Fourth symphony

[Example 4-11: first violins, mm. 3-7]

Certainly, Mahler also wrote themes with graceful, lovely melodies in the earlier symphonies. The themes of the Andante from the Second and the flower minuet from the Third Symphony are in no way inferior to the opening theme of the Fourth in pleasantness and naïveté.²² In both cases, they are intermezzo-like pieces that follow turbulent opening movements as conscious contrasts. In both cases, the basic formal scheme that was chosen was a dance type, which was given its idyllic character by the placement within the whole. Here, by contrast, this is an opening movement and the thematic kernel of this opening movement. Mahler, who to this point avoided firm periodic boundaries in the construction of his themes, instead having striven for a stretching and expansion of the melody, suddenly writes a “very leisurely” (“recht gemächlich”), delicately dancing theme in four-bar sections of a completely non-symphonic, inactive character, singing out and rounding itself off with scrupulous accuracy. Pointing with amiable innocence to the G-major secondary theme of the closing Rondo in Schubert’s D-major sonata,²³ it appears destined to serve as a pleasing, trifling motive for a small entr’acte, but not, however as the conceptual basis for a symphony. Or is it perhaps mocking this erstwhile definition of the old “theme,” whose fundamental meaning should now be carried out ad absurdum? Indeed, in this symphony generally, a complete reversal of the previous conceptions of Mahlerian symphonic art appears to prevail. Instead of the mighty, far-reaching introduction in which, as in the First and Third Symphonies, a chaotic intensity rules, a monotonous three-bar staccato motive in the flutes is employed here:

[Example 4-12: 1^st and 2^nd flutes, m. 1 (continuation marked simile); 3^rd and 4^th flutes, two clarinets, mm. 2-4]

Accompanied by the ringing of sleigh bells, bird calls from the second pair of flutes are heard in the middle of it, and a downward-rolling clarinet run prepares the reception of the theme, which sashays in “grazioso, very leisurely” (“grazioso, recht gemächlich”), with a languishing ritardando. Only strings without basses have the word. The violins lead, as in old times, while three secondary voices provide a comfortably rocking pizzicato accompaniment. [151] In groups, the woodwinds initially enter as modest harmonic instruments, while the melody, in more and more abbreviated and rhythmically invigorated periods, is spun further like a dialogue, first by low strings, then by the horn, then by the first violins, and finally by the woodwinds:

[Example 4-13: violas (with cello and bass doubling), mm. 7-9; horn, mm. 10-11; first violins, mm. 11-13, 15 (with cellos and basses in m. 11, flutes in m. 15); oboe and clarinets, mm. 13-15]

Kretzschmar calls the “object” of this symphony the “educated Philistine whose nature and drive the composer presents in four pictures.”²⁴ As far as such a characterization stands from the nature of the symphony as a whole, so sharply it describes certain individual thematic events. The appeal of a theme such as this opening idea of the first movement lies in the unconcealed philistinism and short intellectual life of its appearance, in the narrow scope of its melodic line, in the complacent monotony of its rhythm, in the naïveté of its harmony. Biedermeier gracefulness in all its amiable simplicity and narrowness becomes an amusing reality, and as if this reality were not yet credible the first time, the repetition begins immediately with a banal self-confidence and undisguised delight in its own charm.²⁵ The voices now increase. To the leading first violins—Mahler, through fingering instructions, gives the upbeat an especially mellow expression:

[Example 4-14: first violins, mm. 17-18, with fingerings]²⁶

It is as if the narrow ring of the opening theme is being relaxed. The violins cling to the closing motive, which, pushing back, seeks stubbornly to assert itself in forceful harmonic evasions:

[Example 4-16: first violins, mm. 27-29]

But the opposition does not help, and a new mood breaks through. “Freshly” (“Frisch”), a cheerful marching song sounds from the clarinets. The strings accompany in folk-like rhythms, and “forcefully” (“kräftig”), the first violins lead the melody further:

[Example 4-17: clarinets and second violins (with viola and cello doubling), mm. 31-33; first violins (with second violin doubling) and oboes (with horn doubling), m. 34 (with upbeat)]

