# Understanding Mahler's Sixth Symphony, Third Movement Andante



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Understanding Mahler's Sixth Symphony

_*III. Andante moderato*_*

Form*

0:00~2:00 Theme (E-flat major/minor)
2:00~2:32 English Horn lament (G minor)
2:32~3:53 Theme variation (E-flat major)
3:53~4:54 Codetta (E-flat major/minor)

4:54~7:10 Development (A minor->E minor->B minor)
7:10~8:17 Pastorale (E major)
8:17~9:49 Theme variation (E-flat major)
9:49~12:23 Development (C major->A major->A minor)

12:23~14:21 Turbulent climax (C-sharp minor->B major)
14:21~16:50 Coda (E-flat major)

A lyrical oasis between the A minor movements on either side (whichever way the symphony is performed), this andante seems at first blush relatively unconnected with the others. The harsh rhythmic ostinati are absent, as is the A major to A minor motif. But just as the key of this movement is the absolute inversion of the others (E-flat is the most distant key from A on the circle of fifths), so too these other features find their inversions in the extremely free irregular phrasing and the prominence given to minor chords turning into their major equivalents.

There are no literal repetitions of the theme, but certain prominent features that appear each time in different combinations give the impression of a "fundamental" version that does not, in reality, exist (more on this subject on a blog post I created on this specific topic). The "lament", on the other hand, appears more or less the same each time, just in different keys.

*Themes*

The lyrical melody that provides the motifs for the majority of the movement.









The lamenting theme (here on English horn) that provides contrast and tension for the movement. (Sounds a fifth lower than written)









A dotted motif that is prominent in both melody and accompaniment throughout.









A searching motif that appears in the melody only in its second iteration, related to the lament.









*Analysis*

The movement begins with the strings alone, the violins quietly intoning a gentle melody above a rocking arpeggiated bass line. But the emphasis on the flattened second, flattened sixth, and minor third reveals internal conflict, and before long the strings drop out entirely for a moment leaving the oboe to wander back chromatically back to the tonic note. The melody seems to resolve a number of times, but finally evaporates into a single dotted motif, first in minor, then in the major.

This pattern moves from the strings to the flutes, floating weightless, and a new motif is played by the English horn, a lament. The flutes and clarinets echo its melody, and the music settles for a moment in reflective G minor. E-flat major returns as the horn plays a new variation on the main theme, with muted strings and harp arpeggios. Its phrase ends tentatively, and the melodic thread is immediately picked up by the violins and winds, taking the melody back home. But immediately it moves restlessly upwards from this point of rest, culminating in a new searching motif that remains unresolved, though the oboe moves the melody back to E-flat. The low strings take up the dotted figure, accompanying the melodic line in the strings. The music comes to rest and the orchestra diminishes to a lone bass clarinet and low strings.

Quiet string harmonics open the development and the oboe plays the dotted motif, once again nearly weightless. The horn takes up the lament forcefully, and the winds respond in kind. This time the strings extend the theme further, and the full orchestra appears, taking in motifs from both themes into the first climax of the movement. But this too seems to collapse in repetitions of the dotted motif in the oboes and a motif taken from the lament in the strings, but this suddenly brightens into the major and, accompanied by a fanfare, a pastoral section ensues. Harp, celesta, and cowbell create a delicate texture with pizzicato and trills in the strings, as the very figures that had taken on a dark and obsessive character become bright and joyful. Following the winds and horns, the violins play the dotted motif, but the texture collapses as quickly as it had appeared, and the strings are left with chromatic fragments, as rhythmically uneasy as they are tonally unstable, slowly unwinding.

Oboe and clarinet begin again as if the melody were to repeat once more in its first version, but this too reveals itself as a variation when the line passes to bassoon and horn. All the while violins add a higher countermelody. Although the theme seems to progress as before, it quickly becomes diverted, and a new development begins in the key of C major, winds and solo violin hovering above motivic fragments in the bass. With a flourish on harp and celesta, the key shifts again to A major, and the horn intones the dotted motif with a lightly scored ensemble. The horn falls silent and the celesta descends gently into a threadbare string accompaniment. A lone A is played in the violins, and the oboe plays the lament theme, echoed by clarinets and horn.

Suddenly, the full orchestra bursts in with a variation on the lament theme, now amplified into a cry that briefly reaches a fortissimo shudder on an inversion of the chord at the climax of the first movement before plunging into a maelstrom of overlapping motifs. The cowbells reappear, clanging out above tumultuous churning figures in the horns. The clamor disperses all at once as an intimation of the main theme appears in the violas and clarinets, now in a turbulent B major. The melody rises and falls in terrifying waves that rage as motifs move about the orchestra rapidly, swelling into a climax in E-flat major, where the violins sing out the searching motif developed from the lament. An attempted cadence is frustrated and collapses into a tonic chord as the searching motif is sung out once more by flutes. An A-flat minor chord juts in, arpeggiated in the violins, but turns to major. A pause as they rest on an unaccompanied C, and a shuddering diminished chord on E-flat resolves to major. The searching motif becomes a gently rocking figure in the clarinet and flute as the movement fades away on a muted E-flat harmony in the horns.

Blog Index​


----------

