Gustav Mahler : the symphonies / Constantin Floros ; translated from the German by Vernon Wicker ; Reinhard G. Pauly, general editor.
| Author/creator |
Floros, Constantin |
| Other author/creator | Pauly, Reinhard G., editor. |
| Other author/creator | Wicker, Vernon, translator. |
| Format | Book and Print |
| Publication Info | Portland, OR : Amadeus Press, ©1993. |
| Description | 363 pages : portrait, music, facsimiles ; 24 cm |
| Subject(s) |
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| Uniform title | Gustav Mahler. 3, Symphonien. English |
| Contents | Content in Mahler's symphonies -- The division of Mahler's compositions into time periods -- Part one. The early symphonies. Fundamentals of "Tetralogy" -- The First Symphony. Origin ; The first performance and the various versions ; The program ; Fruhling und kein Ende ("Spring and no end") ; "Blumine" ; Mit vollen Segeln ("Under full sail") ; Todtenmarsch in Callots Manier ("Death march in Callot's manner"): Mahler's "heart-rending, tragic irony" ; Dall' Inferno al Paradiso -- The Second Symphony. Origin ; The eschatological question as program ; Allegro maestoso: Todtenfeier ("Funeral rites") ; Andante moderato ; Scherzo: Die Welt wie im Hohlspiegel ("The world as in a concave mirror") ; Urlicht ("Primeval light") ; Finale: the apocalyptic vision -- The Third Symphony. Origin ; Mahler's cosmology and its sources ; Mahler versus Nietzsche ; The symphony as an image of the world ; Pan erwacht: Der Sommer marschiert ein (Bacchuszug) ("Pan awakens: summer marches in (Bacchus's parade)") ; Was mir die Blumen auf der Wiese erzahlen ("What the animals in the forest tell me") ; Was mir der Mensch erzahlt ("What mankind tells me") ; Was mir die Engel erzahlen ("What the angels tell me") ; Was mir die Liebe erzahlt ("What love tells me") -- The Fourth Symphony. Origin ; Life after death as a subject ; Design and subject ; First movement: Die Welt als ewige Jetztzeit ("The world as eternal now") ; Scherzo: Todtentanz - Freund Hein spielt zum Tanz auf ("Dance of death - friend death is striking up the dance") ; Ruhevoll (poco adagio) - Das Lacheln der heiligen Ursula (restful - "The smile of Saint Ursula") ; Finale: Das himmlische Leben ("The heavenly life") -- Part two. The middle symphonies. The "Completely new style" -- The Fifth Symphony. Origin ; The inner program ; Trauermarsch: Wie en Kondukt ("Death march: like a funeral procession") ; Sturmisch bewegt. Mit grosster Vehemenz ("Turbulently rough. With greatest vehemence") ; Scherzo ; Adagietto ; Rondo-finale -- The Sixth Symphony. Origin ; Thematic connections and symbols ; Allegro energico ; Scherzo ; Andante moderato ; Finale -- The Seventh Symphony. Origin ; Mahler's hermeneutic instructions ; First movement ; Nachtmusik I ; Schattenhaft ("Shadowlike") ; Nachtmusik II: Andante amoroso ; Rondo-finale -- The Eighth Symphony. Comments by Mahler ; Origin ; The spiritual unity of the two parts ; Part I - hymn: Veni Creator Spiritus ; Part II - the final scene from Goethe's Faust II -- Part three. The late symphonies. Regarding the late style -- Das Lied von der Erde ("The song of the earth"). Autobiographical background ; Arrangement of the poems ; A symphony of songs, small and large ; Musical material and exoticism ; Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde ("The drinking song about the misery of the earth") ; Der Einsame im Herbst ("The lonely one in autumn") ; Von der Jugend ("Regarding youth") ; Von der Schonheit ("Regarding beauty") ; Der Trunkene im Fruhling ("The drunkard in spring") ; Der Abschied ("The farewell") -- The Ninth Symphony. Origin ; Farewell, death, and transfiguration - the central topics of the work's reception ; Sequence of movements and disposition of the keys ; First movement ; Second movement ; Rondo-burlesque ; Adagio -- The Tenth Symphony. Fate of the work - Deryck Cooke's "Concert version" ; Origin ; The cyclical concept ; Adagio ; Scherzo ; Purgatorio ; Fourth movement: Der Teufel tanzt e smit mir ("The devil is dancing with me") ; Finale. |
| Abstract | Gustav Mahler thought of his symphonic writing as being based on personal experience, as autobiographical, and as an expression of his philosophy of life. Thus his symphonies deal with profound existential questions and with programmatic ideas that the composer was at first willing to reveal but later preferred to keep to himself. Important references to musical meaning in Mahler's symphonies can be found in numerous sources - sketches, drafts, autograph scores, and printers' proofs. These references take the form of programmatic titles, cues, and mottos, and include literary allusions, outcries of grief, and other emotional expressions; they demonstrate that his symphonies cannot be classified as absolute music but rather as music with personal, biographical, literary, and philosophical meanings. With this thesis in mind, the author undertakes a precise and detailed exploration of each of Mahler's ten symphonies and Das Lied von der Erde, bringing to light for the first time various aspects of the works. Professor Floros examines their history and autobiographical origins and discusses the events that profoundly influenced the composer's symphonic writing. For example, Mahler's meeting with Alma Schindler (later to become Alma Mahler) in November 1901 and the tragic events of 1907 - the death of the composer's older daughter and the diagnosis of his heart trouble - profoundly changed Mahler's attitude toward life and subsequently his music. The compositional techniques employed by Mahler in each symphony are analyzed and related to stylistic and semantic aspects to decode the composer's symbolic musical language. The author is thus able to identify certain basic qualities of these works: tragic irony, the sense of the grotesque, and the affirmation of Mahler's belief both in life after death and in the power of love to transcend death. Understanding this language leads to a more profound understanding of Mahler the symphonist. This book is the third book in Professor Floros' monumental study of Mahler, his spiritual world, and his position in relation to nineteenth-century symphonic writing in general. The first and second books have not yet been translated into English. |
| Local note | Little-292407--3051300455980 |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 347-354) and index. |
| LCCN | 92021193 |
| ISBN | 0931340624 |
Available Items
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions | |
| Music | Course Reference | ML410.M23 F5513 1993 | ✔ Available |