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GUSTAV MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 8
“A GIFT TO THE NATION”
(1906-1910)

By

Thomas Richard Elliott

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
In partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTERS OF ARTS
IN MUSICOLOGY

School of Music, College of Arts and Letters

2003

ABSTRACT
GUSTAV MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 8
“A GIFT TO THE NATION”
(1906-1910)
By
Thomas Richard Elliott

The sources of inspiration for Mahler’s Eighth Symphony were Veni
creator spiritus and Part II of Goethe’s F aust. These literary sources are discussed
in detail along with Mahler’s approach to them. Further evidence concerning his
use of these sources is presented through descriptions of the work made by his
contemporaries: Bruno Walter, Alma Mahler, Richard Specht and Ernest Decsey.

Mahler’s construction of both movements is discussed along with a
harmonic analysis of the IS‘ and 2nd movements with comparable historical
analysis by Greene, Specht, and Landmann. Mahler’s identification with the
characters in Goethe‘s Faust is explored along with the way they reflected his own
relationship to his wife Alma.

Finally, Mahler’s ultimate conception of the work is presented through a
description of the work’s premiere in Munich on 12,13 September 1910.

Two appendices are included:

Appendix A—Comparison of the texts Hrabanus Maurus/Liturgical

tradition/Gustav Mahler/ English translation/Score.

Appendix B — Mahler’s handwritten text of Veni creator spiritus.

Copyright by
THOMAS RICHARD ELLIOTT
2003

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... v

LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ vi

FIRST MOVEMENT ....................................................................................................... 1
Sources of Inspiration by: William Mengelberg, Alma Mahler

Ernst Decsey, Bruno Walter ................................ 5

Discarded Versions of Symphony No. 8 ............................................................ 13

History of Vem’ creator spiritus ......................................................................... l4

Mahler’s Vem' ..................................................................................................... 17

Table l-Instrumentation for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 .................................... 21

Analysis of 1St Movement .................................................................................. 22

SECOND MOVEMENT ................................................................................................ 25

Synopsis of The Final Scene of Faust ............................................................... 26

Analysis Part II by: Specht, Landmann, and Greene ......................................... 30

Table 2-Structure of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, 2nd Movement. ..................... 33

Tessitura of Chorus ............................................................................................ 37

THE PERFORMANCE ................................................................................................. 38

Mahler’s Thoughts on Symphony No. 8. ........................................................... 39

Sigmund Freud on Mahler ................................................................................. 42

Origin of Choirs ................................................................................................. 46

People in Attendance at The Premiere ............................................................... 47

Reviews of The Concert by: Chronik der Stadt Miinchen, Alma Mahler,
Lilli Lehmann, Thomas Mann, and

Emil Gutmann .................................................... 49
APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... 54
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 57

List of Tables

Table 1 - Instrumentation for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8.

Table 2 — Structure of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. 2nd Movement.

List of Figures

Figure l — Mahler’s Villa on the W6rther See.
Figure 2 -— Mahler’s South Tyrolean Farmhouse at Toblach.

Figure 3 — Mahler rehearsing the Symphony No. 8 in the Exhibition Hall in
Munich.

vi

Mahler’s Symphony No.8 is undoubtedly his most personal creative
statement. It is an exploration of his own spirituality and the spirituality of
mankind. Following the evolution of Mahler’s Symphony No.8 from its original
literary inspiration in the summer of 1906 to its premiere in 1910, this study
explores how the work changed in the mind of the composer from being an
intellectually motivated experiment in symphonic form to a personal statement of
spiritual validation.

A Mahler premiere in Germany was a rare and highly anticipated event.I
Little was the world to know that the performance of his Symphony No. 8 in
Munich, on 12 & 13 September 1910, would be the last time Mahler himself
would conduct a world premiere of one of his own works. Mahler’s life was soon
to end. He died in Vienna on 18 May 191 1. However, that is getting ahead of the
story. Let us go back to the summer of 1906, a more pleasant time for Mahler, a
time of great personal and professional success. Mahler was at the pinnacle of his
career. He was director of the Vienna Hofoper, a leading European theater served
by no less a significant orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic.2 Most importantly
Mahler was a respected composer, husband and father of two children.

