das lied von der erde mahler's symphony for voices and orchestra — or piano

8/20/2019 Das Lied Von Der Erde Mahler's Symphony for Voices and Orchestra — or Piano

1/50

Das Lied von der Erde: Mahler's Symphony for Voices and Orchestra — or PianoAuthor(s): Stephen E. HeflingSource: The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer, 1992), pp. 293-341Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/763653Accessed: 28/07/2010 15:01

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2/50

Das Lied von der Erde:

Mahler's

Symphony

for

Voices and

Orchestra

or Piano*

STEPHEN

E.

HEFLING

rom

many

perspectives,

Das Lied von der Erde

is

arguably

Mahler's

greatest

masterpiece-"the

most

'Mahleresque'

of his

works,"

as

Bruno

Walter observed.1

It is a

culminating synthesis

of

symphony

and

song,

an

ideal

that had

occupied

Mahler

since the

time of his Lieder einesfahrenden Gesellen

and First

Symphony (1884- 293

1888);

moreover,

Das Lied is a

splendid

fusion

of

expressive

detail and

overall

structure that

the

composer

never

surpassed.

And this is his

most

poignant

utterance on the

religious

and

philosophical

concerns

intimately

intertwined

with

his

oeuvre

as a

whole.

As is

well

known,

Volume

X

*

Number

3

*

Summer

1992

The

Journal

of

Musicology

?

1992

by

the

Regents

of

the

University

of

California

*

I am

deeply

indebted to Mr.

John

Kallir of

Scarsdale,

New

York,

for

making

this

study possible.

For

kind assistance

of

various sorts

I am

also

grateful

to: Ms. Lilian Kallir

(New

York);

Prof. R.

Larry

Todd

(Duke

University);

Prof. Edward

R.

Reilly

(Vassar

College);

Prof. Robert

Bailey

(New

York

University);

Mr. Knud Martner

(Copenhagen);

Messrs.

Troy

Sartain,

David

Condon,

and

Gary

Wright

(Case

Western

Re-

serve

University);

and

European

American Music Distributors

Corporation,

sole U.S. and Canadian

agent

for

Universal Edi-

tion.

Manuscript photographs reproduced

here were

gra-

ciously supplied

by

Mr.

John

Kallir,

as well as

by

the Ge-

meentemuseum

in The

Hague

(with

special

thanks to Dr.

Frits W.

Zwart,

Curator,

Music

Department)

and the Biblio-

theque

Musicale Gustav

Mahler,

Paris

(through

the

courtesyof M.

Henry-Louis

de La

Grange).

A

preliminary paper

on

this

topic

was

presented

at the

Forty-Ninth

Annual

Meeting

of

the

American

Musicological

Society,

Louisville,

October

1983.

Bruno

Walter,

Gustav

Mahler,

trans.

James

Galston

(New

York:

Greystone

Press,

1941;

reprinted,

New York:

Vienna

House,

1973),

p.

124.


3/50

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

the work

was written

in

the wake of three crises that

violently

trans-

formed Mahler's life

during

1907-his

departure

from

the Vienna

Court Opera, the death of his elder daughter, and the diagnosis of his

potentially

fatal heart condition.2

The

following

summer,

in

the

midst

of the work's

gestation,

he

wrote to Bruno

Walter:

"I

stood

vis

a vis de

rien and

now

at

the end of

a

life

I must

learn to stand and

move

again

as a

beginner."3

And

when

it was

finished,

he wrote Walter

again:

"I

myself

do not

know how to

express

what the whole

thing

could

be

called

... I

believe

it is the most

personal thing

I

have

yet

created."4

Mahler's hesitation about

naming

this

composition

was

appar-

ently owing

to its

unique

interfusion

of

genres,

and

also

to his

super-

stitious

fear of

christening

a Ninth

Symphony-the last such

work for

Beethoven

and Bruckner.5

On

one

provisional

title

page

he

called

it

a

"Symphony

for a Tenor and an Alto

Voice

with

Orchestra."6

But

2

For

detailed

documentation of

these

events

see

Henry-Louis

de

La

Grange,

Gustav Mahler:

Chronique

d'une

vie,

vol.

3:

Le

genie foudroye,

1907-1911

(Paris:

Fayard,

1984),

pp.

9-90, 337-348,

and

1120

ff.

Alma

Mahler

suggests

that Mahler

began

work

on Das

Lied

von der

Erde

during

the

summer

of

1907,

shortly

after

they

fled

together

from their

Maiernigg

home

to

Schluderbach

following

their

daughter's

death:

"Before

294

we

left

Schluderbach

he had sketched out, on our

long,

lonely

walks, those

songs

for

orchestra

which took final

shape

as Das

Lied

von der

Erde

a

year

later."

(Alma

Mahler,

GustavMahler:Memoriesand Letters,3rd ed., rev. and enl. by Donald Mitchell and Knud

Martner,

trans. Basil

Creighton

[Seattle:

University

of

Washington

Press,

1975],

p.

123).

But

according

to

the Bdrsenblatt

ir

den Deutschen Buchhandel

(Leipzig,

1907,

p.

10130)

Hans

Bethge's

Die chinesischeFlote:

Nachdichtungen

chinesischerLyrik

(Leipzig:

Inselverlag),

the source

of

the

poetry

for

Das

Lied,

was first

published

on

5

October

1907.

Mahler had

left

Schluderbach

on

24

August

that

year

(de

La

Grange,

3:

94),

which

would

indicate

that

most

(if

not

all)

of Das

Lied von

der

Erde was written

during

the summer

of

1908;

the dated

manuscripts surviving

from the

composition

of the

work

support

this

chronology

as well

(see

below). (I

am

especially

grateful

to Knud

Martner

for

providing

me with the citation from

the Borsenblatt.As outlined in the issue

of

2

January

1907,

the Borsenblattwas

quite rigorous

in

monitoring

the

publication

dates of new

materials.)

3

GustavMahlerBriefe, new ed., enl. and rev. by Herta Blaukopf [cited hereafter

as

GMB2]

(Vienna:

Paul

Zsolnay,

1982),

no.

396,

18

July.

This and the

following

translations are

mine,

unless

specifically

indicated

otherwise;

the

entire letter is also

included

in

SelectedLetters

of

Gustav

Mahler,

ed. Knud

Martner,

trans. Eithne

Wilkins,

Ernst

Kaiser,

and

Bill

Hopkins

[hereafter

GMBE] (New

York:

Farrar, Straus,

Giroux,

1979),

no-

375-

4

GMB2,

no.

400

(GMBE,

no.

378).

5

See Alma

Mahler,

pp.

115,

124,

and

139,

and Bruno

Walter,

Gustav

Mahler,

pp.

58-59.

6

"Das

Trink=

Lied

von der

Erde

/

nach dem Chinesichen

[sic]

der 8.

Jahrhun-

dert

n. Ch.*

/

Symphonie

fur

eine

Tenor

=

und

eine Altstime

/

und

Orchester.

/

von

/

Gustav

Mahler /

*dem

Text ist die

deutsche

Ubertragung

von H.

Bethgen

zu Grunde

gelegt" (Trink= and deutscheare later additions made with insert signs); Vienna, Ge-

sellschaft

der

Musikfreunde,

A

315;

see

also Table

1

below.

A

document

that

may

mark

Mahler's

final decision about the title is now

preserved

in

the Stadt- und

Landesbib-

liothek

in

Vienna

(formerly

in

the Moldenhauer

Archive,

Spokane,

Washington).

