Temporal Fusion and Climax in the Symphonies of Mahler

8/20/2019 Temporal Fusion and Climax in the Symphonies of Mahler

1/21

Temporal Fusion and Climax in the Symphonies of MahlerAuthor(s): Richard A. KaplanSource: The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Spring, 1996), pp. 213-232Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/763923

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2/21

Temporal

Fusion and

Climax in the Symphonies

of Mahler*

RICHARD A. KAPLAN

full

generation

has

passed

since the initial

burgeoning

of interest

in

Mahler's

music

among

serious musicians and

listeners.

In this

time,

Mahler's

symphonic

oeuvre-a

body

of

work that

had

been

the exclusive artistic

preserve

of a small

community

of devo-

tees

and

advocates-has

firmly

taken

its

place

in

the standard orches-

tral

repertoire.

A

case

in

point

is

the

Sixth

Symphony,

which

waited

an

astonishing forty-three

years

for

its

American

premiere,

and

even

longer

for

its first

recording,'

but which

by

1992-some

forty-five years

later-had received

over three dozen commercial

recordings,

no

fewer

than

eight

of them

by

American orchestras.2

Mahler's

music

has likewise been embraced

by

growing

numbers

of

musical

scholars;

while this

acceptance

has

inevitably

been somewhat

slower,

the

parallel

between

the two trends

is

unmistakable.

An

earlier

generation

of writers

on Mahler's

music-Diether,

Cooke,

and

Cardus,

for

example,

to

name three central

figures

in the Mahler

movement

of the

195os

and

'6os-seemed

to consider their mission

largely

one

of

advocacy; they may

be

regarded, perhaps,

as the

literary

counterparts

to

such

early champions

as

Walter,

Klemperer,

and

Mitropoulos.

The

musical world owes these advocates an incalculable debt of gratitude;

it

is fair to

say,

however,

that such efforts now are

scarcely necessary.

Recent literature

suggests,

both

in its

quantity

and

in

its

content,

that

we

have moved

beyond

this

stage

of

advocacy

to a

point

at which

Mahler's

symphonies

have

begun

to

be the

objects

of

legitimate analyt-

ical

examination.

Volume

XIV

*

Number

2

*

Spring 1996

The

Journal

of

Musicology

1996

by

the

Regents

of

the

University

f California

*An

earlier version of this

paper

was

presented

at

the

Annual

Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Austin, 1989.

I

These took

place

in

1947

and

ca.

1952,

respectively,

with the

Philharmonic-

Symphony

of New York

conducted

by

Dimitri

Mitropoulos

and the Vienna

Philharmonic

conducted

by

F.

Charles Adler. The

symphony

was

completed

in

1904.

2

Peter

Ffil6p,

ed.,

Mahler

Discography

(New

York,

1995),

1

o9-16.

213


3/21

214

THE

JOURNAL

OF MUSICOLOGY

Any

serious student

of

Mahler's

music

can

only

be

gratified by

this

turn of

events; however,

the evidence

of

many

recent Mahler

analyses

suggests

that we have

not

yet developed techniques sufficiently power-

ful and subtle

to

help

us come to terms with the music's own

power

and

subtlety.

Rather,

these

analyses

tend to

be

characterized

by

too

great

a

reliance

on one

or

another

standard

analytical

paradigm.

It

is,

to be

sure,

a reasonable

enough

strategy,

when

confronted with a

new

type

of

analytical

problem,

to see whether

any

of the tools

already

in

one's

workshop

will

prove

useful. But these

fascinating

and

extraordinary

compositions,

which confounded

earlier

generations

of musicians

pre-

cisely

because

they

seem

to

violate

many

of

the

rules

formulated for

other,

more conventional

pieces,

have continued to

prove

highly

resis-

tant to the

application

of such

paradigms,

whether these

paradigms

be

those of standard

form

designations,

of the Schenkerian

model,

-or

of

the

apparatus

of

literary

criticism.3

Assigning

labels

such as

rondo-

sonata and

double

variation,

demonstrating

conformance-however

idiosyncratic-to

Schenkerian

Ursdtze,

and

inferring

the

operation

of

various narrative

strategies

all have the

potential

to

provide

important

analytical

insights;

and,

in

fact,

many

of the

analyses

cited here con-

tribute

significantly

to the

body

of

knowledge

about some

aspect

of

Mahler's art. But these

approaches

also

carry

the risks of

trivializing

or

suppressing, in the name of conformance to a paradigm, precisely

those characteristics that make

these

pieces interesting,

unique,

and

coherent;

they

have,

in

short,

failed to

convey adequately

a

sense

of

the

way

these

pieces

work.

Fortunately,

these

inadequacies

have not

hin-

dered

the enormous

growth

in

scholarly

interest

in

Mahler's

music;

however,

rather like the blind men and the

elephant,

we

simply

have

found ourselves

unable to

apprehend

these

unprecedentedly

huge,

uncannily heterogeneous

objects

as

coherent musical

totalities.

In

the view

of the

present study,

the

difficulty

arises

principally

from

what

one

might

call

the

problem

of

integration.

n

speaking

of this

prob-

lem,

I

refer

precisely

to those characteristics

that

so

distinguish

Mahler's

music

from

that

of

the

nineteenth-century

symphonic

mainstream,

and

3

For

applications

of each of these

approaches,

see,

in

the first

case,

Edward W.

Murphy,

Sonata-rondo

Form

in

the

Symphonies

of

Gustav

Mahler,

The Music

Review

XXXVI

(1975),

54-62,

and

Murphy,

Unusual Forms in

Mahler's

Fifth

Symphony,

The

Music

Review

XLVII

(1986/87),

loi-log;

in

the second

case,

Peter

Bergquist,

The

First

Movement of

Mahler's

Tenth

Symphony:

An

Analysis

and

an

Examination

of

the

Sketches,

The

Music

Forum

V

(1980),

335-94,

and Allen

Forte,

Middleground

Motives

in the Adagietto of Mahler's Fifth Symphony,

Nineteenth-Century

Music VIII (1984),

153-63;

and,

in

the third

case,

David B.

Greene,

Mahler:

Consciousness nd

Temporality

(New

York,

1964);

Vera

Micznik,

Mahler and 'the

Power of

Genre',

Journal

of

Musicol-

ogy

XII/2

(1994), 117-51;

and

Martin

Scherzinger,

The Finale of

Mahler's

Seventh

Symphony:

A

Deconstructive

Reading,

Music

Analysis

XIV

(1995), 69-88.


4/21

KAPLAN

that so

confounded

early

listeners: to

wit,

in a

repertoire

whose most

notorious characteristics

concern matters

of

scale-such

matters as

length,

size of

performing forces,

and

what

may

be

generally

described

as an

extravagance

of utterance-the

challenge

to the

listener

is com-

pounded

by

Mahler's

use,

within a

single symphony consisting

of as

many

as six

movements,

of an

extraordinary variety

of musical

languages

and

references.

In

an influential

paper linking

Mahler's

compositional

practices

with those

of

Charles

Ives,

Robert

Morgan

has addressed

directly

the issues

of formal

disjunction

and

out-of-context

quotation

in

Mahler's

music;4

it is not his

purpose,

however,

to

attempt

to show how

Mahler-or,

for

that

matter,

Ives-achieves

structural

integration

despite

such

disjunction.5

Our

problem,

then,

is

that of

attempting

to discern

coherent musical

processes

or

relationships

in the

large

dimension of

the

piece

as

a whole.6

One such

process

concerns the

sense of

climax,

which

plays

a

cen-

tral

role

in

Mahler's

strategies

for

achieving

structural

integration,

both

within a

single

movement and across an

entire

symphony.

A

case

in

point

is

the

Adagio

of

the Tenth

Symphony;

I

have

argued

elsewhere

that the climactic section

(mm.

194-212)

serves as

the

culmination of

multiple

compositional processes

that

unfold

throughout

the move-

ment,

and that

the

culminating

nine-note chord

is

best understood as a

combination of the dominants of F-sharpand B-flat-the two keys that

are

opposed,

juxtaposed,

and combined

throughout

the

movement,

and

on

all structural levels.

I

referred to

this

culmination as

a

fusion

of

the

two tonalities.7 The

significance

of this climax for

the

symphony

as

a whole

is

underscored

by

its recurrence at m.

275

of the

Finale

(based,

for

practical

purposes,

on

Deryck

Cooke's

performing

version).

4

Robert

P.

Morgan,

Ives and

Mahler:

Mutual

Responses

at

the

End of an

Era,

i9th-Century

Music

I

(1978), 72-81.

5

Are the two

mutually

exclusive?

Morgan implies

that

they

are

( Ives

and

Mahler,

78).

I

will

argue

that

they

need not be.

6

It should

hardly

be

necessary

at this

point

to

emphasize

that the

problem

is

ours,

not

Mahler's. Criticisms-and dismissals-of Mahler have

always

been

founded

on

indict-

ments

of his

aesthetic,

not of his

technique; regarding

the

latter,

see the enthusiastic

essay

on

the

Fourth

Symphony

in

Donald Francis

Tovey,

Essays

in

Musical

Analysis,

vol. 6

(London,

1939), 73-83.

Leonard

Bernstein,

Mahler: His Time Has

Come

(1967),

reprinted

in

Words n Music

from

Addison to

Barzun,

ed.

Jack

Sullivan

(Athens,

OH,

199o),

267-72,

remains

perhaps

the most

eloquent

and

passionate

defense and

analysis

of

Mahler's

aesthetic.

7

Richard

A.

Kaplan,

The

Interaction

of

Diatonic Collections

in

the

Adagio

of

Mahler's Tenth

Symphony,

In

TheoryOnly

VI

(1981),

29-39. Bergquist,

The

First Move-

ment

of

Mahler's Tenth

Symphony,

offers a

large-scale

Schenkerian

treatment

from

which a sense of the scope and function of this climax is largely absent. For further com-

ments

on

Bergquist's

analysis

see V.

Kofi

Agawu,

Tonal

Strategy

in

the First

Movement

of

Mahler's Tenth

Symphony,

z9th-Century

Music

IX

(1986),

222-33

and,

with

specific

reference to

the

climax,

Agawu,

Structural

'Highpoints'

in

Schumann's

Dichterliebe,

Music

Analysis

III

(1984),

159.

215


5/21

216

THE

JOURNAL

OF MUSICOLOGY

The

phenomenon

to be

explored

here can be

regarded

as

another

form

of

fusion,

this

one

temporal

rather

than tonal in

nature,

but like-

wise

central to the sense of climax

in Mahler's

symphonies.

Let us

begin by

considering

the

role of two forms of

cyclic

recurrence in the

symphonies:

reminiscence and

foreshadowing.8

Each of these

phenom-

ena

has

its

own

functions,

and

the difference

between

the two is critical.

This difference can be described

as

one

of

context,

and

may

be

illustrated most

clearly by

a

pair

of

examples

drawn from

an

explicitly

dramatic musical source.

Reminiscence

entails

the

return,

in

the latter

portion

of

a

piece,

of material established

in

an earlier

context,

in

order

to draw a

specific

dramatic

relationship

or make a certain rhetori-

cal

point.

An

example

that

comes to

mind

is the

passage

in

Act

III

of

Die

Meistersinger,9

n which Hans Sachs christens the new mode of Mas-

tersong

that Walther has created: the music first refers to Kothner's

reading

of

the contest rules from Act

I

(a

fine

piece

of

irony,

given

Walther's

disdain of such

rules,

and

his ultimate transcendence of

them),

and then refers to the

opening

chorale

during

whose

singing

we

first

meet

Walther

and

Eva.

By

recalling

these two

passages, Wagner

underscores the

significance

and

solemnity

of

the Act

III

episode,

and

encourages

us to

interpret

it

in

light

of these Act

I

contexts.

Compare

with this

the

countermelody

that

accompanies

the

third

stanza of Sachs's cobbling song in Act II. This melody, which of course

becomes

the

opening

music

of

Act

III

and

in

turn the main theme

of

the

Wahn-Monolog,

nly

later

attains

its full

meaning;

at its

occurrence

in

Act

II,

it is out of

context,

or

better,

contextiess.

n

other

words,

we

would not

regard

the

Wahn-Monolog

s a

reminiscence of

the

cobbling

song,

for the

Act

III

occurrences

are

the true context of this

music;

rather,

the

countermelody

in

the

cobbling song

is

a

foreshadowing

f

the

later

passages.

