# Understanding Mahler's Second Symphony, Part 1



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Understanding Mahler's Second Symphony

_*Part 1: Background and Overview*_*

Composition*

Mahler's first symphony was not yet finished, much less performed, when the composer began work on a Symphonic Poem, a sonata form movement named _Totenfeier_ (funeral rites) in 1888. Several years later, after the disasterous premiere of the First, Mahler revised the movement and added two more, an Andante and a Scherzo based on a song setting he had written previously, on a text called _Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt_ (St. Anthony of Padua's Sermon to the Fish), taken from the folk poem anthology _Des Knaben Wunderhorn_ (The Youth's Magic Horn). A fourth movement, Urlicht, was an orchestral song setting on a text from the same anthology. For a time, he struggled with the problem of finding an ending suitable to this wide-ranging group of movements. Then, attending the funeral of a well-known conductor, Hans von Bulow, he heard the following text of poet Frederich Klopstock:

_Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n wirst du,
Mein Staub, nach kurzer Ruh!
Unsterblich Leben
Wird der dich rief dir geben.

Wieder aufzubluh'n wirst du gesat!
Der Herr der Ernte geht
Und sammelt Garben
Uns ein, die starben._

Arise, yes, you will arise from the dead,
My dust, after a short rest!
Eternal life
Will be given you by him who called you.

To bloom again are you sown.
The lord of the harvest goes
And gathers the sheaves,
Us who have died.

Here he had the seed of his finale, which also is the source of the nickname "Resurrection". Other stanzas of Klopstock's ode, dealing with judgement, were removed, and Mahler added some text of his own, Romantic and humanistic in character. The composition was finished in its entirety in 1894. Although its premiere was not a success, subsequent performances were enjoyed by the public, if not all of the critics, and the piece remains to this day Mahler's most popular work by a significant margin.

*Form*

Although the symphony is sometimes referred to as being "in C minor", this is not entirely accurate, given that its beginning and end are in different tonalities. It is one of the first symphonic works to exhibit "progressive tonality", and certainly one of the most important.

The work is in five movements:

1. Allegro maestoso. C minor, sonata form.
2. Andante moderato. A-flat major/G-sharp minor.
3. Scherzo. C minor.
4. "Urlicht". D-flat major.
5. Finale. C minor/major, ending in E-flat major.

This fits more or less into the standard form, especially if one considers the additional 4th movement as a recitative leading into the finale, much like Beethoven's 9th, which provides a clear model. The details, however, are considerably different from most symphonic works. Of the symphony's 70-85 minute running time, roughly a third is taken up by the finale, and a quarter by the first movement. The remaining three movements are significantly shorter, leaving the work balanced primarily by its outer movements. This is true of many of Mahler's works. Another interesting aspect of this scheme is the lack of dominant relations between the keys of the movements. This leaves the necessity of stabilizing the finale's key of E-flat (which, although it has the same key signature as the C minor of the opening, is relatively distant in tonal terms) to the internal details of the movements. One detail in particular, a dissonant chord Mahler likened to a cry of terror in one program he provided to a friend, is crucial in this respect.

*The Orchestra*

Mahler's 2nd Symphony requires a large orchestra, consisting of:

4 flutes (all doubling piccolo), 4 oboes (2 doubling English horn), 3 clarinets (1 doubling bass clarinet), 2 E-flat clarinets (one doubling clarinet), 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 10 horns (4 offstage), 8-10 trumpets (4-6 offstage), 4 trombones, tuba, 7 timpani (4 players, 1 offstage), 2 pairs of cymbals (1 offstage), 2 triangles (1 offstage), snare drum, glockenspiel, 3 bells (unpitched), 2 bass drums (1 offstage) with rute (birch beater), 2 tam-tams (high and low), 2 harps (potentially doubled), organ, strings, soprano solo, alto solo, and choir.

Aside from the enlarging of the various sections, the most striking aspect of this ensemble is the addition of a few rarer instruments. The E-flat clarinet, the piccolo of its family, has a shriller sound that Mahler associated with parody and irony. The rute, used here on the side of the bass drum, provides a clicking sound and the tam-tams, orchestral gongs, a rich undercurrent of harmonics for dramatic emphasis. The percussion section requires, according to the score, a total of 7 players, probably unprecendented in the symphonic literature before Mahler's time. The alto solo part plays a special role in the fourth movement, as well as in the finale. The other aspect that deserves special mention is the off-stage band, but the general aspects of this were discussed in Part 5, and the specifics will have to wait until the discussion of the finale.

The discussion of the movements of the symphony will be broken up as follows:

2. First Movement
3. Second and Third Movements
4. Fourth Movement and Finale

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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

I loved reading that. Very concise and descriptive, and informative. It makes me want to hear the music, which is the best compliment I can pay it. Thanks for taking the time...


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