No,

in

that "most

strange"

perhaps

means

that the

Ninth is

so

strange

as to

be

eerily expressive,"impersonal,"

he result

of a

(quite

personal)

sense of

estrangement.

But

yes,

in that

Schoen-


4/27

278

The

Musical

Quarterly

berg's

description

of it as most

strange

and no

longerpersonal

(i.e.,

most

strange

and

no

longer

romantic),

situatesthe

Mahler

Ninth

historically

at the end of romantic

art--making

the work

perhaps

ess

graspable

as a

personal

statement than as a

commentary

on

history.

I

would like to

suggest

that there is a social dimension

to this-that the

bourgeois

era'smusic can

be

distinguished

rom

eighteenth-century

music

by

a self-awareness

about

expressive

modes,

from

the

personal,

even confessional tone to a music

that

starkly

projects

an awareness

of

itself.4

For

Mahler,

this

perhaps

meant

allowing

the music

to

project

a

self-awareness hat could even startle and "estrange"him.

It is

not

my

intention to

systematically

account for what

happens

in this

symphony.

This

would

perhaps

have

been conceivable had I

treated

tempo,

motive,

and tone as

separateparameters

as

Robert G.

Hopkins

does in his 1990

study5)

instead of

treating

them as

estranged

aspects

of

single configurations.

I could also have

been more

system-

atic

by

concentrating

on tonal

structure

(as

ChristopherOrlo

Lewis

does

in his

1984

study6).

And

I

am not

trying

here to

plot

out

my

ideal

performance.

I am rather interested in

closely examining

some

moments

in

this music that

perhaps

lluminate the

meanings

of its

particular

trangeness.

Consider this

passage

from the first

movement

(Ex.

1).

The

double bar

marks

no

key

change,

no metrical

change,

and no

tempo

change;

it

signals

nothing

more

or less than the sudden

appearance

of

another universe of discourse. But

why

is

the motive from the

very

beginning

of the

symphony

(mm.

108-9)

to be

played allegro

rather

than in "its"

tempo?

Most conductorsthink Mahler made a

mistake

here, and they routinelymove back the instruction"tempo

I.

subito"

two

bars,

so that this motive is

played

in the

"proper" empo.7

Per-

haps

such

an

interpretative

decision would be

more

plausible

with a

composition

in which the disunionof

seemingly inseparable

eatures s

not a central musical concern.

But

here,

plausibility

s not

a

very

useful criterion. When the variousfacetsof the materials

spill

their

impulses

n

different

directions,

a sort of musical

vertigo

results:

per-

spective keeps

changing,

and

nothing

has

just

one sourceor direction.

This means that if the variousfacets such as tempo, motive, and tone

operate

asynchronously,

he

perception

of

change

itself becomes an

active,

constantly retrospective

process

rather than an instantaneous

recognition.

The

change

from

the

universe

of m. 106 to that of m.

111

is not

sudden,

nor

is it in

any

way

gradual.

The moment of

change

is

perceptible

only

afterit is over. These measures

might

be

described n this

way:

the

timpano

has a crescendo

in m.

106,

which

serves

not

only

to

intensify

the climax but also to call attention to


5/27

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pp

Example

1.


6/27

108

Tempo

I.

subito

(aber

nicht

schleppend)

1.

Ue--

-

es

mD

pp

Tempo

I.

subito

(aber

nicht

schleppend)

v=

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Example

1.

continued


7/27

Mahler's

inth:A Conductor's

uide 281

itself. Its diminuendo

in m.

107

is both a remnantof the climax

and

the beginningof a pedal. The hornsbegin their motive from this new

pedal

but

are still

agitated

by

the climax.

The

"tempo

I

subito" at

m.

110 does coincide

with another

change,

the

unexpected

new

G-flat

pedal,

but the new

tempo's

arrival s

only

retrospectively

made

clear

by

the

timpani

in m. 111. The new

G-flat

pedal

does not

immediately

supersede

he B-flat

pedal

but rather

complicates

it

by adding

another

harmonic

implication;

the horns continue in B-flat

major

through

m.

114.

The B-flat

pedal

is

actually

still

present

(in

the first

and second

trombones)throughm. 114 as a remnantof the horns'motive in mm.

108-110. Mahler

apparently

wanted

the

presence

of that B flat

to

remain

clearly

connected

to its

origin

in

the horn

motive--hence

the

word "deutlich"under

the

trombones'

B flat

in

m.

111,

right

after the

horns'release.

This continuous

lingering

of isolated

impulses

rom the

immedi-

ate

past-manifest

in the

example

above

by

the

timpani

in m.

107,

the

tempo

in

mm. 108

and

109,

and the B flat in mm.

111-14-is

part

of the first movement's broader

preoccupation

with

giving

a

"presence"

o the

"past,"

whether it be the

immediate

past

of

each

moment within

the

piece

or

the

external, distant,

even

irretrievable

worlds of music for which Mahler shows such a wistful

affection. From

the

very

beginning

of

the

symphony

there is

a

precarious

avoidance of

the affirmative

tatement,

of

unambiguous

beginnings--as

if,

so to

speak,

nothing

is

to

be

expressed

directly

in the

present

tense. Even

the theme of the second violins in

mm.

