Fourth symphony

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[139] In the Mildenburg letter of July 1, 1896, Mahler speaks of the final movement from the Third Symphony as “No. 7.”¹ The number seven also turns up in one of the conversations shared in Der Merker,² with the addition of the programmatic headings, and there under number 6 is the label “Was mir die Liebe erzählt” (“What Love Tells Me”), and number 7 “Was mir das Kind erzählt” (“What the Child Tells Me”). “And I will name the whole thing ‘My Happy Science’—and that is what it is, too,” Mahler adds.³

According to this, the Third Symphony was originally supposed to contain seven movements, and the seventh was later dropped. Whether this seventh movement, as appears from the statement that was orally passed down, was to be the closing movement or whether, as the Mildenburg letter suggests, the Adagio “Was mir die Liebe erzählt” was always planned as the Finale and the former seventh movement would have taken its place before it, cannot be completely determined by the currently available statements.⁴ Only the original number of seven is certain. In addition, it is certain that the seventh movement by no means failed to be carried out or indeed became lost; it became, rather, the seed of the Fourth Symphony. The piece “Was mir das Kind erzählt” is now the Finale of the Fourth Symphony, the Wunderhorn song of “heavenly joys.” The displacement, that is the elimination from the Third Symphony, must have taken place somewhat late, at a time when the composition of the piece had already been completed, for there exist between the present fifth movement, the angel chorus, and the soprano song of the “heavenly joys” melodic, harmonic, and motivic correspondences that point to a very close original connection.

In all the previous symphonies of Mahler, the Finale had been the main and central movement, the goal of the development. In the First and Second, it had expanded to an enormous scale, swelling in the First beyond the architectonic dimensions of the typical instrumental finale, and, in the Second, availing itself of the additional sonorities provided by solo and choral singing. Both times, the significance of the closing movement was also externally emphasized through the amassing of resources. This relationship changes in the Third Symphony. Here, the final Adagio is indeed the weightiest among the movements of the second part, but is surpassed in scope and outward extravagance by the opening movement. Nevertheless, it also retains the central meaning here. All threads come together within it. The predominance of the first movement is basically of a purely material kind, for the intensity and force of expression in the Finale, as well as its concentrated power, supersede every advantage that the first movement may have in external weight. Mahler himself characterized this relationship of the two outer movements in conversation when he spoke of the thematic connections between the two, which however, as he believed, would hardly be noticed by the listeners. “That which was dull, still lifeless and immobile there, here is unfolded to the highest consciousness, and the unarticulated sounds have reached the highest articulation.”⁹ According to this, there is also no doubt here about the superior significance of the Finale, for the objective that is provided by this Finale determines the construction of the entire symphony as well as the layout and execution of the individual movements.

With the Fourth Symphony, a change occurs, insofar as the Finale is the least demanding and shortest movement and bears the least symphonic character: a simple song for solo soprano with the accompaniment of a small orchestra. The singing voice retains the leadership almost throughout, and the few interludes cannot be considered as independent instrumental statements. The song character is strictly maintained. Viewed in such a way, this closing movement appears only as a lightweight pendant. And yet it is the main movement of the whole in exactly the same sense as the finales of the three previous symphonies, the destination that determines the style and summarizes all of the forces that are at work in the preceding movements. Only the outer image has shifted, and it feigns an altered relationship in the organization of movements. In reality, the determining force of the Finale in the Fourth even reaches considerably further than in the previous symphonies. In these, it perhaps remained a constant goal, but it initially hovered at an undetermined distance and needed first [142] to be gradually brought to a clear embodiment by means of the preceding movements. In the Fourth, the Finale stands firm from the beginning, and out of it spring the preceding movements in a gradual backward development. The Finale is thus the heart of the work in the fullest sense here. It not only contains important thematic seeds for the movements that come before it. It already encloses within itself the entire spiritual layout of the work. In a far greater measure than the closing movements of the earlier works, it determines the style and character of the whole, for both must be taken from this, the structure that had been complete from the outset. As strange as it may sound, this song, alongside the “Urlicht” and the “drunken song”¹⁰ the briefest of all symphonic movements of Mahler to this point, this song that seems to constitute only a postlude to the preceding larger instrumental pieces—this song is the actual symphony. Everything that comes before it is nothing but a fantastic prelude to the externally unpretentious, non-symphonic main movement. One could also say that the song, in few measures and with the utmost clarity, provides the essential material of the movements that precede it. Of course, this clarity presupposes the preparatory work of the instrumental pieces. Therefore, these are also necessary as a massive foundation for the delicate housetop of the finale, just as conversely, this housetop provides the three-step foundation with a meaning that is clarified and justified.¹¹

