Gustav Mahler\'s 8th Symphony
I've always been very fascinated by Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 (also known as "Symphony of a Thousand" *). A work of which Mahler himself wrote (in a letter to the Dutch conductor Willem Mengelberg): "I have just completed my Eighth - it is the greatest thing I have done so far. And so different in content and form that it is impossible to write about it. Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. It is no longer human voices, but circling planets and suns"
The work is in my opinion "great" in every sense. It can not be argued that the work is great in scale - both the lenght (about 1 1/2 hours) and the size of the orchestra, choruses and soloists (though the size of the soloists may vary somewhat
). However, whether the music is great or not is up for discussion.
As I said, I personally think it's a great piece of music. Mahler is absolutely right when he says it is "different". Indeed it is. In fact so different that it may take a while to get used to, though I liked it from the very first time I heard it (on the radio) many years ago. I think I was about 11-12 years old at the time. I was fascinated from day one, and not just because it incoprorates one of the finest pipe organ parts in the romantic symphonic litterature, alongside Saint-Saëns' 3rd Symphony, Richard Strauss' "Eine Aplensinfonie", etc.
No, I liked it mainly because of its great "vision". Many great romantic works can be said to more or less resolve around a vast vision - the vision of the infinite, or the finite often in shape of the visions of nature, is almost an idiosyncrasy of the romantic music (maybe it is not so strange that modern film scores are so highly inspired by romantic orchestral music in their "visual" approach) - But Mahler's 8th is one of the works that, to me, best makes it come alive. In a way the work is stil a puzzle - even a fragmented one - but somehow it draws me in. It conjures an inner vision to me without being programme music. I'm sorry I can't explain or describe it more accurately right here and now, but that would require a thoroughly article and even then there some enigmas would still remain. This short "article" is more about getting a discussion about the work started.
Let me quote Mahler himself once more: "I have never written anything like it (...) Nor, perhaps, have I ever worked under such a sense of inner compulsion; it was like a sudden vision - all at once the whole thing stood before my eyes and all I had to do was write it down, as though it had been dictated to me." What a joy it is for a composer (and hopefully the audience as well) to get a "vision" like that. It must have been an aweinspiring moment (or moments). Notice that any discussion about the 8th will easily end up in a philosophical, even theological or spiritual, discussion rather than a plain musical and technical debate. But why shouldn't it, perhaps that's the only way to "get it", or is it? Let me here your opinions on this work - whatever they are.
Finally I will say that also on a more basic "technical" level the work is interesting. One thing that stands out is how sparsely Mahler uses the enormeous resoures of the orchestra (to my knowledge the third largest orchestration ever concieved in a completed work, after Havergal Brian's Symphony No. 1 "Gothic Symphony" and Arnold Schönberg's "Gurrelieder").
A lot of times he uses only a few instruments in small "chamber groups". This ensures that the large climaxes retain their full power and effectiveness, and also helps the work not getting tedious. In fact, once absorbed, the 1 1/2 hours feels like a very short time. But as I said, other people may have a completely different opinion on this work so let's hear it
Please tell us about your favorite recordings/concerts etc. also if you like.
(* The Symphony No. 8 by Gustav Mahler is sometimes also known as the "Symphony of a Thousand" (or "Sinfonie der Tausend") but this is not his own title, instead it was a marketing ploy by the concert agent, Emil Gutmann, prompted by the over 1000 participants in the first performance of the work)
Rehearsal before the 1910 world premiere of the 8th Symphony, conducted by Mahler, in München:
I've always been very fascinated by Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 (also known as "Symphony of a Thousand" *). A work of which Mahler himself wrote (in a letter to the Dutch conductor Willem Mengelberg): "I have just completed my Eighth - it is the greatest thing I have done so far. And so different in content and form that it is impossible to write about it. Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. It is no longer human voices, but circling planets and suns"
The work is in my opinion "great" in every sense. It can not be argued that the work is great in scale - both the lenght (about 1 1/2 hours) and the size of the orchestra, choruses and soloists (though the size of the soloists may vary somewhat
As I said, I personally think it's a great piece of music. Mahler is absolutely right when he says it is "different". Indeed it is. In fact so different that it may take a while to get used to, though I liked it from the very first time I heard it (on the radio) many years ago. I think I was about 11-12 years old at the time. I was fascinated from day one, and not just because it incoprorates one of the finest pipe organ parts in the romantic symphonic litterature, alongside Saint-Saëns' 3rd Symphony, Richard Strauss' "Eine Aplensinfonie", etc.
No, I liked it mainly because of its great "vision". Many great romantic works can be said to more or less resolve around a vast vision - the vision of the infinite, or the finite often in shape of the visions of nature, is almost an idiosyncrasy of the romantic music (maybe it is not so strange that modern film scores are so highly inspired by romantic orchestral music in their "visual" approach) - But Mahler's 8th is one of the works that, to me, best makes it come alive. In a way the work is stil a puzzle - even a fragmented one - but somehow it draws me in. It conjures an inner vision to me without being programme music. I'm sorry I can't explain or describe it more accurately right here and now, but that would require a thoroughly article and even then there some enigmas would still remain. This short "article" is more about getting a discussion about the work started.
Let me quote Mahler himself once more: "I have never written anything like it (...) Nor, perhaps, have I ever worked under such a sense of inner compulsion; it was like a sudden vision - all at once the whole thing stood before my eyes and all I had to do was write it down, as though it had been dictated to me." What a joy it is for a composer (and hopefully the audience as well) to get a "vision" like that. It must have been an aweinspiring moment (or moments). Notice that any discussion about the 8th will easily end up in a philosophical, even theological or spiritual, discussion rather than a plain musical and technical debate. But why shouldn't it, perhaps that's the only way to "get it", or is it? Let me here your opinions on this work - whatever they are.
Finally I will say that also on a more basic "technical" level the work is interesting. One thing that stands out is how sparsely Mahler uses the enormeous resoures of the orchestra (to my knowledge the third largest orchestration ever concieved in a completed work, after Havergal Brian's Symphony No. 1 "Gothic Symphony" and Arnold Schönberg's "Gurrelieder").
A lot of times he uses only a few instruments in small "chamber groups". This ensures that the large climaxes retain their full power and effectiveness, and also helps the work not getting tedious. In fact, once absorbed, the 1 1/2 hours feels like a very short time. But as I said, other people may have a completely different opinion on this work so let's hear it
(* The Symphony No. 8 by Gustav Mahler is sometimes also known as the "Symphony of a Thousand" (or "Sinfonie der Tausend") but this is not his own title, instead it was a marketing ploy by the concert agent, Emil Gutmann, prompted by the over 1000 participants in the first performance of the work)
Rehearsal before the 1910 world premiere of the 8th Symphony, conducted by Mahler, in München:
