# Understanding Mahler's 5th, Part 3



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Understanding Mahler's Fifth Symphony

*Part 3: II - Sturmisch bewegt

Form*

Exposition
0:00~1:22 First theme group (A minor) 
1:22~3:32 Second theme group (F minor)

Development
3:32~4:22 (A minor->B-flat)
4:22~6:30 Cello solo, variation on theme 2 (E-flat minor)
6:30~7:32 Trauermarsch Theme 2 (B major)
7:32~8:14 Jaunty march (A-flat major)

Recapitulation
8:14~8:50 First theme group (A minor)
8:50~10:48 Second theme group (E minor->F minor)

Coda
10:48~11:36 Variants of all themes (E-flat minor)
11:36~12:51 Triumphal chorale (D major)
12:51~13:43 Variant on Theme group 1 (D minor)
13:43~14:28 Pianissimo close (A minor)

As a sonata form movement, this structure is bizarre at best, and judged solely by standards of form prior to Mahler, it would be a complete failure. But Mahler's continual motivic development keeps it from being either sprawling or unfocused. Furthermore, it is intended to be heard only in the context of the full symphony, which provides an explanation for all of its odder features.

What I have here called the second theme group is actually the "main" theme of the movement, and it is notable that it never appears in the tonic key in this movement. It has already been heard in A minor in the preceding movement, though, and it is to be remembered that Mahler thought of the funeral march as an introduction, rather than the true first movement, and that they together comprise the first part of the symphony.

The march in A-flat presages the chorale in D major that bursts in suddenly at the end of the movement, which itself presages the finale of the symphony. Within this movement, both of these moments, as well as the recollection of the funeral march, seem arbitrary, but within the context of the whole, it looks at once back to the symphony's beginning and forward to its conclusion.

*Themes*

The ferocious motif that opens the movement and runs throughout.









A stormy theme developed from the wide leap to an appogiatura heard in the previous movement.









The second theme, which appeared near the end of the first movement.









A jagged motif with a similar shape to example 2, first appearing in the brass accompaniment, but taking on increasing importance as the movement continues, especially in the variant seen in example 5.

















*Analysis*

The movement begins with a fierce motto theme on low strings and bassoons, punctuated at irregular intervals by stabbing chords in the strings and staccato interjections on trumpets. The high winds leap upwards a minor ninth to an appoggiatura twice, and then, a similar leap to a minor tenth is doubled by strings, which begin the first theme, a sharp-edged and nervous collection of wide leaps and staccato scale fragments in A minor. A falling scale in the strings and winds against the staccato figures from earlier, now taken up by horns as well as trumpets, leads to a wildly flailing line in the lower strings. Added to this motivic storm is an ascending triplet figure in horns fighting against the swelling tides surrounding it, always changing the same few motives into new shapes. Rapid descending figures in the strings over a timpani roll and pedal on C follow a climax as the storm subsides.

The staccato chords from earlier now appear in the flutes, then oboes, with the appoggiatura motif as an answer. Against this background, the cellos enter with a long-breathed, plaintive line: the third theme of the previous movement, now in the key of F minor. The theme passes to the clarinets, and then, gaining in urgency and passion, the violins, which emphasize the appoggiaturas in the melody. Over a crescendo and a return of the earlier timpani roll, the dissonant chord of the beginning and its accompanying "storm" motives return.

This time the flutes and clarinets take up the ascending motif heard earlier in the brass (see example 3), and the opening motif moves into G minor. The ascending motif and its dotted rhythm soon spread throughout the orchestra, leading to a repeat of the falling waves of earlier over a pedal on B-flat. The timpani roll continues, and the cellos, otherwise unaccompanied, play a long lamenting recitative variation on theme 2, hovering around the key of E-flat minor.

As the cellos trail off, the horns lead the orchestra, now firmly in E-flat minor, in another variation on the second theme, accompanied by a solo violin playing an upwards-resolving appoggiatura. A richly scored string theme rises up, but falters, as the dotted rhythm of the second half of example 3 appears in the lower strings, then muted horns, spawning a new variant (example 5). Soon, this dotted rhythm takes over every section of the orchestra, moving from the lower strings to the woodwinds to the upper strings to the brass. An attempted cadence on E-flat minor is deferred, and the music grows agitated. The violins sound the wide leap to an appoggiatura, answered by winds, and then again a half step higher. A third leap lands unexpectedly in B major, and the subsidiary theme of the funeral march returns, and with it the slow tempo of the first movement. Here the same dotted rhythm predominates, and the accompaniment emphasizes the appoggiaturas that have appeared throughout the movement.

Once again, though, this theme remains a fragment, and the staccato accompaniment figure returns. The upward leaps in the violins this time lead to the key of A-flat major, where the appoggiatura figure combines with the dotted rhythm to create a jaunty march in a faster tempo, " but not as fast as at the beginning". Once more the violins leap upward, and the music appears to be poised to jump into A major, but the diminished chord of the opening reappears in the horns and the recapitulation begins immediately in tempo. The first theme group, led by snarling brass and galloping strings, appears and disappears quickly, and the orchestra moves into E minor for the second theme, which is played by the strings. A rising motif in the cello with the dotted rhythm from earlier leads to a climax for the full orchestra over an A pedal and a presentation of this dotted theme in E minor.

The orchestra moves through F minor into a cadence in E-flat minor in the lowest register of the orchestra, the first theme snarling through trombones over a roll on the bass drum. It doesn't rest long, however, and the agitated music continues to build as the motifs of the movement, which seem to burst out in all of their forms at once, jostle each other over insistent repetitions from the timpani and horns.

Once more, the appoggiatura leads into a new key, D major, where the rhythm of example 5 is taken up in a brass chorale accompanied by harp glissando and rapid string arpeggios. However related it may be, this triumphant moment clearly comes from a different world, and despite its insistence, it cannot last unmotivated. The chorale dies away slowly over _pianissimo_ tremolo strings. The storm music returns, now in D minor, writhing and seething, complete with a brief section in march-like rhythms leading to a climax in the full orchestra, after which the music becomes steadily more fragmented.

Now the cellos sound the first theme, once again in the key of A minor, lightly accompanied by harmonics in the upper strings, harp, and bursts of the various winds in turn. The wide leap upward and staccato chords lead this delicately textured passage to the movement's final three notes: two pizzicato from the lower strings, and a single timpani stroke on A.

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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

You really should write the book on Mahler, you make incomprehensible things seem close enough to touch. When this series on his Fifth is ended, I'm going to sit in one night and listen, with your blog as my guide...


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Believe me, I looked at the score of this movement and wondered how I'd ever be able to condense it into a few paragraphs...every time I thought I had the measure of it, I wondered if I wasn't leaving something vitally important out.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Well, that's the great thing, you condensed it into the few paragraphs but left me feeling that there's so much more you could say. Great writing on your part, and I'm sure you could find more and more things to write about in a longer format.

Looking forward to reading the next 'installment!'


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