the finale of mahler's fifth symphony long-range musical thought

The Finale of Mahler's Fifth Symphony: Long-Range Musical ThoughtAuthor(s): Carolyn BaxendaleSource: Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Vol. 112, No. 2 (1986 - 1987), pp. 257-279Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/797941Accessed: 28/07/2010 15:06

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The Finale of Mahler's Fifth Symphony: Long-range Musical Thought

CAROLYN BAXENDALE

It is clear that all the experience I had gained in writing the first four symphonies completely let me down in this one - for a completely new style demanded a new technique.'

TWENTY-FIVE years ago a prominent Mahler enthusiast could describe the finale of Mahler's Fifth Symphony as 'a windy, uninspired stretch of note-spinning, literally scraping the barrel in search of music'.2 Few people nowadays would subscribe to this view: indeed the upsurge of interest in the work of other 'late Romantic' composers has perhaps served to sharpen our admiration for Mahler's exceptional powers of invention and his no less extraordinary mastery of large-scale form. Yet we are not really any closer to explaining just how such extended works are held together and given shape, particularly in the absence of specific extra-musical concepts such as those of the 'Wunderhorn' symphonies.

Given the apparent absence of literary sources and the apparently more generalized status of programmatic elements in the middle- period symphonies, various analytical strategies have been proposed. Comparative analyses aim to interpret musical events in the later works by identifying kinship with passages in the early symphonies, where extra-musical content is easier to determine.3 The labelling of 'thematic archetypes'4 is also an attempt to demonstrate stylistic continuity and patterns of meaning within Mahler's output as a whole. However, analysis of broader structural forces has rarely succeeded in shrpassing a rudimentary approach to overall form,5 or in relating formal categories to the 'compositional dynamic'.6 Never- theless, it need not be concluded that any radically new analytical approach is required. Careful application of established methods directed towards the tension between formal archetypes and unique internal forces goes a long way towards defining certain important aspects of Mahler's 'new technique' and the extent of his compositional achievement in these works.

S Selected Letters of Gustav Mahler, ed. Knud Martner (London, 1979), 372. 2 Philip Barford, 'Mahler: A Thematic Archetype', Music Review, 21 (1960), 297-316. 3 This is one of Constantin Floros's aims in his Gustav Mahler (Wiesbaden, 1977). 4 See Barford, 'Mahler: A Thematic Archetype'. 5 See Edward W. Murphy, 'Sonata-Rondo Form in the Symphonies of Gustav Mahler', Music

Review, 36 (1975), 54-62. This study is largely concerned with the labelling of lengthy sections of1 thematic and tonal contrast. His proposed plan of V/5 is discussed below in the section dealing with rondo and sonata principles.

6 A term used in David Epstein's Beyond Orpheus: Studies in Musical Structure (Cambridge, 1979) to refer to those processes particular to each work which determine internal musical energies.

258 CAROLYN BAXENDALE

THE CLIMAX PROFILE

The balance between the architectural and the transformational functions of thematic restatement shifted quite dramatically during the nineteenth century. The new demands made on the repetition of material arose from a radical dissatisfaction with a concept of form in which the primary function of a recapitulation is to afford architectural and tonal balance, and from the ever more pressing require- ment that it should embody a psychological progression. This shift of emphasis is manifested in the location of an overall climax profile, both within and between movements, the nature of which is central to any attempt to distinguish the cumulative procedures of the nineteenth century from those of the eighteenth century.

William S. Newman has suggested four methods by which a nineteenth-century composer sought to unify multi-movement works: (a) interlocking movements; (b) thematic interrelationships; (c) programmatic continuity; (d) overall curve of dynamic tension.7 The last of these has received little detailed study owing to the difficulty of objective evaluation, but it is nevertheless an issue fundamental to the operation of larger structural forces. Newman goes on to stress the importance of climax location:

One almost accepts as axiomatic the idea that in the Romantic Era a complete sonata must describe an overall curve of force. It must, in other words, achieve a climax profile that takes in, and therefore unites, all of its movements. Leonard B. Meyer has discussed the difference between eighteenth-

and nineteenth-century cumulative processes in terms of 'syntactic climax' and 'statistical apotheosis'. The former, characteristic of Classical works, is a reversal in which primary parameters (melody, rhythm, harmony) move from relative mobility to relative stability (not necessarily closure), one which may typically occur halfway through a musical phrase. A 'statistical apotheosis', determined by the increased intensity of secondary parameters, whose immediacy of effect proved to be much more congenial to a nineteenth-century cultivation of the illusion of spontaneity, usually occurs at the end of a pattern (applicable both to phrase-structure and to proportions of the larger design) followed by rapid closure. This characteristic is manifest in a conscious effort to place the climax towards the end of the recapitulation or, at a higher level, in the finale. The Classical principle of recapitulation involved architectural balance and resolution of a preceding climax, while 'the structures of Romantic work are no longer synthetic but additive. The music of Schumann in particular . . . comes in a series of waves, and the climax is reserved for the moment before exhaustion.'9 Such a scheme clearly avoids a

7 See William S. Newman, The Sonata since Beethoven (rev. edn, Chapel Hill, 1972), 140-6. 8 Leonard B. Meyer, 'Exploiting Limits: Creation, Archetypes and Style Change', Daedalus:

Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 109 (1980), 177-205. 9 Charles Rosen, The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven (repr. London, 1980), 453.