Headed "Gustav Mahler

/

New

York

/

Hotel

Savoy,"

this

sheet commences with

the

title

"'Das

Lied von

der

Erde'/

aus

dem Alt

[= inserted]

Chinesischen",

followed

by

the


4/50

DAS LIED

VON

DER ERDE

there was

another

side to the

issue,

which is

vaguely apparent

in

the

preliminary manuscripts preserved

from

the

work's

genesis:

the

short-score draft of the finale

is

labeled

"Clavierauszug" ("Piano

Ver-

sion"),

and the orchestral

draft

of the

third movement

specifies

"Tenor

or

Soprano

and

Orchestra

or Piano."7

It

has

long

been known

that

in

addition to the

autograph

full

score,

various

preliminary

drafts,

and the

Stichvorlage,

another

major

source

for Das

Lied von

der

Erde had

probably

survived. Albrecht's

1953

Census

of Autograph

Music

Manuscripts

ists

a "First

draft,

for

voice

and

piano,

without

orchestral

interludes,

and

lacking

the definitive

title"

in

possession

of

Alma

Mahler.8

This

autograph

version for

voices and

keyboard

has

again

come to

lights-a fascinating manuscript

that

illuminates

many

as-

pects

of the

work's

composition.

And there now

remains

no

doubt

that all

of Das

Lied von

der

Erde was

originally

conceived for

perfor-

mance

with

orchestra or

piano,

like

the

majority

of

Mahler's

other

songs:

the last twelve

Wunderhornlieder

(1892-1901),

four of the Ruck-

ert

lieder

(1901),

and

especially

the

Kindertotenlieder

(1901-1904).10

To

be

sure,

the

piano autograph

differs

in

important

respects

from

295

titles of the movements as we know them, except for " '5) Der Trinker im Fruhling' ";

numbers

i,

3,

and

5

are

designated

for

tenor,

the

other movements

for

alto. Below all

this

is written

"9.

Symphonie

von

4

Satzen."

7

"Der

Pavilion

aus Porzellan

/

aus

dem Chinesichen

[sic]

des

/

Li-Tai-Po/

tibersetzt von

Bethgen

[sic]

/

fur

Tenor oder

Sopran

/

und

Orchester

oder Clavier

/

1.

August

1908

Gustav

Mahler /

Nro

3"

(Vienna,

Gesellschaft

der

Musikfreunde,

A

315);

see

also

Table

1

below.

8

Otto E.

Albrecht,

A

Census

of

Autograph

Music

Manuscriptsof

European Composers

in American Libraries

(Philadelphia: University

of

Pennsylvania

Press,

1953),

No. 11

14,

p.

177.

9

Collection

of

Mr.

John

Kallir,

Scarsdale,

New

York;

published

as

Supplement

Band II

in

the Kritische

Gesamtausgabe

Vienna:

University

Edition,

1989),

edited

by

the

present author; recorded by Brigitte Fassbaender, mezzo soprano, Thomas Moser,

tenor,

and

Cyprien

Katsaris,

piano,

Teldec

2292-46276-2.

During

the

1950S

Alma

Mahler

presented

the

manuscript

to

the late

Dr.

Otto

Kallir

(father

of the

present

owner),

the

Viennese

connoisseur

and

art dealer who

established the

Galerie St. Eti-

enne

in

New

York

in

1939.

The

gift

was a

token

of

gratitude

for his efforts

to obtain

the release of five

paintings

Alma left

behind when

she fled

Vienna in

1938;

among

them were three works

by

her

father,

Emil

Schindler,

and a

portrait

of

herself

by

Kokoschka.

All

had been lent to

the

Osterreichische Galerie six

months

before the

AnschluBS,

and after the

war the

museum

regarded

all but the

Kokoschka

as its own.

The

ensuing legal

battle lasted

more than a

decade,

and

Kallir's

negotiations

on

Alma's

behalf were

only

partially

successful.

(See

Andrew

Decker,

"A

Legacy

of

Shame:

Nazi

Art

Loot

in

Austria,"

Art

News

83/10

[December

1984],

54

ff.,

esp. pp.

64-65).

'0 Mahler himself occasionally performed his lieder at the keyboard, including

the Kindertotenlieder

with

Johannes

Messchaert)

in

1907,

after the

orchestral

premiere

of the

cycle

had

already

taken

place;

see Eduard

Reeser,

Gustav

Mahler

und

Holland:

Briefe,

Bibliothek

der

Internationalen Gustav

Mahler Gesellschaft

(Vienna:

Universal

Edition,

1980),

pp.

74-84,

and

de La

Grange,

vol.

2:

L'dge

d'or

de

Vienne,

1900-1907

(Paris:

Fayard, 1983),

pp.

1053-1057.


5/50

THE

JOURNAL

OF MUSICOLOGY

the

published

orchestral

version.1l

But

it is no

mere

"first

draft";

on

the

contrary,

this is a

highly

developed

score of

the

work,

including

the instrumental interludes, and replete with detailed indications for

keyboard performance.

The

Keyboard

Version

and the

Compositional

Process

Two factors

are essential

to our

understanding

the

significance

of

Mahler's

piano

version:

first,

it

represents

a

stage

in

the

compositional

process

of the work

as

a

whole,

but not the latest

stage;

and

second,

Das Lied von der

Erde was the

first of

Mahler's

composi-

tions not to be

completed

in his usual

way-through performance,

subsequent retouching,

and

overseeing

the

printing

process.

To

grasp

these

matters in

perspective,

one must be familiar

with Mahler's

char-

acteristic

composing

methods,

which

can

be

briefly

summarized as

follows.

12

For

symphonic

works,

Mahler

began

with

preliminary

sketches

written

in

pocket

notebooks and on full-size

manuscript

worksheets.

296

He developed these first ideas further and established the basic

con-

tinuity

of

a work in

the short

score

(German:

Particell),

an

ink

draft

usually

containing

three to five

staves,

with minimal indications of

instrumentation.

Next

came

the orchestral

draft score

(Partiturent-

wurf), typically

about

twenty

staves

in

oblong

format,

where

Mahler

worked

out

the essence

of

the

orchestration. These were the

most

essential

stages,

which,

beginning

in

1893,

he

reserved for his

summer

holidays;

the

fair

copy

of the full orchestral

score

(Partiturreinschrift)

could

be written

during

the hectic

operatic

season.

Then followed

the

printer's

copy

or

Stichvorlage

in

the hand of

a

copyist,

which

was

thoroughly

corrected

in

conjunction

with the

first

performance.

The

proof

sheets

usually

contain additional

corrections;

and Mahler con-

tinued

to

incorporate

orchestral

retouchings

into his works until

the

I

Unless

otherwise

indicated,

all

discussion

of

the

orchestral version refers to vol.

IX of the Kritische

Gesamtausgabe,

d. Erwin Ratz

(Vienna:

Universal

Edition,

1962),

which is also

published

as a

Philharmonia miniature score

(no.

217).

12

For

more

precise

details see

Edward

R.

Reilly,

"An

Inventory

of

Musical

Scores,"

News

About

Mahler

Research

(Vienna:

Internationale Gustav Mahler

Gesell-

schaft),

no.

2

(December,

1977), 3-5;

Deryck

Cooke, ed.,

A

Performing

Version

of

the

Draftfor

the Tenth

Symphony

New

York:

Associated Music

Publishers,

1976),

pp.

xv-xxii

and passim; Stephen E. Hefling, " 'Variations in nuce':A Study of Mahler Sketches and

a Comment

on

Sketch

Studies,"

Gustav

Mahler

Kolloquium

1979.

Beitrage

'79-81

der

Osterreichischen

Gesellschaft ir

Musik

(Kassel:

Barenreiter,

1981),

pp.