6-16 is no less

fragmentary

than what

preceded

it;

this theme

joins

a succession of one-measure

fragments.(Its "espressivo"n m. 12 impliesthat until then it should

be

played

in

a

more detached

manner,

with a

mysterious

absence of

warmth.

The

"espressivo"

s

as

momentary

as the

two-measurecon-

struction.)

The

precariousness

f this

opening

is in

part

a

resultof the

fact that the second violins extend an

impulse

from the first six mea-

sures rather than

proceeding

as if

those

bars

were

merely

an introduc-

tion.

In

addition,

the

second violins'

figures

establish

the

movement's

two most

unsettling

melodic

features: he

incessant

upbeat

orientation,

and unresolvedmi-re. The

melodic formulami-re-do is

central

to

the

entire

symphony

and

is often

traceable to Beethoven's

Piano Sonata

Op.

81a,

Das

Lebewohl

the Farewell,

or Les

Adieux).

But in

the

first

movement

(Ex.

2)

this

unresolvedmi-re also

becomes a

reflection of

the

Johann

Strausswaltz "Freuteuch

des

Lebens"

[Enjoy

Life] (Ex. 3).

The

very

fact that

most of the firstmovement's

melodic

fragments

are

lyrical

or

even

sentimental

in

character

heightens

even

further ts

queerly

detached

expressiveness-one

which is all

about

yricism,

but


8/27

282 The

Musical

Quarterly

Tempo I. zart gesungen, aber sehr hervortretend

1.

Hr.

.

in F.

Tempo

I.

VTe

V V

simile

pp

aberausdrucksvoll

.V

V

simile

2.

V.

pp,

aber

sehr

innig gesungen

2. V1.

,,

,,

-

r

. .

?

'

Example

.

0)TI ~

.~

fluta

Example

.

rarely

s

lyrical

in a

simple

and unabashed

way.

Even

the last note

of the

movement-which is the

very

firstunmistakablemelodic con-

summation

of

mi-re-do-is

not an

affirmatively yricalgesture.

Its

orchestration-cello

harmonic with

piccolo,

melodically

detached

by

two

octaves-puts

a distance between the

"voice"

and the

"song"

and

is the embodimentof tentativeness.

II

This

tentativeness--and

all of

the first

movement's

exquisite

reflec-

tions about the

very

possibility

of

lyricism

n

a

context of

fragmenta-

tion-is followed

by

a

country

dance

which makes

a

mockery

of


9/27

Mahler's inth:A

Conductor'suide 283

mi-re-do;

Mahler

inscribed the

beginning,

"etwas

dippisch

nd

sehr

derb"

"somewhat

clumsy

and

very

coarse").

Adorno called these

L;ndler

sections of the

second movement

(designated

tempo

I)

as

"perhaps

he first

example

of musical

montage, anticipating

Stravinsky

as much

by

the

quotation-like

themes as

by

their

decomposition

and

warped

recombination."8

There

is, however,

not

only

a

montage

of

the smallest

fragments

within the

movement's

tempo

I

LAndler,

but

also

a

large-scalemontage

of the three thematic

groups

of the

move-

ment. These thematic

groups

are associated with

three

clearly

distinct

tempi:Lindler (tempo I), waltz (faster,tempo II), and slow Liindler

(the

slowest,

tempo

III).

It

would thus seem that an

inseparable

expressive

feature of

each thematic

group

is its

tempo.

But the

mon-

tage

of the movement as a

whole

is

built

upon

the

disunionof the

three

tempi

from

their

respective

themes.

Tempo

takes on an

inde-

pendent

life;

its

changes

are

sometimes as

wildly

inappropriate

n their

timing

as the

variousfalse entrances within

the

tempo

I

Lindler.

The

dances sometimes seem

to be

confused,

entering

at the

wrong

tempo;

but

it

would

perhaps

be as accurate

to

say

of this movement

that

the

tempo

makes false

entrances. What Willem

Mengelberg

referred o as

the

"grimmige ustigkeit"9

"grim

merriment")

of this

movement is not

only

a matterof tone

but also

a

function

of the

constantly

inappropri-

ate

timing

created

by montage.

The conductorin

tune with this will

choose three

clearly

distinct

yet

"danceable"

empi

and

keep

them

distinct and

consistent even

when

smoothly

changing

from one into another

(mm.

213-18,

248-

52, 331-33,

405-23)

or

when

switching

them

abruptly

mm.

90,

230,

261, 368, 523), or when not changingthe tempo at all (mm. 168,

619-21).

In the sketches

for this

movement,

Mahler

inscribed

a title

which he later decided

to leave

out: menuetto infinito.