THE FINALE OF MAHLER'S FIFTH SYMPHONY 259

climax at the point of recapitulation in order to reserve the structural highpoint for the end of the movement (sometimes even the end of the whole work).'o

The dramatization of recapitulation and the location of overall climax in the finale were essentially foreign to the tensions generated by a Classical scheme. Those tensions created in the opening movements were considered unsuitable for a Classical finale, whose 'role needs to be disentangled from a later age's conception of an effective ending', along with 'the attempts to break down the feeling for a frame that were to come with the first Romantic generation'." This emergence of a new feeling for overall proportions, both within and between movements, must be understood in terms of a new relationship between the work of art and the individual personality behind it, or even expressed within it.12

Many nineteenth-century works, then, clearly merit some attempt to analyse cumulative processes.'" However, we must beware of being content with vague distinctions between terms such as 'final apotheosis', 'resolution', 'revelation' and so on. For instance, Christo- pher Ballantine's remarks on the finale of Mahler's Seventh Sym- phony are less helpful than they appear:

On a macrocosmic scale this urge, a tendency to strive for brightness, is symbolized in the way the symphony lifts itself from B minor to C major - a key which thus appears as a goal tonality.'4

In the case of Mahler's Seventh Symphony, in spite of what Ballantine calls 'C major preparation' throughout the work, this key clearly does not represent a 'goal tonality' in the way that the D major of the Fifth Symphony does. Such categories may best be established by consider- ation of the unique processes of each particular work, and only then will it be meaningful to compare finales at this level of generality, as Ballantine aims to do.'5

1o V. Kofi Agawu's thesis, 'The Structural Highpoint as a Determinant of Form in Nineteenth-century Music' (Ph.D., Stanford University, 1982), has postulated an axiomatic dynamic curve ( ) as a basis for understanding the compositional dynamic of nineteenth-century music, in which the structural highpoint may be explained in terms of the processes which generate it. " Rosen, The Classical Style, 274, 276.

12 The shifting relationship between composer and work of art, from the sixteenth century onwards, has been shown to exert considerable influence on the methodology of music history, being discussed at length in Carl Dahlhaus's penetrating study, The Foundations of Music History (trans. J. B. Robinson, Cambridge, 1983). Dahlhaus contrasts the importance of detachment and objective representation in eighteenth-century aesthetics with a nineteenth-century belief in art as Lebensphilosophie and as the expression of personality. See especially 'Historicism and Tradition', pp. 53-71, and 'Hermeneutics in History', pp. 71-85.

13 Agawu's recent article, 'Structural "Highpoints" in Schumann's Dichterliebe', Music Analysis, 3 (1984), 159-80, represents the compositional dynamic of selected songs by a 'narrative curve' (see also above, note 10) whose realization depends on the contextual interaction of various parameters.

14 Christopher Ballantine, The Twentieth Century Symphony (London, 1983), 108. 15 For a study of specific long-range processes in Mahler's mid-period symphonic finales, see

my thesis, 'Tonality and the Evolution of the Finale in Mahler's Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Symphonies' (Mus.M., University of Manchester, 1984).


Figure 1

-J to 297

Bars: 24 56 95 100 107 116 119 126 136

Intro. A B A,

,abc d a

[b+B] D: V I V I A: I- V V -(I)--*D: V -I LVI V (I) I

1 t Bass line A B DE A

t - No resolution of V of A. I in A immediately becomes V of D (see--+)

-- -•

to 487

Bars: 167 187 191 233 253 265 269 272 273 280 286 293 297 306 307

Transition C B, a

V of A with B V VI B: V (I) I D: I in the C:I bass

BE D F' Bass line: B G BB (A E G) D - A - E -B

balancing WVI cycle of around I rising fifths

Notwithstanding suggestions that a lack of formal consistency is true of Mahler's output as a whole, 6 the concept of premature climax, undermined and subsequently renewed on more secure ground - a dialectical formal principle associated with a continuing inner conflict - does in fact elucidate formal processes at various levels in many of his longer movements. The possible psychological analogies with the manic-depressive condition, seen as symptomatic of much late nineteenth-century middle-class culture,"7 must not be ignored. That this particular structural feature is in one case definitely related to psychological states is confirmed by Mahler's remarks in a letter to Richard Strauss, who had apparently complained that the D major

16 See John Williamson, 'The Development of Mahler's Symphonic Technique with Special Reference to the Compositions of the Period 1899-1905' (D.Phil. dissertation, University of Oxford, 1975), Chapter V.

17 See George Steiner, In Bluebeard's Castle: Some Notes Towards the Redefinition of Culture (London, 1971), 13-48; Carl E. Schorske, Fin-de-siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture (New York, 1980), 3-22, 181-203; William J. McGrath, Dionysian Art and Populist Politics in Austria (New Haven, 1974), 87-120.


Figure 1 continued

Bars: 329 337 349 365 373 415 423 441 454

C (B) Retransition

V VI B:I Vof: D' DEG' D D:(I) I B:'I-V

D:I VofC

G A' D• GI D BI rising dominant

cycle of balancing pedals Initially appears to be a return of B, falling around D but turns out to be a retransition to fifths A, balancing the transition at bar 167,

both of which frame the central section.

Bars: 455 479 483 487 497 526 581 592 623 687 693 711 783

Thematic and Chorale A2 B2 Harmonic - Apotheosis -

Exploration Transformation d+a (C) ofd

C:I-VofD - D: I V I VI C: V VI D: I VI I Pedal

(A? A G FN of D) 4 final WVI

ambiguity interruption OVERALL SCHEME

Apotheosis

ABA, Transition C BICI Extended A2B2 LJ - Retransition

Exploration I i ( IExploration (

KEY

/ Harmonic interruption

- ' Extending the implication of interrupted cadences

Local resolution becomes preparation for a more emphatic resolution

outburst at bar 375 of the finale of the First Symphony imparted a sense of final triumph too soon:

At the place in question, the conclusion is merely apparent (in the full sense a 'false conclusion') and a change and breaking down that reaches to the essence is needed before a true victory can be won after such a struggle. My intention was to show a victory in which victory is furthest from the protagonist just when he believes it is closest - this is the nature of every spiritual struggle - for there it is by no means simple to become a hero.'"