Now it swells up, “broadly sung” (“breit gesungen”), from the cellos. “Tone!” (“Ton!”), the composer specially admonishes the players:

[Example 4-18: cellos, mm. 37-41]²⁷

A melody that, in contrast to the opening narrowness and self-sufficiency, presses forth into exuberance, becomes downright rapturous at the repetition, and adds a long-drawn, songful epilogue:

[Example 4-19: top voice of divided cellos, mm. 46-51; woodwinds (flutes, oboes, English horn, 1^st clarinet, taking over from cellos), mm. 51-52]

Once again, as if with an irrepressible urge, the first song melody is [152] “sweepingly” (“schwungvoll”) intensified with broad lengthening of notes, lush chromatic shifts, dramatic ritardandi, and self-indulgent emotion. At once, the rich sound of the strings and horns breaks off, and the melody falls silent. “Suddenly slowly and deliberately” (“Plötzlich langsam und bedächtig”), an almost painfully dismissing double theme sounds: an oboe motive, turning in obstinate rhythms around the repeated note A, and with it the bassoon, accompanying in pedantically measured eighth-note staccati:

[Example 4-20: oboe and bassoon, mm. 58-59 (64^th notes in oboe incorrectly given as 32^nds)]

The rapturous upswing is abruptly interrupted. Quietly, the strings, then, somewhat more jauntily, the woodwinds and horns take up the opposing motives, and violins, “somewhat hurriedly” (“etwas eilend”), drive suddenly into them with a thrusting scale. But the clarinets whisper the opposing motives further among themselves; bassoons, cellos, then basses, and finally a single string bass drone on with them thereafter—until the murmuring loses itself and the ringing of the sleigh bells again escorts in the opening theme. Rapture and contradiction are gone. Biedermeier has again found its original attitude. But it retains it only briefly this time. The leisurely Tempo primo already changes after a few measures into “flowing” (“fließend”), and the first violins start up “cheekily” (“keck”):

[Example 4-21: first violins, cellos, basses, mm. 80-82]

This time, the theme receives a powerful shot of energy and freshness, and appears to be somewhat shaken out of the initial complacency by the preceding episode. In a “once again very peaceful and somewhat hesitant” (“wieder sehr ruhig und etwas zurückhaltend”) epilogue, the rapturous element closes in a gently ascending:

[Example 4-22: cellos, mm. 90-92]

then quietly sinking final verse:

[Example 4-23: cellos, mm. 99-101]

Abruptly, the ringing sleigh bells of the introduction begin anew. One sees that the composer does not make any attempts at organic transitions. The movement sections stand next to each other episodically and are always linked by an identical interlude, as are the song verses later on in the finale. A new image arises, and the colors are transferred into the fantastic realm. With an energetic onset, the solo violin climbs up above the winds as the only string instrument, and then loses itself in an undetermined height. Motivic portions of the first theme, transposed to minor in a somewhat gruff and coarse way, seek to continue on independently. Thus, the episodic motive, intoned by the horn, with a songlike expansion:

[Example 4-24: horns 1 and 3, mm. 109-112; oboes and clarinets, m. 112]

But the continuation is unsuccessful, and the thematic opening also does not accomplish it in the course of several willful attempts. It is a restless, agitated mood. The alternation between “not hurried” (“nicht eilen”) and “a bit urgently” (“etwas drängend”) prevails, and a string run that passionately starts up, then quietly rolls into the depths, appears to dissolve the image. There is a sudden brightening: over the pizzicato bass A–E, quietly trilling cellos on the dominant note E, and [153] a rocking bass clarinet motive, the paradise theme appears in the flutes which, although here only a premonition, nevertheless brings light and purpose into the unclear motion:

[Example 4-25: flute, mm. 126-131; basses, m. 126; bass clarinet, m. 127]

The pedal point on A persists, and the flute call also continues to sound “always flowing, but without rushing” (“immer fließend, aber ohne Hast”). Active contrapuntal voices gradually enter, along with sixteenth-note runs in the violins, and in addition, with “bells in the air” (“Schalltrichter auf”), an almost shrieking wind motive, quietly supplemented by the basses:

[Example 4-26: flutes, oboes, clarinets, mm. 144-147; cellos and basses, mm. 148-149]
The paradise theme is also here, but distorted and only indistinctly perceived. The light goes out again, and the previous aimlessness rises to a fantastic confusion and unrest. The introductory motive without sleigh bells thumps in E-flat minor, fortissimo and pianissimo motivic fragments dart and cry into each other in an eerie exchange, the woodwinds shriek brief calls with raised bells, and the paradise motive, shadow-like, moves hauntingly through the basses. In F minor, the mood appears to obtain a certain gloomy steadiness and measured calm:

[Example 4-27: flutes and oboe, mm. 167-168]²⁸

Soon, however, the confused episodic calls press again forward, and it is as if motives of the most varied origin seek to find their way on their own, like lost little souls. The Biedermeier theme from the beginning also emerges, although in a pathetic distortion:

[Example 4-28: first violins, mm. 191-195; flutes, mm. 193-195]

[Example 4-29: trumpet, horns, mm. 211-215]²⁹

A mighty pedal point on G begins to thunder, and the goal appears to have moved into immediate proximity. Suddenly, everything is violently changed, and the already opened gates of heaven are slammed shut with a thrusting repulsion:

[Example 4-30: trumpets, cellos, basses, horns, bassoons, mm. 221-224]

A trumpet signal sounds through the confusion like a call to assembly:

[Example 4-31: trumpets, mm. 230-234; oboes and clarinets, m. 234]³⁰

[Example 4-32: oboes and clarinets, mm. 234-238; bassoon, m. 238 (second half)]³¹

[154] What is it? Was perhaps the entire essence of this supernatural manifestation, the upswing, the vision of paradise—was this all only a dream or a fantastic hallucination? One rubs the eyes, pauses, and suddenly realizes with a smile that it was certainly only a nocturnal spell. The world and everything in it is still exactly as it was before. It is “now” and remains the “eternal now.” “Again as at the beginning, very leisurely, comfortably” (“Wieder wie zu Anfang, sehr gemächlich, behaglich”), the philistine theme sounds again, following precisely from where it had awakened astonished from the dream-heavy slumber, now continuing cheerfully and calmly. It is one of the most attractively “contrived” transitions to the recapitulation, this connection from the close of the development to the reprise of the main material through the theme that is divided between them. The listener hardly notices how the fleeting general pause fermata here gently transports him back into the main section. This main section now sings out exactly as complacently and naturally as it had before. Animated by the experiences of the dream, the tone is somewhat livelier than in the beginning, and the whole proceeds forward more quickly. All forces remain tightly concentrated. They are now primarily directed toward the intonation, indicated with “broad strokes” (“großer Strich”), “sweepingly” (“schwungvoll”), and “with grand tone” (“mit großem Ton”)—Mahler can hardly do enough for himself here in his demands for voluminous sound effects—of the powerfully sweeping song theme. Its enthusiasm increases to the highest intensity of feeling and momentum—“change the bow” (“Bogen wechseln”), Mahler prescribes to the violins as an affect to achieve the utmost fullness of sound—but breaks down, similar to the first time, into the “suddenly slow and thoughtful” (“plötzlich langsam und bedächtig”) duet in the repulsing voices of the winds. The opposition, however, is mitigated this time by the exchange of the piercing oboe for the clarinet, and a melodic contrapuntal phrase in the violins gives this wind passage a tenderly lyrical frame:

[Example 4-33: violins, 1^st clarinet, mm. 285-286]

The disquiet and the rushing motivic entanglement that followed this episode the first time now also appear to be weakened, no longer excited by frightening expectations and only moved by recollections of what has passed. At the end, a delicately woven, atmospheric mist envelops the entire intimate image of spiritual life. “Quietly and becoming ever more calm” (“Ruhig und immer ruhiger werdend”), the violins climb to shimmering high notes. Tenderly floating, the theme fades up and away:

[Example 4-34: second violins, mm. 330-333]

From the depths the horn lets its farewell call, which begins impetuously and then likewise drifts away, “slowly” (“langsam”) sound out:

[Example 4-35: horn, mm. 336-338]

There now follows one of the most intimate episodes of this piece that is so rich in lovely features. Beginning “very restrained” (“sehr zurückhaltend”) and continuing to sing “very slowly and somewhat hesitantly” (“sehr langsam und etwas zögernd”), the grazioso theme is sounded out one more time in the violins, but this time underlain with C major instead of G major, obtaining through this change in the previous³² harmony an attraction of unspeakably fine and delicate poignancy, a smile under tears. Everything philistine, narrow, and small in concept has now disappeared, and there remains only the still magic of former time, of blissful memory. Yet only for a few measures, like the dream of a dream. Poco a poco stringendo, [155] the voices rapidly swell and press on again. In cheerful Allegro, the piece breaks off with a jovial marching song:

[Example 4-36: first violins, mm. 345-346 (or woodwinds, mm. 346-347)]

“Freund Hein spielt auf” (“Death Begins to Play”), Mahler originally headed the Scherzo-Rondo. Death, or Freund Hein, as Matthias Claudius³³ calls him, not a wicked, terrible god, but a friendly guide to the next world who enticingly escorts his flock with the fiddle. Of course, the fiddle sounds weird, shrill, and hollow, lacking the lush tone, warm with life, of the earthly instrument. Mahler indicates that all the strings should be tuned a whole step higher:

[Example 4-37: A–E–B–F-sharp scordatura violin tuning]

In this way, he achieves the lurid³⁴ tone that gives eeriness to the expression. The further stylization of the movement also deviates from the usual, creating a weird and fantastic atmosphere. It awakens memories of the funeral march in the First Symphony and of the Fish Sermon Scherzo in the Second, and yet, in relation to these earlier pieces that have some similarity in nature, it signifies something new. In the two earlier movements, it was particularly the handling of rhythm that achieved the unusual effects. This time, melodic direction and harmony become especially pointed in expression. The augmented triad provides the basic color in vertical harmonic sound position as well as in horizontal melodic sequence. All means of instrumental color come to their best advantage in cleverly distributed application: muting, sharply stroked pizzicati, col legno, murmuring fingerboard and eerily buzzing bridge effects in the strings, stopped brass, suddenly forward-driving, shrill solo effects of the woodwinds, surprising sforzati, rhythmic displacements, piercing and frightening contrasts in dynamics. The movement does not remain in the ghostly sphere throughout, however. It obtains its particular color through the interplay between the expression of the uncanny and the idyllic, through the naïvely drastic way in which the activity of the departed souls on the field of death is depicted from the grisly side as well as from the peacefully contended side. Just as in the first movement and later in the last movement, masterful humor carries the whole and firmly holds to the character of a surreal fairy tale. It is the idea of play from which the whole work springs. There is no realistically perceived world, only one that is imagined, a shadowy play of cheerful and demonic forces that entwine themselves within each other in a fantastic round dance.

“In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast” (“In leisurely motion, without haste”), a single horn call rings out, repeated like a signal, and answered by giggling staccato woodwinds:

[Example 4-38: horn, oboes, bassoon, mm. 1-4, with upbeat]

“Very driven” (“Sehr zufahrend”), “like a fiddle” (“wie eine Fidel”) in sound, the discordant play of the principal violinist commences:

[Example 4-39: solo violin, mm. 6-10]

The remaining strings, all muted with the exception of the soloist, [156] accompany. A brief little interlude in the woodwinds with a sharply ascending periodic ending interrupts:

[Example 4-40: oboes, flutes, bassoon, mm. 22-26]

Then the soloist starts again and leads his melody to its conclusion. It merges into a surprisingly mild, almost sweet C major. Deep held unison sounds from horns and clarinet on C provide the primarily dark color, and from the harp it sounds like a soothing bell chime. In the violins, quiet, melodic major-key sounds soar in:

[Example 4-41: first violins, mm. 34-41]