This raises a

significant

dilemma,

since

time

is,

strictly

speaking,

uni-

directional.

If

the context of the

countermelody

in

Act

II

does

not

yet

exist,

or at

any

rate

is

not

yet

divulged,

then how are we to

understand

its

meaning?

How, indeed,

are we

to know

what-or,

for that

matter,

that

anything-is

being

foreshadowed? The

perceptive

listener

may

note

8

Warren

Storey

Smith,

The

Cyclic Principle

in

Musical

Design,

and

the Use

of

It

by

Bruckner

and

Mahler,

Chord

and

Discord

11/9

(196o),

3-32,

lists

many

cyclic

recur-

rences

of

themes

and

prominent

motives

in

Mahler's

symphonies.

Smith

emphasizes

the

unifying

role

of

these

recurrences;

while

not

denying

the

importance

of

this role

(it

fig-

ures

prominently

in

my

third

analytical

illustration,

for

example),

I

concentrate here on

the referential role, as described below.

9

The choice of

illustration

is

not an idle

one;

Mahler

conducted Die

Meistersinger

frequently, beginning

with a

triumphant production

in

Prague

in

1885,

and his

devotion

to this

opera

is

well documented. See

Henry-Louis

de La

Grange,

Mahler,

vol.

1

(Garden

City,

N.Y.,

1973), 136-38

and

533.


6/21

KAPLAN

that the

countermelody

sounds

distinctly

out of

musical

context,

in

part

because

it

appears

only

in the final

stanza,

in

part

because

it is

fragmen-

tary-simply disappearing,

rather

than

ending. And,

of

course,

a listener

who has heard

Die

Meistersinger

ore than

once,

or who has access

to the

score

and is therefore able

in a

sense to defeat

this

temporal

unidirec-

tionality,

will know

in

advance

and

interpret

accordingly.

There

is

also a

sense, however,

in

which

each

experience

of

a

work,

no matter how

familiar,

creates

its own

reality,

its own sense of

time.1o

And,

in

this

sense,

the

countermelody

to

Sachs's

cobbling song

is

profoundly,

if

sub-

tly,

meaningful:

by casting

a

poignant

shadow-a

foreshadow,

if

one

may

be

permitted-over

the

clever,

humorous

Sachs

of

the Act

II

encounter

with

Beckmesser,

it

forces

us

ultimately

to reconsider

this Sachs

in

light

of the more

deeply philosophical

figure

that

emerges fully

in Act III.

There is

an

important

difference,

then,

between the effect of remi-

niscence

and that

of

foreshadowing;

it

is

a difference that Mahler ex-

ploits

with

far-reaching

consequences.

Reminiscence

in

some of his

symphonies

creates or enhances

an

end-climax, as,

for

example,

in

the

Eighth Symphony,

the

concluding

apotheosis

of the

opening

theme;

or,

in

the

Sixth,

the return of the first movement's drum cadence to

bring

the

tragedy

full

circle. Reminiscence

in

the

finale of the

First

Symphony plays

a

subtler

and more

pervasive

role: not

only

is the sub-

ject of the triumphal coda a transformation of the opening figure from

the first

movement's

introduction,

but the second

period

of the finale's

main theme

(mm.

63

ff.)

paraphrases

the F-minor

episode

from the

development

section of the first movement

(mm.

305

ff.),

even retain-

ing

its

F-minor

tonality.12

This

finale also features two

episodes-the

second

quite

extensive-built

on

cyclic

recurrences of material from

the first two movements

of

the

original

five-movement

version

(that

is,

the

first movement and the

suppressed

Blumine

movement).

The first of

these reminiscences

occurs

at

mm.

205-237,

within

a

passage

that

1o

See

Edward

T.

Cone's

remarks

in

this connection

in

MusicalForm

and

Musical Per-

formance

(New

York,

1968),

54-56,

and

in

On

Derivation:

Syntax

and

Rhetoric,

Music

Analysis

VI

(1987), 237-55.

Whether

in

such

cases we hear

a

true

reversed

temporality

or

(as

Cone

considers

more

likely)

a

compositional

derivation from

an

already

existing

melody

is

for

Cone a matter of

interpreting

according

to

either

programmatic

or

purely

musical

considerations.

As

for

the

Meistersinger

heme,

its

completeness

of

gesture

in

the

Act

III

opening

leads one to hear a sort of

bi-directional

derivation,

in

which this

passage

is the source of

both

the Act

II

countermelody

and

the

monologue.

1

Similarly,

the

main

theme of

the

first

movement

of

the Seventh is recalled

in

the

major

mode

at

the end of

the

finale.

12

The finale

begins,

and for

much

of

its

length

remains,

in F

minor;

the

passage

that effects the final shift to D major-the principal key of the symphony-in mm.

580-630

is almost

identical to

the

corresponding passage

in

the

first

movement

(mm.

311-357),

which functions as the retransition.

Apart

from

any

programmatic implica-

tions that

this

cyclical

recurrence

may

carry,

this

referential use

of

tonality helps

to

explain

the

anomalous

tonal

structure

of the

finale.

217


7/21

218

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

begins

at

m.

175

and

corresponds

to the second

theme-group

of a

sonata structure.'3

The second

episode

occurs at

mm.

428-532

and

fea-

tures more explicit thematic and motivic references. These passages are

representative

of

what

might

be called the wistful

type

of

reminis-

cence,

as contrasted

with the

climactic

recurrences

cited above. Even

before the Blumine

movement was

performed

and

published,

one was

aware of their reminiscent character:

notice,

for

example,

the contrast

in

mood with the

surrounding

Sturm

und

Drang,

the

changes

in

tempo

and

dynamics,

and

the

extensive use of

pedal points.

The

rediscovery

of

Blumine,

among

other

things,

revealed

the context

for

much

of

the

reminiscence;

whether or not this movement

belongs

in

the

sym-

phony's

rhetorical

lan,

it

is

an

integral

element

of

its

cyclical

plan,

and

thus

represents

an

indispensable

tool in

explicating

the

problematic

structure

of the

finale.14

These

examples

and

others

suggest

that reminiscence was a central

element

in

Mahler's

symphonic thought.

Even

so,

they

break

relatively

little

new

compositional

ground, representing

rather a set

of

fairly

stan-

dard

nineteenth-century symphonic gestures.

