Lied 5: Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz
The tenth song in this collection, “Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz” (At Strasbourg on the battlement), starts with a very colorful piano entrance marked “as a folk tune” and “imitating the shawm.” As Donald Mitchell points out, this is of a type very characteristic of Mahler in his vocal as well as symphonic output: the […]
Lied 4: Starke Einbildungskraft
One of the challenges with the ninth song in this collection, “Starke Einbildungskraft” (Strong imagination), concerns clarity of articulation. Sixteenth-note passages sound unclear with the piano part due to the imbalance of lower tones produced by both the piano and tuba. Changes have been notated in the tuba version to reflect these issues of clarity. […]
Lied 3: Aus! Aus!
The majority of the songs in this collection begin with very soft dynamics. Eleven of the fourteen songs begin with the dynamic of piano, one song begins at pianissimo, and the remaining two songs (this song and the last song in the collection) begin at the dynamic of forte. The tubist should take advantage of […]
Lied 2: Ich ging mit Lust durch einen grunen Wald
“Ich ging mit Lust durch einen grun,” (I went joyfully through a green wood), is a beautiful slow melody challenging the tubist to keep a consistent color of sound in the low register of the bass tuba. The first note is the lowest in the entire collection, a low G. Fingered 2-3-4-5 on a German […]
Movement 4: Sturmisch bewegt
Energisch, Stormily agitated – Energetic. The fourth movement is by far the most involved, and expansive. It brings back several elements from the first movement, unifying the symphony as a whole. The movement begins with an abrupt cymbal crash, a loud chord in the upper woodwinds, string and brass, and a bass drum hit, all in […]
Movement 3: Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen
Solemnly and measured, without dragging, very simple, like a folk-tune, once again somewhat more agitated, as at the start. A funeral march based on the children’s song “Frère Jacques” (or “Bruder Jacob”). The third movement acts as the slow movement in the four-movement plan. The extra-musical idea behind it is that of a hunter’s funeral […]
Lied 4: Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz
The final movement culminates in a resolution. The music, also reused in the First Symphony (in the Scherzo “Funeral March in Callot’s manner”), is subdued and gentle, lyrical and often reminiscent of a chorale in its harmonies. Its title, “Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz” (“The Two Blue Eyes of my Beloved”), deals with […]
Lied 3: Ich hab’ ein gluhend Messer
The third movement is a full display of despair. Entitled “Ich hab’ein glühend Messer” (“I Have a Gleaming Knife”), the Wayfarer likens his agony of lost love to having an actual metal blade piercing his heart. He obsesses to the point where everything in the environment reminds him of some aspect of his love, and […]
Lied 2: Ging heut’ Morgen uber’s Feld
The second movement, “Ging heut Morgen übers Feld” (“I Went This Morning over the Field”), contains the happiest music of the work. Indeed, it is a song of joy and wonder at the beauty of nature in simple actions like birdsong and dew on the grass. “Is it not a lovely world?” is a refrain. […]
Lied 1: Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht
The first movement is entitled “Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht” (“When My Sweetheart is Married”), and the text discusses the Wayfarer’s grief at losing his love to another. He remarks on the beauty of the surrounding world, but how that cannot keep him from having sad dreams. The orchestral texture is bittersweet, using double reed […]