# Understanding Mahler's 5th, Part 1



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

_*Note:*_* The previous entry in this blog was an April Fool's Day joke. *

Understanding Mahler's Fifth Symphony

_*Part 1: Background and Overview*_*

Composition*

Mahler had fully settled into his life as head of the Vienna State Opera when he began work on a new symphony, his fifth, with which he entered a new period of his compositional life. The preceding three symphonies had all featured the human voice and texts drawn from the anthology of German folk poetry _Des Knaben Wunderhorn_, from which he had also drawn texts for a number of separate song settings, some of which were tied to instrumental movements from these symphonies. Mahler had cultivated a lyrical style with a folk bent reflecting the naive Wunderhorn poems that combined intricacies of harmony, form, and orchestration with simple and straightforward melodies and motifs.

The entirely instrumental fifth symphony, composed more or less concurrently with the composer's last Wunderhorn setting, Der Tambourgsell, and his first settings of the German poet Frederich Ruckert, is quite far removed from the earlier works (just as the last two Wunderhorn songs are of a different kind from the others in the set). Although there are elements of the earlier folk-inspired style, they are less prominent than before. The counterpoint is considerably more complex, and the movements of the symphony are more tightly woven than before, despite the diversity of moods on display.

The fourth movement Adagietto remains Mahler's single popular hit, and its prominence has helped that of the Symphony significantly, as the other instrumental symphonies of Mahler's middle period, nos. 6 and 7, remain his least popular by a considerable margin. The conductor Willem Mengelberg said that this movement was a love song dedicated to the composer's new wife, Alma. Whether or not that is the case, this short, passionate movement works both on its own and as an introduction to the rondo finale.

*Form*

The fifth symphony has at various times been labeled as being "in C-sharp minor", but Mahler did not think of it this way, and told his publishers not to designate a key. As with the second, it exhibits "progressive tonality".

The work is in three parts and five movements:

Part I
1. Trauermarsch (Funeral March). C# minor
2. Sturmisch bewegt (Moving stormily). A minor, sonata form

Part II
3. Scherzo. D major

Part III
4. Adagietto. F major
5. Rondo-finale. D major

Mahler considered the first movement an introduction, as the second movement fulfills the normal role of sonata allegro for the work. Furthermore, the first and second movements share much of the same thematic material, and the theme of the Adagietto plays an important role in the finale. It may seem odd for the Scherzo to occupy a part by itself, but it is, unusually, the longest and most complex movement in the symphony, as well as the longest of any of Mahler's scherzos. The emphasis on D major from the second movement on cements it as the true tonal home of the symphony.

*The Orchestra*

4 flutes (doubling piccolos), 3 oboes (3rd doubling English horn), 3 B-flat clarinets (3rd doubling D and bass clarinets), 3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon), 6 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, triangle, tam-tam, whip, glockenspiel, harp, and strings.

The forces here are larger than those employed in the fourth symphony, but smaller than those used in the second or third. The only unusual instrument from Mahler's perspective is the whip, which is reserved for two moments in the scherzo. Mahler had considerable trouble with the orchestration of this symphony, because of its new idiom, and it underwent a number of revisions until his death.

The discussion of the movements will be broken up one at a time, ergo:

2. Trauermarsch
3. Sturmisch bewegt
4. Scherzo
5. Adagietto
6. Rondo-finale

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