102-126;

and

idem,

"The

Composition

of Mahler's

'Ich bin der Welt

abhanden

Gekommen,'"

in

Gustav

Mahler,

ed. Hermann

Danuser,

Wege

der

Forschung,

Vol

653

(Darmstadt:

Wissenschaftlichen

Buchgesellschaft,

1992),

pp.

96-158.


6/50

DAS LIED

VON DER

ERDE

last

weeks of

his

life.l3

As

was

customary

at

the

time,

piano

reductions

of his

symphonies

were

issued,

but Mahler

took

no

part

in

their

prep-

aration; all were made by other distinguished musicians commis-

sioned

by

the

publishers

for the

task.'4

His

modus

operandi

was

slightly

different

in

the

composition

of

lieder,

for

two

apparent

reasons.

Writing

a

song

was

generally

a

quicker,

more

spontaneous

undertaking;

whereas

a

symphony

might

occupy

Mahler

for

weeks,

he

could write a

song

one

day

and

orchestrate

it

the

next.l5

And as noted

above,

from

1892

on,

the

instrumental medium

for

all

of

Mahler's

songs (except

"Liebst du um

Sch6nheit")

was either

orchestra or

piano,

which is

reflected

in

the

nature of

the

preliminary

manuscripts. After the early sketches, Mahler proceeded to make one

or more

quasi-pianistic

drafts,

usually

on

three

staves.

Here,

as

in

the

symphonic

short

score,

he

established

the

continuity

of

the

composi-

tion,

occasionally

noting

essential

features of

instrumentation-yet

elements

of

pianist

conception

are

frequently

apparent

in

the

texture.

These

drafts were

followed

by

the fair

copy

for

voice

and

piano.

To

the

best

of

our

knowledge,

Mahler

made no

orchestral drafts

for his

lieder,

but

instead

proceeded

directly

to the

fair

copy

of

the

orchestral

score;

then

came revisions in

the

Stichvorlage,

proof

sheets,

etc.

Thus,

297

the quasi-pianistic drafts and fair copy of the piano version effectively

replace

the

symphonic

short

score

in

the

compositional

process

of

Mahler's

songs.

'3

In

December

1909

Mahler

wrote to

Bruno

Walter,

apparently

in

all

serious-

ness,

that "... I

should

like to

publish

new editions of

my

scores

every

5

years

. .

."

(GMB2,

no.

429

[GMBE,

no.

407]).

He

completed

his

last

revision of

the Fifth

Sym-

phony

in

February

1911,

a

fortnight

before the

onset

of

his

fatal illness

(see

GMB2,

no.

463

[GMBE,

no.

443]).

14

Viz.,

Josef

Venantius von

Woss

(Das

klagende

Lied and

the

Third,

Fourth,

Eighth,

and Ninth

Symphonies);

Bruno Walter

(First

and

Second

Symphonies,

four

hands); Hermann Behn (Second Symphony, two pianos, four hands); Otto Singer

(Fifth

Symphony);

Alexander von

Zemlinsky

(Sixth

Symphony);

and

Alfredo

Casella

(Seventh

Symphony).

'5

According

to the

chronicle

of

Natalie

Bauer-Lechner,

this

was

Mahler's

pro-

cedure

in

writing

seven

songs

during

the

summer

of

1901:

three

Rickert

lieder

("Ich

bin

der Welt

abhanden

gekommen"

was

composed slightly

later),

the

last of

the

Wunderhorn

songs,

and

apparently

three

Kindertotenlieder;

ee

Herbert

Killian,

ed.,

Gustav

Mahler

in

den

Erinnerungen

von

Natalie

Bauer-Lechner,

revised

and

expanded

ed.

with

annotations

by

Knud

Martner

[hereafter

NBL2]

(Hamburg:

Karl

Dieter

Wagner,

1984),

p.

193;

the

original

edition

of

Bauer-Lechner

(1923)

has

been

translated

by

Dika

Newlin as

Recollections

of

Gustav

Mahler,

ed. and

annotated

by

Peter

Franklin

(Cam-

bridge:

Cambridge

University

Press,

1980)

[hereafter

NBLE];

see

p. 173.

(Concerning

the complex chronology of the Kindertotenlieder,ee de La Grange,

2:

1140-1142, and

Christopher

0.

Lewis,

"On

the

Chronology

of

the

Kindertotenlieder,"

Revue

Mahler

Review

[Paris]

1

[1987],

21-37.)

Another

case

in

point

is

the

Wunderhorn

song

"Rhein-

legendchen":

the

piano

fair

copy

is

dated

9

August

1893

(Berlin,

Staatsbibliothek

PreuB3ischer

Kulturbesitz,

Mus.

ms.

Autogr.

Mahler

i),

and

the

orchestral

score

was

completed

the next

day

(New

York,

Pierpont

Morgan Library,

Lehman

Deposit).


7/50

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

TABLE

1

The Sources for Das Lied von der Erde

Movement

Date

Description

1

14.

Aug.

1908

2 Juli 1908

3

1.

August

1908

298

4 21.

Aug.

1908

5

6

1. September 908

All

Sketch

page.'

One

side,

related

to mm.

199-236

of

the orchestral

version,

but

from m.

203

on a half tone

higher

(F#

minor

instead

of F

minor).

Plate

2 below.

Piano Version*

Orchestral Draft+

(currently

missing)

Full

Score

o

Piano Version*

Orchestral

Draft-:

(currently

missing)

Full Score

o

Short

Score'

(Accolade:

Tenor

oder

Sopran

Clavier)

Piano

Version*

Orchestral

Drafts

Full

Score

o

Piano Version*

Orchestral Draft

Full

Score

0

Piano

Version*

Orchestral Draft0

Full

Score

Short Score?

(Title

page:

Der

Abschied

Clavierauszug

Mong-Kao-Jen

Wang-

Wei)

Piano

Version*

Orchestral Draft?

Full

Score

o

Stichvorlage;' copyist

unidentified. Con-

tains

autograph

markings,

but far

fewer

than

usually

encountered in

such

scores;

also

includes corrections

by

other hands.

Prepared

for

press

by Josef

Venantius

von

Woss.

Collection of

Henry-Louis

de La

Grange,

Bibliotheque

Musicale Gustav

Mahler, Paris; reproduced below, Plate II.

*Collection of

John

Kallir,

Scarsdale,

NY.

+Formerly

in

possession

of

Richard

Specht; photofacsimiles

of

the last

page

in

Moderne

Welt,

Gustav Mahler

Heft,

III/7

(1921-22),

32;

of

the title

page

and

opening

sheet

of

music,

in

Specht,

Gustav

Mahler

(Berlin

and


8/50

DAS LIED

VON

DER ERDE

TABLE

1

(cont.)

Leipzig:Schuster& Loeffler, 1913), plates 55 and 58, and also

in

Die Musik

XIII/6

(1913),

between

pp.

368-69.

The

first

page

is

also

reproduced

in

Kurt

Blaukopf,

Gustav

Mahler derder

Zeitgenosse

er

Zukunft

Vienna:

Fritz

Molden,

1969),

p.

284;

paperback

edition

(Kassel:

Barenreiter/Munchen:Deutscher

Taschenbuch

Verlag,

1973),

p.

256.

?New

York

City, Pierpont

Morgan Library,

Robert Owen Lehman De-

posit; photofacsimiles

of the full score in Donald

Mitchell,

Gustav

Mahler,

ol.

3:

Songs

and

Symphonies

f

Life

and Death

Berkeley:

University

of

California

Press,

1985),

pp.

172, 214, 250, 274,

312,

and

338.

@lTwo

pages

are

reproduced

in

Specht,

GustavMahler

1913),

plates

56

and

57.