This

confirms

a

conception

of the

movement

as

a

dance

spun

out to

unreal,

even

phantasmagoric

dimensions. But menuetto s

not

broad

enough

as a

description

of the

movement's wealth

of

triple-meter

dances,

which

may

be

why

Mahler

decided

against using

the title. Even

a

title with

a trumped-uphyphenatedwordlike "Lindler-Waltzernfinito"would

perhaps

be

misleading,

since it

suggests

two ratherthan

three

rhyth-

mic

types.

For the

third

movement,

Mahler did

indeed decide

upon

a

trumped-uphyphenated

word for a title:

rondo-burlesque.

The word

rondo

s clear

enough-but

burlesque?

What is

being

burlesqued

here?

There are at least

three

possible

answers.

Perhaps

the

academic

coun-

terpoint

Mahler

claimed he never

learned

properly,parodied

here with


10/27

284

The

Musical

Quarterly

pseudo-fugues

nd

hysterical

strettos,

is the

object

of a

burlesque.

And

perhaps

the

very

idea of

writing

a rondo loaded with so much

polyph-

ony

makes this movement a

burlesque,

since

a rondo is not a

poly-

phonic

but

rather a

homophonic concept.

Or the title

may suggest

something

much more

specific:

the third movement turns out to

be

a

burlesque

of the

primary

hemes

in

the fourth movement

(Ex.

4,

5,

and

6).

The

most

prominent

thematic

connection between the two

movements is in the

figures

built

upon

the four-note

turn.

It

emerges

in

the third

movement,

first

as a

seemingly insignificant

countermel-

ody (oboes and firstviolin, m. 320), then as a subjectin imitative

counterpoint

(mm. 329-30),

and then

suddenly

as the

trumpet's

yri-

cal theme in the movement's most extensive and

haunting

episode

(m.

352).

The

tempo

of the

episode,

"etwas

gehalten,"

is

indicated

at m.

354,

apparently

wo measures oo late.

(The

timing

of

this

moment is

analogous

to the

example

cited above from the first

move-

ment,

"tempo

I.

subito"

at m.

110.)

Again, plausibility

s no

argu-

ment

for

moving

back the "etwas

gehalten"

instruction two

measures,

or

even seven

measures.

In order to make clear the

relationship

of this entire

episode

with

the

finale,

the

tempo

of "etwas

gehalten"

should

roughly

determine

the

tempo

of

the finale's

molto

adagio-with

one measureof

"etwas

gehalten" approximately

qual

to one

quarter

note of

molto

adagio.

Or,

to work backwards:

he molto

adagio

should be in the fastest

tempo

that

still

allows

the sixteenth-note

turn

to have a melodic

pres-

ence

and

not sound

like an

embellishment;

and one measureof the

"etwas

gehalten"

should be

approximately qual

to it.

The sequentialemergenceinto prominenceof the theme built

upon

the

four-note

turn

exemplifies

a

constructive

principle

of the

entire

rondo-burlesque:

he movement is built as a succession of trans-

formations

n which the

subsidiary

material

repeatedly

becomes the

primary

material.The

trumpet's yrical

theme

is

actually

a distant

relation to the rondo's

principal

theme,

in that it is a version of an

accompaniment

to what

had in turn

been

an

accompaniment

to the

principal

theme. The

process

could be describedthus: an

accompani-

ment "takes over"and generatesits own accompaniment,which takes

over,

generating

its own

accompaniment,

and so on.

All of this

is

spun

out

from

three

motives,

baldly

laid out in the

first six measures

(Ex. 7).10

The

principal

theme,

which combines

motives

A and

B,

is

accompanied

in

m.

51

by

a new

horn

figure,

which leads

in

m.

64

to

the

highly "vagrant"descending-third

root

progression

of motive C

(Ex. 8).

This new

accompaniment

becomes

the theme of the first

episode.

The theme is built around

descending


11/27

Mahler's inth:

A

Conductor's

uide

285

thirdmovement

L'istesso empo ( =

J)

n n

V

V

p

leggiero

fourth movement

2.

VI...

pp

ohne Ausdruck

Example

.

thirdmovement

Sempre I'istesso tempo

(J

= wie vorher die

)

Hr. in F

__

if

fourthmovement

a

tempo

(Molto

adagio)

1.

ioline

grofier

Ton

2. Violine

?o

p

molto espress.

Example

5.

thirds (Ex. 9). The next appearanceof motive C spellsout the

descending-third

root

progression

hromatically

n

the bass

(Ex. 10).

This

chromatic descent is

immediately

ncorporated

nto the

principal

theme

(Ex. 11).

The

accompaniment

of the

timpani

and clarinets

here seems

to be

merely

a

pedal

with a

harmonization

n

parallel

motion with that

chromatic

descent. But

taken

together,

they

consti-

tute a

new

accompanimental

igure--one

that is

immediately

heard

again

in

m.

217,

without

the "firstnote"

providedby

the

timpani.

Its

firstappearancewith that firstnote is disguised n inversion (Ex. 12).

The

next

episode,

which starts in m.

262,

is

built

upon

the

same

descending-third

heme as the first

episode.

