Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) is particularly interesting among Gustav Mahler's symphonic works. It captures the composer at his saddest time but also his most innovative, at his most philosophical but indeed also his most neurotic. Gustav Mahler in 1909 Gustav Mahler (7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and conductor. ... A neurosis, in psychoanalytic theory, is an ineffectual coping strategy that Sigmund Freud suggested was caused by emotions from past experience overwhelming or interfering with present experience. ...

Origins

Mahler conceived of the work in 1907, which was undoubtedly the worst year of his life. The summer of that year is likened to the three hammer blows of the Sixth Symphony (written in 1903-1904), three horrible events foretelling downfall and death. First, Mahler was pressured into resigning from his post as Director of the Vienna Court Opera due to religious and social issues; next, his oldest daughter Maria died from scarlet fever and diphtheria; finally, Mahler himself was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. Compounded by Mahler's general superstition and fear of death, the confluence of these events convinced Mahler that he would soon die. 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Symphony No. ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1904 (MCMIV) is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Vienna State Opera (German: Wiener Staatsoper), located in Vienna, Austria, is one of the most important opera companies in Europe. ...

In an attempt to cheer Mahler's flagging spirits, a friend gave him a copy of "Die chinesische Flöte" ("The Chinese Flute"), a volume of ancient Chinese poetry translated into German by Hans Bethge. Mahler was very taken by the verses and chose seven (two of which are used in the finale) to adapt into a song-symphony. But there arose another problem. Having already finished his 8th Symphony, Mahler was worried about the "Curse of the Ninth", the fact that Bruckner and Schubert and Beethoven had not gotten past nine symphonies. Convinced that a ninth symphony would kill him, Mahler proceeded to compose Das Lied von der Erde, which he subtitled "A Symphony," skirting the issue of a Ninth. Ultimately, however, Mahler did succumb to the "Curse": his next, instrumental symphony, which he numbered his Ninth, was the last symphonic work Mahler completed in full (only the first movement of Tenth was orchestrated at his death)]. Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong Hand-painted Chinese New Years poetry pasted on the sides of doors leading to peoples homes, Old Town, Lijiang, Yunnan, China. ... A symphony is an extended piece of music usually for orchestra and comprising several movements. ... The Symphony No. ... In classical music the term curse of the ninth refers to the popular and journalistic notion that some mortal significance attaches to the composition of a ninth symphony, as a result of which the composer does not live to write another. ... Anton Bruckner Anton Bruckner (September 4, 1824 – October 11, 1896) was an Austrian composer. ... For the crater on the moon, see Schubert (crater) Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828), was an Austrian composer. ... Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized December 17, 1770 – March 26, 1827) was a German composer of Classical music, the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. ... The Symphony No. ... The Symphony No. ...

Originally the work was to be titled Das Lied vom Jammer der Erde (The Song of the Earth's Sorrows), but even Mahler found this too depressing, and as the poetry he chose to set involves idyllic and nature elements in addition to loneliness and farewells, he modified the title to its present form. As usual, Mahler adapted the poems he set to better suit the messages he intended to portray within the cycle. Completed in 1908, Das Lied von der Erde is the first work of its kind, the first complete integration of song cycle and symphony, a form later imitated by other composers (notably Shostakovich and Zemlinsky). It is also regarded as one of Mahler's most personal works, a statement echoed in one of the composer's own letters. 1908 (MCMVIII) is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich (Russian Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович) (September 25, 1906 – August 9, 1975) was a Russian composer of the Soviet period. ...

Instrumentation and Libretto

Lasting approximately sixty-five minutes, Das Lied von der Erde is scored for a large orchestra consisting of four flutes, piccolo, three oboes, English horn, four clarinets (third doubling E-flat clarinet), bass clarinet, four bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, bass tuba, percussion (timpani, tam-tam, bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, triangle, and chimes), two harps, and strings. Despite the large forces required, the full orchestra is rarely used at the same time (except for the first movement), and in many cases almost resembles chamber music, with only a few instruments playing at once. The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. ... A Yamaha piccolo. ... == Modern Oboe The oboe is a musical instrument of the woodwind double reed family. ... Cor anglais The cor anglais or English horn is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. ... A bass clarinet, which sounds an octave lower than the more common Bb soprano clarinet. ... A typical bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. ... A Fox Instruments bassoon. ... Drawing of a Contrabassoon The contrabassoon or double bassoon is a larger version of the bassoon sounding an octave lower. ... The horn is a brass instrument consisting of tubing wrapped into a coiled form. ... The trumpet is the highest brass instrument in register, above the horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba. ... A lip-reed aerophone with a predominantly cylindrical bore, the trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. ... The tuba is the largest of the low-brass instruments and is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the ophicleide. ... The harp is a chordophone which has its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. ...

