# Understanding Mahler's Sixth Symphony, First Movement Allegro



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

*I. Allegro energetico, ma non troppo

Form*

0:00~1:48 First theme (A minor)
1:48~2:28 Chorale (A minor)
2:28~4:42 Second theme (F major)
4:42~9:04 Exposition repeat

9:04~10:44 1st theme dvt (Undefined->E minor->A minor)
10:44~11:29 2nd theme dvt (D major)
11:29~14:41 Chorale dvt (D minor)
12:41~15:08 Pastorale (G major->E-flat major)
15:08~16:12 March returns (B major->G minor)

16:12~17:38 First theme (A major->A minor)
17:38~18:13 Chorale (A minor/major)
18:13~19:46 Second theme (D major)

19:46~21:49 Turbulent coda (E minor->E-flat minor->C major)
21:49~23:04 Triumphant coda (A major)

The chorale between the two main themes is a theme in its own right, complete with development and recapitulation. The first theme is unstable, and it is made _less_ stable on each subsequent appearance.

*Themes*

The first theme is a jagged march filled with wide leaps (even of a ninth and a tenth) and dotted rhythms.









A motif that recurs throughout the symphony: an A major chord turning into an A minor chord, with a martial rhythm underneath.









A chorale in the winds that plays an increasingly important thematic role as the movement progresses.









The second theme is more lyrical in character than the first, but its wide compass and limping rhythms connect them.









An angular motif spanning a minor tenth, which, inverted, later becomes a crucial part of the finale.









*Analysis*

The symphony opens with a repeated staccato A in the low strings. When the rest of the strings enter one bar later, forming into a march rhythm, it is not on the expected A minor harmony, but F major. The first violins move chromatically upwards in step with the rhythm beat out by the snare drum until they reach G#-A, which is repeated three times, forcefully. The third leads directly into the falling octave of the first theme. A downwards-rushing woodwind figure finishes with a plummeting ninth in the strings. Against the stubbornly repeating As in the low strings, the oboes question (marked "shrill"), and the violins and trombones answer in the march rhythm. A chromatic cry in the violins rings out above a variant of the first motif in the trumpet with the octaves narrowed into tritones as the strings rush downward only to be cut off by the staccato basses, now on E. The first theme now becomes an upwards leap of a tenth, and a climax seems to arrive (heralded by the first cymbal crash) but is immediately deferred by the oboes, which now take up the ninth into a question against the main motif in the horns. The strings rush upwards in tremolo, and the main theme appears again in the violins as the basses now descend chromatically. A grotesque fanfare greets the arrival of the dominant with see-sawing flourishes that move from the top to the bottom range of the orchestra.

A pair of timpani beat out a tattoo on A, and an A major chord in the trumpets appears, only to evaporate into an A minor chord in the oboes. The winds enter with a soft chorale, backed by pizzicato strings intimating the main theme. The dominant is reached tentatively, and the next phrase begins in A major, but the tempo slackens and the orchestra dissipates into a lone oboe's C. Without warning, the second theme arrives, in tempo and without modulation, in the key of F major. In contrast to the first theme's downward leaps, this longing theme moves mostly upwards in thirds and steps, accompanied by rushing patterns in the middle range and a chromatic bass. The first phrase of the melody reaches its high note and, after a brief pause, hurries downwards. A march variant follows in the brass, clarinets, and oboes, followed by the theme, now in the winds, doubled by celesta. The upwards striving of the theme reaches its climax once more, but the harmony comes to a halt as the parts seem to unwind one at a time and the tempo slows with the repeated dinging of the celesta, finally breathing a sigh at the cadence in F major. Against a lazily droning bass, fragments of the theme emerge, stopping time briefly. The bass returns, but the next interruption ends tentatively.

After the repeat, the timpani tattoo returns, and the march rhythm begins again. Although the basses remain on A, the melody and harmony point towards other keys. A halting chromatic motif appears in the winds, ending with a jumping figure. Snarling trills in the low winds and strings lead to repeated entrances of the main theme in the horns, as the winds' jumping figure seems to take over the texture. The halting chromatic motif appears inverted in the strings, and then in the tuba, leading to a fortissimo outburst of the main theme in E minor. Before the key is allowed stability, however, the march returns, once more with repeated As in the basses. Xylophone adds to the mocking tone of the winds' trills. A short melodic fragment for winds backed by horn chorale reminds one of the contours of the second theme, but the march continues on unhindered until a descending motif in unequal rhythm appears and is repeated in stretto (overlapping), accompanied by a dotted rhythm in the trombones, which is immediately transferred into the low strings as an upwards motif.

This reveals itself quickly as the head rhythm of the second theme, which now returns in D played by the low strings and bassoons, accompanied mockingly by trilling winds and the dull resonance of the tamtam. The horns and trumpets take up the theme, the strings turning the D major into minor. The motifs of the first theme enter into the texture, and the leaps of the second theme move upwards before coming to a sudden halt on an inverted seventh chord. This disintegrates into _pianissimo_ tremolo string chords doubled in the celesta floating weightless above a distant cowbell and a pedal point on D. A fanfare figure in the flutes is echoed in the timpani, and the bass clarinet plays a disconnected motif of the second theme. The horns enter with the transitional chorale played earlier. Another series of fanfares, and the chorale is taken up by the trombones, now leading firmly into D major. A bassoon plays the fanfare, then the descending motif of the second theme, as the texture dissipates and the cowbells become silent. The upper winds turn the descending motif into an ascending one, and the key becomes G major, which drifts into E-flat major. A solo horn and violin share a brief, tentative duet, and the bass clarinet drifts upwards lazily accompanied by tremolo strings and cowbell. The chorale returns in horns and celesta and the bass clarinet sounds out the fanfares. The chorale is taken up by the orchestra, pausing tentatively before a cadence.