Mahler’s usual custom was to work on compositions only during his

summers off from the Opera. This pattern was initially established in 1893, when

 

I Peter Franklin, “Mahler, Gustav” Stanley Sadie. ed., New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians.

Second Edition. (London: Macmillan, 2001 ). Volume XIV, 2nd edition. 612.
21bid., 608.

he would return to Austria — to Steinbach on the southeast shore of the Attersee in
the Salzkammergut — renting rooms for his family at a lakeside inn.3

In 1899 Mahler built his own villa with a separate composing hut at the
village of Maiemigg on the W6nher See. The villa was his own and was much
bigger than anything he had rented in the past. In some ways, Mahler felt a bit
overwhelmed by his new baronial status. “It’s too beautiful”, he said in 1901.
“One can’t allow oneself such things.”4 However, Mahler was soon at home in his
composing hut, which was much roomier and larger than the one at his farmhouse
in Steinbach. It contained plenty of space for a piano, his desk and many books —
Goethe, Kant, and “many volumes of Bach."5

Alma as usual was a bit unsettled with the decor at the beginning. She was
quite vocal with her displeasure of their summer residence and proceeded to
change the entire villa. She described the interior as “frightful”. However, all the
rooms had tremendous views of the lake, especially Mahler’s room, which was on
the top floor just under the eaves, “like a watchtower”(see fig. 1 ). Whatever Alma
said at the beginning, their villa and his hut were to become for them, especially
Mahler, a beautiful haven, a lovely resting spot where he could rekindle his
spirits.6

Mahler’s routine was the same every summer. He would arise early in the

morning, around 6:00 am, and go up the hill 200 yards to his composing hut. His

 

3Ibid., 608. (Natalie Baure-Lechner would often accompany the family and her “Mahleriana”
diaries were the source of much posthumous infomiation).

4Jonathan Carr, Mahler A Biography (Woodstock & New York: The Overlook Press, 1998). l 18.
51bid.. 1 l9. (Mahler would go on to build another. his final composing hut. at the farmhouse at Alt-
Schluderbach in the Dolomites for the summers between 1908-1910).

6 Natalie Bauer-Lechner. Recollections of Gustav Mahler (London: Faber & Faber 1980). 167-8.

v
o

‘—
.J

" “If.“ ’.9.\“ h '.‘c“"", V «I. 7“?"

you hx
. 4.

 

Figure 1 — Mahler’s Villa on the worther See

cook would later bring up his breakfast. The afternoons he would spend with
Alma and his family and would often take strenuous walks later in the day. The
evenings “were spent reading or making music, sometimes with friends.”7

The summer of 1906 started out like most of Mahler’s retreats. Exhausted
from his duties with the Opera and the orchestra, he wanted to relax and do
nothing but re-charge his spirit and body. As usual he thought that he would not
be able to compose. Each summer always started with feelings of doubt and
anxiety, and this summer was no exception. However, “on the first morning of
vacation I went up to my Hauschen in Maiemigg firmly resolved to be really lazy
(I needed it so badly) and gather my strength. As soon as I entered my old,
familiar workroom, the Spiritus creator took hold of me, shaking me and
scourging me for eight weeks, until the main part was finished.”8 Mahler’s
inspirational zeal was now fully upon him with a new symphony, his Eighth, and
bringing this work to fruition would occupy him for the rest of the summer.

There are numerous other accounts of this story that bear repeating. All

leading to the same conclusion that Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 was first conceived

to be a massive work. It was created in an outburst of pure musical energy in a

 

7 .

lbld., 116.
8 Henry Louis De La Grange. Gustav Mahler [/1 Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (1904-1907),
(New York: Oxford University Press. 1999). 426-427.

very short amount of time, and as such it represents “the extreme point of
expansion of the performing forces?”