The scoring also calls for tenor and alto soloists. However, Mahler also includes the note that "if necessary, the alto part may be sung by a baritone." For the first few decades after the work's premiere, this option was little-used. However, following the pioneering recordings of the work by baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau under conductors Paul Kletzki and Leonard Bernstein, the use of baritones in this work has become increasingly common. In music, a tenor is a male singer with a high voice (although not as high as a countertenor). ... The word alto may refer to: an experimental personal computer designed by Xerox at the Palo Alto Research Center: see Alto (computer). ... Missing image Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau The German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (born May 28, 1925) is regarded by many as the finest Lieder singer of his generation. ... Leonard Bernstein in 1971 Leonard Bernstein (August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American composer and orchestra conductor. ...

Four of the Chinese poems used by Mahler (Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde, Von der Jugend, Von der Schönheit and Der Trunkene im Frühling) are by Li Tai-Po, the famous Tang dynasty wandering poet. Der Einsame im Herbst is by Chang Tsi and Der Abschied combines poems by Mong Kao-Yen and Wang Wei, plus several additional lines by Mahler himself. Li Po (701-762) was a Chinese poet, considered the greatest romantic poet of the Tang dynasty. ... Also the name of a rock band. ... Meng Haoran (孟浩然) (689 or 691 - 740) was a Chinese poet during the Tang dynasty. ... Wang Wei (王維) (698 - 761), sometimes titled the Poet Buddha, was a Tang Dynasty Chinese poet, musician, painter and statesman. ...

Structure

The first movement

The first movement is entitled "Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde" ("The Drinking Song of the Earth's Sorrows") and deals with how life is so beautiful but so short, and that drinking is the best way to not think about how very short it is. The refrain, "Dark is life, as is death", sets a tone for the rest of the piece. The original poem only uses the phrase once, but Mahler edited the stanzas to include it as a refrain because it so reflected his attitude at the time of composition. The music of this movement is dense and loud, but brightly orchestrated with many woodwind flourishes. Mahler uses quite a bit of impressionistic tone painting throughout the entire piece, though it seems less in this movement than the others. The opening motif in the horns is reminiscent of a pseudo-pentatonic look to the Orient or a Wagnerian leitmotif-fanfare. Either way, it is appropriate to the toast that the lyrics suggest. The tenor part is notoriously difficult to sing. According to music philosopher Theodor Adorno, Mahler intended a "denatured voice in the Chinese style", perhaps in the style of Peking opera. This gives the tenor part its shrill, piercing quality, and is consistent with Mahler's practice of pushing instruments, including the human voice, to their limits. Drinking is the act of consuming a liquid through the mouth. ... A refrain (from the Old French refraindre to repeat, likely from Vulgar Latin refringere) is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the chorus of a song. ... In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. ... See also Impressionist (entertainment): A girl with a watering can by Renoir, 1876 Impressionism was a 19th century art movement, which began as a private association of Paris-based artists who exhibited publicly in 1874. ... The horn is a brass instrument that consists of tubing wrapped into a coiled form. ... In music, a pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. ... The term the Orient - literally meaning sunrise, east - is traditionally used to refer to Near, Middle, and Far Eastern countries. ... Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813 in Leipzig – February 13, 1883 in Venice) was an influential German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his groundbreaking symphonic-operas (or music dramas). His compositions are notable for their continuous contrapuntal texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and elaborate... A leitmotif (also spelled leitmotiv) is a recurring musical theme, associated within a particular piece of music with a particular person, place or idea. ... Max Horkheimer (front left), Theodor Adorno (front right), and Jürgen Habermas in the background, right, in 1965 at Heidelberg Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno (September 11, 1903 – August 6, 1969) was a German sociologist, philosopher, musicologist and composer. ...

The second movement

This is followed by the far more subdued "Der Einsame im Herbst" ("The Lonely One in Autumn"), which is an extended comparison of the mind and soul of a lonely person to the atmosphere of autumn. The tone colors can be described as "faded gold", and the damp, intimate sadness of the song is reminiscent of the "Kindertotenlieder". Mahler must have particularly identified with this text, because he makes no edits to the original. Contrary to the stereotypical image of Mahler's music, the orchestration in this movement is sparse and chamber music-like, with long and independent contrapuntal lines. The entire movement can be likened to drifting, of leaves and of the spirit. Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) is a song cycle for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mahler. ... In modern usage, a stereotype is a simplified mental picture of an individual or group of people who share a certain characteristic (or stereotypical) qualities. ... Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. ...