This new

episode

contains

such

satirical

figures

as the one

shown in

Example

13. This

figure

s,

on the

one

hand,

a

ridiculouslywarped

versionof the

episode's

theme.

But

each

of its firsttwo

measures s

also a

retrograde

f the

first

three

notes

of that

new

accompanimental

igure

(timpani,

clarinets),

which

makestwo false

starts at

the end

of

the

episode

(Ex.

14).

Then it


12/27

286 The

Musical

Quarterly

thirdmovement

444

Klar.

in

Es

"_

__.

f sf

Klar.

n A

2.3.zu

2.3

,•

,.

-

( ( [ • "T"

•

,) "'

fS

fourthmovement

2.

VI.. .. .

_ _

I _L

_

I

'

sf dim.

Example

6.

takes

over

(Ex. 15).

The

previously

mentioned

"seemingly

insignifi-

cant

countermelody"

in m.

320

(Ex. 15) (oboes

and first

violin)

is the

first

appearance

of the four-note

turn;

this

countermelody

becomes the

theme

of

the

"etwas

gehalten"

episode.

This

episode

is extensive

enough

to have

its

own coda

(mm.

440-97),

a

passage

whose structural basis can

only

be

described as

cinematic: a series of

harp glissandi

act as dissolves between

flashbacks

of

previous

moments. These

flashbacks,

like

sudden

apparitions,

even

interrupt

the

oboe's two

attempts

to

return

to

the

main

theme of the

episode (mm. 462 and 473). The comparison of this passage with film

is

apt,

since

the

structural

basis of

film

is

collage.

In another

sense,

the idea of sudden

apparitions

pervades

the

riotous final section of the movement

(m.

522 to the

end):

motive

C

abruptly appears

with

accelerating

frequency

in mm.

560, 615-16,

627-28,

and

639-40.

Finally,

in

the last three

measures,

motive

C

is

superimposed

on motives

A

and

B,

despite

their harmonic

incompati-

bility.

Mahler's sketches suggest that the first six bars of the rondo-

burlesque-just

like the

first six

bars of

the

first movement-were not

composed

first. The above details

of the third movement's thematic

unfolding--one

of

constantly changing

hierarchies between theme and

accompaniment--imply

perhaps

that the movement's events were

conceived

in

reverse order.

In

any

case,

the movement is Mahler's

most concentrated

achievement of what

Schoenberg

called

"develop-

ing variation."


13/27

III. Rondo-Burleske

Allegro

assai. Sehr

trotzig.

1.2.3. Oboe

.

_

. .

Englischhorn

,_______

fS

1. (

rt

,

l •

Klarinette n

A

ff

2.3.

Bal3klarinette

in

B

,_

__.-- ._,

if

1.

_

f

Fagott

2.3.

fS

Kontra-Fagott

____-___

fS

Allegro

assai.

Sehr

trotzig.

zu

2

1.3. i

,4

-.

Horn n F

zu

2

2.4.

_"

f_

1.

Trompete

n F

2.3.

1.2. Posaune

3.

Posaune

Allegro

assai.

Sehr

trotzig.

1. Violine

, ?_

.

_

,,I

2.

Violine

_

_.,,,_

_

-

_

._

-

,,_-_..

-

Viola

...

.

"•.d.

fS""

Violoncell

--m

l

7.

B

1,i

Kontrabal3

-•

"

-

"

•

.

.-

.

_.

"

,

fi

Example

7.

•


14/27

i

1.2.

fsf

ti tSS

Lsf sf ff sf

sf

sf

sf

//Sf

sf ssf

i

?

S

fP

sf

zu 2 mit Sord.

-

"

1I

-

:-

"

fmitSord.

sf

zu

2

mit Sord.

Sf

ff

i~

rS

p

sf

S#

______p sf

--•

B

Gerb Db Gerb

(D

E)

f

mitSoD.

Example

7.

continued


15/27

Mahler's

inth:A

Conductor'suide 289

tr

1.2.

Hr.

in F

i

3.4.

1.2.

Trp.

n F

tr

zu 2

r

zu 2

(ohne

Dimpfer)

/

>

sf

(ohne

I~mpfer)

•

/

,s

Example

8.

III

The

gesture

of resolution

conveyed by

the

adagio's

main theme is in

part

due to

its

straightforward

mi-re-do

opening,

which makes it a

sort

of

lyrical

resolution

of

the

first movement's

mi-re motive. The

adagio's

main theme is

part

of

a

complex

of

figures,

all

consistently

associated with the

string-choirsetting.

This

complex

is

repeatedly

alternatedwith a second complex of figureswhose contrastcould not

be more

extreme,

involving

the

sparsest

voicings,

extreme

registers,

and

virtually

modal

pitch organization.

At

first,

the two

alternating

complexes

have no

apparent

relation to each

other,

and

they sequen-

tially

move closer

to

their eventual fusion in

the

adagissimo.

Com-

plex

2

makes

three

progressively

more elaborate

appearances,

n mm.