"Vienna,

Gesellschaftder Musikfreunde,A

315;

photofacsimile,

irst

page

of

the short

score,

in

Kurt

Blaukopf, comp.

and

ed.,

Mahler:

A

Documentary

Study

(New

York: Oxford

University

Press,

1976),

plate

284.

"Vienna,

Stadt-

und

Landesbibliothek,

MH

9482/c.

?The

Hague,

Gemeentemuseum,

Willem

Mengelberg

Stichting;

photofac-

similes

in Rudolf

Stephan, comp.

and

ed.,

Gustav

Mahler.Werk nd

Interpre-

tation

Cologne:

Arno

Volk

Verlag,

1979), 48-50;

Hermann

Danuser,

Gustav

Mahler:Das

Liedvonder

Erde,

Meisterwerkeder

Musik

(Munich:

Wilhelm Fink

Verlag,

1986),

facsimilesII

and III

following

p.

139;

and

Mitchell,

369, 375,

299

417, 421, 423,

and

426.

>Vienna, Stadt- und Landesbibliothek,on loan from Universal Edition.

See

also

Ernst

Hilmar,

"Mahleriana n der

Wiener Stadt-

und

Landesbi-

bliothek,"

Nachrichtenur

Mahler-Forschung,

o.

5

(June 1979),

7.

The

exceptional hybrid

nature

of

Das

Lied

von

der

Erde is

readily

apparent

from the documents

preserved

from

its

gestation.

We

know

of the

autograph

sources shown in

Table

1.16

These sources

unques-

tionably

indicate that

in

the

composition

of

Das Lied von der

Erde,

unlike the earlier

songs,

the

piano

fair

copy

did

not

replace

the

short

score; rather, Mahler considered the version for voices and

piano

essential to

his

conception

of

the work

throughout

its

genesis.

Careful

comparison

of

the

manuscripts

reveals that all

movements

of

the

key-

board

setting

were written

before

the

fair

copy

of

the orchestral

full score.

Many

details

suggest

that

for

movements

2

and

4,

the

piano

version antedates

the

corresponding

orchestral

draft,

while for

movements

3

and

5,

the order was

probably

the

reverse

(orchestral

draft before

piano

version).

It is

difficult

to

establish this

chronol-

ogy

with utter

certainty

because Mahler

frequently-although

not

consistently-incorporated the additions and revisions made in one of

these

manuscripts

into

the

other. For the

final

movement,

however,

16

Cf. also Edward R.

Reilly,

"The

Manuscripts

of

Das

Lied

von der

Erde,"

Appen-

dix

A in

Mitchell,

pp.

617-619.


9/50

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

traces

of

the

compositional

process

in

the

long

instrumental

interlude

clearly

indicate that

the orchestral draft

of this section

preceded

the

keyboard manuscript (see

also

below,

pp.

332-337).

As

noted

above,

both

the dates found in

the

sources and

the

publication

of

Bethge's

texts

indicate that

the

majority

of

Das Lied

von

der

Erde,

and

perhaps

the whole of

it,

was written

during

the

summer

of

1908.I7

With

respect

to the

chronological

relation

between

the

orchestral drafts and

the

piano

version

tentatively

suggested

above,

these dates

may

designate

the

points

at

which

Mahler

considered

the

various

movements

essentially

complete,

in

that

they

had

achieved a

stage

of

continuity

and

refinement

beyond

the short

score:

apparently

for

movements

2

and

4

this

was

the

keyboard manuscript,

and

for

movements

1

and 6

the

orchestral draft. In

any

case,

it is

noteworthy

that these four

movements of

Das Lied

are the

last of

Mahler's com-

positions

dated

in

the

manuscript.

After

he left Toblach

for

the summer

Mahler

copied

out

the full

score,

presumably

during

the autumn

and

winter of

1908-09.

While

working

on

the full

score he

returned to

the

piano

version to

make at

least one

further revision in

the first

movement:

originally,

neither

300

manuscript

contained four bars

that

are

added

as

inserts in

both

(see

below,

pp.

308-311).

Thus the

setting

for

voices

and

piano

was still

part

of Mahler's overall

conception

as

the fair

copy

of

the full

score

was

being

written.

All

of

the

preceding

evidence

indicates

that

the

composer

planned

on

a

thorough

editing

of

the

piano

version-a

task

he never

completed.

On

21

May

1910

he

signed

a

contract with

Universal

Edition for

the

publication

of

both

the

Ninth

Symphony

and Das

Lied

von

der

Erde;

thereby

UE

was

"obligated

to

publish

a

piano

reduction

of each of

the two

works,"

and an

insertion in

Mahler's hand

specifies

"of the

Song

of

the Earth a

2-hands

[reduction]

with

text."'8

Very

likely

he knew that this task would be

undertaken

by

Josef

Venantius

von

Woss,

whose

piano-vocal

score

of

the

Eighth

Symphony

pleased

Mahler

greatly.s9

We do not

know

precisely why

he

abandoned his

own

version of

Das Lied for

piano,

but

lack of

time

doubtless influ-

enced this

decision:

Mahler knew

that

his

heart

condition

could

17

See n.

2 above.

18

"Sie

sind

verpflichtet

Partitur und

Stimmen der

beiden

Werke in

Stich

her-

stellen zu

lassen u.

z.

hat die

Fertigstellung

des

Materiales

innerhalb

9

Monate nach

der

Urauffiihrung

zu

erfolgen.

Ueberdies

sind

Sie

verpflichtet

von

jedem

der

beiden

Werke einen Klavierauszug / vom Lied von der Erde einen 2 handigen mit Text / heraus-

zugeben

und

die Partitur

zu

Studienzwecken in

der

iiblichen

billigen

Ausgabe

zum

Vertrieb zu

bringen."

Archives of

Universal

Edition, Vienna;

the

italicized insert

is

in

Mahler's hand.

19

Letter

of

26 November

1909

to Emil

Hertzka,

Director of

Universal

Edition;

see Hans

Moldenhauer,

"Unbekannte

Briefe

Gustav

Mahlers

an Emil

Hertzka,"

Neue

Zeitschriftfiir

Musik

135 (1974),

544.


10/50

DAS LIED

VON

DER

ERDE

shorten

his

life;

his duties

in

New

York

were

taxing;

the

previous

summer

(1909)

he had been

engrossed

in the

composition

of the

Ninth

Symphony,

and

may already

have

begun

the

Tenth;

and the

complex preparations

for

the

September

1910

premiere

of

the

Eighth

Symphony

were

already

underway.

It

is not

known whether von

Woss

was familiar with

Mahler's

piano autograph

of Das Lied von der

Erde;

in

any

case,

the reduction

published

by

Universal

in

1912

differs

greatly

from

the

composer's

version.

Whereas

von

W6ss

attempted

to transcribe

all

of the

orches-

tral texture

that could

possibly

be realized at the

keyboard,

Mahler

had

sought

to create

not

merely

a

reduction,

but a

setting

of

the work

for

keyboard eminently

suited

to the nature of

the instrument.

Thus,

despite

the

complexity

of

the music

in

the

short

scores and orchestral

drafts,

he

did

not hesitate

occasionally

to

dispense

with

notable fea-

tures

of the musical fabric

in

making

it more

idiomatic

for

the

piano.20

Thirty

years

after

von

W6ss's

arrangement

appeared,

a

less

compli-

cated

keyboard

reduction was

prepared

by

Erwin

Stein,

who

may

have

known of Mahler's

version.2"

If

so,

he made but little use of

it,

for his solutions

to

the

problems

of

adapting

this

music for

piano

are

notably

less

elegant

than Mahler's.