However revealing and fundamental such an admission proves to be, only an understanding of the precise musical function and formal

consequence within particular works can hope to reveal its exact

significance in each case. In the more detailed analytical commentary

18 Letter of 19 July 1894, cited in Gustav Mahler-Richard Strauss: Correspondence, 1888-1911, ed. Herta Blaukopf (London, 1984), 37.


Figure 2

+ - 6 bars of D major from - - _ D major first movement

/ 0 Scherzo

Bars: 1 74 141 189 226 288 317 323 464 520 557

Thematic A B A B C (ch.) Thematic

(ch.) A Groups Development

Main Key a f a e B A6 A D td a Areas premature climax D major resolution on A interrupted interrupted, resolved

ch. =chorale at the end of the work

Figure 3 Bars: 1 46 48 59 60 62 63 71 72

C-D? A-B

'

F-G '

Bass line: 'D& - C- B - A" - A - G' - G - C

F: I [G: I - V V VV of E of D

Middle Section

which follows, close reference to the published score of the Fifth Symphony will be required to follow many of the arguments presented. The score published in the Kritische Gesamtausgabe will be found most useful for its accuracy and for its inclusion of bar numbers. Figure. 1, a plan of the tonal structure of the finale of the Fifth Symphony, may be used in conjunction with the text to clarify the analytical observations. The following abbreviations will be used throughout the analysis:

V/5, VII/1, etc. Symphony no. 5, fifth movement, Sym- phony no. 7, first movement, etc.

A, B, etc. thematic groups a, b, etc. sub-sections within thematic groups A A major a A minor A pitch-class A I, II, etc. chords on scale degrees.'9

9 An ambiguity arises here, since V is used to represent both the dominant chord and Mahler's Fifth Symphony. However, it is felt that the particular meaning of the symbol should be self-evident from the context in which it is used.


THE CHORALE AND ITS FORESHADOWING IN THE SECOND MOVEMENT

Any study of V/5 would be inadequate without some mention of the visionary D major chorale at the end of the second movement, which completes Part I of the symphony. Its effectiveness in the overall context of the second movement depends both on association of key-colour and tonal/harmonic processes. The chorale, which breaks through at bar 464 in an attempt to dispel conflict, has been prepared by a long-range process traceable to the outburst on an A major chord at bars 317ff. This outburst is rapidly silenced by a textural collapse and the return of the opening material in A minor. Still an active force, this visionary climax is renewed at bar 464, now in D major (a much more extended D major than was afforded by the brief glimpse of this key in the first movement at bars 307-12), and sustained by the ensuing chorale for 55 bars. However, its final cadence is impeded at bar 520 by a harmonic structure which has two functions. First, the dominant minor ninth (Bb-D-F-A -B4)20 accommodates a return of the opening motif, now in D minor. Secondly, the progression from V of D to a harmonic aggregate based on the flat sixth (Bb ) anticipates the extended structural function of this relationship in the Scherzo and the finale, to be discussed below. In this way the chorale itself is given the force of a premature climax, to be fulfilled only at the end of the symphony. Figure 2 places the chorale in the context of the overall design of the second movement.

Here, then, is one crucial aspect of an evolutionary process which informs the whole work. A directional force, created by the visionary chorale statements in V/2, exists between the two parts of the symphony, and the central movements also contribute to the overall tonal progression. The evolution of D from c is clearly a gradual and calculated process which embraces the whole symphony. The following explicit references to D major may be seen as premature attempts to establish this key, and as such contribute to a gradual transformation, adding to the final sense of achievement.

V/1: bars 306-12 6 II interpolation within the tonic major.

V/2: bars 464-519 D interruption of eb . Extension of a similar event in A at bar 317, the optimism of which was initially rejected at bar 322. D is sustained for 55 bars, though abruptly cut off at bar 520 (see above).

V/3: key of D VI interruption assumes greater force (cf. bars 59, 83, 136). Opposition between D and B b is set up, to be worked out further in the finale.

20 It would be grammatically accurate to write the Bk as a C b , in view of the function of this chord, though Mahler notates an F# , and not a Gb , for the horn in F (see bar 520).


V/4: bars 63-71 The central section of the Adagietto progresses tonally as indicated in Figure 3.

The unresolved V of D at bar 63 is highlighted by its structural position, slipping into the return of the opening in F major at bar 72.21 This event must be seen as a crucial step in the overall tonal progression, more particularly since its thematic material returns transformed in the finale,22 reinforcing the far-reaching referential properties of this passage.

THEMATIC MATERIAL

The opening of V/5 (bars 1-23) presents three ideas (a, b and c) out of which the contrapuntal sections of the movement are to be developed (see Example 1). a and c are affirmative statements in allegro tempo,

Example I a (br 3)

b (complete form, bar 16) Etwas langsamer

c (bar 13) Allegro

Example 2

d (bar 1352)

IL 1 1P w R .1

2' Allen Forte has suggested that D major is 'an implicit tonic sonority' in bars 63-71 - see his article, 'Middleground Motives in the Adagietto of Mahler's Fifth Symphony,' 19th Century Music, 8 (1984), 153-63. He also suggests that the transition to the return of the opening music at bar 72 is determined not so much by harmonic considerations as by motivic counterpoint. However, he does not attempt to relate the manipulation of motivic cells to the dissipation of dominant harmonic tension after a dominant pedal on A lasting 9 bars, a process central to the effect of this passage.

22 The Adagietto returns first at bar 191 in B major, later achieving its radiant D major at bar 373.


while b, achieving its more complete form on its second appearance (bar 16), questions each with an irresolute antithesis (bars 7 and 16). This initial differentiation of function is important since the implications arising from the directional (or closural) properties of these themes are to be sustained over lengthy time-spans in order to meet the demands of coherence within a context of multi-sectional expansion. The climax of A (see Figure 1) at bar 52 furnishes another theme, d (see Example 2), which here gives cadential emphasis. Later it will be extended in contrapuntal passages, and its gradual transformation will culminate in the chorale.