11-12,

28-48,

and

88-107.

The

first

(in

the

solo

bassoon)

is

hardly

more

than an

apparition,

an

interruption

of

complex

1.

The second


16/27

290 TheMusical

Quarterly

1. V.ar

109

L'istesso

tempo (

= J)

V

V

n V

V

,.i.

.

p leggiero .

vw

,

.

n n , V V n

Example

.

;/40

2. Vl.

n' n' I' n'

'

~

'

ff

Via.

ff

simile

f-i

if

simile

Example

10.

appearance

makes a

motivic connection to

complex

1

in its

transition

back to

it

at

mm.

42-48:

the

pivotal

moment here is the

solo violin

line

at

mm.

42-43,

which is

both a variant of the

immediatelypre-

ceding

two measures

(a

principal

figure

of

complex

2)

and

at the same

time a variant of the French horn solo at m. 49, which is in turn a

variant of

complex

l's

principal

theme

(Ex.

16).

The instruction

at

m.

43,

"etwas

(aber

unmerklich)

drangend,"

s meant to make

this

motivic connection audible

by gradually

giving

the

overlappingrepeti-

tions of

the

violin's two-measure

igure

in mm.

42-43

a

duration

equaling

m.

49

alone. This means no less than the

gradual

and

unno-

ticeable

doubling

of the

tempo

in six

measures--a

virtuoso

task'1

which

would

be ruined

by

the

slightest

ritardandoat the end of m.

48.


17/27

Mahler's

inth:A

Conductor's

uide

291

zu

3

1.2.3.

Klar.,

, "

in

A

if

f

1.2. Pos.

i-zu•

m'

"

-

-

..

.

Ir

3. Pos.

.

:• "' '

•

"

'

L_

. .

Pk.

f

v

v-p

Example

11.

227

iV

V

I

p

p

sempre

fsempre

f

Example

12.

270

-.

.

Klar.

C,.''

f

,

,

in Es

.,

if_

Example

13.

304

S>.

>

.

>. >.

-

:

o

'

r

i•

i

-

-

I

-

I

I I

11

.Pos. I 1

i f

Example

14.

The subito pianissimo that coincides with the first two appear-

ances of

complex

2

(mm.

11

and

28)

comes

again

in m.

73,

far

too

soon

for the third

appearance

of

complex

2 at m.

88.

Again,

the

seemingly inseparable

expressive

features of a

configuration

become

asynchronous, giving

them

separate

identities. In this

case,

by putting

the subito

pianissimo

in the middle of

complex

1,

another connection

is made

between

complexes

1

and

2:

complex

l's characteristic

string-

choir

setting

is from this

point gradually

dissolved and

unnoticeably


18/27

292 TheMusical

Quarterly

Sempre

I'istesso

tempo

311 ( = wie vorher die )

zu2 >

,>

>

1.3.

oa

Hr. in F

z_

zu 2 >

2.4.

o

-1

1.

Vl.

2.

V1.

Via.

__

Vlc.

.

.-7

"

"

,

_

'

315

zu

2

V11

_'

K.k

Isf

sf

iiiJJ.....I I,'

IIFIF'l

•

f

Example

15.


19/27

Mahler's

inth:A

Conductor'suide 293

320

1.2.3.4. Fl.

,,__ __,_

zu3

.2.3.

Ob.

a

.zu

3

1.2.3.

lar.

in

A

f-

B.-Klar.

in B

"

fS

""

zu

3

k•>>l,

.2.3. Fag.

V

fS

1.3.

Hr. in F

2.4.

VV

V Vc

V

I,

Kba.

sf s f

P

cresc.

V

nV b•

n V

nV b>,>

Kb.

.7"

"?,

/

Example

15.

continued

transformednto the

sparseness

of

complex

2

at

m.

88.

In

turn,

com-

plex

1

then

vehemently

breaksout of

complex

2 in mm.

106-7.

At

the end of this climactic and most elaborate

appearance

of

complex

1,

complex

2 is

merely

hinted at

registrally

n m.

147

(see below).

But

instead of a

reappearance

f

complex

2,

there comes

in m.

148-58

a

gently meandering

discourse

(Ex.

17).

Adorno

remarked

n

reference


20/27

294

TheMusical

Quarterly

zu 4

324

?

'

I

"

pt33

cresc.,(p)

cresc.

. ...#

tl

#/i•

?

.

sfsf

Sf

.bf

•

?~

(p) crsc

Example15. continued

to a

passage

from the first movement

(the

cadenzafor flute and

horn,

mm.

381-90):

"The horn

melody

hovers in the middle between reci-

tative

and

theme,

just

as

in

the last

piece

of the

Song

of

theEarth.

Melody-making

Melodisieren]

ecomes

in the end a

form-category

ui

generis,

the

synthesis

of thematic

working-out

and chattiness."12

ust


21/27

Mahler's

inth:A

Conductor'suide 295

Sl?

Etwas

(aber

unmerklich)

driingend

V

40.

olo.

