Mahler - Symphony No. 1 “Titan”

Some recommended recordings are Bernstein with the New York Philharmonic on Columbia, which is classic, but Sir Georg Solti with the London Symphony Orchestra, re-released on the Decca Legends series, is actually great too. And I have come to appreciate Gustavo Dudamel as a Mahler interpreter, his live recording from Walt Disney Concert Hall with the LA Philharmonic is wonderful too.

Looking back on Symphony No. 1 (composed from 1887-1888), I see now how in some ways it is more conservative, compared to Mahler’s later works, even his following Symphony No. 2: the melodies seem simpler (and that might be primarily why I underestimated it), the development sections seem simpler, and variations on those motifs simpler - but it’s still so advanced! I didn’t fully appreciate the developments and recapitulated motives until I watched the “Listening to Music” lectures on YouTube by Yale Music Professor Craig Wright. I will reveal some of those revelations below – let’s dive in!

First Movement: the movement is in your standard modified sonata form, tempo langsam. The opening of the woodwinds and their descending motif sounds vaguely like the beginning of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (or was it his 4th – again, the shadow of Beethoven looms large to this career start, just as it hung over Brahms and his First Symphony). With the woodwinds, the long strings, the offstage hunter’s horn, the listener can’t help but think of nature waking up. And sure enough, in the original program, when the symphony was nicknamed “Titan” (after a Jean Paul novel), the movement was named “Spring and no end. This introduction describes the awakening of nature at the earliest dawn.” After the horns, the movement introduces a motif, taken from the main melody of “Ging heut Morgen übers Feld” from Mahler’s “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.” The lyrics make very clear why he reused this lied here:

I walked across the fields this morning;

dew still hung on every blade of grass.

The merry finch spoke to me:

"Hey! Isn't it? Good morning! Isn't it?

You! Isn't it becoming a fine world?

Chirp! Chirp! Fair and sharp!

How the world delights me!"

 

Also, the bluebells in the field

merrily with good spirits

tolled out to me with bells (ding, ding)

their morning greeting:

"Isn't it becoming a fine world?

Ding, ding! Fair thing!

How the world delights me!"

And then, in the sunshine,

the world suddenly began to glitter;

everything gained sound and color

in the sunshine!

Flower and bird, great and small!

"Good day, is it not a fine world?

Hey, isn't it? A fair world?"

Now will my happiness also begin?

No, no - the happiness I mean

can never bloom!

Because of this and other borrowings from his early lieder and the thematic unity they brought, Mahler’s early first four symphonies are called the “Wunderhorn Symphonies.” Moving on, we come to a slight variation on the nature awakens motif, then an ominous sounding development with a run of trumpets occurs (this development motif will get reprised in the last movement in a really functionally great way) that then returns the movement to a triumphant presentation of that Wunderhorn motif. I’ve always liked the first and second movements from Bernstein best – I may have to say that Solti gives him a run for his money, especially on the Second Movement.

Second Movement: this movement is a Trio (the “scherzo” or “minuet”), taking the form Ländler, Slow, and then back, Kräftig bewegt. When I first heard this movement, I had this feeling of a ship on the sea, getting up to speed and running full sail. I was not wrong because the original program said “Set with full sails.” Later, I would find out through Embrace Everything that we have a Ländler here, an Austro-German folk dance form, an interesting subversion of the scherzo/minuet expectation. Now the dance-like rhythm of the movement is almost unmistakeable. Then the movement shifts into its calmer, slower middle string section, which is most definitely a nod to the lost Blumine movement (more on that later). Then the movement returns back to the Ländler with a very frenzied finish that reminds me of the frenzied finishes of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and “Pini di Roma.”

Third Movement: this is the slow movement of the symphony, Feierlich und gemessen. It begins with a funereal like motif, possibly inspired by “The Hunter's Funeral” a woodcut by Moritz von Schwind, which portrays a hunter's funeral and the procession of animals that follows him. As the motif continues, we realize that it is in fact a minor key rendering of the children’s song “Frere Jacques”!! Then with barely a transition, a Jewish/klezmer motif comes right in! This motif could also be based on general Bohemian folk themes, but to our modern ears, it sounds Jewish. This motif leads straight into the melody from “Die zwei blauen Augen” from the Gesellen Lieder again and returns back to morbid Frere Jacques. The lyrics of the lied again provide thematic context and complementarity:

The two blue eyes of my darling -

they have sent me into the wide world.

I had to take my leave of this well-beloved place!

O blue eyes, why did you gaze on me?

Now I will have eternal sorrow and grief.

 

I went out into the quiet night

well across the dark heath.

To me no one bade farewell.

Farewell! My companions are love and sorrow!