Just as Mahler's finale secularizes the traditional function of the chorale, so does it divest the fugue of the monumentality with which it was frequently associated in the nineteenth century. Here the fugue, initiating B at bar 56, does not convey any sense of monumental dignity, but has a breathless and impatient quality emphasized particularly by the entries of the subject which avoid dominant preparation (see bars 71-2, 87-8), contributing to a sense of enthusiastic accumulation. Unlike Bruckner V/4, where the abrupt change from a contrapuntal to a homophonic texture is achieved by a sudden halt and complete silence at bar 349, the relationship between the two textures is more fluid. Throughout the movement the fugue subject is gradually deprived of the assertive independence initially associated with it, since it never returns to dominate the texture thematically, as a middle or final entry in a fugue might be expected to do, being reduced to a delineation of harmonic structure, a process reaching its climax in the final chorale. (This complements the gradual transformation of the cadential theme, d, into the chorale apotheosis, to be discussed below.) Moreover, the transitions themselves obscure any specific line of division (see bars 95-100, 253-73, 297-307 and 423-41).

LONG-RANGE IMPLICATION OF INTERRUPTED CADENCES

The first of these transitions at bars 95-100 is much more than a local effect, since long-range harmonic and thematic forces are seen to evolve therefrom: the first return of a in its original thematic form at bar 95 leads us to expect a climax of the fugal accumulation, since its emphasis on A and its dominant implies stabilization in this key (the 'regular' dominant), and in recalling the opening bars it suggests that the first phase of the argument is over, providing a framework for bars 1-99. However, this framework is left 'open' by the harmonic interruption at bar 100, and the subsequent avoidance of resolution in A major. Denying expectations in this way initiates a force which impels the music forward, with a strong sense of anticipating eventual resolution. Theme a (bar 95) anticipates an 'arrival' which, at this stage, is denied, and the cumulative properties of a are renewed, still subject to local interruption, at various stages of structural evolution. The next stage in denying the implications of the thematic renewal of


a occurs at an analogous place in B1 (bars 297-306)23 - the interruption at bar 307 indicates that the cumulative impulse, brushed aside at bar 100, must await further confirmation. The place at which it is eventually stabilized inevitably carries considerable structural emphasis in view of the preliminary frustrated climaxes. Thematic renewal of a does in fact occur before A2 (bar 487, trumpet in F), where its cumulative implications are stabilized by harmonic resolution and by the delayed return of A at bar 497. This high-level process (indicated by -- -- j on the plan of tonal structure - see

Figure 1) serves to reinforce the idea of recapitulation associated with the delayed return of A. (The remarks below on sonata and rondo archetypes suggest additional reasons why A2 (bar 497) carries the idea of recapitulation.) However, the process is still not complete. a is involved in a repeatedly frustrated impulse towards the final apotheosis, over the dominant of C (discussed in more detail below), and since this is the 'wrong' key it is inevitably interrupted at bar 581 by an exploratory passage out of which the D major chorale eventually emerges. The conspicuous absence of a in preparation for the final chorale (conspicuous in view of its cumulative function in the most prominent climaxes of the movement) prevents its implicative potential becoming one of predictability, which might well have lessened the impact of the D major chorale at bar 711.

Therefore the apparent 'arrival' suggested by a at bar 95 is deceptive, and the deception is continued and strengthened by the dominant pedal on E from bar 99, as if to imply forthcoming resolution to A. However, the interruption at bar 100 never achieves harmonic stability - the prolongation of V of A does not lead to a confirmation of A, since A is transformed into V of D at bars 108-9. Just as relief seems imminent at bar 116, V of D is itself interrupted by a B b triad - bVI. The tonic which comes three bars after is not heard as a resolution of V at bar 118, but is itself a deflection from Bb and becomes part of the harmonic process controlling the interruption of V (see Figure 4). b over a dominant pedal recalls the introduction (bar 127) and only in its progression to A, (bar 136) is the tension of the whole passage from bar 100 temporarily set aside. But the climax of B

Figure 4

Bars: 116 1119 122 1123 126

Progression of bass line: A - B' // D - E' // A

Tonal structure: D: V~- V = interruption // = deflection

23 A structural comparison of B and B1, justifyinjg the labels used, is advanced below, and will explain why bars 95-100 and 297-306 are structurally analogous.


(bars 95-100) still remains unsubstantiated, possessing latent structural forces, renewed and resolved in later sections of the movement.

Extending the implications of interrupted cadences over long spans of music which appear to be developed out of localized harmonic deception proves to be an important structuring factor in the finales of all the middle symphonies (V, VI and VII). The procedure sustains an exploratory while at the same time essentially unified tonal scheme. Charles Rosen concludes his study of Beethoven by examining his power to suspend harmonic motion which often 'builds an intensity more terrifying and moving than any less inward motion could induce. With all their tension these effects are essentially meditative in character, and they make one aware to what extent the exploration of the tonal universe was an act of introspection.'24 The way in which both Beethoven and Mahler exploit the meditative potential within the tonal system appears to reconcile tonal dynamism with an inevitable tonal unity, affording the possibility of artistically satis- fying large-scale structures not dependent on programmatic content for their continuity and inner energy.

Carl E. Schorske has described how the late nineteenth-century preoccupation with art represented a withdrawal from the pressures of political reality.25 This appears to be one result of an oppressive, authoritarian rule. In the early nineteenth century the French Revolu- tion and Napoleonic wars stimulated hopes of social dynamism and 'progress', widespread impulses which were rendered immobile by the world of liberal, middle-class rule. One outcome, manifest in late nineteenth-century artistic life, is the channelling of frustrated energies into personal creation: 'The artist becomes hero. In a society made inert by repressive authority, the work of art becomes the quintessential deed'.26

In this historical context the significance of this 'exploration of the tonal universe' lies in the continuity of a carefully worked-out inner programme, probing the individual mind rather than the outward effect of material reality. The use of key areas which are essentially a 'progression towards' a prevailing tonic or interruptions 'from within', and not merely features of contrast,27 may also be seen as a musical reflection of psychological resignation.

