# Understanding Mahler, Part 3



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Understanding Mahler

*Part 3: Form in Mahler's Music*

_Note: Roman numeral notation is used here to refer to key areas rather than chords. Minor keys are denoted by lower-case. In this notation, I is tonic, i is minor-key tonic, V is dominant, and so forth._

*Mahler's first movement form*

Sonata form was understood, in the Romantic period, to consist of the following parts:

In some cases, an _Introduction_, often in a slower tempo than the bulk of the movement.

An _Exposition_, wherein two groups of themes in different keys are introduced, usually with a transition modulating between them.

The _Development_, the freest section, which presented the themes in different ways and combinations, eventually leading back to the tonic key.

A _Recapitulation_ which restates the themes more or less in their original form, but with the second group now in the tonic key.

This would potentially be followed by a _Coda_ which rounds off the movement as a whole.

This differed from the classical conception of form in its relative lack of flexibility. Haydn would often write sonata form movements with a single theme, and there was no strict need to have a seperate transition, so long as the dominant was reached. But this was sonata form as Schumann, Brahms, and their contemporaries knew it, and as Mahler was no doubt taught in his lessons.

The first movement of Schumann's 3rd Symphony is structured as follows (timings taken from the Klaus Tennstedt/London Philharmonic Orchestra recording):

0:00~3:00 Exposition

0:00~1:30 First theme group in E-flat major (I)
1:30~3:00 Second theme group and coda, ending in B-flat major (V)

3:00~6:38 Development

6:38~9:32 Recapitulation and coda

He was also familiar, however, with the expanded sonata form used by Anton Bruckner in his symphonies, using three full theme groups instead of two, compensating for the distant terrain covered in his wide-ranging modulations with a corresponding increase in the length of his movements.

The first movement of Bruckner's 4th Symphony is structured as follows (timings taken from Klaus Tennstedt/Berlin Philharmonic, which is the 1878/80 version):

0:00~6:54 Exposition

0:00~2:56 First theme group in E-flat major (I)
2:56~4:30 Second theme group, going through D-flat and A-flat to F major (VofV)
4:30~6:54 Third theme group and coda, ending in B-flat major (V)

6:54~13:37 Development

13:37~18:19 Recapitulation

18:19~20:42 Coda

While the proportions of both movements are roughly 33/33/33, Bruckner's movement cuts most of the third theme group for a lengthy coda that modulates through E major (flII) and A-flat major (IV) before finally reaching the home key of E-flat. While in a classical sonata form movement, the majority of the tension is resolved the moment the recapitulation enters, both Schumann and Bruckner subvert this by leaving the conclusive cadences until later, with Bruckner witholding the final cadence until less than a minute before the end.

Mahler handled all of his first movements differently, so to fully understand his approach would require one to analyze each of them individually. For the purposes of this blog, it will suffice to look at only one, that of his 7th Symphony (1904-5), which is not significantly longer than that of Bruckner's 4th. (Timings taken from Michael Tilson-Thomas's LSO recording.)

0:00~3:36 Introduction in B minor (v) [Adagio]

3:36~5:54 Exposition

3:36~4:53 First theme group in E minor (i) [Allegro]
4:53~5:54 Second theme group in C major (VI) [l'istesso tempo]

5:54~16:13 Development

13:36~16:13 Introduction reprise in B major (V)

16:13~19:24 Recapitulation

16:13~17:53 First theme group in E minor/major (i/I)
17:53~19:24 Second theme group in G major (III)

19:24~21:44 Coda in E minor (i), ending in E major (I)

One notices immediately that the exposition is very short and the ratio here (approx. 25/50/25) is heavily slanted towards the development, which takes up (including the reprise of the introduction) nearly half of the movement. The key relationships are heavily slanted towards mediants, with the second theme in C major instead of the expected G major, which doesn't arrive until the recapitulation. Furthermore, the two theme groups are in wildly different tempos, and the movement shifts between Adagio and Allegro thoughout, although always at important points in the structure. At about 9:00, midway between the beginning of the development and the reprise of the intro, time comes to a standstill as the music changes to E-flat major. It finally comes to rest on the dominant, B major, at 11:53, stable for the first time in the entire movement. The feeling here is entirely antithetical to the classical dominant/tonic opposition, wherein the arrival of the dominant is a heightening of tension. Furthermore, when the recapitulation does arrive, the presentation of the themes is varied considerably from that in the exposition. Finally, the music shifts to E major only for the last 5 bars, and even those are loaded with dissonances that threaten its stability. This holds true of all of Mahler's first movements: some of the tensions are left unresolved until the finale.

