Symphony No. 7 (Mahler)
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The Symphony No. 7 by Gustav Mahler was written from 1904 to 1906.
The symphony is sometimes known as The Song of the Night, a name Mahler did not approve of. This name is not as commonly known as those of other Mahler symphonies ( No.1 - Titan, No. 2 - Resurrection, No. 6 - Tragic, and No. 8 - Symphony of a Thousand).
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[edit] Background
In 1904, Mahler was enjoying great international success as a conductor, but he was also, at last, beginning to enjoy international success as a composer. On top of that, In June his second daughter was born and, taking his customary summer break away from Vienna in his lakeside retreat at Maiernegg in the lovely Carinthian Mountains, he began work on second and fourth movements (two Nachtmusik movements) for his Seventh Symphony's in 1904, before he had completed his Sixth. While mapping out much of the rest of the work, which he then worked on intensively the following summer claiming to take just four weeks to complete the first, third and fifth movements.
The completed score was dated August 15, 1905, and the orchestration was completed in 1906, but as he had not actually completed his Sixth Symphony, he laid the Seventh aside, continued to make small changes during rehearsals, before the première on September 19, 1908 in Prague, at the festival marking the Golden Jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph.
But the three years which elapsed between the completion of the score and the Symphony's première, witnessed a dramatic change in Mahler's life and career. In March 1907 he was forced to resign his conductorship of the Vienna State Opera; the musical community in Vienna turned against him (which was why he chose Prague); on July 5 his first daughter died of scarlet fever; and, even as she lay on her deathbed, Mahler learnt that he was suffering from an incurable heart condition. Little wonder, then, that the optimism and cheerfulness of the Symphony was subsequently tempered by the small but significant revisions Mahler made in the years leading up to its première.
[edit] Orchestration
This symphony is written for an orchestra consisting of the following:
- Woodwinds
- Piccolo
- 4 Flutes (Fl. 4 doubling Piccolo 2)
- 3 Oboes
- English Horn)
- Clarinet in E-flat
- 3 Clarinets in A, B-flat
- Bass Clarinet in A, B-flat
- 3 Bassoons
- Contrabassoon
- Brass
- Tenor Horn in B-flat (Today's Baritone Horn)
- 4 Horns in F
- 3 Trumpets in B-flat, F (1st doubling cornet in mvt. 5)
- 3 Trombones
- Tuba
- Percussion
- Timpani
- Snare Drum
- Bass drum
- Cymbals
- Triangle
- Tambourine
- Tam-tam
- Cowbell
- Bell
- Glockenspiel
- 1st, 2nd Violins
- Violas
- Violoncellos
- Double basses.
Like some of his other symphonies, (particularly his purely instrumental middle period, 5, 6 and 7) Mahler's interest in non-standard instruments in the symphony orchestra is clearly present in this symphony, with usage of a tenor horn, cowbells, mandolin, and guitar.
[edit] Structure
The work is in five movements:
- Langsam - Allegro risoluto, ma non troppo (E minor, beginning B minor) - the first movement features the tenor horn playing the first melody. Because the tenor horn is not a standard orchestral instrument, a euphonium is sometimes used instead. This movement is in sonata form.
- Nachtmusik I (Allegro Moderato) (C minor) - a musical recreation of Rembrandt’s Night Watch. Mahler had spent considerable time at the Rijksmuseum on his first trip to the Netherlands in 1904.
- Scherzo (scattenhaft) (D minor) - Mahler marked this movement Schattenhaft (shadowy). While 'Scherzo' means 'Joke', this movement is remarkably gloomy and even grim. At one point, the strings are instructed to play with the volume fffff, with the footnote, pluck so hard that the strings hit the wood.
- Nachtmusik II (Andante Amoroso) (F major)
- Rondo-Finale (C major) - the last movement has been seen by many as something of a let-down. It has been accused of superficiality, dodging questions set by the previous movements. Formally, it is a rondo that acts as the theme for a set of eight variations, capped off by a dramatic coda.
The duration of the symphony is around 80 minutes. There is, however, an exceptionally lengthy recording by Otto Klemperer, which is 100 minutes long.
[edit] Composition for each movement
[edit] 1st Movement
The slow introduction to the massive 1st movement takes the form of a sorrowful aria given out by the melancholy tones of a tenor horn. The accompanimental rhythm was said to have been suggested to Mahler by the rowing of the oarsman on the lake at Maiernigg. Bitter and anguished cries emerge from various members of the woodwind and brass families (the Principal Trumpet in the orchestra for the work's première was said to have responded to someone who described the work as "beautiful" with the words; "I'd like to know what's beautiful about blowing away at a trumpet stopped up to high C sharp"), and after a passionate climax, the pace quickens and the music launches into a strangely confused dance - part-Viennese waltz, part-grotesque stomp, part militaristic march - which is countered by a wonderfully lyrical theme introduced by a pair of horns and featuring violins which sway and swoop in the movement was clearly inspired by the wildlife and scenery of the Carinthian Mountains in summer, but an abrupt return to the double basses - heralds the inexorable build-up of passion which finds its final resolution in the brisk and robust - but curiously bitter-sweet - march with which the movement ends.
