Symphony No. 2 (Mahler)
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The Symphony No. 2 in C minor by Gustav Mahler, known as the Resurrection, was written between 1888 and 1894. It is one of Mahler's most popular and successful works.
Origin
The symphony began life as Totenfeier (Funeral Rites), a one movement symphonic poem based on an epic poem by Adam Mickiewicz, which Mahler completed in 1888. Later, he returned to the movement, and added three others so that by late 1893, the first four movements of the symphony as we now know it were complete. He then set the work aside for a while, aware that it needed something else to complete it, but lacking inspiration as to what that something else might be.In 1894, the conductor Hans von Bülow died, and Mahler went to his funeral. There he heard Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock's Aufersteh'n (Resurrection Ode), and this inspired him to complete his symphony with a long choral movement with text based on Klopstock's ode.
Mahler devised a narrative programme for the work which he told to a number of friends. He did not approve of audiences being made aware of it, but it is often recounted nowadays. In this programme, the first movement represents a funeral and asks questions such as "Is there life after death?"; the second movement is a remembrance of happy times in the life of the deceased; the third movement represents a complete loss of faith, and belief in life as meaningless; the fourth movement, a song, is a rebirth of faith ("I am from God, and will return to God"); and the fifth movement, after a return of the doubts of the third movement and the questions of the first, ends with a realization of God's love, and recognition of everlasting life.
Publication and arrangement
The work was first published in 1897. In 1899 an arrangement by Bruno Walter for piano four hands (two players at one piano) was published.Orchestration
The symphony is written for an orchestra and an offstage ensemble of brass and percussion.The woodwind section consists of four flutes (alternating on four piccolos), four oboes (two alternating two cor anglais), five clarinets (two clarinets, two E-flat clarinets, (one alternating on clarinet,) and one bass clarinet alternating on clarinet), three bassoons, and contrabassoon (alternating on bassoon).
The brass section consists of ten French horns (four used offstage), eight to ten trumpets (four to six used offstage), four trombones, and contrabass tuba.
The percussion section requires seven players and consists of seven timpani (three players, one timpano used offstage), two bass drums (one offstage, with rute, or "switch"), two pairs of cymbals (one offstage), two tam-tams (high and low), two triangles (one offstage), snare drum, glockenspiel, three "bells" (technically steel bars of pitch so low as to be indeterminate), several harps (Mahler wrote for two harp parts with several on each), and an organ.
"The largest possible contingent of strings" consists of the usual first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses (some basses with low C-string).
The fourth movement requires an alto soloist and the last movement adds a soprano soloist and a choir.
Description of the movements
The work in its finished form has five movements:
- Allegro maestoso
- Andante moderato
- In ruhig fliessender Bewegung (With quietly flowing movement)
- Urlicht (Primeval Light)
- In Tempo des Scherzos (In the tempo of a scherzo)
The third movement is a scherzo based on Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn song about St Anthony preaching to the fishes, "Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt". It opens with two strong, short timpani strikes. It is followed by two more softer strikes, then followed by even softer strikes that provide the tempo to this movement.
The fourth movement, Urlicht, is another Wunderhorn song, actually sung this time, by an alto who Mahler requests should sound like a small child in heaven. This is a surprisingly short movement, almost acting like an introduction to the giant last movement. The last movement is the longest, typically lasting over half an hour. It is very episodic, containing a wide variety of moods, tempi and keys, with much of the material based on what has been heard in the previous movements. New themes introduced are used repeatedly and altered.
Text
Note: This text has been translated from the original German to English on a very literal and line-for-line basis, without regard for the preservation of meter or rhyming patterns.Fourth Movement
Text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn
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Fifth Movement
Note: The first eight lines were taken from the ode Aufersteh'n by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock. Mahler omitted the final four lines of this ode and wrote the rest himself (beginning at "O glaube").
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Premieres
- World premiere (first three movements only): March 4, 1895, Berlin, with the composer conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
- World premiere (complete): December 13, 1895, Berlin, conducted by the composer.
- American premiere: December 8, 1908, New York City, conducted by the composer.
- English premiere: April 16, 1931, London, conducted by Bruno Walter.
Trivia
- The symphony was a favorite of Pope John Paul II.
- The use of a chorus in this last movement has led to comparisons with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.
- A typical performance of the whole symphony lasts in the region of 85 minutes (There are few speedy recordings. Otto Klemperer's famous recording clocks to 79 minutes, thus fitting on one CD—despite Klemperer's reputation for using slow tempos. A recording by Zubin Mehta clocks to 81 minutes and 11 seconds, but it fits on one CD.)
- The third movement of Luciano Berio's Sinfonia (1968-69), is based on the third movement of this symphony.
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