Solo

p

espress.

molto

espress.

Molto

adagio

subito

(

wie

im

letzten

Takte die

)

49 stark hervortretend

1.Hr.

in

F

f

Example

16.

such a

synthesis

is also embodiedin the measuresabove. In m. 151

there

begins

a

gently "chatty"

second-violin

figure,freely

drawn from

the violin

figure

at

m.

145,

which is

in

turn a

freely

drawn

inversion

of the

principal

theme's second measure. At the

end of

m.

152,

the

figure

stops

dead in its tracks. The next

event,

a three-note utter-

ance,

is

a most concentrated

synthesis

of "chattiness"

and "thematic

working-out":

n the one

hand,

it is a

failed

attempt

to

pick up

on

the

previous

measure,

albeit

displacedby

a

beat;

on the other

hand,

it

is a false

start of the

rising

scale firstheardin the

bassoon

in m.

11.

(In

turn,

m.

154-two

notes --is

at

once a failed

continuation,

a false

start,

and

the

final

stage

in

the

sequential

transformation f the sec-

ond violins' chattiness into the cello's thematic

working-out.)

The

firstviolins' A-naturalhere--a chromaticconsequenceof the descent

from C in m.

147-adds

yet

another dimension

to this

moment's

precariousness:

t

suggests

a new

dominant,

making

the

D-flat, E-flat,

F-flat,

and

G-flat

also understandable s

C-sharp, D-sharp,

E,

and

F-sharp.

Measures155-58

are

structurally

parallel

to

mm.

423-33

in

the firstmovement

(flutesolo,

"schwebend").

Both

passages

are

"hov-

ering,"

not

only

between

recitative

and theme but also in

their har-

monic

and

sonorous

ambience:both hover on

the

neapolitan

in

anticipationof the final moments. This is accomplished n the adagio

with

freely

reinflected lines drawn

from

early

in

the

movement-the

solo cello

(mm. 155-56)

frommm.

13-14

(first

violin)

and the

cello

section

(mm.

157-58)

from the

movement's

two-measure

ntroduc-

tion. These new

inflectionsare a result

of

harmonic

indeterminacy,

especially

in the

case of

mm.

157

and

158,

in

which

even the

enhar-

monic

spelling

of the line's

whole-tone

construction

favors

melodic

sense over

harmonic

consistency.


22/27

296 TheMusical

Quarterly

IV

How can

performers

make the

idea

of a

"chatty"

melodic sense com-

prehensible

to listeners?

I think the

question

is one that

challenges

performers'

estural

range.

An

expressive

paradigm

uch

as "chatti-

ness" becomes

useful for

performers

nly

when their

expressive

choices

can be drawn from

completely

outside

the usual

spectrum

rom

poco

espressivo

o

molto

expressivo.

To be

musically "chatty"

(or

"hesitant"

or

"clumsy"

or

"snappy")

equires

much more

reflection about the

uniquemeaningof a specificmusical context than is requiredwhen

operating

by

rules of thumb

within the

poco-to-molto-espressivo

pec-

trum.

It

may

even

mean a renunciation of those rules of thumb.

Measures

151-58

(Ex. 17)

can serve as an

illustration. One

expressivo

rule

of thumb

is that the last note of a

figure

should

be

releasedwith a

gracefultaper.

But

if

one

reflects

upon

the

unique

features

of a

"chatty"

disposition,

one realizesthat

they

would include

the

inclination to

digress,

to

suddenly

have a

change

of mind and

say

something

else. To

play

a

phrase

in such a

way

requires

hat there

seem to be an

unusually

high

degree

of

uncertainty

at

every

moment

aboutwhat comes

next. I think that

in

the

passage,

the crucial

moments

are these: the release

of the second violins' B-natural

n m.

152;

the releaseof

their F-flatin m.

153;

the release of

the violas'

G-natural

in m.

154;

and the release of

the cellos' B-double-flat

n m.

158. Each of

these notes should be

played

full

value,

and

non diminu-

endo,

as

if

each

figure

were to continue.

This

phrasing

will contradict

a

rule of

thumb,

but

it makes

comprehensible

he

precariousness,

he

unpredictability-the gentle chattinessof this passage.

The

timing

of the next

event--the

second

violins'

rising

scale to

begin

the

adagissimo--is

pregnant

with

meaning

becauseit is

the

nexus of

many

melodic

paths,

and

thus the real

climax of the move-

ment

(Ex.

18).

First,

the A-flat: this

note,

which has been aimed

towardand

skirted

aroundfor the

past

twenty-two

measures,

becomes

from

this moment

on the melodic

axis.

Then,

the

rising

scale

itself: a

disarmingly imple

transformation

f

complex

2's

natural-minor

heme.

Finally,

the melodic

continuation:

the transformed

cale

from

complex

2 can

now-for the

first time-be

melodically

fused

with a

figure

rom

complex

1

(mm.

160-61).

