Page 238 - Vinkler, Jonatan, in Jernej Weiss. ur. 2014. Musica et Artes: ob osemdesetletnici Primoža Kureta. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem.
P. 238
musica et artes
then be asked: why did Mahler make these changes? Was it simply for variety
or was there some interaction between the motifs? The progress of the F sharp
major theme gives some clues. It is gradually transformed and infiltrated with
the opening theme in such a way that its character is undermined. When it
has virtually disappeared, in a violent dramatic moment, Mahler introduces
new elements, the organ-like chords and a huge nine-note dissonance, which
completely change the nature of the movement. The dissonant chord is left
with a high piercing A, played by the trumpet. After this episode the music
fades into a sketchy texture as in certain movements from his symphonies of
his last period, with the main F sharp theme scarcely in evidence.
Just like the first movement which produces a conflict between themes
which affect each other, so in the second movement marked scherzo, there
is conflict between the exultant opening theme which has frequent chang-
es of bar lengths and the main trio section, a slow and heavy Ländler in a
steady and regular 3/4 metre. It is one of Mahler’s most extravert movements,
even more positive than the Scherzos of the First or Fifth Symphonies and
one in which the F sharp major tonality remains the basic tonality right to
the end. The opening takes up the anacrusic short-short-long motif from the
Andante of the first movement, but constantly changes the emphasis, almost
as if it was shaking off its influence by the constant changing of time-signa-
tures. The overall plan of the movement is complex as presented by Deryck
Cooke,32 although a simplified plan is proposed by Floros,33 with the main
scherzo theme contrasted by the heavy Ländler. Although the excitement re-
mains right up to the end, we can note that the main opening theme is final-
ly reduced in importance. It would seem that the regular-metre Ländler has
affected the opening scherzo theme with its highly irregular bar lengths. It is
important for us to try to determine why this has happened, although the sig-
nificance of this is perhaps difficult to judge.
The third movement entitled Purgatorio is a short ternary-form move-
ment that lasts barely four minutes. The implications of the music are out of
all proportion to its size. Its title is laden with many significant hidden mean-
ings, while the composer’s annotations to the score add further hints about
the thoughts in his mind while composing it. The melodic material provides
motifs that permeate the fourth and fifth movements of the symphony. Mah
ler used the short-short-long rhythm extensively in the melodic line, normally
rising a third and falling a third, but there is a more threatening variant which
32 Cooke, “The Facts Concerning Mahler’s Tenth Symphony,” 76–80.
33 Floros, Gustav Mahler: the Symphonies, 304–307.
236
then be asked: why did Mahler make these changes? Was it simply for variety
or was there some interaction between the motifs? The progress of the F sharp
major theme gives some clues. It is gradually transformed and infiltrated with
the opening theme in such a way that its character is undermined. When it
has virtually disappeared, in a violent dramatic moment, Mahler introduces
new elements, the organ-like chords and a huge nine-note dissonance, which
completely change the nature of the movement. The dissonant chord is left
with a high piercing A, played by the trumpet. After this episode the music
fades into a sketchy texture as in certain movements from his symphonies of
his last period, with the main F sharp theme scarcely in evidence.
Just like the first movement which produces a conflict between themes
which affect each other, so in the second movement marked scherzo, there
is conflict between the exultant opening theme which has frequent chang-
es of bar lengths and the main trio section, a slow and heavy Ländler in a
steady and regular 3/4 metre. It is one of Mahler’s most extravert movements,
even more positive than the Scherzos of the First or Fifth Symphonies and
one in which the F sharp major tonality remains the basic tonality right to
the end. The opening takes up the anacrusic short-short-long motif from the
Andante of the first movement, but constantly changes the emphasis, almost
as if it was shaking off its influence by the constant changing of time-signa-
tures. The overall plan of the movement is complex as presented by Deryck
Cooke,32 although a simplified plan is proposed by Floros,33 with the main
scherzo theme contrasted by the heavy Ländler. Although the excitement re-
mains right up to the end, we can note that the main opening theme is final-
ly reduced in importance. It would seem that the regular-metre Ländler has
affected the opening scherzo theme with its highly irregular bar lengths. It is
important for us to try to determine why this has happened, although the sig-
nificance of this is perhaps difficult to judge.
The third movement entitled Purgatorio is a short ternary-form move-
ment that lasts barely four minutes. The implications of the music are out of
all proportion to its size. Its title is laden with many significant hidden mean-
ings, while the composer’s annotations to the score add further hints about
the thoughts in his mind while composing it. The melodic material provides
motifs that permeate the fourth and fifth movements of the symphony. Mah
ler used the short-short-long rhythm extensively in the melodic line, normally
rising a third and falling a third, but there is a more threatening variant which
32 Cooke, “The Facts Concerning Mahler’s Tenth Symphony,” 76–80.
33 Floros, Gustav Mahler: the Symphonies, 304–307.
236