Alma relates the story as follows:

After we arrived at Maiemigg, there was the usual fortnight during which,
nearly every year, he was haunted by the spectre of failing inspiration.
Then one morning just as he crossed the threshold of his studio up in the
wood, it came to him — Veni creator spiritus. He composed and wrote
down the whole opening chorus to the half-forgotten words. But the music
and words did not fit in — the music overlapped the text. In a fever of
excitement he telegraphed to Vienna and had the whole of the ancient
hymn telegraphed back. The complete text fitted the music exactly.

Intuitively he had composed the music for the full strophes.10

Mahler’s conception of his newest work was not without some initial pangs
of compositional angst. His new work was flowing from his pen, and he quickly
composed the entire hymn or what he thought was the entire hymn. However, after
an orchestral interlude the words and the music did not fit; Mahler had written
more music than text. This was unsettling to Mahler and he wrote his friend Dr.
Fritz Lbhr, (archaeologist and teacher of Latin and Greek at a girls’ school)
requesting him to send him the four lines beginning at “Qui paraclitus diceris”,

indicating the scansion. as well as that of “Holsem repellas”. He requested Lohr to

 

9 Donald Jay Grout. Claude V. Palisca. The History of Western Music, 5th Edition. (New York: W.
W. Norton & Co.. 1996). 659.
l0Alma Mahler, Gustav Mahler Memories and Letters (New York: The Viking Press 1969). 102.

answer by return mail. He needed the information urgently, both as “creator and
creatus”. He also asked Lbhr to send a complete copy of the text along with a
translation of “F irrnans perpeti” and the two lines which began at “Per te sciamus”,
“as that accursed old church book (verfluchte Kirchenschmoker) does not seem
reliable.”ll
Mahler goes on to say in a letter to Mengelberg'2 in mid-August “I have
just finished my Eighth — it is the greatest thing I have done so far. And so strange
in its form and content that it is impossible to write about it. Imagine that the
universe begins to ring and resound (zu to'nen und zu klingen), no longer with
human voices but with revolving planets and suns.”l3
In August 1906, while meeting with Richard Spechtl4 in Salzburg (Mahler
was there to conduct two performances of The Marriage ofFigaro with the Vienna

Opera for the 150th celebration of Mozart’s birth), Mahler again related the

inspiration for the Eighth:

Just think: within the last three weeks I have completed the sketch of a
completely new symphony, something that makes all my other works seem
like preliminary stages. I have never composed anything like this. In
content and style it is altogether different from all my other works, and it is

surely the greatest thing 1 have ever composed. I have probably never

 

llHenry-Louis de la Grange, Gustav Mahler Volume III Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (l 904-
1907), 428.

l2Rob Ovennan, “The Mahler-Reception in the Netherlands 191 l-l920” A “Mass " For The
Masses: Proceedings of the Mahler VIII Svmposium, (1988), 68. (William Mengelberg conductor.
1871-1951, He had a special relationship with Mahler and premiered many of his symphonies in
the Netherlands).

'3 La Grange, 431.

'4 Richard Specht (1870-1932, critic).

worked under such compulsion: it was a vision that struck me like
lightning the whole immediately stood before my eyes; I had only to write
it down, as if it had been dictated to me. This Eighth Symphony is already
remarkable in that it brings together two works of poetry in different
languages. The first part is a Latin hymn and the second nothing less than
the final scene of Part II of Faust. Are you not amazed? I had longed to
set to music the hermit scene and the Finale with the Mater gloriosa in a
manner that would be different from all the sugary, weak ways15 it has so
far been done, but then thought no more about it. Then the other day I
came across an old book. I opened it to the hymn Vent Creator Spiritus,
and immediately the whole thing was there: not only the first theme, but
also the entire first movement. In response to this I could not possibly find
anything more beautiful then Goethe’s words in the hermit scene! Even in
form it is also something quite new. Can you imagine a symphony that is
sung throughout, from beginning to end? So far I have employed words
and the human voice merely to suggest, to sum up, to establish a mood. I
resorted to them to express something concisely and specifically, which is
possible only with words —something that could have been expressed
symphonically only with immense breath. But here the voice is also an
instrument. The whole of the first movement is strictly symphonic in form
yet it is completely sung. It is the egg of Columbus, “die Symphonic an

sich”, (the symphony of oneself) in which the most beautiful instrument of

 

