# Understanding Mahler's Sixth Symphony, Fourth Movement Finale (2)



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Understanding Mahler's Sixth Symphony

Continued from Part 1.

*Analysis*

The finale opens with a low C. A disembodied seventh chord (like that in the scherzo) is greeted by a flurry of string tremolos and harp glissandi. A melody in the strings begins tentatively with an upwards leap of an octave, before descending in long-drawn strokes. A grim fanfare in the strings and horns follows, as A major turns to minor against the timpani tattoo, once again sinking into the depths of the orchestra. A tuba begins a repeated limping figure, answered by a chromatic descent in harp and low string tremolos. An upwards sweep of a tenth in clarinets and a jumping figure in the winds follow. Tolling bells and bell-like chords back the melody that begins to form in the horns, but this dissolves in a flurry of string tremolos. An upwards jump in the oboes is matched by a garish portamento version of the lurching tenth motif of the first movement. This is taken up by a pair of trumpets, widening the gap even further as the dotted limping rhythm of the tuba motif dominates the accompaniment.

A chorale follows in the low winds, shifting back and forth between C minor and major. The first phrase is scored for clarinets and bassoons alone, lending it an especially sombre quality. Horns and tuba join these instruments for the rest, and the chorale finishes with another major-to-minor chord from the trumpets. Harp and string chords echo as the chorale theme is developed into a melody in the horns. With each successive phrase, this amplifies until the entire orchestra joins the crescendo, culminating in a tutti C major to minor chord. At a faster tempo, the limping motif appears in the the cellos, which are echoed by the upper strings. Against low notes in the harp and strings the motif is taken up and repeated obsessively, leading to a grim fanfare in the trumpets.

The key shifts into A minor as the strings lead off in an angular, halting march theme, created from the motivic fragments heard throughout the introduction. Limping rhythms and trills add to the grotesque character of a fragmented orchestra. The first section closes with an A major to minor chord in the trombones, and the horns enter with the leaping second theme, which, although still centered on A minor, has a more heroic air to it. The first phrase works towards C major, but is immediately pulled back to A as soon as it is reached. The exposition culminates in a flurry of rapid figures in strings and winds buffering the last remnants of the themes in the trumpet and trombone. As the storm dies away, these become reduced to shorter and shorter fragments, finally coming to a reluctant close in D major.

Staccato chords in the upper winds open the development, and the horn leads off with an optimistic variant on the second theme that seems completely removed from the general tumult that preceded it. The theme passes to the winds, then the strings, before the whole orchestra enters in a lush burst of Straussian splendor, richly adorned with harp and doublings in the winds. The limping rhythm returns in the strings and trumpet calls herald an impending climax, but this falls with a dull thud as the trills of the introduction return. The tuba plays its motif in drawn out tones as tremolo strings, celesta, and harp weave ambiguous patterns, cowbells clinking in the distance. A trumpet and trombone sound a recessed fanfare in B-flat. Cellos forcefully interject the limping theme, and winds answer.

Strings turn the key to F-sharp major, and the horns play the heroic theme, but an orchestral shudder leads it away immediately into B-flat, where the trumpets take the stage, but the limping low strings and tremolo violins push this, too, away, and D major is established once more with another outpouring of orchestral grandeur, strings further subdivided into several cross-rhythms. This over-richness seems perpetually on the verge of implosion, of running itself out, and when the long-delayed cadence finally arrives, it is a short, dull thud of Ds throughout the orchestra accompanied by a hammer and matched with a sudden shift to G minor. The strings reel back in horror and rush headlong as the theme is twisted out of proportion in the brass and winds.

But the key of A major enters, bringing back the richly Romantic orchestra with trills in flutes and piccolo and running triplets in the middle strings. This gives way to a warm F-sharp major, but like an illusion this vision collapses, and a harsh F minor takes its place. A series of fanfare-like staccato chords follows, tonally dislocated against barrages of sixteenth notes in the strings, building into a crashing sequence of chords followed by a fanfare in C major turning to minor accompanied by a jumping rhythm in the timpani. Against the clacking of the rute, a stuttering march based primarily on the first theme ensues in the strings. C minor morphs into C major, and the march becomes increasingly chromatic as winds add their comments. The horn plays the leaping second theme, which spreads throughout the orchestral texture, and the regularity of the march rhythms is subsumed into a flurry of quick runs in the winds and strings. At the cadence, A major returns once more in a rich chorale as the leaping theme is played in imitation throughout the orchestra. This too goes away as violins comment darkly, and the orchestra prepares for a cadence in A minor in halting chords. Once again a hammerblow follows with a terse chord from the orchestra and a B-flat leading to a stormy passage in G minor. This time, however, the orchestra does not launch into rich Straussian grandeur, but into what seems to be the conclusion of the development as the leaping theme is passed throughout the orchestra in terse imitation and preparations are made for a cadence in D minor.

A low D is sounded, and a disembodied seventh chord answers, followed as before by a tentative string melody (now heard as related to the limping figure). The major to minor chord that follows, however, is heard in C rather than A as before. From here, the false recapitulation continues with the fragmentary section of the introduction in C minor, the tuba's line now played by horn. When the bell-like chords are reached, however, the orchestra continues to play in fragments, and the tolling bells continue together with the cowbell (in its last appearance). A solo violin descends plaintively, answered by a horn (recalling the duet in the center of the first movement). As an oboe takes up a lively variant of the first theme and the tempo hastens, the bell sonorities disappear. This new development is extended by the solo violin, and the rest of the strings respond. Soon, the full orchestra seizes upon the prevailing mood with a triumphant peroration, preparing for a climax in B-flat, but the strings cut this off mid-phrase, and the center of gravity shifts to A major. Against wild running sixteenths and limping rhythms of the middle strings, the theme is sounded out in the upper winds and strings. The martial rhythm appears in the timpani and the leaping motif in the trumpets.

At the height of this frenzy, the tempo and mode shift and the recapitulation begins, the conclusion of the developed theme coinciding with the reintroduction of the first theme. A minor is reestablished immediately as the march resumes. After the conclusion of the first theme and the A major to minor chord, the theme of the end of the development appears in place of the first phrase of the second theme; at this point the motifs have all been transformed and morphed into new guises, and while the overall harmonic plan of the exposition is followed almost exactly, the details are different in every bar. The recapitulation finishes in a flurry of trills that burst into falling figures.

The coda begins with a chorale in A major with minor inflections, once more focused on the middle and lower range of the orchestra, characterized especially by ascending and descending octaves at the beginning of each entering line. The heroic melody, now merged with that of the introduction, sounds out in the strings against the martial tattoo of the timpani. Finally, the lush sound of the full orchestra reappears, with subdivided strings and trills in the winds, and approaches a cadence in A major. But the answer comes in the form of a low register A in octaves, followed by another disembodied seventh. The melody of the introduction appears for the first time in A minor, and the major to minor chord follows as before (here Mahler wrote a third hammerblow, which was removed before the first performance). Against a long-held A pedal point in the timpani, the tuba begins as before by ascending an octave, but enters into a solemn brass chorale, in A minor with some major inflections. This limps away in resignation, finally ending in the minor. Basses and cellos play the limping figure, and a lone A is played, dying away. One final fortissimo tutti A minor chord from the orchestra rings out as the timpani beat out their rhythm, and a low pizzicato A brings the symphony to a close.

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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

You're making me want to listen to Mahler again! I can't think of any higher praise, but your blogs sound like the music they describe...


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