One

need look

no

fur-

ther than the

symphonies

of

Beethoven and Brahms-or for that

mat-

ter,

of

Bruckner, Dvorik,

and

Tchaikovsky-to

find

precedents

for

these

types

of reminiscence.

Mahler's uses of foreshadowing, however, are both novel and far-

reaching

in

their formal

and

dramatic

implications.

Each

of the follow-

ing

analytical

discussions

will

focus on an

individual movement-in

fact,

on a

specific passage

within

a

movement-to show

how Mahler's

use

of

foreshadowing, especially

in combination

with the use of remi-

niscence,

provides

in

these

passages

a

touchstone for

our

understand-

ing

of

the entire

symphony.

Symphony

No.

2,

Third

Movement

We begin by

considering

the climax of this move-

ment,

the

passage

to which Mahler referred in

his

later-suppressed pro-

gram

as a

cry

of

desperation. 5s

Table

1

offers

a

broad formal

overview

of the movement. This

table,

like

any

such

chart,

is

not intended to con-

vey

all of the

complex relationships

between

sections and the

dynamic

'3

Note that the transitional

passage beginning

at

m.

238

is

also

based

on

the

open-

ing

motive of the first

movement,

while its bass line

(cellos,

divided)

prefigures

an

im-

portant

motive

of

the

first

movement

of

the Second

Symphony.

14

I

explore

these and other

aspects

of

this

movement's

musical

logic

in

greater

detail

in

The

Finale

of

Mahler's

First:

Cyclicism,

Narrative,

and

the

'Footsteps

of

the

Giant', paper read at the American Musicological Society Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh,

November

1992.

'5

A

reproduction

of Mahler's

handwritten

program

and

a full

English

translation

appear

in

Donald

Mitchell,

Gustav

Mahler:

The

Wunderhorn

Years

(Berkeley

and Los

Ange-

les,

1975),

179-84.


8/21

KAPLAN

TABLE 1

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

2, III

Measures

1-102

Scherzo-A

(c)

103-148

B

(F)

149-189

A'

(c)

190-211

Ostinato

Bridge

212-234

Interruption

I

(D)

235-256

Ostinato

Bridge

resumes

257-271

Interruption

II

(E)

272-327 Trio (E)

328-347

Ostinato

Bridge

as retrans.

348-406

Scherzo-A

407-440

B

441-464

Interruption

III

(C)

465-528 Cataclysm

529-544

Retransition

545-581

Scherzo-A'

musical

processes

that characterize the

movement; rather,

it

is

provided

to establish the formal context

of the

events

to

be discussed below.

The

Scherzo

proper

is a

three-part

structure,

in

contrast to the

standard

binary

model;

this is

doubtless a

carryover

from

its

Wunderhorn

origin.'6

The section

that

I

label

A' is, however,

considerably

con-

densed,

and

serves a sort

of

closing

function.

I

call the music that

fol-

lows this an ostinato

bridge

rather than

a

trio because of its

static

nature,

exemplified

by

the

insistent

motivic

repetitions

and the

pedal

points; it seems not so much to represent a new section as to await the

arrival

of

a new

section.'7 It

may

seem

paradoxical

to call that

which

fol-

lows such a

passage

an

interruption,

but this seems the most

apt

description

of the

D-major

passage beginning

at

m. 212,

because of

the

suddenness of its

contrast-tonal,

dynamic,

textural-with the

bridge.

Recall, too,

that the

interruption

breaks

in

on the fourth measure of a

16

As

is well

known,

the Scherzo is a

paraphrase

of

Mahler's

song,

Des Antonius

von

Padua

Fischpredigt,

from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. ee

Mitchell,

The Wunderhorn

Years,

136-38

and

171-76

for details on the

relationship

and

chronology

of the two works.

17

La Grange, by contrast, labels the entire section from mm. 190-347 Trio, and

calls the

E-major

trumpet

solo

in

m.

272

an

interruption

(Mahler,

vol.

1,

789).

There has

in

fact been much

disagreement concerning

the

actual

location of

the

trio;

see Claudia

Maurer

Zenck,

Technik

und

Gehalt

im

Scherzo von

Mahlers

Zweiter

Symphonie,

Melos/Neue

Zeitschriftfiir

Musik

II

(1976),

179-85.

219


9/21

220

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

four-bar

pattern-a

measure too

early,

so to

speak-thus

providing

a

rhythmic

unexpectedness

as

well.18

The second

interruption

is

in E

major,

a

rise

of

another whole

step.

This

tightening-up

of

intensity through large-scale rising sequence

brings

to mind another

example

from

Wagner,

that

of

Tannhdiuser's

song

to

Venus,

whose three stanzas are

respectively

in

D-flat,

D,

and

E-

flat

major;

or,

closer to

home,

the

thrice-repeated

refrain

Dunkel

ist

das

Leben,

ist der Tod

in the first

movement

of

Das

Lied von der

Erde,

which occurs

in

G, A-flat,

and

A

minor.'9

Mahler deflects the tension

in

the

present

movement,

however,

by using

the second

interruption

to

usher

in

the

trio,

leaving

us in

the

position,

one

might

say,

of

waiting

for the

third shoe to

drop.

The third interruption occurs-and I intend no tautology here-at

an

unexpected

moment;

the trio

having

run its

course,

and the first two

parts

of the scherzo

having

been

reprised,

one

might predict

a thor-

oughly

conventional conclusion to

the

da

capo.

In

fact,

as Table

1

shows,

the

A'

music does

eventually

recur,

and when it recurs

it

does

ul-

fill

its

closing

function.

So

what

are we to

make

of

this third

interrup-

tion? This

passage-and

it is

interesting

to observe that the

interruptions,

like

other

signal

events

in

Mahler such as the refrain from Das Lied

and

the hammer

blows

in

the

Finale of the

Sixth,

come in

threes-is

clearly

an event of a different order from the first two. Its position in the move-

ment's

formal

scheme

aside,

this

passage

has a

ferocity

lacking

in its

two

predecessors;

note the

open

fifths with

which it

begins,

the

dy-

namic

(the

only

full

orchestral

triple-forte

in

the

movement),

and the

extraordinary

orchestration,

including

the use of extreme

registers

and

two tam-tams.

This

interruption

leads to a climax of

cataclysmic

pro-

portions

(I

use

this

adjective advisedly,

in

light

of

the

programmatic

implications).