*Mahler's Slow Movements*

Developmental elements had already entered into the other movements of a symphony by the beginning of the 19th century. By Mahler's time, even a relatively straightforward slow movement like that of Dvorak's 9th used a compound ternary form (ABACABA) rather than simple ternary form (ABA). Mahler's slow movements vary widely in form and style (even leaving out the times where he wrote a slow movement as a finale). The slow movement of the sixth (1903-4) presents a number of the problems found when analyzing Mahler's later music in general, and the slow movements in particular. (Timings taken from Claudio Abbado's recording with the Berlin Philharmonic.)

0:00~1:43 First "theme", A, in E-flat major
1:43~2:12 Second "theme", B, in G minor
2:12~4:00 Variation on A in E-flat major

4:00~5:50 Variants on A and B in E minor
5:50~6:51 Variants of A in E major

6:51~7:59 Variant of A in E-flat major

7:59~8:37 Variants on A and B in C major
8:37~10:05 Variants on A and B in A major
10:05~11:41 Variants on B and A in C-sharp minor

11:41~13:57 Coda, variants on A and B in E-flat major

Your ear may end up being tricked into thinking that there are two themes, A and B, and that they alternate in some pattern or other, but closer examination reveals that there is no "theme A" as such, only a collection of motifs that are used together, but differently every time they appear. Likewise for theme B. Everything is development, and everything is thematic. This is true of just about anything in late Mahler, but particularly in the slow movements, including the finales of the 8th and 9th.

*Mahler's Scherzos*

Traditional scherzo form was ternary, ABA, two scherzo sections with a middle contrasting trio section. This was often expanded in the Romantic period following the example of Beethoven in his 9th by dividing A and B further into contrasting sections creating an ABACDCABA compound ternary form. The B section could be used for development of the elements of A, and this is how the form was used by Bruckner and others. Mahler's Scherzo movements usually have multiple trio sections, and no literal reprises. They are, again, all individual, but the scherzo from the 4th shall suffice for an example (timings taken from Klaus Tennstedt's recording with the London Philharmonic).

0:00~1:30 Scherzo, in C minor/major
1:30~2:36 Trio, in F major

2:36~4:36 Scherzo, in C minor/major
4:36~6:06 Trio in F major

6:06~6:54 Trio 2 in D major
6:54~8:49 Scherzo 2 in B minor->C major

Other than the expansion of the form, this is straightforward enough in outline, and it is the content rather than the form that differs from Mahler's predecessors. (The scherzo movement of the 5th symphony is greatly expanded and very different, but it shall be dealt with in the course of my full analysis of that symphony later.)

*Mahler's Finales*

Here I cannot give any single example and even hope to do justice to Mahler's conception, for while his treatments of other movement types were adaptations of traditional forms, his finales were utterly unique for each symphony. As with Beethoven's 5th and 9th symphonies, Mahler's finales attempt to resolve the problems posed by the first movements of their respective symphonies. As seen above with the 7th, these linger, so they must at some point be resolved, and that job is left to the finale.

The types of movements used:
1st: Sonata form
2nd: Free developmental form ala Beethoven's 9th with clear sectional divisions
3rd: Slow movement, alternating two themes
4th: Orchestral song
5th: Sonata-rondo form
6th: Modified sonata form
7th: Sonata-rondo form
8th: Free developmental form ala Beethoven's 9th with vague sectional divisions
9th: Slow movement, continual development of motifs

The next entry will deal with the equally controversial content of Mahler's works.

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