301

The

State

of the

Manuscript

On the

whole,

the

piano autograph

of Das

Lied von

der

Erde is a fair

copy.22

We

will

examine several

instructive variants

20

It

is

noteworthy

that Bruno Walter

apparently

considered

giving

the first

Vi-

ennese

performance

of

Das

Lied von der Erde at

the

keyboard,

as

a

recently

published

letter

from

Alban

Berg

to Arnold

Schoenberg

reveals:

"I

heard

privately

that the

Merker is

sponsoring

a matinee

during

the Music Festival

[Wiener

Musikfestwoche,

ate

June

1912]:

Rose

will

play

a

Beethoven

Quartet-and,

of

all the tasteless

things:

Walter

will play Das Lied von der Erde on the piano with Weidemann and Miller...." (dated 5

June

1912;

in

Juliane

Brand,

Christopher

Hailey,

and

Donald

Harris,

eds.,

The

Berg-

Schoenberg

Correspondence:

elected

Letters,

trans.

J.

Brand

and C.

Hailey

[New

York:

W. W. Norton &

Co.,

1987],

p.

94;

the German text

will

be found in Hermann

Danuser,

Gustav

Mahler: Das Lied

von der

Erde,

Meisterwerke

der Musik

[Munich:

Wilhelm Fink

Verlag,

1986],

p.

117).

This

projected

performance

did not

take

place,

and

was not

publicly

announced

in

either Der Merker

or the Neue

Freie

Presse;

nonetheless,

it

suggests

that

Walter

(unlike

Berg)

knew

Mahler had

originally planned

the

work for

orchestra

or

piano.

(Walter

had

given

the orchestral

premiere

of Das

Lied

in

Munich on

20

November

1911;

he,

Miller,

and

Weidemann

duly

presented

the first

Viennese

performance-with

orchestra-on

4

November

1912.)

21

Stein's edition

is

copyrighted

1942,

Universal Edition/Hawkes & Son Ltd.

(London), plate number 3391. His book Orpheusn New Guises London: Rockliff, 1953),

opp.

p.

7,

includes a facsimile of one

page

from the fourth

movement

of

Mahler's

piano

autograph.

22

The format is

upright,

34.5

X

26.2

cm.,

on

16- and

18-line

bifolia

bearing

the

colophon

"J.[oseph]

E.[berle]

&

Co.,"

a

paper type

Mahler used

regularly

after his

return

to

Vienna

in

1897.

The basic

layer

of

writing

is

black

ink,

with

corrections and

additions

in

pencil,

red

ink,

red

pencil,

and blue

crayon.


11/50

THE

JOURNAL

OF MUSICOLOGY

from the orchestral version

below,

but

a

preliminary

overview here

will be useful

for

orientation. The three inner

songs

are

the clearest

(see e.g.

Plate

4

from the third

movement), and contain fewer cor-

rections and substantive differences from

the orchestral version than

the more

complex

outer movements. The first

movement is

the least

refined

in

the

keyboard

manuscript,

and

includes a

major

structural

transposition

as well as a

notably

different

reading

in

the final stro-

phe.

And numbers

2,

3,

and

6 contain a few short

passages

that were

slightly expanded

in

the full score.

In

all

movements

except

the

third

and fourth Mahler

subsequently

modified the

poetic

texts,

and

re-

vised the

punctuation

in all of

them. The titles of

numbers

2

through

5

were

changed

as well.

Every

movement

of

the

piano

autograph

contains

differences

from

the

orchestral version in

pitch,

accidentals,

and

precision

of

rhythmic

notation. And

characteristically,

Mahler

continually

modi-

fied the

performance

indications

(tempo,

dynamics,

phrasing

and ar-

ticulation,

special

nuances)

throughout

the

genesis

of

the

composi-

tion. No

doubt he would have

corrected most of

the

discrepancies

between

keyboard

and

orchestral scores had

he

supervised

the

pub-

302

lication of the

work,

yet

this

cannot be

assumed

unilaterally.

Careful

comparison

of the

sources

for

the Rtickert

songs

and the Kindertoten-

lieder reveals that while

the

piano

and

orchestral versions

gradually

grew

more

concordant-especially

in

details of

pitch

and

poetic

text-

discrepancies

between the two

published

versions,

which

Mahler saw

through

the

press,

nevertheless remain.23

Some are

perhaps

inadvert-

ent,

but others seem

clearly

intentional,

the

product

of the

compos-

er's

long

experience

as

pianist

and vocal

coach,

which cannot

be re-

duced

to editorial

principles.24

An

exhaustive

examination

of

Das Lied von

der Erde in

Mahler's

keyboard setting

is

beyond

the

scope

of a

single

article.

What follows

here is a

review

of

the

autograph's

more

instructive

features,

with

special

attention

to

musical and

textual

divergences

from

the full

score that illuminate

significant

aspects

of

the work

in

its latest

stage

of

gestation.

And this will

include examination of

several

questionable

passages

in

the orchestral

score

of

the

Kritische

Gesamtausgabe-spots

that

in

some

cases

probably,

and

in

several

instances almost

certainly,

23

See also vols.

XIII/3-4

and

XIV/3-4

of the

Kritische

Gesamtausgabe,

d. Zoltan

Roman.

24

Accordingly,

after

considerable

reflection

it

was

decided that for

the

Kritische

Gesamtausgabe

he

piano

version would

be

presented

with

minimal

editorial

revision;

details

concerning problematic

passages

are

provided

in

the

critical

report.


12/50

DAS

LIED

VON

DER ERDE

contain

wrong

notes.

The

principal

subheadings

of

the next six sec-

tions

reproduce

the titles

of

the movements

as

they

appear

in the new

source.

Nro.

1. / Das Trinkliedvom

/Jammer

der Erde Aus dem

Chinesischen

es Li-Tai-Po. / mit theilweiser

Beniitzung

der

Bethgenschen

[sic]

Ubertragung.

[Accolade:]

Tenor Clavier

Form and

Tonality

Robert

Bailey

has

lucidly

observed

that the first movement of Das

Lied von der

Erde

is

an

extraordinary

union of

strophic

lied and sonata

form,

as illustrated

in

the

proportional diagram

of

Figure

1

below.25

It

is

a

perfect

binary

structure: the

first half

(202 mm.)

consists

of

two

expositions

(the

second

varied),

which

present

the first two stanzas

of

the

poem,

while the

second half

(203

mm.)

comprises

a

development

and curtailed

recapitulation spanned

by

the

third

strophe,

which bi-

sects

the

development

and

presses

forward into the

reprise.26

Motific

element

X

is the main orchestral

motive

based

on

the

pentatonic

cell

that

pervades

much of the

work.

The tonal center

of

the movement as

a whole is

A

(major/minor),

and

as is

well

known,

each

of

the

three

303

poetic

stanzas

is

punctuated by

the

recurring

refrain

(1),

"Dunkel

ist

25

Bailey,

"Das Lied von

der

Erde:

Tonal

Language

and Formal

Design,"

paper

presented

at the

Forty-Fourth

Annual

Meeting

of

the American

Musicological Society,

Minneapolis,

October

1978;

a modified version

of

Professor

Bailey's

analytical diagram

is

presented

here with his

kind

permission.

Analysis

of the first

movement with

respect

to sonata-form

procedure

dates at least to the work of

Ernest

W.

Mulder,

Gustav

Mahler: "Das Lied von der

Erde,"

een

critisch-analytische

tudie

(Amsterdam:

Uitgerers

Maatschappij

[1951]),

pp.

9-26,

and has

recently

been

pursued

by

Danuser,

p.

37

ff.

For discussion

of the

literature

on the work see

Susanne

Vill,

Vermittlungsformen

er-

balisierterund musikalischer nhalte in derMusikGustavMahlers,Frankfurter Beitrage zur

Musikwissenschaft,

vol.