From the predominance of the Song-Finale emerges a striking simplification in the layout of the complete plan. To this point, a powerful need for expansion had been characteristic of Mahler’s symphonic construction. At first, this was with respect to the conceptual formal structure and then also with respect to the number of movements. The First Symphony was indeed still constructed in four movements, but it already contained the larger-than-life finale whose sections, forcefully forged to one another, almost threatened to break apart under the overabundance of material. In the Second, the number of movements had increased to five, and in the Third to six, in the first draft even to seven. At the same time, Mahler had, with the organization into “parts,” established a formal architectonic principle that appeared to give room to further bold combinations. The drive toward great length works inexorably and creates for itself readily new, comprehensive rules of order. Suddenly it breaks off and turns back the opposite way. The number of movements shrinks back again to four. The Song-Finale is not burdened with any greater weight. The material that it carries within itself is exhausted in four movements, of which the last only provides the brief, summarizing resumé and overview.

[Example 4-1: first violins, first movement, mm. 3-7]

Then again there are melodies that are completely created from the soulful vibrato of the long-drawn, gently oscillating, strongly emotional string tone, such as the variation theme of the slow movement:¹⁴

[Example 4-2: top voice of cellos, third movement, mm. 1-9]

Then again such melodies for which the presentation of the sweeping gilssando and of the inwardly connected but also broadly expansive singing line is decisive, such as the second theme of the opening movement: [144]

[Example 4-3: cellos, first movement, mm. 37-41]

These stylistic features can be traced individually. They confirm that here, a special kind of orchestral grouping strongly influenced the thematic formation. For the first time in Mahler, the string section again constitutes the foundation of the tonal impression. The winds, as in the older symphonic art, are primarily used for coloristic and individual soloistic effects, and are considered less as a discreet unit and in no way as the dynamic goal of the sonic structure. The vocal kind of expression prevails, and the more dramatic one disappears as a force that determines the style.

The diminutive aspects of this new symphonic organism, necessitated by the Song-Finale, are also apparent, not only in the total external plan and in the orchestral construction, but also in the scope and structure of the individual movements. Here as well there is a complete halt of the previous urge to expansion. The most extensive movement of the Fourth, its first, numbers only a bit over a third of the measure count of the first movement of the Third Symphony; the Scherzo and slow movement are indeed broadly and calmly spun out, but never exceed the usual precedent in dimension. Thus, in all features relating to the plan and general character of this work is shown the determining influence of the final song. It is likewise shown in the particular execution of the movements, in their thematic and poetic types. It is shown in the entire intent of the form that is expressed in the appearance of this work.

It is immediately noteworthy that all three preceding movements are thematically linked to the Finale. This linkage is most conspicuous between the first and fourth movements. This is not some hidden motivic relationship, but rather a thematic and particularly a sonic one, brought about by the introductory measures, which are very memorable because of the ringing sleigh bells. They return again multiple times in the Finale as an orchestral interlude, and are motivically continued in the song accompaniment. Also distinctly highlighted are the connections between the Adagio and the Finale. They are found at the sudden concluding turn of the Adagio from G major to E major. Here there are both thematic anticipations of Finale motives as well as reminiscences of the opening movement, and thus three movements are tied together. Comparatively, the Scherzo makes the least reference to the other movements. It only shows hidden paraphrases of Finale motives, certainly not unintentional, yet, despite the prescription “distinctly” (“deutlich”), not as strongly meaningful to the consciousness of the listener as the echoes named above.

In light of these thematic relationships, closely spun into each other and emphasized with unmistakeable intention in the closing movement, the idea is natural that here, similar to the Third Symphony, the presence of an underlying programmatic idea can be assumed. Such an idea really was present.