From

here

until the end

there is also a

more subtle

fusion

of

complexes

1

and

2: the simultaneous

presence,

on the one

hand,

of the melodic

materials

and

string-choir

setting

from

complex

1,

and

on the other

hand,

of the starkness

and

sparse-

ness of articulation

and

tone that

characterize

omplex

2.


23/27

143)i|1.I.f

K1.

Fl.

pp

1.2. Fl.

I

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

3.4.Fl.

.

6)

zu3 dim.---------

1.2.3.

Ob.

u

dim.

----------

Englh.

I

il•' I

I

dim. ----------

"pp

pp morendo

Klar.

n

Bdim.

2.

dim

---------

2.3.

pp

pp

morendo

dim.

----

B.-Klar.

dm

in B

PP

dim.

V

1ia.

ag.

]J

r)[

••

tdim.PP

zu 2-

--

n"'"

F

2.3. Fag.

ag._'

_"

-_

_ _ _

pp

K.-Fag.

o

dim.

----

pp

145--

1. Vl.

u

2. Vl.

pp

ohne

Ausdruck

ptpp

-,.-

zu 2

Via.

pppp

espr.

Vlc

-o-

- - -

-,--

----p

et.

dim.

-------------

pp

P

Kb.

pp

pizz.

Example17.


24/27


25/27

Mahler's

inth:

A Conductor's

uide

299

Adagissimo

159

mit

Diimpf

2.pp

espr

pp

espr.

Example

18.

One could describethe originalsets of materialsthemselvesas a

dichotomy

between

an

emphasis

on

"musical"

ategories (complex

1:

"the

adagio,"

thematic

development,

etc.)

and

on human

movement

categories (complex

2:

slow,

hesitant,

without

sensitivity,

etc.).

The

final

adagissimo

ynthesizes

these two

emphases,

and the

second

vio-

lins'

opening

figure

n mm.

159-61 is the focal

point

of

that

synthesis.

The

adagissimo

as

a

whole could

be

described

as

a

"negative

stretto"--

where

the

figures,

instead

of

piling up

contrapuntally

n

a

rush toward

the end, are stretchedout one at a time to forma musicallandscape

near the

limits

of human

temporalperception.

The

word

adagissimo

tself

points

to

the

uniqueness

of

these final

moments.

Why

not

molto ento or

dusserst

angsam?

f

one

thinks of the

Italian

language

as the

language

of

"musical"

ategories,

and of the

German

language

as the

language

(for

Mahler)

of human

movement

categories,

then

the difference

for Mahler

between

adagio

and

langsam

becomes

clear:

adagio

refers

more to a

body

of

music,

and

langsam

refersmore to

an

approach,

an attitude. The choice

of Italian

or

Ger-

man in the score becomes a sign for the expressivedichotomybetween

complexes

1 and

2.

(This

explains

Mahler's

apparently

redundant

instruction-within

an

adagio-for

the solo

bassoon,

langsam,

at

the

first

appearance

of

complex

2 in m.

11.)

Adagissimo,

word

that does

not

quite

refer to

any

body

of

music,

is

an

attempt

to

synthesize

Ital-

ian and

German-a

fusion

analogous

to

what

happens

in the music

itself at this

final

page

of score.

Mahler

perhaps

thought

that

the Ger-

man side of

the

meaning

needed more

emphasis

when he wrote

the

Webernesque"iusserstlangsam"over the final seven measures.And

perhaps

the wordersterbend

ather than morendo

n the last bar-a

word

Mahlerused

only

twice

in his

other

works,

at the end of the

Urlicht and

the end of the

Abschied-also

underlines

the

adagissimo's

distance

from

"musical"

ategories.

Melody

dissolves

into

pure

inflec-

tion.

Throughout

this

symphony,

the

voice,

the

tone,

the

tempo

of a

figure

attain a

separate

dentity

as "thematic"

as the

figure

tself.


26/27

300 TheMusical

Quarterly

Notes

1. Paul

Bekker,

Gustav

Mahlers

Sinfonien

Berlin:

Schuster

&

Loeffler, 1921;

reprint,

Tutzing:

Hans

Schneider,

1969),

337

(page

citations are to the

reprint

edition):

"Ein

seltsamesWerk."

2. Bekkerdiscussedthe

general importance

of

sonata structure

n Mahler's

music and

the

strangeness

of its

presence

or absence in the Ninth's first

movement,

which he

considered

a directcontinuation of Das Liedvon

der Erde:

First

he

had to have written the

EighthSymphony

and have

given

the

strongest

foundation to

the new

era's sonata

[der

Sonate

aus

neuzeitlichem

eiste]

before

he

could

recognize

the new sonata

principle

as realized. He

could

then

confront

it

borne anew out of creativenecessity. This newness, this necessity, is the Ninth

Symphony

as a

whole,

especially

as embodiedin the firstmovement.

(338-39;

my

translation)

Bekker

gave

a

quick poetic-analytic-biographical

verview of the

meaning(s)

the first

movement's

key

had for Mahler:

Apotheosis

of

death,

ringing

out

in

D

Major,

the

very key

in

which Mahler had

once

glorified

the

triumph

of

life

in the finale of the

First,

divine love

[gbttliche

Liebe]

n the

finale of

the

Third,

creative

power

the finale of the Fifth. . . .