6

(Tutzing:

Hans

Schneider,

1979),

pp.

155-190,

and de La

Grange,

3, 1136-1 138.

Mitchell's

Songs

and

Symphoniesof

Life

and

Death includes

de-

tailed examination

of all six

movements.

26

The first movements

of

Mahler's Second and

Fourth

Symphonies

are addi-

tional

examples

of sonata form with a

varied second

exposition (beginning

at mm.

64

and

72

respectively);

in

the

latter

case,

Mahler's

familiarity

with the historical

notion of

sonata form as

binary

is documented

by

a

page

of

the short

score

containing

references

to the

development

as both

"Durchfiihrung"

and as

"zweiter Theil."

(This

sheet is

located

at

Stanford

University;

see Nathan van

Patten,

A

Memorial

Library

of

Music

at

Stanford

University

Stanford,

Cal.: Stanford

University

Press,

1950],

no.

633;

a

photo-

facsimile

will

be found

in

Constantin

Floros,

Gustav

Mahler,

vol.

3:

Die

Symphonien

[Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1985], p. 332. Concerning historical terminology in

discussions

of

sonata form see Fred

Ritzel,

Die

Entwicklung

der

"Sonatenform"

m

musik-

theoretischen

Schrifttum

des 18. und 19.

Jahrhunderts,

2nd

ed.

[Wiesbaden:

Breitkopf

&

Hirtel,

1969],

pp.

196-237,

and

Birgitte

Plesner

Vinding Moyer,

"Concepts

of

Musical

Form in

the Nineteenth

Century,

with

Special

Reference

to A. B.

Marx and

Sonata

Form"

[Ph.D.

diss.,

Stanford

University, 1969].)


13/50

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

FIGURE

1. Formal

scheme,

first

movement

(final version).

Exposition1

1 17

33

49 65

81

1

st

Strophe

I

1~~~~~~~~~-,

(P)

x

_

u

00

Bb

a-CC

a

g

V

Dn

Exposition

97 112 129 145 161 177 193

12nd

Strophe

ex.

?

IB

ext.

~

IX

X

I

~I

-I

I-

BC-

C

' a

Development

203 219

235

304

X X

251

Recapitulation

267

283 299

315

331 347 363 379

395

3rd

Strophe (R) (

I

YX

f

;

f^

f;^

Yv ka-

-C

(A,;A

- a

xf

r.

$1

.I

.

j.

11

l~~' ifr'

Ir'

J.

?'lf'~r'-i

1J.

JIc

(welkt

hin und

stirbt...)

Dun-kel ist

das

-ben, ist der Tod.

Le-ben,

ist der Tod.

das

Leben,

ist

der

Tod": its

first

occurrence

is in

G

minor,

the second

in

Ak

minor,

and the third

in

the

tonic,

A

minor. The successive

appearances

of

the

refrain,

rising by

semitone,

intensify

the

poi-

gnance

of this crucial line

of

poetry.27

This

ascending

tonal

progres-

27

This

compositional

procedure,

characteristic

of

Wagner's

mature

works,

has

been termed

"expressive tonality" by

Bailey

(see

his article "The Structure of

the

Ring

f

k,


14/50

DAS

LIED

VON

DER ERDE

sion is not

merely

an

expressive

detail,

but underscores

the

integra-

tion of the three

strophes

into a musical

structure that is

binary

and

sonata-like.28 Ab is the movement's main secondary tonal center: the

double

exposition

concludes

in

that

tonality,

and

the

development

focuses

on

Al,

coupled

with

the

adjunct

third-related

key

of F

minor.

And

the abbreviated

reprise,

concurrent

with the return to

the tonic

of

A,

arrives

mid-way through

the

third

strophe.

In

short,

the blend-

ing

and balance of

symphonic

and

strophic procedures

is

utterly

re-

markable.

But the

piano

autograph

contains

evidence of a

different tonal

organization

in

the movement's

first

strophe,

as is

readily

apparent

from Plate

i:

this earlier

version

is

diagrammed in the lower half of

Figure

2

(and

for

convenient

reference,

the

upper

half of

Figure

2

reproduces

from

Figure

1

the

analysis

of the

corresponding

section in

the orchestral

version).

Originally,

mm.

45-52

of

the

printed

score

(which

contain

a

foreshadowing

of

the

refrain)

were not

part

of

the

piece.

Instead,

at the

top

of folio

1)2

in

the

piano autograph,

bars

45-46

were

as shown in

Example

1

(cf.

also

Plate

i;

the lower version

of the voice

part

is

probably

the

later).29

Except

for

the

vocal

cadence,

this is music familiar from

m.

53

ff. of

the orchestral

score-but

one

305

tone

higher (locally,

E minor

instead of

D

minor). The rest

of

the

strophe

proceeded

at this

relative

pitch

level,

cadencing

with

the re-

frain

in A

minor

rather

than

G minor.

Mahler

changed

all

of

this

by

marking

an insert

sign

(Y)

at

the

end

of

m.

44

on folio

1)'

and

writing

the

passage

we

know as

bars

45-52

on

the verso of

the movement's

title

sheet,

beginning

in

Bb,

minor

(see

Example

2).

He marked this

splice

with

the insert

sign

as

well,

then returned to the

top

of folio

1)2

and

wrote

"'1/

Ton

tiefer/

D-moll"

("one

tone

lower/D

minor")

in

blue

crayon.

In

addition,

he

also canceled the vocal

line of this

spot

with

crayon ("klingen"-see

Plate

1)

and revised bar

44

(the

last measure of

folio

1)1)

to

accom-

modate the

splice. Finally

Mahler made

adjustments

in

ink

to what is

now m.

96,

and wrote "X

Original"

at m.

97

to

indicate that

the

transposition

was

no

longer

in

effect.

and its

Evolution,"

19th

Century

Music 1

[1977],

51-52),

and

it is

by

no means

uncom-

mon in

Mahler's music.

28

To

achieve

this,

Mahler's

setting

of

"Das Trinklied

vom

Jammer

der

Erde"

combines the third and fourth

stanzas of

Bethge's

Nachdichtung,whereby

an

occurrence

of the refrain is omitted.

29

Mahler

regularly

numbered

the bifolia

(Bdgen)

of his

manuscripts

with

arabic

numerals

followed

by

a

single parenthesis,

but did not

number

the

single

sheets;

if

reference to a

specific

page

was

necessary,

he

made

annotations such as

"Einlage

4

Takte

Bogen

5

Seite

2"

(from

instructions for

an insert

in

the

full

score of the

first

movement;

see

below).

His

system

is

preserved

here:

superscripted

numerals

indicate

the

page

within

a numbered bifolium.


15/50

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

PLATE 1.

"Das

Trinklied vom

Jammer

der

Erde,"

piano

autograph,

folio

i)2.

Reproduced

through

the

courtesy

of Mr.

John

Kallir.

1iL-i"*;x.

;

_

.."'".,~

. . . .

~--'

..

"-

306

Equally

instructive

in

light

of

this revision

is the

single

surviving

sketch sheet

for

the first

movement of Das

Lied von der

Erde,

which

is

reproduced as Plate 2 below, p. 310: this is preliminary material for

the

developmental

interlude

preceding

the third

strophe.

From

the

fourth bar

on,

the

sketch

is

clearly

related

to

mm.

203-236

of

the

published

score,

but is

written a

semitone

higher--F$

minor/A

major

instead

of F

minor/Ab

major,

as

indicated

by

the

key

signature

of

--- --


16/50

DAS LIED

VON

DER ERDE

FIGURE

2.

First

movement,

first

half,

comparison

of

final

and earlier

versions.