There

are three critical

points

to be made

concerning

this

climax.

The first is

that

nothing

ik

the

movement,

or

for

that matter

in

the

sym-

phony

to

this

point,

has

prepared

the listener for

a

cataclysm

on

this

scale.

The

second

is

that,

following immediately

on

the

unleashing

of

the

cataclysm,

materials

from

earlier

in

the movement

are drawn into

the texture. The

third,

of

course,

is that

this same music recurs

twice

in

the fifth and final movement

of the

symphony:

at

its

opening,

and

immediately

preceding

der

grosse

Appel,

where

Mahler's

program

explic-

itly

relates it

to

the

cry

of

souls

approaching

the last

judgment.

18

The

sudden tonal shift a

major

second

upward

is

a device

Mahler

had

already

used

to

great

effect

in the

finale of the First

Symphony,

m.

375. Interestingly,

the

shift

in

this

passage

is also from C

major

to

D

major.

'9

Another

passage

that uses

the

same tonal

strategy

is

the

aria

of the

Italian tenor

in

Act I of

Strauss's

Der

Rosenkavalier,

whose two

stanzas

are in

D-flat and

D

major.

Since

the

aria

is-literally-interrupted,

we

have no

way

of

knowing

whether the tenor

was also

planning

a third

stanza

in

E-flat.


10/21

KAPLAN

The first

of

these

three

points

is,

I

believe,

self-evident. As for the

second,

note

the fortissimo

return of

the ostinato

bridge

subject

in m.

481

(see

Example

1),

and

two

measures

later,

of

the

timpani

strokes

that

opened

the movement. The

drawing

of these elements into this cli-

max is to these ears the

most

frankly terrifying

moment

in

the entire

piece-an

illustration of

the

power

of

the

return

of

familiar material

in

a new

context.

In

the measures that

immediately

follow,

two elements

are introduced

that are

new,

but that will

figure prominently

in the last

movement:

the

repeated neighbor figure

6-5

at

m.

489,

and the trum-

pet

call at

m.

497.

Thus,

this climactic

passage

features both

reminiscence-in

the

return of the

bridge

and the

timpani

strokes-and

foreshadowing

of

fifth-movement material. This juxtaposition, or better, superimposition,

creates a focal

point

for the entire work: a

temporal

fusion

in

which the

past

and

the future are

merged

into a transcendent

present.

The third critical

point

is

the return of the

cataclysm

in

the last

movement,

where

its

meaning

is

made

much

more

clear,

both musi-

cally

and

programmatically.

This,

together

with the fact that the listener

confronts

the

third-movement

cataclysm

in

a sense

unprepared,

pro-

duces

in

this

passage

the effect of

a

large-scale foreshadowing

of

the

finale;

for

the finale is

in

fact

the

true context of

this

passage.

And

this,

more than any other factor, is what gives the passage so profound an

effect at its first occurrence.

Symphony

No.

4,

Third

Movement

Let

us

next

consider the luminous

triple-forte

out-

burst that

occurs near the end of this

movement

(m.

315

ff.).

The effect

of this outburst

derives

in

part

from its

dynamic

contrast with the

pre-

ceding triple-piano passage,

in

part

from

the

brilliance of its

orchestra-

tion,

and

in

part

from its

abrupt

tonal shift from

G

major

to

E

major.

But

the keystones to understanding this passage as a climax are its thematic

and

motivic

references,

shown on the score

extract

given

in

Example

2.20

Notice

that the first two of these references-those in the

timpani

and

in

the

trumpets

at

m.

318-are

to

motives that

are

prominent

throughout

the third

movement;

such references

play

a normative role

in

climactic

passages

on the level

of the

individual movement. But

in

the four

measures

that

follow,

there occur references

to

first-movement mate-

rial-in the horns and

trumpets,

as

indicated-and,

most

signifi-

cantly,

to the

opening

theme of the

fourth

movement,

also

in

the horns.

Thus,

this

climax,

like that

of the Scherzo

of the

Second

Sym-

phony,

combines reminiscence and

foreshadowing, fusing

in a

single

20

The

example

shows

only

the

brass

and

timpani

parts.

221


11/21

222

THE

JOURNAL

OF MUSICOLOGY

EXAMPLE

1.

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

2,

III;

mm.

481-501.

W.W., Hr.,

V1.

pit,

Pk.

ff

nmf

Vc.,

Cb.

(col ) f Mf

P

(co•l

--I

-

--

-----

--= -

Via.

fill-

9:

•

_ow

•':

J

-•

J

t

•

t-

;

[

J ' l

__

_P.


12/21

KAPLAN

EXAMPLE

1.

(continued)

Tr., Hr.

col 8

p/pp

pIW

musical

gesture

materials from three

of

the

four movements. Note

also

that

the

tonal shift

from G

major

to

E

major

not

only prefigures

the

tonal

motion of

the

Finale,

but

replicates

locally

the

overall

tonal struc-

ture

of the

symphony

as a

whole. Taken

together,

the

tonal

and

motivic

structures thus create

a focal

point

for

the

entire

symphony.

Symphony No. 5, Fifth Movement

Each of

the

outer

parts

of this

symphony

culmi-

nates,

near

the

end,

in a

triumphant

chorale-like

passage

for

brass

223


13/21

224

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

EXAMPLE

2.

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

4,

III;

mm.

318-325-

Pesante

Schalltrichterauf

1.2.

Horn

Schalltrichter

auf

1.

_ _

_

_ _

r 1

Trp.

-

-

in F

Schalltrichter

auf

2.3.

Omit 2

Schldigeln

Pk.

tr

f

p

f

fp

IL-

f

P

o

14 0


14/21

KAPLAN

instruments.21 The

relationship

of

these two

passages-and

the role

of

the finale chorale

in

particular-has

troubled

any

number

of

students

of

Mahler's music, among them Kennedy, who considers the recall of the

second-movement

chorale

contrived,22

and

Greene,

who finds

the

lumi-

nosity

of the earlier chorale

far more

glorious

and brilliant.23

Barford

goes

further,

calling

the entire

Rondo feeble

and, more,

a

windy,

uninspired

stretch

of

note-spinning

literally

[sic]

scraping

the barrel in

search of

music. 24

I believe that these authors have missed the

point,

however,

and

that Cone is

exactly right

when he asserts that the final

chorale does

in fact

provide

the

requisite

climax to

the entire work.25

Determining

that this

is so is

largely

a matter of

hearing

beyond

local

disjunctions

and

discerning

the histories of three distinct musical

processes

as

they

unfold

throughout

the

symphony.

