Gustav Mahler
Welcome to the Mahlerite Web Site
Introduction
Welcome to the Mahlerite Web Site. Here you will find information about Mahler's music, a non-PC position on the Sixth, the first timed commentary of a Mahler symphony, and a series of text translations. There are links to other Mahler resources on the web, and information about the great American composer, Charles Ives.
Home of the Only Sixth
Alban Berg called Mahler's A Minor Symphony "the only Sixth". Quite often an artist will get it right the first time. That is the case concerning the Symphony No. 6.
Unfortunately, due to the influence of his wife and well-meaning but misguided associates, Mahler was persuaded to make revisions to what was already a perfect work. Since then revisionists have been fussing with this score, trying to justify Mahler's later reordering of the movements, modifications of the orchestration, deletion of the third hammerschlag (hammer-blow), and basically coming up with an apologia for emasculating it.
There are three areas of concern which must addressed by a conductor who wishes to present this magnificent music properly.
First, this is the correct order of movements:
1. I. Allegro energico, ma non troppo
2. II. Scherzo.
3. III. Andante moderato
4. IV. Finale
Second, the exposition repeat in the first movement must be taken, otherwise the musical balance and mathematical proportions of the piece go out of whack. Plus skipping the repeat means we are deprived of the opportunity to hear the five measures of ominously meaningful music Mahler wrote as a lead-in to the exposition repeat, just before Cue 14 (Eulenburg).
Third, there are three hammer-strokes in the original score. Deletion of the third one results in the score's psychological, emotional, and structural logic being undermined. Imagine Mahler's Second ending at the point where the Aufersteh'n chorus should begin. No resolution, just nonfulfillment. The deletion of the third hammer-stroke produces the same effect.
Two key things about the final hammerschlag. It occurs at an unexpected point in the score, not the climax where Strauss, with his literalism, would have placed it, but instead where it catches the music's hero and the listener off-guard. Plus it drives home the point Mahler made to Strauss about the dynamics of the three blows to the hero's life: they diminish in intensity to the point where the third stroke is like a casual wave of the hand by the gods controlling Man's fate.
The current "accepted" version of the score, with two hammer-strokes and the Andante moderato following the opening Allegro is an abomination. There's no musical, structural, or emotional logic to it whatsoever. Sometimes musicologists get it wrong. This is a prime example.
Mahler got it right the first time.
Timed Commentaries
Here is the first timed commentary of a Mahler Symphony. What is a timed commentary? It's a document built around a particular work and a certain CD of that work. The left hand margin lists the times (and tracks and index numbers) of that CD while the body of text describes what's going on in the music. The content level is appropriate for persons with no musical training who are interested in Mahler's music. The content will perhaps provide some new insights for persons with formal musical training and who are familiar with Mahler's works. This first timed commentary is for the Fifth Symphony, the CD is the DGG Bernstein/VPO performance. Click here to access the timed commentary. I hope you enjoy it!
Translations
Many readers of this page have requested English translations of the
texts found in Mahler's works. Most of these requests stem from
purchases of recordings which contain no texts/translations. Some are
due to the lack of translation availability on the net and other
sources. And finally a number of the requests are due to
dissatisfaction with the rather bizarre translations that are found
here and there. What do I mean by "bizarre"? Well, for instance there
was a translation of Das Lied von der Erde out there that talked
about skunks, butterflies, and drinking "until your breath would strip
a cow out of its leather..." I've checked the original German closely
(both the text for the orchestral and chamber versions, and the text
for the piano version, which differs slightly from the first two), and
cannot find any references to these animals, etc. In general it
appears this "translation" was only occasionally related to the
original words and meanings Mahler used for his music. Fortunately,
perhaps, the link to this translation appears to be no longer active.
To me it seems there are limits to "free" translations of which this
was an example of excess
As a result of this I began a project to post English translations of all Mahler texts. The translations that were completed were different in a number of important ways. They attempted to provide the essential meaning of the texts. They did not rhyme, not was the meter, etc., dictated by the music or original texts. Trying to duplicate rhyme and meter is a fundamental mistake made by most translators of music-related texts. Only the original language will match the music and "work" with it. Any translation that tries to do the same is doomed to failure, not only from a rhyme/meter viewpoint, but also due to distortion of actual content. Thus what you will find here is, instead, targeted at capturing the essence of the text's meaning. We will leave the music/text interplay to the original language, which, of course, is what the composer intended in the first place.
The first translation is Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Journeyman). Click here to access it.
The second translation is Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth). Click here to access it.