[edit] 2nd Movement
Described as a "symphony within the symphony", the middle three movements of the Symphony represent a portrait of night and darkless. The 2nd movement opens with horns calling to each other across the mountain valleys in the gathering dusk. The first of the two "Nachmusik" ("Night Music") movements, this is said to represent a "walk by night", while Mahler drew a comparison between this and Rembrandt's painting "The Night Watch". Scampering woodwind pass off into the distance as the horns introduce a rich, somewhat bucolic theme, surrounded by dancing strings. The rural mood is heightened by a gentle, rustic dance - typical of Mahler at his most carefree and childlike - as well as high fluttering woodwind bird-calls and the gentle clanking of distant cow-bells, and the movement gradually descends into silence; night has finally fallen.
[edit] 3rd Movement
There is an undercurrent of night about the spooky 3rd movement which is marked "Schattenhaft" ("shadowy"). Eerie timpani and low wind instruments set off on a decidedly threatening waltz, complete with unearthly woodwind shrieks and ghostly shimmerings from the basses. Curious instrumental effects give this movement a strongly nightmarish quality.
[edit] 4th Movement
The 4th movement - the second "Nachtmusik" - with its "amorous" marking and reduced instrumentation - trombones, tuba and trumpets silent and woodwind reduced by half - has been desscribed as "a long stretch of chamber music set amidst this huge orchestral work". A solo violin introduces the movement, while a horn solo above the gentle tones of a guitar and mandolin create a magical serenade character.
[edit] 5th Movement
Boisterous timpani joined in the fray by blazing brass, set the scene for the riotous 5th movement. Here is quasi-film music, pomp and pageantry and great dramatic gestures all rolled into one "delightfully messy" (in the words of one American commentator[citation needed]) piece of orchestral display. There are parodies of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow, as well as of Mahler's own Fifth Symphony and the famous Lutheran Hymn Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, not to mention other ironic and sarcastic references. Little wonder that of all the Symphony's movements this has come in for the greatest amount of criticism and puzzlement: its virtually unrelenting mood of celebration seems quite at odds with the dark character of the earlier movements - "a vigorous life-asserting pageant of Mahlerian blatancy", is how Michael Kennedy describes it. For his part Mahler described it simply as a depiction of "broad daylight" and the outrageously exuberant ending, with passing references to the very opening theme, seeme to encapsulate the blazing brilliance of the noonday sun.
[edit] Other Comments
The harmonic and stylistic structure of the piece may be viewed (whether intentional or not) on a simple level as the progression of dusk towards dawn. Certainly, the piece evolves from uncertain and hesitant beginnings to an unequivocal C major finale, with its echoes of "Die Meistersinger" - indeed, at the premiere the overture to this Wagner opera was performed after the symphony.
This journey from night to day proceeds via an extraordinary third movement scherzo, marked "schattentaft" (shadowy) and which may have prompted Schoenberg to become a particular champion of the work. There are certainly expressionistic features, notably harmonic instability and melodic neuroses, which prefigure the latter composer's Five Pieces for Orchestra, written only two years later.
The piece has several motifs in common with the sixth symphony, notably the juxtaposition of major/minor chords, the march figure of the first movement and also the use of cowbells within certain "pastoral" episodes.
The opening horn motif of the second movement was well known in Britain for much of the 1980s and 1990s thanks to it being used in television advertisements for Castrol, a brand of engine oil (sound sample in ogg format, 15 seconds, 48 KB).
Joe Monzo believes that Mahler was influenced by the program of the Sinfonia Domestica of Richard Strauss -- which Mahler conducted at the time he was composing his 7th Symphony -- to incorporate a "hidden program" in the 1st movement of this work, in which the different themes characterize respectively Mahler, his daughter Maria, and his wife Alma Mahler. Monzo also posits a strong two-way influence between the contemporary work of Arnold Schoenberg and Mahler, which is revealed in the similarities between Mahler's 7th and Schoenberg's Kammersymphonie (Chamber Symphony No. 1) composed in 1906. Monzo has also made a CD of the Mahler movement revealing his interpretation of the work, which is based on what he has been able to learn of Mahler's own conducting style.
[edit] Reception
Mahler conducted the premiere of his seventh symphony in Prague in 1908. A few weeks later he conducted it in Munich and he also gave it in the Netherlands. Both the audience and the performers at the première were confused by the work, and it was not well received. It remains one of Mahler's least appreciated works, often accused of incoherence.
[edit] Premières
- World première: September 19, 1908, Prague, with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the composer.
- English première: January 18, 1913, London, conducted by Henry Wood.
- American première: April 15, 1921, Chicago, conducted by Frederick Stock.
[edit] Recordings
- A recording of the symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor, and the San Francisco Symphony won two Grammys for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Classical Album for their 2006 recording on the Orchestra's own label, SFS Media.
- Michael Gielen, an experienced Austrian conductor, also recorded a Mahler cycle during 1990s - his Mahler 7th is spontaneous, and his concern for detail and structure is well balanced.
- Leonard Bernstein also conducted performances of the Mahler 7th in 1965.
[edit] References
| Symphonies by Gustav Mahler |
|---|
| By Number: 1 | †2 | †3 | †4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | †8 | 9 | ¶10| By name: †Das Lied von der Erde |
| † denotes piece with chorus and/or vocal soloists• ¶ denotes unfinished piece |