MEDIANT KEY RELATIONSHIPS EVOLVING FROM LOCAL HARMONIC EVENTS

A comparison of A and Al highlights an important change at the end of Al - d appears to be over-enthusiastic, entering prematurely at bar

24 Rosen, The Classical Style, 448. 25 Schorske, Fin-de-sikcle Vienna, 3-22. 26 Steiner, In Bluebeard's Castle, 25. 27 The relationship between F minor and Db major in I/4 is clearly one of 'calculated

contrast', a term used in Dika Newlin, Bruckner, Mahler and Schoenberg (rev. edn, New York, 1978), 149, pointing to the lack of internal coherence.


159 (four bars 'too early'), and as a result has to mark time in bars 161-4 before the entry of the cadential motif at bars 163-4. In fact in A, Al and A2 (bars 497-526) d is stated progressively earlier each time, in A2 (bar 511) in an augmented version which anticipates the final chorale, as if the symbol of achievement is constantly trying to break through the surface excitement. The 6 VI interruption at bar 167 now clarifies the local harmonic deception at bar 119 as a premature attempt at harmonic development, silenced temporarily by the return of A. The interruption at bar 119 may be seen as an initially potential event, now realized not as a tonal contrast but as part of a symmetrical process which will generate the key area of C: the submediant key is integrated by means of a symmetrical balancing of major thirds on the flat and sharp sides of the tonic (see Figure 5).

Figure 5

Bars: 167 177 187 191

D B - D - F' B

I (bVI III) VI

The major third above the tonic then becomes V of the new key, B major. In this way Mahler unfolds a tonal logic which embraces the submediant and the flat submediant, while at the same time differ- entiating between their independent relationships to the tonic - B 0 unsettles the tonic from within, whilst B is employed more indepen- dently as a tonal contrast supporting episodic material (though episodic only in a local context, since it evolves from the Adagietto). This functional distinction between the major keys of B 0 ( bVI) and B (VI) is emphasized further by comparing the harmonic progression of the transition from C to B1 (bars 253-73) with that of the transition discussed above (bars 167-91). The key with which each transition begins has a bVI relationship to the main key of its preceding section. Moreover, bVI colouring may be found in both main sections as an anticipatory local detail (bars 119, 237), gaining more tonal substance with the opening of each transition (bars 167, 253) - see Figure 6.

Figure 6

Bars: 167 177 187 191 253 265 269 271 273

AB A C B,

D - (B' D F')-B-(G B' Ab E')-D WI WVI

ofD ofB | trans. [ trans. I


A discussion of the bVI relationship (D/B 0 ) must also take into account its function in the central Scherzo, where it becomes progressively stronger, only to be swept aside before the final cadence.28 The move to B 0 ( bVI) at bar 83 is again prefigured by a local detail at bar 59, though not in this case an interruption of V of D - its relationship to D is established by slipping onto the dominant at bars 66-7 (see Figure 7).

Figure 7

bar 59 - bar 83 0- bar 136

Bb interpolation, B? interruption Bb achieves stability approach to V of V as an autonomous

tonality

The thematic similarity between the bVI interruption at bar 83 of the Scherzo and the b VI interruption of A, at bar 167 in the finale serves to reinforce the tonal connection. Both passages use Alberti- bass string figuration to accompany a thematic statement, by the trumpet in the Scherzo and by the horn in the finale. Moreover, the flat sixth degree appears as a momentary disruption in the final bars of all the movements except for the Adagietto.29 The frequency of this event in the Fifth Symphony appears to signify the discouragement of any feeling of unrealistic security at the end of a movement. As a reminder of previous ventures, it highlights conflict as something which may be temporarily brushed aside and dismissed, but which is continually present beneath the surface. This condition is reflected not only in individual works, but also in the psychological progression through symphonies V, VI and VII. The C# minor funeral march is followed by a progression towards a jubilant D major finale, while this position is viewed in retrospect as one of false security in the light of the inescapable fate of the hero in VI. However, after this seemingly desperate conclusion, VII can still culminate in a C major triumph, albeit one bordering on naivety, though this is thoroughly in keeping with a casual, temporary dismissal of conflict. In fact this approach is manifested throughout Mahler's output.

Offering brief glimpses of fundamental conflicts in the final bars of a work may take the form of a temporary dismissal, as in Mahler, or, as in Beethoven op. 131, an overwhelming synthesis in which the conflict is completely absorbed. The bright shafts of D major before the closing bars are in the latter work the final expression of a fundamental harmonic relationship, evident not least in the c#-D

28 Williamson has also referred to the prominence of the melodic movement bVI-V in the thematic material of the opening funeral march. See his article, 'Liszt, Mahler and the Chorale', Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 108 (1981/2), 115-25 (p. 122).

29 The penultimate bar of VII/5 is also disturbed by the flat sixth, which had previously determined long-range tonal movement.


progression between movements 1 and 2. However, they are fully absorbed within a single harmonic matrix, within which all oppositions are transcended. The way in which a complete structure may be seen to evolve from localized harmonic events is essentially Beet- hovenian,30 and has an obvious significance in extended works whose time-scale demands of the listener an ability to relate local experi- ences to a conception of the whole, if overall unity is to be perceived.

THEMATIC CONTENT OF SECTION C

The thematic material of C is taken directly from the Adagietto, whilst at the same time it is seen to evolve from the opening motif of the movement (see Example 3).