Exposition

1

Exposition

2

1 17 33 49 65

81

I

1st

Strophe

I

X

((R)

W

X I

X

Y

I

I

I . . . .

I:

'_.

Ba

a-C

\a

I

I g

f

97 112

129

145

161

177

193

2nd

Strophe

et.

I

(R)

Y

I

x

~I

C

I

X

IX

I I

l

BK

Ia

V

\a

I

Earlier

Version

(corrected

n

piano

MS)

I

17

33

1

49

65

181

l

st Strophel

X

X

Y

>

.a

97 113

129

145 161 177

2nd Strophe

x

[etc.]

X

[etc.]

BC

C- -a

Q 9

1I

a,

.q

93

307

0

.0

-

=

)

0

three

sharps.

This

evidence,

together

with the

transposition

found

in

the

piano

autograph, strongly suggests

that

Mahler

initially

planned

to set the text

strophically,

with

expanding

instrumental

interludes,

but without

significant

structural modulation

away

from

the tonic

centrality

of

A;

such had been his

procedure

in

the

first

of the Kinder-

totenlieder,

for

example.

Thus

only gradually

did the

possibility

of

shaping

the structure to

resemble

first-movement

symphonic

form

occur to him. Alma Mahler hints at such an evolution during the

composition

of

Das

Lied when she writes

that Mahler "found himself

drawn

more and more to his true musical

form-the

symphony."30

30

Alma

Mahler,

p.

139.

I

1

i

B

a

I-


17/50

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

EXAMPLE

1. Piano

autograph,

folio

1)2,

mm.

45-46,

original

layer.

Mahler,

Das Lied von der

Erde,

Critical Edition

by

Hef-

ling.

?

Copyright 1989 by

Universal

Edition

A.G.,

Wien.

All

rights

reserved. Used

by

permission

of

Eu-

ropean


Corporation,

sole

U.S. and Canadian

agent

for Universal Edition

Vienna.

A

I I

A

--r

klin

- -

gen

rpp

ubit

j

a*

subito

J

--

*

f

*J

J

I

J

I

(etc.)

308

In

that

respect,

these

alterations

in

the first movements

were de-

cisive,

and contribute

to

the balance and

import

of the whole in

at

least

three

ways.

First,

the refrain is now

adumbrated

halfway

through

the

first

exposition,

at the

corresponding point

and in

the

same

key

that

it

was

already

to

be foreshadowed

in

the

second

expo-

sition. This

heightens

the

similarity

between

these

portions

of

the

structure,

even

though

the second

exposition

is

ultimately

a

subtle

expansion

of

approximately

25%

over

the

first

(cf.

Figure

i;

see also

below).

Second,

the addition of

eight

bars to

the

first

half of

the

overall

binary

form

makes

the

double

exposition

more

nearly equal

to

the

development

and

reprise.

Third,

and most

significantly,

both ex-

positions

now modulate-the most essential

characteristic

of

sonata

form-and

Ab/f

is

clearly

established as the

secondary

tonal center of

the

movement

as a

whole.

Meanwhile, however,

the

rising

recurrence

of the refrain is both

tonally

symmetrical

and

dynamically

progressive

in

its threefold

emphasis

of the line

that

so

simply

and

eloquently

epitomizes

the central

poetic

idea of the

movement.

An

Addition

to the

Second

Strophe

As

noted

above,

Mahler made at least one

revision

in

the

piano

autograph

while he was at work on the full score. This was the inser-

tion

of

mm.

163-166,

which

effect the twofold

repetition

of

the words

"ist mehr wert"

in

the

penultimate

sentence

of

the second

strophe:

"Ein

voller Becher

Weins

zur

rechten

Zeit ist

mehr wert als alle

Reiche

dieser Erde"

("A

brimming cup

of

wine

at

the

right

time is

worth


18/50

DAS LIED VON DER ERDE

EXAMPLE

2.

Piano

autograph,

insert

of

mm.

45-52.

Mahler,

Das

Lied von der

Erde,

Critical

Edition

by

Hefling.

?

Copy-

right 1989 by

Universal Edition

A.

G.,

Wien. All

rights

reserved. Used

by

permission

of

European

American

Music

Distributors

Corporation,

sole U.S.

and Cana-

dian

agent

for Universal Edition

Vienna.

-Y

309

more than all the kingdoms of this earth"; see Example

3).31

Thereby

Mahler takes

advantage

of

potentially

fortuitous

parallelism

in

stro-

phic composition,

as

Schubert

and

other masters of

the lied had

done.

Through

this

expansion

the

passage

from m.

162

to

169

becomes

more

precisely congruent

with

mm.

62-69

in

the

first

strophic expo-

sition,

where the words "die

Garten

der

Seele,

So

er-stirbt

.

."

require

more music than "ist mehr

wert

als

Al-(le)

...

"32

This

further under-

31

In

the

autograph

full

score,

these

measures are an insert

that

appears

following

the last page of the movement, with the directive cited in n. 29 above; in the piano MS

they

were

notated

at the foot of

the

page

they

are to

expand,

with

pen

and ink

distinctly

different

from

what was used on the rest of

the sheet. The same

orange-brown crayon

was used

to

cue both inserts.

32

The

line

quoted

here from the first

strophe

("the

gardens

of

the

soul,

so dies

...")

was

subsequently

altered to

".

. .

welkt

hin

und

stirbt

..."

("dries

up

and

dies")

in

the orchestral

version;

see also below.


19/50

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

PLATE

2.

First

movement,

sketch

sheet,

related to

mm.

199-236.

Reproduced through

the

courtesy

of the

M.

Henry-Louis

de La

Grange

and the

Bibliotheque

Musicale

Gustav

Mahler,

Paris.

....

i;::_ .~:_:

.....................=~

............::

>.,~

.

:..=

...........................................................................

::::::.:::::..::

:;.:^:

:^-.^-::.::-::::.:.::^.-:^:-..:::::::::.:.::::::::::.:::-:---::--...............-:---^-:-I:^::.-.-.:.-:..:

::::...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.

......... - --

--

-

-:--;

.............------.:--

......

,'.

.

...

.

.

........

fa~~~~~~~~~~~.::......-E:{- k.3...3....._.=.........

..........

;;e

I

...

.....~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.i..

X~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~---?--=---??

. -h.

~::::

:...

.......- ..

:"""`

~~~----i~~

~~~~~~~~~.

.. ........

.

................ ..........

........

...

;..

.........

......,::.........................

.............

_ ........+..-...-. '"'"

=, "'

;

-.-.

.. T ' ..I.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...

--- ??----- = =.'----- ;??????

.-

........... ..............

:

...............:::.:-:::::::

{ W... .............~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.w._...................... ...---.

3.

__

..............

.

....................-::'-:

..... :.--.-^_..

....

..__

:...... . ..........._. ... . .... .

............................._

........................................

.................-.......

..

...~... --~.~.-1;.~1.~..

i

..I

t.??~~~~

""

~

n

:

^

: i

i

i

i::

':i

.;

310

= - . ..

..

.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.......

...I........

.. ..

_...

. . .

.. .

. . .

..

.. .

.

....... ........... .

... .. . .........

._

4

.t

.....

- =

.........

-

.........

_ _....

.

.............................

.

..

..

~gk_jfr

. I

i

_

I

I

.

........

.....................=

....

_

?

--======================

.............

= .................

....................

.. ......

..

. ........

.............

..........................................

i-

.

:

..........

............

.........................

_::......

........

........

.

...............

. ............

.................:::: ::: :::::::...-..

......: :

:::

::

......................................

........

...

.

= . - . .

........

_.

...........

..................

.

....

...

.........

..

.......- i ----.--

=

.......

. ......

.

..........