On the road there stands a linden tree,

and there for the first time I found rest in sleep!

Under the linden tree 

that snowed its blossoms onto me -

I did not know how life went on,

and all was well again!

All! All, love and sorrow

and world and dream!

The movement then flows into a slow section that I think refers back to the discarded Blumine movement, or maybe it is performing variations on the slow section of the previous movement, which itself is derived from Blumine? Then the movement closes with the Frere Jacques motif in a more fully developed form and intertwined with the klezmer and lied motifs to slowly fade out.

Fourth Movement: the finale, in sonata-allegro form, Stürmisch bewegt – Energisch “Stormly agitated – Energetic.” We’ll see that this movement quotes many of the previous motifs throughout and provides some surprising developments, hinting at Mahler’s growth into becoming a master of foreshadowing and developing motives. The movement opens with a stormy crash and our “villainous” motif, the original program notes called this movement “Dall'Inferno al Paradiso” – From Hell to Heaven. Actually the whole second half was called “Commedia umana” –Human Comedy– a nod to Dante if I ever saw one! This motif transitions to a quiet section with strings which sounds a lot like Blumine, or at least inspired by Blumine. These more developed string parts are beginning to sound like later Mahler (I would only realize this in the future as I listened to, well, later Mahler). Then the storm/villain motif crashes in again. 

Once that runs its course, now we begin to hear a new trumpet fanfare peak through for the first time. This trumpet fanfare has something heroic about it, and now you see the theme of the final movement: a hero working to triumph over darkness and villainy and the storm. Maybe this is the kernel for the original “Titan” title of the symphony? We come to another interlude with the darkness/storm motif and then a fuller hero’s fanfare returns. Then back to a variation of the Blumine strings, this time the strings have reached their peak development, we know some change is coming. And then in an instant, the symphony-opening nature motif returns! The string motif comes back fuller with a swell and resolution before we enter the storm motif again, almost more sinister than before. Then we have the hunting horn call, marking again a link to the first movement. Triumphantly, next we receive the final presentation of the hero motif, and not only that, we hear the second hero’s motif, which we now realize from all the previous hints Mahler hit us over the head with is actually the same notes as the opening nature awakens motif!!! We have now fulfilled the original hints we heard in the first movement. The villain and storm motif is nowhere to be seen – the evil has been vanquished. Written in the score are notes, instructing the horns to stand, they probably can’t help feel triumphant as they play. You can tell the orchestra by this point is running at more than 100%. In spite of this, something bittersweet and slightly sad underscores what’s left of the movement, which concludes with a “joke” ending with an octave drop. 

When I was younger, I barely perceived this slightly off ending, but as I have gotten older, I have heard this secret message buried in the music more and more. And sure enough, in the Embrace Everything podcast, they discuss how the hero dies at the end of the movement – Mahler explained this in letters himself! But in his death, the Hero has triumphed over his challenges in life and he gallops onward into the sunset, things neatly resolved (for him, we’ll see eventually why this is important to note). So yes, we get the Death of the Hero. A twinge of sadness in the triumphal end, now I see why. I don’t know how I can top Mahler’s ending, so I will note Professor Craig Wright’s observation that the storm and hero motives of the last movement are actually one and the same! It’s the same pitches with different notes! Take this with the knowledge that the second hero motif is a subtle rearrangement of the motif we heard at the start of the symphony, and you see Mahler is a master at development. What great unity!

Blumine: ah yes Blumine, the rejected second movement andante. When this was a five movement symphony. Mahler removed the movement after the third public performance of the symphony, in the face of harsh criticism (another running theme through Mahler’s career). It’s not a bad movement, but it’s certainly hard to imagine Symphony No. 1 with Blumine shoehorned in as a second movement. The movement starts with a sweet trumpet melody, which seems a bit unlike other Mahler, but then a few minutes in, we start to hear Mahler’s usual tropes, orchestration, and development of motives via a string motif. The strings here sound like classic Mahler, hinting at his later string motives. This string section after the opening trumpet section is what Mahler quotes and develops and transforms in second and fourth movements (I am still convinced it is connected with the middle string motif in the third movement too). 

If you survived this many lines of composed music commentary, thank you for hanging in there! Next week, Mahler’s Second Symphony “Resurrection” - feel free to give it a listen ahead of my post on Wednesday or Thursday. Until then!

In case you didn't listen to this symphony already, check out this "live" recording of Leonard Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

And links to my preferred recordings:

• Leonard Bernstein, NYP, Columbia Records
• Sir Georg Solti, LSO, Decca
• Gustavo Dudamel, LAP, Deutsche Grammophon
• Lost Blumine movement: Paavo Järvi, hr-Sinfonieorcheter, Michael Tilson Thomas, SF Symphony

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