The first and most

transparent

of these

processes

consists

in

the transformation

of

the

chorale

itself,

as illustrated

in

Example

3.

The first occurrence of the

chorale

in

any

form comes at

m.

316

of

the second

movement,

or

slightly past

the movement's

midpoint (Example

3a).

This

passage

is in

A

major,

however,

the

parallel

major

of

the

key

of

the movement and

the dominant

of

D,

the

key

that

eventually

emerges

as the

symphony's

tonal

goal.

Further,

it is

abortive,

being

abandoned after

only

61/2

mea-

sures

with the

abrupt

return

of

the movement's

opening

material;

Mahler takes the unusual step here of drawing a dotted bar line in mid-

measure

in the score to mark the

Tempoprimo

subito.26

The next chorale-the

one to which

Kennedy

and Greene ascribe

primacy-occurs

near the end of the same

movement,

beginning

at m.

464

(Example

3b);

the

opening

of the fifth-movement chorale is

given

in

Example

3c.

21

Mahler

divides he five movementsof the

symphony

nto

three

parts,

as follows:

I

1. Trauermarsch

2.

II

3.

Scherzo

III

4.

Adagietto

5.

Rondo-Finale.

22

Michael

Kennedy,

Mahler

London,

1974),

117.

23

Greene,

Mahler, 19.

Greene also

says

that the finale chorale is

ungenerated

y

its

past

in

either the second or

the fifth movement.

Murphy

Unusual

Forms,

o8-o9)

does not

engage

the

issue

at

all,

merely

cataloguing

onal areasand

thematic

recurrences;

in

his

analysis,

the

chorale

(together

with the

coda)

is

designated

as the final

A n

the

formalscheme ABACBCACBA.

24

Philip

T.

Barford,

Mahler:

A

Thematic

Archetype,

The Music Review

XXI

(1960), 316.

These remarks

are

tangential

o Barford'smain

point,

which is the illustra-

tion of a common melodic

structure

underlying

many

of Mahler's hemes.

25

Cone, OnDerivation, 49.

26

Mahler indicates

another

abrupt

formal

discontinuity

in

m.

266,

where

a

strin-

gendo

s

interrupted

by

the

return

of the first-movement uneral

march,

by drawing

a

dashed doublebar

in

mid-measure. These

extraordinary

notations

testify

to Mahler's sen-

sitivity

to the effect of such

interruptions

in

his music.

225


15/21

226

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

EXAMPLE

3a.

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

5,

II; mm.

316-322.

R,,

..

. . .

.4- ,

sf

EXAMPLE 3b.

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

5,

II; mm.

464-473-

EXAMPLE

3c. Mahler,

Symphony

No.

5,

V;

mm.

711-718.

There are

many

reasons

why

the second-movement

chorale

shouldn't

be the

primary

climax of the

symphony,

the

most

trivial of which is

that

there are still three movements and

some

forty

minutes to

go.

But

there

are other, more substantive reasons for regarding the triumph repre-

sented here as

incomplete.

While

this

chorale

is in D

major,

unlike

its

fleeting predecessor,

the

D

major

is not

yet

allowed to

prevail,

and the movement

ends,

as it

began,

in A

minor.

Notice,

further,

that while Mahler

takes care to

notate

Hihepunkt

n

the score

on

the

downbeat

of m.

500

(Example

4a),

this is

followed

almost

immediately by

a

decrescendo and

by

the

reintroduction

of

minor-mode elements

beginning

in m.

516.

Notice,

finally,

that the

ascendancy

of

D-major

tonality

is

thwarted

by

the

deceptive

cadence and

again by

the reassertion of

the movement's

opening

material,

both in m.

520.27

As a result of

Mahler's

deliberate

placement

of the climax at the

very

opening

of

the second

subsection

of the

chorale,

the

process

of dissolution

takes

place

over a

twenty-

measure

span.

The

premature

arrival

of

the

H6hepunkt

hereby

vitiates

its

impact

and undermines its

conclusiveness.

Compare

with

this

the chorale that

begins

at m.

711

of the Finale.

In its second subsection

(i.e.,

from

m.

731

on,

corresponding

to the

27

The harmony at m.

520

is not the enharmonically spelled dominant minor

ninth

(presumably

of

E-flat)

suggested

in

Carolyn

Baxendale,

The Finale of

Mahler's

Fifth

Symphony: Long-range

Musical

Thought, Journal of

the

Royal

Musical

Association

CXII

(1987), 263,

but a common-tone diminished-seventh chord

over

b6

in

the

bass-the

standard bass tone for a

deceptive

cadence.


16/21

KAPLAN

EXAMPLE

4a.

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

5,

II; mm.

499-508.

HMhepunkt

EXAMPLE 4b.

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

5,

V;

mm.

731-737.

o~ 4

H6hepunkt

f

the second-movement

chorale),

the

melody

of this

passage

is

identical

in

pitch-class

structure to that of the

earlier chorale

(see

Examples

4a

and

4b).

But the

differences are critical: the first four

mea-

sures

of

the

original

are

compressed

into

two,

increasing

forward

drive;

and the a'-bi-a'

of

mm.

505

through

508

are

transposed

up

an

octave,

into

the

trumpet's

most brilliant

register.

Further,

there

is no

diminu-

endo until

m.

736,

and then

only

in

the

trumpets;

in

fact,

Mahler

writes

a new fortissimo in the heavy brass at the trumpet's b2, and calls for a

crescendo

in

the horns-which are

already

marked

triple-forte

at

m.

731.

It is

clear, then,

that

the

H6hepunkt

f this

chorale-while

not

indi-

cated

explicitly,

as it is in

the second

movement-arrives

later,

at m.

735

or

737. Finally,

the cadence is

approached

with

another crescendo

and

remains

in

the

major

mode. And

while

this

cadence

may

not

be defini-

tive-it leads rather to the

Allegro

moltocoda-it

is

authentic.