'5 Such as Schumann, Szenen aus Faust (1849); [Mahler used the identical text]; Liszt, Faust
Symphony (1845); Gounod. Faust ( 1860): Berlioz, La Damnation de Faust (1862).

all is given the role it was destined for, and yet not only as sound, since in

it the human voiced is the bearer of the poet’s thoughts.16

It is ironic that Mahler had avoided using program notes or referring to
programmatic themes over the years. With both his Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3
there were originally program notes, but Mahler later discarded them. Mahler
wanted his listeners to be free to decide what they heard for themselves. He
wanted to let the music speak for itself. However, in Symphony No.8 he wanted
them to hear what he heard and the work to have a specific message. Perhaps
Mahler thought of his symphony as nothing more than a musical vessel through
which the ideals of both the sacred hymn and Goethe’s text could be related in an
emotionally heightened state to his listeners. The combining of these two different
texts represented to Mahler a very personal statement and “defines the character of

his unorthodox religious thought.”l7

Sometime later he said to Specht that this
symphony was a “gift to the nation.” He further elaborated, “All my earlier
symphonies are but preludes to this one. In my other works, everything is still
subjectively tragic — this one is a great giver of joy.”18 Upon reading this, one
cannot help but think that Mahler is referring to the metaphysical “joy” connected

with the tradition of Beethoven’s “Choral” symphony. Wagner had earlier (in

1856) described his Ring a’es Nibelungen as a “gift to the nation” and had referred

 

l6Henry-Louis de la Grange, Gustav Mahler Volume III Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (1904-
1907), 430. (Footnote #131-Richard Specht, “Zu Mahler’s Achte Symphonic” (Tagespost. Graz.
no. 150),I4June1914).

'7 Phillip Otto Naegele, Gustav Mahler & Johann Sebastian Bach (Northampton: Lecture at Smith
College 1983), 26-7.

I“Constantin F loros, Gustav Mahler The Symphonies Translated from the German by Vernon and
.lutta Wicker, (Portland: Amadeus Press, 1993), 213, Richard Specht, Gustav Mahler (lSt edn.,
illustr., Schuster & Loeffler, Berlin, 1913), 304.

to Beethoven’s symphony as the perfect synthesis of text and music. The idea
starting with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, adapted by Wagner and finally
evolved by Mahler was that each composer was striving for a tradition of High
German art poetry expressed in a symphonic style. This reverence for Beethoven
and Wagner were understandable, for he considered them his gods, “the rest
nowhere?”
Julius Komgold20 also met with Mahler in Salzburg in August during the Mozart
Festival. “He was full of visions of a new symphony, fill] of happy anticipation,
almost boisterous. A well-thumbed little book was peeking out of his coat pocket:
Faust. The sequences of the medieval religious poet had been set; they were to
occupy the first part of the symphony (it became the Eighth)”21
Stories abound about whether it took Mahler three weeks or eight weeks to
write his Symphony No.8; the musicologist Constantin Floros has suggested it

might have taken as long as ten weeks. What might give rise to the three-week

theory was the fact that Mahler took some time off for a brief walking and cycling

 

‘9 Burnett James, The Music of Gustav Mahler (London: Associated University Presses 1985), 139.
20 Julius Komgold (1860-1945, critic) His son Erich Wolfgang Komgold (1897-1957) was a gifted
prodigy. Julius took his son to see Mahler in 1906 (possibly 1907) seeking his advice regarding his
son’s education. Mahler declared Erich “A genius!” “Take the lad to Zemlinsky”, he urged.
“Above all, no conservatory, no drill! In private lessons with Zemlinsky he will learn everything he
needs.” Erich wrote many works, his most famous was his Second Piano Sonata ( 1908) and his
masterpiece Die Tote Stadt, Opus 12. In 1934 after teaching at Vienna Staatsakademie he left for
Hollywood where he wrote Lieder, and orchestral works, but is primarily noted for his music for
many film scores. “In 1935 at the age of 38 he was asked by director Max Reinhardt to adapt
Mendelssohn’s music for a cinema performance of A Midsummer Night 's Dream. . .His work
during the next five years, which included Captain Blood, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and
Essex, The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk quickly set the standard for all
composers in the future: huge, vibrant cues, brassy adventure themes and tender and passionate
romantic melodies. During this time, Komgold was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning
twice in 1936 and 1938.” (Movie Music U.K.-Jonathan Broxton). It would be interesting to
speculate that Mahler had a part in the inspiration of 20m century film music by his encouragement
of Erich.