The descending figures of the march theme (that had dominated before the chorale-driven interlude) return once again in tempo, and in the key of B major. Agitated staccato brass and an angular bassline prevent this intrusion from intimating even the slightest hope of triumph, and the minor mode creeps in. With the reappearance of the chorale theme, the key shifts to G minor, the harsh angularity of the main theme turning into a plaintive cry. A three note descending motif spanning a tenth is played by the oboe against the chorale, and this descending theme is taken up by the strings and then the whole orchestra rising in a crescendo.

The theme, now in A major, bursts out _fortissimo_ against an augmented harmony, but with a crash of the cymbals, this major once again becomes minor, and the recapitulation begins. It proceeds mostly as before, albeit with noticeably heavier scoring and an emphasis on E in the bass rather than A as before. After the timpani tattoo and major-to-minor chord, the chorale returns, but twice as fast, its figures morphing into the first motif of the second theme, which returns in D major. The march episode is cut, so the theme is cut to half of its original size. As before, it cadences contentedly against see-sawing fifths in the bass.

As the conflicts of this movement are not yet anywhere near resolution, a lengthy coda follows. The main theme is played quietly in the trombones, backed by solemn horns and tamtam. The strings jump in mockingly, and the low strings take up an angular motif of the descending tenth as the snare drum taps out the rhythm of the timpani tattoo. The key becomes less stable, shifting into E-flat as the jumping motif associated with the second theme comes to dominate the texture. The piccolos and piccolo clarinet join in a "rough" march transformation of the second theme with jagged chromatic steps. This grotesque apparition seems to dissipate as quickly as it appears, and a C major harmony surfaces, _piano_, in tremolo strings and celesta, floating above an uneasy bass line. A fanfare in the horns and the second theme in the trumpet are followed by jagged leaps in the winds and violins. The minor tenth in the trumpet leads upwards with the brass towards a major cadence.

The percussion alone usher in the final coda, first unpitched, and then the timpani inverting the see-sawing fifths into fourths. A fanfare in the trumpets proclaims the second theme in A major against the strident ostinato of the timpani and bassoons. Overlapping fragments of the theme appear throughout the orchestra, and the chorale returns in the trombones. These fragments repeat and gain momentum culminating in a dissonant tutti that freezes time for a brief moment. The ostinati return, and the movement ends with the brilliant orchestral flourishes of the coda collapsing into the dull thud of an unharmonized A in the lowest register of every instrument.

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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

"...culminating in a dissonant tutti that freezes time for a brief moment", nice way to put it, it's really an amazing moment. I always imagine being in an airplane, flying through dense and grey clouds, and in that moment, the plane gains altitude and flies for a moment above the clouds, and you can see the bright sun and blue sky.


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## SeptimalTritone (Jul 7, 2014)

Brilliant. You know, until you mentioned it on the main forum, I didn't know that the chorale theme was so strongly developed throughout the piece. Last night I listened to this movement with the score, remembering your remark about the chorale theme increasing in importance, and wow. The airy part with the celesta and tremolo strings has not only the brass playing the major->minor motto, but right after going into that chorale. I didn't notice this until now because the celesta and tremolo strings were playing twice as fast rhythmic values, so it's somewhat masked.

And when the rhythm picks up back to the march before the recap proper, that chorale theme is played in various different rhythmic values for a heightened effect, again in the brass. Even in the last A major coda, there's the chorale in the brass. I thought for the longest time that the only time the chorale theme was replayed was in the flutes explicitly in the middle of the recap. My God: I missed a whole theme.

But an even more important thing I noticed after relistening with the score is the unity of the movement's lines and harmony through the ascending, or descending, chromatic scale. The violins stepwise going up from E to A is the clear first example, and other themes like that major/minor motto and chorale theme have that. There's that descending ta-------- ta-ta-ta-------- ta-ta-ta theme. Even in the 2nd theme group's Alma theme (and sometimes I wonder whether the Alma theme is "really" first introduced in the initial march), in the accompaniment there's stepwise brass chorale.

But at a wider scale, there's a lot of melodic/harmonic sequencing at the half step. The first oboe theme is one example, but it's a pretty ubiquitous part during the march textures throughout the movement, with the largest stepwise sequence in the coda, glacially surging up the chromatic scale while going through remote harmonies until the final A major part.

There are so many relationships between line and harmony in the greatest composers: I wonder if it's really possible to figure out what's going on in these pieces if one isn't musically trained, and even then, one needs a lot of attention, foresight, and guidance. I mean, I missed a whole theme's development, and I missed the unifying stepwise sequential idea!


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Speaking personally, my analyses stand on the shoulders of others, particularly La Grange and Redlich in the Sixth (who did the notes at the front of the Eulenberg score for the symphony). I didn't write this with reference to either, but I did absorb both long in advance and can't say what I did and didn't pick up on my own.

I don't remember either emphasizing the importance of the chorale theme, which seemed like my own discovery, but it might not have been. At any rate, it reveals how shallow the idea of "1st theme/2nd theme" division is applied to Mahler, when elements associated with both are combined throughout the movement. The chorale begins associated with the first theme group, but eventually even shows up at the end when the second takes over.

Speaking of Redlich, I have long been annoyed by his assertion that the Andante has nothing to do with the other movements thematically, and even that (paraphrasing) "Its only relation to the rest of the work is that its key is the furthest possible from A minor." Of course, E-flat is an important key area in both the first movement and the scherzo, and its relative minor is an important key area in the finale, not to mention that the minor-major motif throughout the Andante is an inversion of the major-minor motif in the other three movements.

My feeling is that the symphony is really "about" (in a musical sense) collapse overall, and this is reflected at every level of the work.


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