The third movement

The third movement, "Von der Jugend" ("Of Youth") is a word painting of the classic and stereotypical scene of ancient China, with a porcelain pavilion, reflective pools, exotic animals, and people drinking tea. It is a definite contrast to the mood of the previous movement, but Mahler maintains its exact text as well. This is possibly because Mahler enjoyed the images of happy nature and pretty things, but also possibly because such a formal image is precisely the contrast of the statements in the previous movement. It is as if, through the fogged looking-glass of memory, the scene of one's own youth is as foreign and exotic as a distant country. The music in this movement is definitely a self-conscious effort to sound "Chinese" as well. Though not completely pentatonic, the main melody and countermelody come very close to that, and when one considers that the movement is opened by these sorts of figures in the high woodwinds, Mahler definitely has the well-known Oriental sound down. However, there is much of his own characteristic style involved in how he develops those motifs, and the blend of characters is natural. The way this movement is set up doesn't make it seem so bizarre that the people in this classic Chinese setting happen to be speaking German. China is the worlds oldest continuous major civilization, with written records dating back about 3,500 years and with 5,000 years being commonly used by Chinese as the age of their civilization. ... Porcelain is a hard ceramic substance made by heating at high temperature selected and refined materials often including clay in the form of kaolinite. ... Pavilion may refer to a type of building: Pavilion (structure) or to a specific building: Pavilion, New York London Pavilion Royal Pavilion Balboa Pavilion Pavilion is a brand name of computers and notebooks made by Hewlett-Packard. ... Pool can have several meanings: Look up Pool in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Any of several games related to billiards, distinguished by using a table that has one pocket at each corner and one in the middle of each of the two longer sides. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anenomes) Placozoa (trichoplax) Subregnum Bilateria (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Orthonectida (parasitic to flatworms, echinoderms, etc. ... Tea leaves in a teacup. ... In music, a pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. ...

The fourth movement

Directly following this is "Von der Schönheit" ("Of Beauty"), which also fits directly into the image most people have when considering ancient China. The imagery of this movement involves maidens picking lotus blossoms by reflective pools and boys riding horses in a sunny river valley. While the original text of the poem contains this imagery, Mahler extends and embellishes upon the text, probably to make the thing more "beautiful" as the title of the verse suggests. The girl at the end casts "long looks of yearning" after the young man she secretly desires. And like a long gaze itself, the music lingers over the scene of lost happiness after the last words have been sung, almost as if unwilling to part with it. The musical setting of this movement is delicate and sensuous, very similar to that of the previous movement. Mahler is still trying very hard to sound Chinese, and he achieves that for the same reasons as in the previous movement -- pseudo-pentatonics and high woodwinds. The middle two movements practically go together as one sort of symphonic intermezzo. A maiden may refer to: A female virgin. ... Binomial name Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. ... Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 The horse (Equus caballus) is a sizeable ungulate mammal, one of ten modern species of the genus Equus. ...

The fifth movement

The true scherzo of the work is the fifth movement, entitled "Der Trunkene im Frühling" ("The Drunkard in Spring"). The speaker in this poem is already completely drunk and commenting on his natural surroundings through the haze of such a state. In this manner, it can be considered a companion song to "Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde" - the narrator has already drunk away the fear of how short life is, and is enjoying himself perhaps too much, reveling, "Let me be drunk!" Musically, it also calls back to the earlier movement by using a horn theme reminiscent of the opening motif. Mahler's usage of tempo changes in this movement is brilliant. In addition to generally lilting and staggering dotted rhythms, the actual tempo changes every few measures, each tempo having practically no relationship to the previous one, and transitioning with sudden and random unpredictability, very drunk in nature. The tone color also changes with these tempo changes, and the incorporation of a solo violin line which sometimes quotes previous works of Mahler's (Seventh Symphony) indicates a confused state of mind in addition to a drunken stagger, which to many is an extremely effective bit of tone painting. A scherzo (plural scherzi) is a name given to a piece of music or a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony. ... The Narrator is the entity within a story that tells the story to the reader. ... The pitches of open strings on a violin The violin is a bowed stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart, the lowest being the G just below middle C. It is the smallest and highest-tuned member of the violin family of string instruments, which... The Symphony No. ...

The sixth movement

The final movement of the work is titled "Der Abschied" ("The Farewell"), and it is as long as the previous five movements combined. Its text is drawn from two different poems, both involving the sadness of leaving one's friends behind. While the original poems most likely approach this in a more literal sense of having to go on a journey and physically leave one's friends and familiar surroundings, Mahler surely took this imagery in the sense of leaving due to death, and combined and edited the original texts accordingly. Depressing though this may be, Mahler's addition of some completely original lines to the end of the poem is practically optimistic in its look to natural beauty:

The dear earth everywhere

Blossoms in spring, and grows green anew.

Everywhere and forever, forever

Blue lights the horizon!

Forever... forever...

According to the conductor Bruno Walter, Mahler showed him the score of "Der Abschied" and asked him, "Do you know how to conduct this? Because I certainly don't." According to Walter, Mahler also hesitated to put the piece before the public. "Won't people go home and do away with themselves?" Indeed, the music of this movement is very unconventional, sparse and somber, definitely a small and intimate feeling despite the size of the orchestra required. The instruments fragment into small groups or solo lines, each voice piercing the emptiness for a moment but breaking off, as if choked by what does not bear saying. In the instrumental funeral march at the center of the movement, these voices become more and more discordant, like a crowd of lost souls crying out in misery. They paint a picture of loneliness, no longer the personal misfortune of the second movement, but the universal "Sorrow of the Earth" mentioned in the title of the first. As if music itself no longer sufficed to express this, Mahler explicitly writes moments of silence into the score, as if the music were in danger of dissolving into nothingness. For the first time in Western music, the spaces left empty become eloquent in their own right, as in a Chinese landscape painting. Bruno Walter (September 15, 1876 - February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor and composer. ...

The relatively simple vocal line is divided up throughout the movement, stanzas separated by long orchestral interludes and extended cadenzas. "Der Abschied" is the first symphonic movement to make use of long and free cadenzas, unmeasured by the conductor. There are also instances in the movement in which there is only the singer and a woodwind cadenza line, a very somber duet, rhythmically intricate but simple and sad. This sort of writing must make this movement very difficult to conduct, as do other bits where the rhythm, though in a strict meter, involves many strange groupings and sometimes flows over the barlines as if they're not there. This sort of free and impressionistic writing is very sad and beautiful, particularly next to some of the more strict rhythm sections of the movement, still soft and subdued but with a funeral march-like motif in low winds, horns, or low strings. True to the nature of the title, text, and previous music, the movement (and therefore the whole piece) fades out into oblivion, perhaps Mahler's gentle farewell as he accepts his own death. Yet the song is almost inexpressibly ambiguous: through the eyes of leave-taking, the earth at last shines out in all its beauty. So devoid of hope, the movement nevertheless ends in a mood of openness and hopeful expectation, with the last E-G-A motif "etched on the air", as Benjamin Britten commented. Against all reason, the dying man keeps his eyes open and fixed on the infinite horizon. There is as much stubborn hope as there is resignation. A cadenza is usually now taken to mean a portion near the end of a movement of a concerto (though it can be at any point in a concerto; an example is Tchaikovskys First Piano Concerto, where in the first five minutes a cadenza is used) in which the... A cadenza is usually now taken to mean a portion near the end of a movement of a concerto (though it can be at any point in a concerto; an example is Tchaikovskys First Piano Concerto, where in the first five minutes a cadenza is used) in which the... See Conductor for other possible uses of the word. ... A funeral march is a march composed, usually in a minor key, in in a slow simple duple metre imitating the solemn pace of a funeral procession. ... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh, OM (November 22, 1913 – December 4, 1976) was a British composer, conductor and pianist. ...

The debut public performance was given on 20 November 1911 in the Tonhalle in Munich, with Bruno Walter conducting. November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... Munich and the Alps Munich (German: München (pronounced listen) is the capital of the German federal state of Bavaria. ... Bruno Walter (September 15, 1876 - February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor and composer. ...

Analysis

Of Das Lied von der Erde Mahler himself wrote that "I think it is probably the most personal composition I have created thus far." Its popularity has also made it his most universally loved. Others say of music in general that the best pieces let you see into the composer's personality and spirit. Das Lied von der Erde most definitely reveals quite a bit about Gustav Mahler himself. While "Der Abschied" is the most direct personal statement in the work, through all six movements the piece showcases all of his musical styles, and the text choices show how his thought processes worked, from his deep-rooted fear of death to his equally deep yet childlike love for simple and beautiful natural things. A piece that so conveys the composer as a person and as a musician, and one which, from such a personal perspective, can speak so deeply of universal human issues whether East or West, is truly brilliant.

External links

• Das Lied von der Erde: The Literary Changes – synopsis of original Chinese poems, Bethge's translations and Mahler's changes
• Text of the songs, with English translations