Example 3 All

Transition to C

(bn 177-86) -" ""

barbbara

Al#.19011 24

Extracts from C A . Q -0

!In 0)w

Within the structure of the movement as a whole C and Ci provide a framework for the central development of B, offering a contrast to the contrapuntal textures. As to the structural function of these 'episodes' in the overall form the discussion below concerning the relevance of sonata and rondo categories in this finale will offer some suggestions. Mahler's reasons for recalling the contemplative and apparently self-sufficient Adagietto in this Rondo Finale are not immediately apparent. The recall of passages from the first movements of I, III and IV in their respective finales appears to signify the desire for a unity which embraces the whole design. Moreover, cyclic unity in II consists in a recall of previous movements (1 and 3) in order to transcend them in the forthcoming Resurrection, again suggesting an

.'all-inclusive' process. Whilst the final chorale in V/5 is clearly the outcome of an anticipatory vision at the end of Part 1, the return of the Adagietto is

so The studies of Beethoven presented in Rosen, The Classical Style, 379-448 and in Lionel Pike, Beethoven, Sibelius and 'The Profound Logic': Studies in Symphonic Analysis (London, 1978), 31-78, point to this feature as one of the most essential to his symphonic method.


of rather a different order. It does reinterpret the sentimental introspection of the Adagietto as part of the newly found energy which propels the Rondo Finale, though why the Adagietto should return at all is difficult to explain since the breathless, almost frivolous, character of the Rondo does not lend itself to the idea of a final, summarizing statement of the work, in which previous elements may be synthesized. So, whilst the return of the Adagietto might imply that its initial character is to be assimilated, the real nature of the finale seems to be more consistent with dismissal than with assimilation, accounting partly for the sense of incongruity.

SECTIONS B and B1 COMPARED

Though the statement of a and d which opens the central development (B1, bar 273) refers back to bars 95-100, where the climactic nature of a lacked verification owing to interruption and left forces unresolved, it does not renew this climactic impulse due to the harmonic stability (tonic, not dominant, is implied) and is in fact heard as a new beginning - a springboard for the ensuing contrapuntal discussion. As stated above, a renewal does occur at bars 297-307, at which point, as in B, it is interrupted, in this case by the C major section from bar 307. The thematic material in bars 307ff. is modelled on that of B from bars 100ff., though this is something Mahler only gradually clarifies. Whilst the thematic derivation of the C major theme at bar 307 from bars 100ff. is too subliminal to suggest an immediate connection (see Example 4), the thematic correspondence from bar 311 onwards is more obvious (see lower strings) and is beyond doubt at bars 318ff., which is a re-orchestrated transposition of bars 108ff.

Example 4 bar 100

(i)

Rhythmic elements of (i) and (ii) interpenetrate in the theme at bar 307, as shown below.

bar (ii) AL )k307

A ( I1 " I iL II I

Thus, whilst both bars 100ff. and bars 307ff. interrupt the climactic impulse of theme a, thematic kinship secures the long-range sectional


Figure 8

Bars : 119 122 123 126

Progression of bass line : A - B // D - E / A Tonal structure D : V V

Bars : 329 330/1 331/2 332 333 334/5 337

Progression of bass line : G - Ab D - D

Tonal structure: C : V Db Gb: V Bb B: I sequences sequence

= interruption //= deflection

correspondence. However, comparison of the dramatic progression of each section reveals important differences. The opening of the C major section of B1 (bars 307ff.) is one of affirmation and arrival in contrast to the expectancy created by the prolonged V of A at bar 100. There is also another important change at bars 329ff., where the continuation of the bVI interruption (now interrupting V of C) is extended by sequences to lead to B major at bar 337, significantly preceded by a local balancing of D by major thirds - G 0 (bars 331-2) -D (bar 333)-B 0 (bar 335). A comparison of the two transitions (bars 119ff. and 329ff.) reveals how the modulation from V of C to B major (bars 328-37) is developed out of the WVI interruption at bar 119 in B, pointing to the significance of this local harmonic event and highlight- ing its connection with the mediant key relationships of the overall tonal structure (see Figure 8).

While BI develops material from B, the resulting dramatic progression is rather more complex. Though both sections effect, at the highest level, a progression from I to V in D, the progression is achieved by different means. Figure 9 shows how B1 represents an expansion and transformation of B. First, the dominant is much more insistent in B, with the interruptions intensifying its demand for resolution. However, in B1 arrival on V at bar 365 is preceded by distant harmonic exploration whose effect is one of temporary disorientation after which confidence must be restored. That V of D' at bar 349 has this significance is confirmed by orchestral revisions made after the first issue of the score - woodwind have been withdrawn from bars 345ff., making a more effective collapse through the string section with minimal forces (bassoon and cello) now initiating the subsequent climax. (Doublings of the bass line have also been removed.) This creates a more extreme contrast between bar 349 and the arrival of V at the climax in bar 365, making the emotional renewal more striking. Secondly, B1 includes an important tonal development whose significance will be fully appreciated only towards


Figure 9

Bars: 56 95 100 116 119 126 138

B D: I - V tonal tension V V A, D: I

intensification

interruption interruption (V of V) ( WI)

intensification dominant tension maintained during interruptions

Dramatic

progression

I V I

Bars: 273 307 329 337 349 357 361 363 365 371 373

B1 D: I C: I - V B V of :D' - D - El - G -D D: I C,

intensification - Series of rising dominant pedals restores intensity

cycleof fifths interruption after emotional collapse (D-A-E-B, (VI) F'deflected)

interruption - Arrival of tonic key beginning of descent to anticipates the

'lowest' point at bar 349, V of D beginning of C,

gradual loss of direction I recovery of momentum

Dramatic progression

resolution

intensificatioi recovery

I "descent'V- I

the end of the movement. The sequence of thematic and harmonic events in bars 100-26 is reproduced fairly closely at bars 307-36, now in C major. Therefore the bVI interruption on B 0 at bar 119, which proved decisive for future harmonic development, now occurs on A-0, at bar 329. Mahler's reasons for this key later become clear when a long crescendo on the 'wrong' dominant pedal - V of C (bars 538-81) - tries to convince itself that the final climax is imminent. Despite its insistence, this 'confused' dominant pedal must inevitably be silenced in order to make way for the D major chorale. It is eventually dissipated at bar 581 by a bVI interruption on AO , which begins an exploratory passage in search of a path towards apotheosis. Thus, the


potential of a locally unexplained harmonic event in B is used on a much larger time-scale to anticipate and then temporarily delay the final climax in such a way as to render its breakthrough more conclusive.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RONDO AND SONATA PRINCIPLES