2' Constantin Floros. 216.

tour in mid July. This was the three-week point of his summer vacation. La
Grange believes that a now lost postcard from Mahler to Alma was from Toblach
was from that trip.22 Leaving Toblach he stopped at D'o'lsach, near Lienz in eastern
Tyrol, and did a two-hour climb to Winklem north of there. The next day in
Bleiberg he did another three-hour climb, up the Dobratsch in the Villach Alps,
from which he could enjoy the splendid view of the Karawanken, the Carinthian
lakes, the Julian Alps, and the Tauem.23 One could easily believe that this was
research for the beginning of the second movement (Bergschluchten/Mountain
ravines) and that he had already completed the first movement by this point.
Mahler was at the height of his compositional prowess, and the extended
sonata form that he so often used with great ease at the beginnings of his
symphonies24 must have been virtually finished. He was, after all, working from a
previously known hymn. In its finished state, the first movement is proportionally
shorter than the second movement, and it is easy to believe the correlation between
the lengths of the two movements is proportional to his work on the piece as a
whole; three weeks for the first movement (580 measures) and five weeks for the
second movement (1572 measures). This could be one possible explanation for

the three-week theory.

 

32 Henry-Louis de la Grange, 431, (Footnote # 139).

23 lbid., 431. (Footnote #140-The summit ofthe Dobratsch is 2.167 meters and dominates one of
the most panoramic views in Carinthia.).

24 John Williamson, “Mahler and Veni Creator Spiritus.” The Music Review 44. (1983), 27.

10

Previously when talking with Specht, Mahler said an “old book” had
accidentally fallen into his hands and that it fell open to the Pentecost hymn. Ernst

Decsey25 tells a similar story:

He set the old hymn Veni Creator Spiritus to music, for which he had
gotten the text from somewhere. While composing he realized that the
music was pouring out beyond the text, overflowing like water from a full
basin; in other words, the structural concept of the music did not coincide
with the verses. He told a friend of his misery and this fiiend, a philologist,
pointed out to him that this was natural because in the version he had, the
text was incomplete, with about one-and-a-half verses missing. Mahler
then saw to it that the court music director Karl Luze in Vienna sent the
complete text to him as quickly as possible. When the hymn arrived,
Mahler was surprised to find that the words coincided exactly with the
music and that his sense of form was responsible: every one of the new

words fit easily into the whole.26

Bruno Walter27 confirms this story:

 

25 Ernst Decsey (1870-1941 critic and musicologist).

26Constantin F loros, 215 —See (Footnote #8-Decsey, “Stunden mit Mahler,” 353f.).

27 Bruno Walter (1876-1962- conductor) was Mahler’s favorite disciple and after Mahler’s death in
191 I became a great champion of Mahler’s works. “In 1905 Mahler had been forced to listen to
one of his latest works”, and Alma recalled his dilemma: “I only saw him ‘making a conscious
effort’ once. On this occasion Bruno Walter played to him his symphonic tone poem Peer Gynt.
whose anemic sterility horrified him from the very first bar. But he spoke words of encouragement
to Walter. On a later occasion when Rosé (Arnold Rose 1863-1946 violinist) played a quartet by
Walter, Mahler sat with him for a long time in the green-room discussing aspects of the work.
giving him advice, etc. He told me afterwards that he found it exceptionally difficult to encourage