So,

the

chorale of the fifth

movement

succeeds

(to

use Cone's

word)

in

ways

that that of the second movement

fails ;

by

comparison,

the

H6hepunkt

of

the second movement seems

premature,

and

the

triumph

short-lived.

The second of the

processes

that contribute to the

ultimate

sense

of

climax

in this

symphony

is

the

emergence

of the

chorale

from

a

seed

planted

as

early

as the first

movement.

This

seed is

a motive

that

first

appears explicitly

in

m.

295, accompanying

the second

funeral-march

subject,

as shown in

Example

5a.

The

motive,

hereafter

designated

motive

A,

features a

large

rising

leap

across a bar

line-a

seventh

in

its first

appearance,

later

usually

an octave or

a

ninth-followed

by

a

stepwise

descent.28

Once

introduced,

motive

A

quickly

asserts its

28

In

its

ascending

leap

to an accented

dissonance

and

its

subsequent

stepwise

descent,

this

motive-fundamentally

an

appoggiatura

figure-bears

a

clear familial rela-

tion to Barford's

archetype

( A

Thematic

Archetype,

297).

Interestingly,

while

Barford

gives

nine

examples

of

passages

in

the

Fifth

Symphony

that are

derived from the

archetype

227


17/21

228

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

EXAMPLE 5a.

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

5,

I; mm.

295-298.

,

,

I I

k,

.

•- I'

EXAMPLE 5b.

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

5,

I;

mm.

323-331.

A

i.

I

Via.,

div.

L-- 3

7._

prominence,

not

only

in

a

continuing accompanimental

role but as an

underlying

structure

in

the theme

of the

following

section

(see

the

bracketed and beamed pitch structures in Example 5b). This section

leads to the

triple-forte

climax of the movement

(mm.

369

ff.,

Kiagend),

of which

motive

A

also forms the melodic

basis.

While

the role

of

Motive

A in the first movement is

primarily

accompanimental,

it becomes the

Hauptmotifof

the

main theme

of

the

second,

as shown

in

Example

6.

Subsequently,

in

various

guises,

it

becomes

either

the basis

of,

or

the

accompaniment

to,

virtually every

new

melodic

formulation

in the

movement.

While it would

be

imprac-

tical to illustrate all

these

relationships

here,

a

perusal

of the score will

ical to illustrate all these relationships here, a perusal of the score will

he

proposes

(Exx.

66-74: 304),

he does not relate

it

explicitly

to the

motive

under dis-

cussion

here.

This

may

be because

the

archetype

features a

multiple

anacrusis,

with a

step-

wise

ascent

preceding

the

leap.

See also

Parks

Grant,

Mahler's

Fifth

Symphony,

Chord

and Discord

II/1o

(1963), 125-37,

where motive

A is

mentioned

as a

cyclic

element.


18/21

KAPLAN

EXAMPLE

6.

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

5,

II;

mm.

7-10.

EXAMPLE 7.

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

5,

III;

mm.

1-6.

yield multiple examples:

see

mm.

32-35;

mm.

189-213,

where the

sys-

tematic

expansion

of

the

leap

from

a sixth to a ninth

provides

the

basis

for an

extended

episode

for cellos

alone;

and

m.

287,

where

motive

A

becomes

the

Hauptmotif

of what Cooke

calls a

' jaunty

march. 29

Moreover,

each of the chorales is

likewise initiated

by

this

motivic

structure,

as

seen

in

Example

3;

notice

particularly

the

near

identity

in

pitch

level of the

opening

of

Example

3a

and

the third measure of

Example 6. The chorale near the end of the second movement, then,

grows

organically

out of

materials that

permeate

the

movement.

Motive

A is

hardly

prominent

in

the

third and

fourth

movements,

at

least on the

foreground

level;

its

contour, however,

is

subtly

embedded

in

certain

thematic

materials of

the

Scherzo,

notably

its

opening

theme,

as

suggested

in

Example

7.30

So,

while the

emergence

of this

motive is

central to the

understanding

of

the

second-movement

chorales,

it is

not

ultimately

sufficient

to

explain

the

emergence

and

transcendence of

the

finale chorale.

This leads to consideration of

the third of

the

compositional

processes

that

converge

in

this final

chorale: that of

the

transformation

and

apotheosis

of fourth- and

fifth-movement

materials.3'

This

process

is

pervasive

in

a

way

that

likewise characterizes

Mahler's other

Rondo-

Finale,

the

fifth

movement of

the Seventh

Symphony,

in

which

contra-

puntal

textures

again predominate.

It can

be

seen,

for

example,

in

the

2•)

Deryck

Cooke,

Gustav

Mahler:

An

Introduction o

his Music

(Cambridge,

1980),

82.

3:0

See also

Barford's

Example 73

(304).

Colin

Matthews

(Mahler

at

Work:

Aspects

of

the

CreativeProcess

New

York &

London,

1989],

62-63)

points

out

that

the

first

five

notes

of the

melody

were

added

by

Mahler to the

fair

copy,

and

that measure

3

(the

tied dot-

ted half-note b') was also new. Further, the clarinet and bassoon parts originally began

with the

present

measure

6;

both

motive

A

embeddings

thus were

afterthoughts.

(The

bassoons

are

given

in

the

wrong

clef

in

Matthews's

transcription

of

the

manuscript;

it

is

not clear

whether

the

error

is Mahler's

or

Matthews's.)

3'

Motivic

process

and tonal

structure are treated

in

detail

in

Baxendale,

The

Finale

of

Mahler's Fifth

Symphony.

229


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230

THE

JOURNAL

OF MUSICOLOGY

EXAMPLE

8a.

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

5,

V;

mm.

16-27.

A10

-

pI

-

EXAMPLE

8b.

Mahler,

Symphony

No.

5,

V;

mm.

741-751.

,

J.

_

ILi

I

I-

-T--

A

r•

col

8

*Violin

parts

havebeen

simplified

link

from

the chorale to the

coda,

where the

interlocking

fourth-spans

that had

originally

led from

the

introduction

to the main

body

of

the

movement

(see

Example

8a)

now

infiltrate

the bass: first

in

contrary

motion to

the

melody,

then as a basso ostinato hat is

repeated

no fewer

than

twenty

times

through

m.

778

(see

Example

8b).32

And

the

horn

parts

beginning

in

m.