"What

death tells

me" is

[lautet]

he unwritten

epigraph

of

the Ninth

symphony.

(339-40;

my

translation)

3. Walter

Pater,

Appreciations

ith an

Essay

on

Style

(Oxford:

Basel

Blackwell,

1889).

4.

This

notion

came

from Richard Herbert

Howe,

in a conversation with me.

Roughly

from the

1815

treaty

of

Versailles,

the

emergingbourgeoishegemony

opened

up European

music

to a new self-awareness:he

teleological

musical

practices

of

romanticismcould

refer

o the ancien

regime's

music

(whether

it be

music

of

the court

or

of

the

peasants)

without

straightforwardly

articipating

n it. This

type

of

allusion-of

making,

so to

speak,

quotation

marks n

music-was

a form of

incipient

class consciousness.

5. Robert G.

Hopkins,

Closure

and Mahler'sMusic: The Role

of

Secondary

arameters

(Philadelphia:University

of

Pennsylvania

Press, 1990).

6.

Christopher

Orlo

Lewis,

Tonal Coherencen Mahler'sNinth

Symphony

Ann

Arbor,

Mich.: UMI Research

Press, 1984).

7.

A few

examples

of how m. 108-10 are handled in recorded

performances:

"fixed",

.e.,

with the

tempo

I

subito moved back

2

measures-Ancerl,

Giulini,

Kara-

jan,

Kletski,

Kondrashin,Solti,

Walter

(c. 1959)

compromise,

intermediate

tempo

for

the

two

bars,

perhaps

also

with

a ritard-Gielen

(a smidge

slower,

no

ritard),Horenstein,

Mitropoulos retarding

o

evenly bridge

tempi),

Rosbaud,

Walter

(1938-retarding

a

little,

but

abrupt

change

at

m. 110.

This was

probably

he third

performance

of the

piece,

the

first

being

Waiter's

1912

premiere

and the second

by Mengelberg

n Amsterdam

n the

1920s.)

as

written-Abbado

8.

Theodor

W.

Adorno,

Mahler:

Eine musikalische

hysiognomik.

Frankfurt:

Suhrkamp,

1960),

209;

translation

mine.


27/27

Mahler's inth:A

Conductor'suide 301

9. Peter

Andraschke,

Gustav

Mahlers

X.

Symphonie:Kompositionsprozess

nd

Analyse

(Wiesbaden:FranzSteiner, 1976), 83. Mengelbergwrote "allesgrimmigeLustigkeit"

("everythinggrim

merriment")

over

m.

104

of the

second movement

in

his score.

10. In a

way,

the

rondo-burlesque's eginning

is

like the

very beginning:

six mea-

sures

baldly lay

out

motives. But

in

this

case,

the six measures

brusquely

nd

(sfor-

zando,

m.

6,

beat

2).

Whereas the andante comodo'sfirst six measures

effortlessly

lid

into a new motive that turned out to be a

theme,

the

rondo-burlesque's

irst six mea-

sures

set

up

an

unmistakable heme

built

clearly

out

of three

opening

motives. The

sforzando hord's

intensity

derives from its

triple

function: as the

abrupt

end of

the

six-measure

opening,

as

part

of motive

C,

and as the

springboard

o the

theme's

beginning.

This chord

(in

strict

tempo here,

of

course )

should be unlike

everything

that surrounds

t-extremely

short,

Stravinsky-dry, llowing

the

eighth

rest to be

clearly

audible

despite

the

quick

tempo.

The

composition

here is both

polyphonically

and

harmonically

virtuosic:

not

only

does motive C

feature

the

bass line's

falling

third,

but it is also

part

of

an

amazingly

constructed

elliptical

chromatic

ascent that

leads to the violins'

D#-E

in m.

6,

which

opens

the

main

theme

(see

Ex.

7).

Motives

A and B's harmonic

indeterminacy-half-diminished

seventh

(C#-E-G-B)?;

French

sixth

(A-C#-D#-G,

with

D-sharprespelled

B-flat for the

horns?);

whole-tone

(G-A-B-C#-D#)

?-this is

perhaps

Mahler's

personalburlesque

of

themes

from the

third and

second

movements

of

his

own

Fifth

Symphony.

11. I suggestperforming his not as a technically steadyacceleration but rather a five

incremental,

terraced,

imperceptiblepochissimo

pit

mossi

squarely

at the

downbeats

at

mm.

44, 45, 46, 47,

and

48,

arriving

at the new double

tempo

right

at

m.

48.

Then one can

smoothly go

into a

suddenly

half-tempo

m.

49

with

absolutely

no

per-

ceptible

tempo change;

the half notes' stillness will

disguise

the

terraced

empo

changes.

12.

Adorno,

204.

mahler's symphony no. 9 an analytic sketch

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