# Understanding Mahler's Sixth Symphony, Introduction



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Understanding Mahler's Sixth Symphony

_*Introduction and Overview*_*

Composition*

For those who seek to read Mahler's life into every note of his music, there is one work in particular that stands out. Much has been made of the three "hammerblows" of fate in the finale of the Sixth Symphony (one of which was removed from the final version), possibly the composer's darkest work and certainly his most violent. If there is a symphonic "hero" in this "Tragic" work, is it not clearly Mahler himself? But perhaps unexpectedly, when Mahler began working on his Sixth Symphony, he was enjoying the happiest time in his life. His marriage to the young Alma had produced a daughter, Maria, and another was born while the composition was in progress. His position at the Vienna State Opera was secure, and he enjoyed critical and popular success. The Fifth Symphony, the Ruckert Lieder, and the Kindertotenlieder had yet to be performed, but Mahler was now much more comfortable with his new-found style.

If it was not an immediate reflection of the composer's present state of mind, then perhaps, as Leonard Bernstein opined, it was prophetic of his future. Certainly, one can see in the three events that led to the composer's untimely death (the loss of his elder daughter, the loss of his position at the Vienna State Opera, and the diagnosis of a heart defect) a reflection of hammerblows that topple a symphonic "hero". While this may be interesting to reflect on, it doesn't bring us closer to the music as Mahler conceived it, and he left no explicit program for the work.

Like its immediate predecessor, the Sixth Symphony is instrumental. Unlike any of its predecessors (including the First in its original conception), the symphony follows the traditional four-movement scheme. The content of these movements, however, is far from traditional in cast. The reception of the work was almost universally negative, and the symphony remains one of Mahler's least popular to this day. The composer claimed that it would propound riddles the solutions to which would only present themselves to an audience that had already digested his first five symphonies.

Composer Alban Berg referred to the work as "the only Sixth, despite the _Pastoral_," and his own _Three Pieces for Orchestra_ shows considerable influence, especially in its finale, a grim march that culminates in a number of hammerblows.

*Form*

Also unlike its immediate predecessors, the Sixth Symphony is tied specifically to a single home tonality, that of A minor. Its four movements were conceived as follows:

1. Allegro energetico, ma non troppo. A minor->A major
2. Scherzo: Wuchtig (powerful). A minor
3. Andante moderato. E-flat major
4. Finale: Sostenuto. C minor->A minor

The composer, for reasons that are debated to this day, decided at some point before the premiere of the work to reverse the order of the middle two movements, so that the Andante preceded the Scherzo, a situation which led to a significant amount of ridicule from the press. Today, the symphony is performed both ways, and there is some controversy about whether or not Mahler later reversed his own thoughts on the matter (he never conducted it again after the first performances).

Either way, the movement that follows the first explicitly undercuts that movement's triumph, either by reversing the A major back to A minor with the Scherzo or by mitigating the conflict entirely with the sudden jump into the distant key of E-flat.

*The Orchestra*

Piccolo, 4 flutes, 4 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, clarinet in E-flat, bass clarinet, 4 bassoons, contrabassoon, 8 horns, 6 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, rute, snare drum, cymbals, tam-tam, triangle, glockenspiel, xylophone, deep bells, cowbells, hammer, celesta, 2 harps, and strings.

The orchestra here is one of the largest Mahler ever used, and the considerable array of percussion includes a part for "hammer", for which Mahler conceived a loud, dull and non-metallic sound. The cowbells were intended, according to the composer, to evoke a vast empty space, rather than animals of any kind.

In the revisions that Mahler undertook before the first performance which led to the changed order of the inner movements, the orchestration was altered significantly, especially in the finale. Parts for whip and tambourine were removed, the tuttis were lightened to elucidate the texture, and a third hammerblow was removed. Other than a few more or less cosmetic changes, not a note was altered in this process.

I will follow Mahler's original order in analyzing the movements.

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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

The original MC Hammer who knew how to deliver the goods when his audience cried "More Cowbell!"


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Couac Addict;bt2057 said:


> The original MC Hammer who knew how to deliver the goods when his audience cried "More Cowbell!"


Ah, yes, but he forgot the motor horn!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mahlercartoon_1907.jpg


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