748,

which

may

at

first

be

perceived

as

another,

incomplete fourth-span,

actually

state a transformation of the

theme

introduced

by

the clarinet

in m.

16

(see

Example

8a).

The chorale itself

(m.

71

1)

combines

contrapuntally

two of the

main

themes of the movement:

the

fugato subject

of

m.

56,

and the counter-

32

The sixth and the

last four

repetitions

are

in

the

trumpets,

the rest

in

the

bas-

soons, cellos,

and

basses,

with

the

gradual

addition

of

tuba

and

trombones.

In mm.

771-774

the

figure

appears

simultaneously

in

the

trumpets

and

in

2:i

diminution

in

the

bass

instruments.


20/21

KAPLAN

subject

first stated

in m.

88,33

the

latter

in

an

augmentation

that

gives

the effect of an

apotheosis.

This

apotheosis

is

the reason that the fifth-

movement chorale has an

opening melody

different from

that of the

second-movement chorale

(cf.

Examples

3b

and

3c), although

both

share the motivic derivation

I

have cited. The arrival of this

chorale,

in

other

words,

is the culmination of a thematic

process

that is central to

the

organization

of Part

III.

However,

the

material

that

the two chorales

share-as seen

in

Example

4-is

none other than the

apotheosis

of the

theme stated at the outset of the fifth

movement,

and shown

in

Example

8a.

Here,

perhaps,

is the most

important

reason

that the second-

movement chorale is destined

to

fail-in Cone's

words,

deserves to

fail :34

t

represents

only

a

foreshadowing

of a theme that is

formally

introduced, as it were, and brought to its ultimate fruition, in the finale.

We

thus

understand the

ending

of the

Fifth

Symphony

as the con-

fluence of

multiple processes-narrative, temporal,

thematic and

motivic-that thread

their

way

throughout

the

symphony

in

a

complex

web of

interrelationships.

This

example,

like those

of

the Second and

Fourth

Symphonies,

illustrates the

climactic

role of

fusion;

it

differs

from

them,

though,

not

only

in

its

complexity

but also

in

the occur-

rence of the fusion

only

at

the

end of

the entire

symphony.

This with-

holding

of the final

revelation,

literally

until the last

minute,

perhaps

invites misinterpretation by listeners disinclined to remain so long in

suspense.

But it is

only by recognizing

the contextlessness of

the latter

portion

of the second-movement chorale

(a

property

that

Mahler,

as we

have

seen,

underscores

in

multiple

ways)

that we can

recognize

this

pas-

sage

not as a true

climax

but

rather

as an

event much

like

the fore-

shadowing

of the

Wahn-Monolog:

he initial intimation of an idea rich

in

unfulfilled

implications,

the

systematic

development

of which will

play

a

central role

in

events

yet

to be revealed.

The

mystique

that

surrounds Mahler as man and

composer

shows

every sign

of

surviving

a

level of attention and a

wealth

of

performances

that would have been unthinkable

only

a

few

years

ago.

One

striking

feature

of this

mystique

is the attention Mahler has

received

from

non-musical

specialists,

for

whom

he

seems

perhaps

to

33

This theme is

actually

hinted

at-foreshadowed?-in

m.

52, just

before

the

fugato begins.

34

Cone,

On

Derivation,

249;

this is also

certainly

true

of

the unsuccessful chorale

entry

in

m.

511

of

the Finale. Of the climactic chorale

of

m.

71

i,

Cone

says

that

the

pero-

ration is heard as fully derived from the themes of the rondo that it triumphantly con-

cludes. It has earned

its

success,

so to

speak,

the hard

way--by

submitting

to

the normal

processes

of

thematic statement

and

development.

As

a

result,

it sounds as

if

it

really

belongs

to

the

movement--not,

like so

many cyclic

returns,

arbitrarily

introduced.

Com-

pare

with this

the

view

expressed by

Greene

(see

note

23,

above).

231


21/21

232

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

personify

the late-Romantic artist: the Ken Russell

film,

for

example;

the well-known

essay

by

Lewis

Thomas;35

the

psycho-musicological

stud-

ies

by

Stuart

Feder;36and,

of

course,

the book

by

Professor of

Divinity

David Greene.

Even

among

musicians,

though,

his

music continues to

elicit

uniquely

deep

and

powerful responses;

Barford,

for

example,

writes,

I have known

quite

a few

people

who,

having

become devoted

Mahlerians,

eventually

found themselves

living

in

a

world

of

melan-

choly introspection

and romantic

aspiration,

in

relation to which their

daily

duties

and

responsibilities

came to seem an

unpleasantly irritating

obtrusion. 37

It seems to

me that

many

of the

qualities

in

Mahler's works that

evoke

such broad and

deep

responses

are

the same

qualities

that

make

them so difficult to

apprehend.

These works, in other words,

present

unique

musico-dramatic

problems

that demand

unique

analytic

solu-

tions.

The

approach

that

I

have

suggested

here is one

that

neither

rejects

the

tools of

conventional

analysis

in

its various

forms,

nor

embraces a

priori

the

mechanistic

application

of a

particular

analytic

paradigm;

rather,

it

enlists some

of the music's most

palpable

charac-

teristics-its use of

time, recurrence,

and

climax-as

means for

allow-

ing

each

work to reveal

aspects

of

its

deepest logic

and

meaning.

Louisiana StateUniversity

35

This is

the title

essay

in

Lewis

Thomas,

Late

Night

Thoughts

on

Listening

to

Mahler's

Ninth

Symphony

New

York,

1983).

For

Thomas, Mahler's

music

represents

a

premonition

of

nuclear

annihilation.

:(6

Stuart

Feder,

Gustav Mahler Um

Mitternacht,

InternationalReview

of

Psycho-

analysis

VII

(1980),

1

1-26;

Gustav

Mahler:

The

Music of

Fratricide,

International

Review

of

Psychoanalysis

VIII

(198

1

),

257-84-

3:7

Barford,

A Thematic

Archetype,

308.

I

suspect

that what

Barford was

witnessing

was

actually

the reverse of

the

process

he

describes;

is it

not

more

likely

that

certain

peo-

ple

find

in

Mahler's music

something

that

resonates

with

their

own

temperaments?

Temporal Fusion and Climax in the Symphonies of Mahler

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Transcript of Temporal Fusion and Climax in the Symphonies of Mahler