The return of C in the tonic key at bar 373 towards the midway point in the movement poses certain questions relating to the overall formal design. First, the return of A at bar 136 undoubtedly closes the first phase of the argument and is followed by new harmonic departures and thematic development. Is the relationship between the music on either side of this point, then, one of 'exposition' and 'development'? (Even if the tonal tensions of an orthodox sonata process are not precisely applicable, large-scale abstracted symmetries may still help to define such a relationship.)3' Secondly, in view of the recapitulatory emphasis at bar 497 (A2), are we to understand the whole section from bar 167 to bar 497 - C B1 C1 (B) - as a central development, or is it rather a rondo scheme in which a central return of B is framed by two episodes of contrasting material?

It may be unrealistic to expect clear-cut answers to such questions, but it is certainly instructive to attempt to disentangle the elements of sonata and rondo at work. A return of the opening material in the tonic occurs just before the development in many of Mahler's earlier movements composed against a sonata-form background,32 repre- sentative perhaps of the ongoing conflict which Mahler was at pains to express. In V/5 the relationship between sonata and rondo is much more complex. Though sonata symmetries are still to be found, the salient features of such an archetype are obscured by the more immediate and intentional effect of rondo-like sectional oppositions. However, Mahler does organize the returns of his thematic material so as to impart to bar 497 the idea of recapitulation.

As stated above, the return of A at bar 136 may be seen to conclude a symmetrical exposition - A B A,. (Though B does in fact move to the dominant, this key is never established.) However, despite three intermediate returns to D major (bars 273, 373, 441) the thematic return of A is delayed until bar 497, preceded by 18 bars of dominant pedal and the process of thematic renewal discussed above.33 Moreover, though bar 441 initially appears to be a second return of B, it turns out to be essentially transitional, powerfully directed towards the recapitulatory emphasis at A2 (bar 497). All these features

"3 The same question arises in VII/5, where a return of the opening C major march after the more relaxed mood of the A 6 section suggests the close of the first phase, followed by thematic combination and harmonic developments.

32 See I/1, II/I, 11/4, III/i and IV/1. " Mahler's orchestration gives special emphasis to the renewal of d and a at bars 483 and 487

as the thematic statements are projected out of frantic activity, and imparts an extra declamatory dimension, a less conspicuous feature of earlier contrapuntal passages.


Figure 10

Bars: 1 191 273 373 423 497 623 711 749

A B A B C A B A Coda

(Development)

Tonal structure: D B D-C D D G D

combine to give overall shape to a succession of apparently self- contained sections, in which Mahler is constantly playing with our expectations, shaped by more than one formal archetype.

A formal analysis of this movement has been offered by Edward W. Murphy in terms of sonata-rondo form (see Figure 10).34 This plan is unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. First, it ignores the functional differentiation of thematic material within the opening D major section (bars 1-167), which plays a crucial role in the overall organization (see above, 'Thematic Material'). Secondly, in view of the proportions of the whole movement, the labelling of bars 423-97 as a development (C) is highly suspect. In the light of the preceding observations the real function of this passage is to suggest initially a rondo-like return of the fugal material (what I have called B), but one which is transformed to generate sufficient momentum to reinforce the idea of recapitulation at the delayed return of A (bar 497). Thirdly, the return of the Adagietto material in G major at bar 623 clearly is not interpolated between two passages of the main material in D major, as Murphy suggests. Rather, it is part of an exploratory passage, initiated by the bVI interruption of the 'wrong' dominant pedal at bar 581, out of which the D major chorale emerges. Finally, the plan obscures the role played by the iVI interruption (in both D major and C major) in the evolutionary growth of this movement.

Whilst Murphy's analysis attempts to outline the overall progression of keys, the lack of a more refined sectional differentiation and the evident preoccupation with the causal relationship between rondo elements and the 'expansion' of sonata form appears to obscure more essential dynamic forces.

PREPARATION FOR THE EMERGENCE OF THE CHORALE

The return of A at bar 497 is immediately more expansive (marked 'commodo' rather than 'giocoso'), this being achieved primarily by the rhythmic changes (triplet groupings are integrated within continuous phrases without the aid of rests for articulation) and additional linear complexity due to the overlapping and close proximity of parts. This expansion appears to be a strong premonition of things to come, a

34 Murphy, 'Sonata-Rondo Form in the Symphonies of Gustav Mahler', 59.


suspicion confirmed by the entry of d in augmentation at bar 511. Sections A, Al and A2 have included progressively earlier statements of d, as if the pull towards its final transformation was present from the beginning. However, the entry at bar 511 represents a significant advance, one in which the cadential movement at bars 522-5 will become divorced from the main theme itself. The music which follows serves first to interrupt (bar 526), then to reinforce (deceptively) and then suddenly to undermine (bar 581) the local excitement created by the delayed return of A (bar 497). B ) (WVI) harmony impedes the final cadence of A2 at bar 526, and is followed by persistent local interruptions of the climactic impulse inherent in a and a subsequent exploration and testing of new paths (from bar 581), all of which possess strong directional qualities. The trumpet statement of a at bar 487 was seen to possess features of thematic renewal, relating back to a at bar 95, and laying significant emphasis on the reprise of A at bar 497. This process, however, does not channel all of the latent energy generated by the reappearance of this theme. The unused potential is employed to fine effect in B2, though its final flowering is again frustrated by both thematic and harmonic means.