But the friendly mood only holds for a few moments. The fiddler enters again in brusque fortissimo while the accompanying voices in the divided strings multiply, becoming stronger. The mutes disappear, and in forceful C minor, the theme abruptly concludes. The horn calls, this time in a considerably lower register, supported by contrabassoon and string basses, as if from distant, remote regions:

[Example 4-42: contrabassoon, horn, basses, mm. 63-65]

In an altered character, the answer sounds. The burdensome, oppressive aspect has vanished, and the call sounds joyfully, invitingly, “belted out” (“schmetternd”):

[Example 4-43: horn, mm. 68-70]

The key turns toward F major. Beginning fortissimo, the clarinet strikes up a “merry” (“lustig”) dance tune, a somewhat stiff-legged, happily trilling, lazily revolving Ländler:

[Example 4-44: clarinet, mm. 71-75]

The oboes take up the tune, and the violins add to it a longingly rising chromatic counterpoint that continues in a tenderly singing melody:

[Example 4-45: first violins, mm. 81-94]

“Impudently” (“Frech”), right at the rapturous sweep up to A, the clarinet drives in with its dance motive:

[Example 4-46: clarinets, m. 90]

This setting shows the origin of the “cheeky, merry” (“frech lustig”) tune: it is a reorganization of the third measure in the E-major melody from the Finale:

[Example 4-47: 4^th movement, first violins with flute doubling, mm. 125-129]

What will eventually become transfigured there appears here as a crudely bumbling apparition. But the joyous song of the violins will not be disturbed. The melody gushes further in yearning, expressive turns, accompanied romantically by the horn quartet:

[Example 4-48: violins, mm. 94-102]³⁵

The image shifts: the first horn call resounds anew, the fiddler starts up “passionately” (“leidenschaftlich”) with his dry melody, new secondary voices are heard, including [157] a “merrily emerging” (“lustig hervortretend”) one in the first horn:

[Example 4-49: horn, mm. 128-131]

The peaceful C-major vision and the “passionate” (“leidenschaftlich”) solo melody take over from each other once again. It is almost the image of the medieval dance of death with its alternation between friendly and gloomy pictures.³⁶ So also the lyrical song melody appears for a second time, now presented more extensively than before. From F major it rises to D major, and thereby entwines a promise of the future: a prophecy of peace and joy that someday the heavenly life will bring to the current entourage of Freund Hein. Two times, a premonition of the song from the hereafter is heard. First in the violins is a reference to the melody set to the words “Cäcilia mit ihren Verwandten sind treffliche Hofmusikanten” (“Cecilia and her kinfolk are excellent court musicians”):

[Example 4-50: first violins, mm. 212-216, second violins, m. 217]

The second allusion is brought by the clarinets at the D-major turn, “expanding even more” (“sich noch mehr ausbreitend”):

[Example 4-51: clarinets, mm. 254-265; bassoons, mm. 257-264; flutes, m. 260; oboes, mm. 262-265]

It is an extensive anticipation of the E-major melody of the Finale that was hinted at just previously. While these directions to the future run more presciently than consciously through the accompanying voices, the song melody spreads out in the violins in an almost lavish revelry of feeling. The gray landscape of the death procession has vanished, and a warm D-major sun shines. Even the song of the fiddler no longer sounds “violently driven” (“heftig zufahrend”). Despite the dissonant intervals, the expression is softened, “grazioso, espressivo,” and also does not sound in the lurid tone of the re-tuned violin, but rather in the natural tuning. But the calm does not last long. Gradually, the violent accents and broken sound effects increase. The C-major theme is rhythmically disturbed as the accents shift to the weak second beat, thus bringing restlessness to the picture. The harmonies thrust chromatically into each other without achieving clarity of key, the melodic sounds become tangled in dissonant evasions and twists, and the whole sinks from measure to measure into a shadowy gloom. At the end, only the horn motive of the beginning still remains. It now sounds from the string basses and obtains a harmonic addition from the clarinets:

[Example 4-52: basses and clarinets, mm. 355-359]