There exists as a counterpart to the two program sketches to the Third Symphony a previously unknown page with the following contents: [145]

Sinfonie Nr. 4 (Humoreske).

Nr. 1. Die Welt als ewige Jetztzeit, G-dur.

Nr. 2. Das irdische Leben, es-moll.

Nr. 3. Caritas H-dur (Adagio).

Nr. 4. Morgenglocken, F-dur.

Nr. 5. Die Welt ohne Schwere, D-Dur (Scherzo).

Nr. 5. Das himmlische Leben, G-dur.

Symphony No. 4 (Humoresque).

No. 1. The World as Eternal Now, G major.

No. 2. The Earthly life, E-flat minor.

No. 3. Caritas, B major (Adagio).

No. 4. Morning Bells, F major.

No. 5. The World Without Gravity, D major (Scherzo).

No. 5. The Heavenly Life, G major.¹⁵
This page is important in many respects. First of all, it shows that the plan for the Fourth Symphony arose almost simultaneously with that for the Third. The sketch page must have its origins in the time in which the Third was also in the making, for the movement mentioned as No. 4, “Morning Bells,” is the angel chorus from the Third. According to this, Mahler had originally viewed it for the Fourth just as, on the other hand, the present Finale of the Fourth was considered for the Third. One sees that the Third and Fourth Symphonies are a pair of twins, as the designs for both are mixed with each other. In their gradual selection and ordering, however, is reflected an enlightening developmental process that was internalized in Mahler.

The sketch page for the Fourth reveals still more. Besides the “Morning Bells,” it refers to three movements whose execution did not later come to pass. First of all, “Das irdische Leben, E-flat minor.” This is one of Mahler’s darkest, most painful Wunderhorn compositions, the song “Mutter, ach Mutter, es hungert mich” (“Mother, o Mother, I am hungry”). According to the sketch, Mahler had considered a symphonic use of this piece and later abandoned it, perhaps because the terribly demonic song appeared to him as far too sharp a contrast within the “Humoresque.” The present dance-of-death Scherzo, with its fantastic mixture of harsh and gentle colors, fits better within the total character of the symphony.

Also curious is the designation “Caritas” for the B-major Adagio that was planned as the third movement. Just like “Das irdische Leben,” it did not come about. But Mahler retained the concept, for in the first sketch of the Eighth Symphony, which plans for four movements, the plan for a “Caritas” Adagio still appears. If one can establish, on the basis of the available sketches, the continuation of a musical and poetic idea from an earlier time into the last years, then it is natural to make a conjecture that the D-major Scherzo, “The World Without Gravity” (“Die Welt ohne Schwere”), really was written. Certainly not for the Fourth, but for the Fifth Symphony, where such a scherzo—without a heading—forms the second part. The Scherzo of the Fifth would accordingly be the oldest part of this symphony and would still have roots in the mood and realm of the Third and Fourth. Although this conjecture cannot be proved, it appears conceivable on the basis of the programmatic sketch.¹⁶

This page thus not only allows a look at the genesis of the Third and Fourth Symphonies, but also provides some indications of Mahler’s symphonic plans and his manner of poetic sketching in general. For the Fourth Symphony as it exists today, besides the complete description “Humoresque,” only two of the six headings have retained their validity: the first, “The World as Eternal Now” (“Die Welt als ewige Jetztzeit”) and the last, “The Heavenly Life” (“Das himmlische Leben”). A basic poetic and programmatic idea is therefore present: this world and the next world, understood as a humorous, idyllic contrast, provide the beginning and ending points. The middle [146] portions are changed in relation to the first draft. The second movement obtains the designation “Freund Hein [Death] Starts to Play” (“Freund Hein spielt auf”). In the score, this heading is absent.¹⁷ At any rate, the use of a solo violin tuned one step higher than usual with the performance indication “very driven, like a fiddle” (“sehr zufahrend, wie eine Fidel”) is striking enough and calls up the image provided by Mahler, even without a special indication. It would probably also be possible to sketch a programmatic idea with respect to the slow movement by using the hints in the closing poem and the thematic relationships to the Finale. One could then describe the symphony as a dreamlike journey to the blissful fields of heaven, a journey that commences in the first movement with merry sleigh bells, leading through alternating cheerful and gloomy landscapes of the earthly “World as Eternal Now” to Freund Hein.¹⁸ He is interpreted here in the legendary friendly sense as the enticing leader with his fiddle, who, while making music, directs his flock from this world to the next. In the quietly opening, gradually building and animated Adagio variations, a new world expands ever more broadly and clearly before the new arrivals, who ascend, as it were, through a series of metamorphoses until that last abode is reached where every wish is fulfilled and the spirits dance and sing in blessed play.