First, each statement of a (bars 543, 550, 558) is answered, after five bars, by the second and third bars of c, the effect of which is to dispel the climactic impulse of the accented minims in a. Secondly, the last two of these entries of c are supported by harmonic deflections from chords of C and F respectively (bars 555, 563), above a pedal on G. This gives an impression of statements in parenthesis (see Example 5). Thirdly, since these thematic processes contribute to a climax generated over V of C - one which reinforces the excitement of A2 after the temporary deflection at bar 526 - the implications arising from this use of a are destined to remain as yet unfulfilled, as the A0 ( bVI in C) interruption at bar 581 clearly demonstrates (see Example 5).35 That the final answer is still out of reach is suggested by the omission of d from bars 526-81 (return of material from B), an omission allowing the final chorale to register as more of an achieve-

Example 5

bar 555 556 557 558 563 564 565 566 571 575 581

triadic conflict

C:V6 4 5 *Harmonic deflection supporting c 3

35 The situation becomes even more confused due to the pitch conflicts in the brass (bars 566-74: conflict between triads on C-Bb -D over a dominant pedal on G) just before the bVI interruption (see Example 5).


Example 6 bar

Example 7

bar 615 617 619 621 623

A: V G: I

Example 8 bar

= SI b

/ 2

ment. These confused climactic processes, then, suggest that the music is striving for a solution which is as yet beyond its grasp, requiring more justification in terms of the musical exploration to follow. It is at this stage of the movement that Mahler really capitalizes on the exploratory tonal potential in the I VI interruptions which demarcated earlier structural landmarks. Not only is the final cadence of A2 impeded by B at bar 526, but the penultimate exploratory passage (bars 581ff.) derives from an A interruption of the anticipatory (yet tonally misguided) dominant pedal on G. In this way, the exploratory uncertainty associated with the [ VI relationship, in D major and C major, points to a relatively unambiguous emotional content, while its musical significance lies in its far-ranging structural implications.

The intention behind the sudden interruption at bar 581 is akin to the textural collapse at bar 372 in the reprise of IX/1, where a structural 'testing' process seems to question the faith and security previously affirmed, as if to guard against any self-deception. However, in V/5 its primary function is felt in terms of the compositional problems associated with the conclusion of this finale, whereas the hollow reverberations of an elemental sound world in IX/1 there reflect a deep psychological testing of human security, one in fact extended to the structure of the whole work.


Example 9 bar

bar 687

691 692 693 701 707 710 711

Dominant of A tonal ambiguity D: I over pedal F over pedal F

Following the interruption at this point in V/5, a semitonal shift at bars 591-2 (see Example 6) completes a move to A major with E acting as a dominant pedal for the next 23 bars, underlying 6-4/5-3 alternation. However, its resolution is prevented by a harmonic sequence (see Example 7), the final triad of which (B major) moves abruptly to G major, another local expression of the 6VI relationship. Thematically, bars 606ff. are also consistent with the idea of exploration and searching for a final solution by employing distant thematic connections: though specifically melodic correspondence is slight, the kinship with both a and the main theme of A (bar 24) is clear (see Example 8), the connection being confirmed by the horn motif which states the third horn part from bars 25 and 27 of A, now in A major.

C returns at bar 623 in G major, though its buoyant emotional surface fails to dismiss the expectancy underlying the passage from bars 581ff., and is thus far less self-sufficient than the episodes at bars 191 and 373. Here C is in fact transformed by means of a motif (see Example 9) thematically subsidiary in C and Ci, but elevated now to give directional force into the dominant pedal at bars 693ff. Example 10 shows how the ambiguity remains, even above the final dominant pedal - F appears to challenge the dominant's (A's) right to the position of harmonic root, suggesting that the bVI infiltration has not been fully assimilated and can still react against any premature dismissal. Ambiguity is sustained by the prolongation of C in the horn (bars 707-10) until the last crotchet before the D major chorale at bar 711 - the final transformation of d. Therefore, the numerous uncertainties and ambiguities of bars 581-710 impart a radiance to the D major chorale, not because it is a logical conclusion of


immediately preceding events (though it has been implied at a deeper level by the gradual transformation of d - see above), but since it emerges serenely out of the existing confusion.

The association of the chorale apotheosis with the theme of transcendence has been pointed out by John Williamson, a theme in which 'two of the main preoccupations of [Mahler's] aesthetic code joined together, Catholic mysticism and the symphony as a reflection of its creator's life'."6 Alma Mahler's misgivings about stylistic inconsistency in the use of the chorale in V betray her misunderstand- ing of one important semantic property of the chorale in Mahler's music. However, in accounting for it by his interest in 'Catholic mysticism ... a love entirely his own',37 she hints at the special purpose it is required to fulfil. While Bruckner's chorales directly embody an unquestioning faith, with no intimations of human struggle, Mahler's frequently appear blended with secular and even pagan traits,38 conveying expressions of personal mastery as opposed to complete confidence in some higher order beyond material concerns.

Far from neglecting the importance of the composer's intentions or the 'meaning' behind Mahler's symphonic conclusion, the present focus on details of structure aims to elucidate at least some of the unique processes, within this finale, from which our perception of meaning derives. The insights generated by both semantic and structural analysis become potentially ever more valuable and more widely applicable as the disparity between these two areas of analytical activity is reduced.

Bolton

36 Williamson, 'Liszt, Mahler and the Chorale', 124.

7 Alma Mahler, Gustav Mahler: Memories and Letters, trans. Basil Creighton, rev. and ed. Donald Mitchell and Knud Martner (London, 1973), 47-8.

38 See Peter Franklin, "'Funeral Rites" - Mahler and Mickiewicz', Music and Letters, 55 (1974), 203-8.

the finale of mahler's fifth symphony long-range musical thought

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