# Understanding Das Lied von der Erde, Introduction



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Understanding Das Lied von der Erde

*Introduction

Composition*

Since the completion of his massive choral-orchestral Eighth Symphony in E-flat major, the most purely and unironically optimistic music Mahler ever wrote, several devastating blows had been dealt in his personal life. In 1907, his first daughter had died of scarlet fever, and he had been diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, forbidden to go on the long walks through the countryside he relished during the summer months each year. On top of all this, the conflicts between Mahler and the Vienna Hofopfer where he had conducted for a decade had reached the boiling point and he tendered his resignation, taking up a post at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

The next summer, he began to compose again, in a new location, as the summer home where he had previously spent his time away from Vienna was now too closely connected with the events of the previous year. The work that resulted was to be the first in what is now considered Mahler's late style, _Das Lied von der Erde_ (The Song of the Earth). The poems in this symphonic song cycle are taken from the book _Die Chinesische Flote_ (The Chinese Flute), adaptated into German by Hans Bethge from French translations of Chinese poetry from the Tang dynasty.

Although Mahler had previously written song settings of an intimate nature in his settings of the German poet Ruckert, these last in his ouevre are unique in their vivid concentration of mood and the delicacy of their orchestration. Mahler never had the opportunity to hear either Das Lied von der Erde or the 9th and 10th Symphonies that followed it performed, and thus was unable to revise the orchestration in rehearsals as per his usual method, so the refinement of the setting is all the more remarkable.

*Form*

Mahler's inital title page for this work had the title "Ninth Symphony", but this was later crossed out and replaced with _Eine Symphonie fur eine Tenor und eine Alt-oder Bariton-Stimme und Orchester_ (A Symphony for one tenor and one alto or baritone voice and orchestra). This had led to speculation that Mahler was afraid of writing a ninth symphony.

It is possible that this fear played a role in his decision to change the title, but it is probably also significant that the work, although having a cyclical, developmental character, is not otherwise connected to traditional symphonic forms.

The work is in six movements, each based on a single poem, with the exception of the last, which combines two separate poems by different authors with lines of Mahler's own invention:

1. Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde. A minor
2. Der Einsame im Herbst. D minor
3. Von der Jugend. B-flat major.
4. Von der Schoenheit. G major
5. Der Trunkene im Fruehling. A major
6. Der Abschied. C minor (ending in C major)

The odd-numbered movements are sung by the tenor soloist, while the even-numbered movements are handled by the Alto (or Baritone). The sixth, Das Abschied, takes up approximately half the duration of the work. In terms of traditional symphonic form, it might conceivably be grouped as follows:

1st movement (Allegro): 1
2nd movement (Adagio): 2
3rd movement (Scherzo): 3, 4, 5
4th movement (Finale): 6

*The Orchestra*

In addition to the soloists, Das Lied von der Erde requires the following forces: piccolo, 3 flutes (3rd doubling 2nd piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubling English horn), 3 clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, tamtam, glockenspiel, celesta, 2 harps, mandolin, and strings.

This is a large ensemble by any standards, but Mahler employs it sparsely throughout, and the full orchestral forces are used only in the 1st, 4th, and final movements. The mandolin, which Mahler had employed in the 7th and 8th symphonies, takes on a similar background role here, as does the celesta, which had been used in the 6th and 8th symphonies.

Das Lied von der Erde is considered by some critics Mahler's greatest work. It is certainly the one in which both of his preferred genres, song and symphony, are given their fullest possible rein, and it has inspired many similar orchestral song cycles of symphonic proportions throughout the 20th century. Cyclic motifs connect the movements, but these do not call any attention to themselves whatsoever. It is the most intimate of his symphonic works, and its music is simultaneously complex and direct throughout.

Each movement shall be discussed in a separate post.

Movement texts and translations can be found at the following address:
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/assemble_texts.html?SongCycleId=235

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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Good stuff! Can I ask, which recording will you be referring to throughout?

Thanks! :tiphat:


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

http://www.amazon.com/Gustav-Mahler-Orchestral-Songs/dp/B0000041EH

This Baker/King/Haitink/Concertgebouw/Philips recording is my go-to.


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