After the first two translations, more sites with decent translations of Mahler's texts became available on the web, so this project was terminated. Here's one of the best: Click here to access it.
Mahler List Discussion Group.
Ongoing discussions about Mahler (and his musical contemporaries) can be found at the Archives of [email protected]. The Mahler-List is a text-only email-based bulletin board which is maintained by Jason Greshes, author of the Gustav Mahler Home Page. Many thanks to Jason for his efforts in making the list available and an outstanding place to compare notes about Mahler. Participants range from such Mahler experts as Henry-Louis de La Grange, Avik Gilboa, Tony Duggan, and Stan Ruttenberg, to first time posters who have just discovered Mahler's music. The archives contain links for conducting searches, posting, and subscribing to the list. Click here to access the Mahler-List Archives.
My Introduction to Mahler.
What were the circumstances when I was first impacted by a Mahler symphony? It was a long time ago, way back in 1962. But, here's how it happened. The Ninth.
Mahler is #1, but Charles Ives is a Close Second!
townhouse on 74th street, NY, NY by W.
Eugene Smith.
Charles Edward Ives and his music have been subjects of enjoyment, learning, and research for me since back in the 1950s, when most people, even some of those related to him (but not I), thought the music of Danbury's, Connecticut's, and America's greatest composer was too radical and mostly incomprehensible. Things have changed and change continues. That will be documented in this part of this page.
Universe Symphony
There have been a number of realizations and performances of the Ives Universe Symphony over the past few years. For information and reviews of some of these events, click here for information on the AFMM realization, and click here for information on Larry Austin's realization (you'll find it under the "Program Notes" link (you may have to scroll down to find it) in his very interesting home page).
The Latest Books on Ives
Charles Ives and His World Edited by J. Peter Burkholder
This volume shows Charles Ives in the context of his world in a number of revealing ways. Five new essays examine Ives' relationships to European music and to American music, politics, business, and landscape. J. Peter Burkholder shows Ives as a composer well versed in four distinctive musical traditions who blended them in his mature music. Leon Botstein explores the paradox of how, in the works of Ives and Mahler, musical modernism emerges from profoundly antimodern sensibilities. David Michael Hertz reveals unsuspected parallels between one of Ives' most famous pieces, the Concord Piano Sonata, and the piano sonatas of Liszt and Scriabin. Michael Broyles sheds new light on Ives' political orientation and on his career in the insurance business, and Mark Tucker shows the importance for Ives of his vacations in the Adirondacks and the representation of that landscape in his music.
The remainder of the book presents documents that illuminate Ives' personal life. A selection of some sixty letters to and from Ives and his family, edited and annotated by Tom C. Owens, is the first substantial collection of Ives correspondence to be published. Two sections of reviews and longer profiles published during his lifetime highlight the important stages in the reception of Ives' music, from his early works through the premieres of his most important compositions to his elevation as an almost mythic figure with a reputation among some critics as America's greatest.
Click here for
information on this publication.
Charles Ives: A Life With Music by Jan Swafford
Jan Swafford's new biography, Charles Ives: A Life With Music, goes a long way toward dispelling or clarifying many of the most prominent myths surrounding the life and music of perhaps America’s greatest composer. This book draws on materials recently added to Yale University's extensive Ives Collection, in addition to well-known sources and previous biographies. Swafford’s unrelenting quest for accuracy and fair play is further enhanced by a lively writing style and his composer's insights into the creative process.
Click
here for information on and a review of this publication.
One of the First Books on Ives
From the Steeples to the Valleys by David Woolridge (Knopf, 1974)
For a review of this book by MahlerList resident music critic Anne Ozorio click here. Thank you for your review, Anne, and permission to publish it.
That Good Old LP Cover Art
Click on these links for examples of a lost art: those big canvases that used to grace (or otherwise take up space on) the covers of vinyl long playing (LP) records.
Mahler: Symphony No.1 Ancerl, Czech Philharmonic
Mahler and Ives Links
These links to more Mahler and Ives information are currently being updated. The list will be much longer very soon.
Mahler Links:
International Gustav Mahler Society
The Gustav Mahler Society of New York
The Gustav Mahler Society of the United Kingdom
The Gustav Mahler Society (Czech Republic)
Natasha Turovsky's beautiful paintings inspired by Das Lied von der Erde
Ives Links:
To Mahlerite Web Site visitors:
Please let me know what you think about this Mahler and Ives webpage and also feel free to make contributions. Your material is welcome and will be posted if appropriate.
Please click on this link to email your comments and material.
Thanks!