...............

..............

.i

::::::::::

''.-.'..::

.:

''...

_---~ --?- r-i---?. __

_

_^__

__ __

.

.........._._

.. ??:?l-?ri~i~.t_.__i

ii?-....

--- ?I?-- ?---::

f :: ff:

:h

?--- -????-----,


20/50

DAS

LIED

VON

DER

ERDE

EXAMPLE

3. Piano

autograph,

insert

to

folio

2)'

(mm.

163-166).

Mahler,

Das Lied von der

Erde,

Critical Edition

by

He-

fling.

?

Copyright 1989 by

Universal Edition

A.G.,

Wien.

All

rights

reserved. Used

by permission

of Eu-

ropean


Corporation,

sole

U.S.

and

Canadian

agent

for

Universal Edition Vienna.

hr

ert

> >

r

r

werth

i

mehr

werth ist mehr werth

ist

( I [

L J J ^

Lt

3

scores the

similarity

between the two

strophes

and balances

the

binary

structure of

the

movement

as

a

whole;

and more

obviously,

the

word

repetition emphasizes

the

singer's

nihilistic

passion

for

wine as an

311

escape

from

the wretchedness

of

the human condition.

A

Problem

of

Pitch: mm. 75-76 and

177-178

As

discussed

above,

the

autograph

full score of

Das Lied von

der

Erde

clearly represents

a

later

stage

of

composition

than the

piano

version.

Yet because Mahler did not

perform

the work or

correct the

proofs,

it is

not

out of

the

question

that the

orchestral fair

copy

con-

tains

slips

of the

pen

and errors

in

notation

for

transposing

instru-

ments. Mahler

may

also have

overlooked these

in

the

Stichvorlage,

which does

not

contain

his

typically

extensive corrections. Donald

Mitchell has identified one such questionable spot in "Der Ab-

schied";33

others

occur

in

the

finale,

and

in

movements

i,

2

and

5

as

well,

which

will

be noted

presently.

The first movement

presents just

such a case

in

the

recurring

musical

phrase

identified as element

y

in

Figure

1

above.

In

the first

strophic exposition

of the

piano autograph,

the

harmony

of mm.

75-76

includes

eb

'

(see

Example

4a),34

and

the

parallel passage

of

the

second

strophe

shows

fb

,

the

transposed

equivalent,

in mm.

177-178

33

Mitchell,

"Mahler's

'Abschied':

A

Wrong

Note

Righted,"

The

Musical

Quarterly

71

(1985),

200-204.

34

These measures are

in

the

portion

of the

piano autograph

marked

by

Mahler

to be

transposed

down

a whole

tone,

as discussed

above;

the

original

notation of the

pitch

in

question

is f'.


21/50

THE

JOURNAL

OF

MUSICOLOGY

EXAMPLE

4.

rit.

a

>

>

a:

piano

autograph,

mm.

75-76;

b:

piano autograph,

mm.

177-178

(the

voice

rests);

c

and d: KritischeGesamt-

ausgabe,

mm.

75-76

and

177-178 respectively

(har-

monic

reductions);

e:

Japanese pentatonic

scale

form

Hirajoshi,

with

verticalization

forming pitch-class

set

4-Z29.

Mahler,

Das

Lied

von

der

Erde,

Critical

Edition

by

Hefling.

?

Copyright

1989

by

Universal

Edition

A.

G.,

Wien.

All

rights

reserved. Used

by

permission

of

Eu-

ropean


Corporation,

sole

U.S. and Canadian

agent

for

Universal Edition Vienna.

b

rit.

-

,

-

cc d

h,bL7bb$ L'$IIIIII Jlbi

-b?

b

e: . bl li b b

ei'I

i

j

~

\\\\~\I-4.

U

Hirajoshi

4-Z29

(Example

4b).

But

in

the Kritische

Gesamtausgabe

we

find

d'I

(English

horn)

instead of

eb1

in

75-76,

and

eb

1

(1st

horn)

instead of

fb1

in

177-178

(the

respective

harmonies

are

displayed

without

rhythm

in

Examples

4c

and

d).

At issue is a

striking

dissonant

sonority

Mahler

deploys

thrice in the

movement,

to

earmark the

[italicized]

syllables

"So er-stirbt

.

.

."

(m.

69),

"al -le Reiche

.

.."

(m.

169),

and-shortly

before the movement's

recapitulation-"Du,

aber,

Mensch wie

lang

lebst denn du? "

(m.

301;

"But

you,

0 man, how

long

then live

you? ").

This

chord

is a

verticalization

of

pitches

from

the

Japanese

pentatonic

scale

form

Hirajoshi,

as

shown in

Example

4e;35

in

pitch-class

nomen-

35

On

pentatonic

scale forms see Tran Van

Khe,

"Le

pentatonique,

est-il

uni-

versel?

Quelques

reflexions

sur le

pentatonisme,"

The World

of

Music

19/1-2

(1977),

85-91. Exactly

what

Mahler

knew about

pentatonicism

remains

open

to

question,

but

it is

clear as

early

as

the

Fourth

Symphony

(1899-1900,

e.g.

first

movement,

m.

125

ff.)

and

especially

"Ich bin der Welt

abhanden

gekommen"

(19o1)

that he was familiar with

the

traditional

pentatonic

forms

usually

called

'Chinese.' Mahler

may

have heard

orig-

inal oriental music at the Paris

Exhibition of

1900

while on tour

there

with

the Vienna

Philharmonic

(see

de La

Grange,

vol. i: Les chemins

de la

gloire

(1860-1900)

[Paris:

Fayard,

1979],

p.

879,

and also

Judith

Gautier,

Les

musiques

bizarresa

l'Exposition

de 1900

[Paris:

Societe

d'editions litt6raires et

artistiques,

1900]).

In

his last

years

Mahler

ad-

mired

Debussy's

music

and conducted several works

in

concerts of the

New York

Philharmonic,

although

it remains

uncertain

when

he

first

came to know the

French

312


22/50

DAS LIED

VON

DER

ERDE

clature,

it is

set

4-229,

which occurs as an

atonal

configuration

in

the

works of

Schoenberg,

Webern,

Berg, Stravinsky,

and Ives.36

In Mahler's piano version of Das Lied, the tension of this special

sonority

is

prolonged

in

both the first and second

strophes

until the

arrival

of

the cadential subdominant

(in

mm.

77

and

179

respectively)

that ushers

in

the refrain.

The

orchestral sources for the work

read as

follows:

in mm.

75-76

the

fair

copy

and the

Stichvorlage

show

d'

(a'

written

for

English

horn),

with no accidental. But in m.

177

of the full

score Mahler

at first

wrote

eb

(notated

as

bbl'

for the

first

horn),

then

changed

it to e

.

This was

copied

into the

Stichvorlage

b'

for

horn,

no

accidental),

but a flat was

subsequently

added-probably

by

an

editor

other than Mahler. Thus, given that the conflict among the sources

cannot be

decisively

resolved,

conductors should

seriously

consider

adopting

the

pitches

found

in

the

piano

version

of

these bars

(Exam-

ples

4a

and

b).

The Close

of

the Movement

For listeners well

acquainted

with

Das

Lied von der

Erde,

the

most

remarkable variant

in

the

piano

score is the

final

appearance

of

the

refrain.

So

convincing

is

this moment

in

the

orchestral

setting

that it

313

is hard to believe Mahler seriously considered any other version; yet

such was the

case,

as

Example

5

shows.37

Major-minor

chiaroscuro is

a renowned

characteristic of

his

style

overall,

and a marked

feature of

the movement at hand.

Whereas the first two

ref

das lied von der erde mahler's symphony for voices and orchestra — or piano

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