Mahler spoke these words with respect to the D-major symphony. They can be applied just as well to the Fourth in G major. Exactly that symbolic aspect of Mahlerian creation is again expressed here with a particular focus, as Mahler says: “All understanding between the composer and the listener rests thereon, that the latter accepts this or that motive or musical symbol . . . as the expression for this or that idea or actual spiritual content.” For this it is certainly necessary to first recognize the musical symbol as such. That is not always possible at first sight. The fundamental symbol of a work does not always step forward right at the beginning, like the fourth motive in the First and the sequence A major–A minor in the Sixth Symphony. It does not always have the secondary meaning of a leitmotif in the Wagnerian sense. The manner in which the composer employs it is completely the prey of his own discretion, his own fantasy, and his own creative gift. The less mechanically he proceeds with it, the more fertile proves the power of symbolic communication in each case. The symbol sometimes lies deeply concealed, and works upon the listener at first only as an imperceptible, secret stimulant to a mood, such as the sequence of notes A–G–E, incessantly sounding and yet hardly ascertainable to the consciousness, in Das Lied von der Erde. Or the fundamental musical symbol is only suggested when first heard, and the development of the work lies precisely in the slowly progressing revelation of the main symbolic idea in sound, and only reaching full clarity in the last part.

This is the case with the Fourth Symphony. It was created from the conception of the final song, to which the preceding movements were later added in a retrograde development. The formal, logical meaning of these preceding movements that arose later is a preparation and gradual clarification of the fundamental musical idea in the finale. At first only timidly, then gradually more strongly implied, it appears vividly at the moment of the Finale’s beginning, and undergoes, up until the fading away of the closing movement, the last, inwardly exhaustive intensification. This fundamental musical idea of the symphony, which the listener must here accept as the “expression for this or that idea or actual spiritual content,” [148] is the beginning of the Song-Finale. It is intoned in the instrumental prelude of the closing movement by the clarinet and then taken up by the voice:

[Example 4-4: voice, fourth movement, mm. 12-14]

One could say that in these three measures the symphony, its musical and thereby also its poetic course of ideas and development, is decided. In order to make this melody and these words possible in the pure, unadorned, undeniable clarity and simplicity of their appearance in the Finale, in order to place them before the listener with absolute persuasiveness and creative certainty, this symphonic foundation was required. These notes and these words are the pure essence of the work—but had they been brought earlier, without the far-reaching preparations, perhaps only after a brief introduction, they would have appeared trivial, or at the very least they would not have radiated the revelatory power that now emerges from them, where they, after a long, building tension, suddenly bring the tones and words of resolution. The organic construction of the work is formed out of the search for this principal liberating symbol. Out of each of the different spheres that it traverses, it always steers, consciously or unconsciously, toward the one final point. Already the first movement attempts the venture, but only reaches two briefly suggestive formulations. First the long-drawn flute call:²⁰

[Example 4-5: flutes, first movement, mm. 126-132]

Then the bass motive that is more memorably cast, but wanders into a conclusion with foreign harmony and does not find its way further:

[Example 4-6: cellos, basses, bassoons, first movement, mm. 148-150]

This bass motive is taken up by the trumpets at the climactic high point and is pointedly blown out in a forceful march style. It sounds like a sudden and impertinent victorious jubilation in fresh C major:

[Example 4-7: trumpet, first movement, mm. 211-215]

But it cannot hold on, for the upturn has no inner endurance. The strength overturns and exceeds itself, and the liberating motive that has scarcely been found crashes down again with glaring dissonance:

[Example 4-8: trumpets, first movement, mm. 221-224]

Less striking, though unmistakably aiming toward the finale, are the thematic links with the second movement. In rhythm, inflection, and character, they conform completely to the elements that appear in the Scherzo, but here they are only foreshadowing hints at that distant idea of paradise, without any independent value or drive, shadows under shadows, quickly passing over. In radiant glory, however, the idea arises in the third movement. Here, it provides the crowning conclusion of the variation sequence with the sudden turn from G major to E major. In the four horns, “bells in the air” (“Schalltrichter aufgerichtet”), resounds the ascending opening motive, “Pesante,” now shaped into a powerful fanfare:

[Example 4-9: horns, third movement, mm. 318-323 (no harmonies in m. 323)]

At the same time, trumpets and clarinets intone the supplementary theme:

[Example 4-10: trumpets (and optional clarinets), third movement, mm. 320-323]

With this turn, the breakthrough to the theme of the Finale has been achieved and the preparation concluded—the closing song [149] can begin. A metamorphosis of the idea is certainly still to come, the last, which remains reserved for the Finale itself: the definitive transfer of the melody from G major to E major. In the comparison of these two keys, the main idea is confirmed in its most tender affect: World as Eternal Now – Heavenly Life. G major—graceful and lovely, yet always remaining within a realistically perceived circle of ideas—changes into E major, for Mahler the key of otherworldly rapture and transfiguration up until the Sixth and Eighth Symphonies.²¹ The change is prophetically indicated in the third movement. The fanfares of the main theme also sound here in E major, pointing, so to speak, beyond the opening of the Finale that directly follows, all the way to the closing image. While the E-major brilliance only briefly flares up here, however, and then quietly pales into D major, the last movement turns decisively to E major at the depiction of the heavenly music: “Kein’ Musik ist ja nicht auf Erden, die unsrer verglichen kann werden” (“There is no music on earth that can be compared to ours”). In this key, it closes with the fading morendo contra-E of the harp and basses, as if secretively glancing into the infinite.

One must therefore seek to view and understand the unusual work backwards, from the Finale forward. This kind of view may contradict the temporal sequence, but it reflects the internal process of its development, and it allows the roots and branches to be recognized. This is a symphony with one theme that only becomes clearly recognizable as such in the Finale, and is only suggested, never pronounced in the preceding movements. This knowledge is important not only for the comprehension of the entire course of the symphony, but also for the understanding of the individual movements. The fundamental motive is common to all, and it is also the ideal goal toward which they all steer. Because it only breaks through episodically in the opening movements, however, while other themes take up a significantly broader scope within them, these movements are thus written, as it were, upon themes that in reality are not at all as important as they would appear to be based upon their external utilization. The thematic structure is only a means to break the ground in order to invoke the desired fundamental thematic symbol upon it. The remaining themes are thereby substantially reduced in their own significance. They are only masques that enact a comedy, a play within a play, used to draw the one truth that is sought out into the light.

From this inner attitude, from this style that is determined by the special character of the material, the peculiarities of the work that have been previously mentioned can be explained: the economical use of the orchestra, the conspicuous restraint of the expansive drive, and all of the other associated symptoms of an almost ironic self-denial. From this same attitude, the formation of the individual thematic appearances and the nature of the melodic design are also explained. The psychological process is similar to that in Beethoven’s Eighth. As Beethoven in this work dispensed with the large orchestra, the powerful architecture, and the oratorical expression, as he excluded all elements of the dramatic style and reached back to dance types of an older time in the formal design, as he spoke through a mask in the whole work and only betrayed the ironic speaker in the tone of the language, as he exploited in this way the contrast between appearance and reality as the means for a humorous effect, so is also [150] Mahler’s simplicity not to be interpreted as a remorseful confession of the virtues of modesty. In both cases, a conscious archaism in formal construction is present in the broadest sense. In both cases, the modern composer disguises himself in the garb of an older mode of expression. What he has to say obtains, through the outdated cut of the costume and the antiquated sort of demeanor, the refined charm of a humorous world view that hovers between dream and reality and that, with unquestionable perfection and clarity of appearance, nonetheless always retains the overtone of a completely unreal spirit of fantasy that stands beyond all plausibility.