ll

No change was necessary. And the famous passage in the Eighth, on
which Mahler had always placed the greatest emphasis, Accende lumen
sensibus — In funde amorem cordibus [Kindle 3 light in our senses/With
love our hearts inflame] (these words he naturally knew by heart) could be
left in its place! This is fortuitous concordance of imagination and reality,
not only in the technical but also in the intellectual sense, made a deep
impression upon Mahler. Inclined to mysticism, indeed under its spell —
like many a great mind, who is greater as a thinker than as a creator — he
believed he saw in this concordance the working of a power which reigned
over all art and over all life. He did not want to call it a divine power — he
was too modest and too profoundly religious for that. . .Mahler told this
story to all his close friends, and each time the experience moved him anew

— indeed he was quite shattered when he thought again about it.28

Alma says that Mahler had written the text for the first part from memory.

However, we know that this is not true for Mahler admits along with Decsey and

Specht that he was actually inspired from a book of hymns he previously owned.

His hymnal textbook was not accurate and it did not contain what was in the final

version of his Eighth Symphony.

 

Walter, for he was unable to see that he had a future as a composer, but at the same time did not
wish to offend his loyal friend” (La Grange 607).

28 Henry-Louis de la Grange, Gustav Mahler Volume III Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (l 904-
1907). 428-429.

12

Mahler had fashioned his Eighth Symphony in his mind from the
beginning. He had several different drafts of this work,29 the majority of which
were discarded almost from the start. One of his early plans was similar to the

scheme of his Fourth Symphony, a four-movement work.

Hymne V eni creator
Scherzo

Adagio Caritas

Hymne: die Geburt des Eros

:D-L’JNr—t

Another version shows a different order between the second and third

movements.
1. V eni Creator
2. C aritas
3. Weinachtsspiele mit dem Kindlein
4. Scho'p/img durch Eros. Hymne

Alma owned these discarded versions, but both are now lost.30

The title Caritas has been previously been associated with the slow
movement of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. In the end it was not used in the
Eighth. As far as the other three sections go, both Richard Specht and Paul Bekker
find traces of them in the three sections of the finale.3 ' Mahler even contemplated
including two poems from Des Knaben Wander-horn in the Symphony No. 8, as

mentioned in a document from the Bruno Walter collection, which is located in

 

29 John Williamson. “The Eighth Symphony,” The Mahler Companion, ed.. Donald Mitchell &
Andrew Nicholson (New York: Oxford University Press 1999), 409.

30Henry-Louis de la Grange, 889. (Footnotes: 2, & 7).

3'Henry-Louis de la Grange, 889. (See footnote # 6).

l3

New York.32 Most importantly this symphony was to be a work for chorus and
orchestra — a complete work devoted to the “greatest instrument” the human voice
and sung throughout (durchge.sungen).33

The hymn Veni Creator Spiritus has had a long life and has been used by
many composers throughout the centuries.34 When Mahler was writing to Lohr for
exact translations and complete texts he incorrectly attributed the hymn to Saint
Francis.35 Some current scholars attribute it to an unknown author. However for
most of its long life it has been attributed to Hrabanus Maurus36 (d.856) a well-
respected scholar of the 9th century who reportedly wrote the hymn Veni Creator
Spiritus in F ulda sometime after 809.”37 Many other composers, Binchois,
Palestrina, Practorius, Gibbons, Bach, J .N. David and Berlioz have also set the

text.38

 

32Henry-Louis de la Grange. A "Mass " For The Masses: Proceedings Of The Mahler VIII
Symposium, Amsterdam. 1 988. Chapter 11- Mahler's Eighth Franz Different Angles—“The Eighth:
Exception or Crowning Achievement‘?”(Rotterdam: Nijgh & Van Ditmar Universitair 1992), 133.
33Robert Bccqué, “A Survey of Performances of Mahler’s Symphony V111 in the Netherlands.”
Eveline Nikkels, Robert Becqué. Jos van Leeuwen, ed., A “Mass ” For The Masses: Mahler 's
Eighth, Symphony — Proceedings of the Mahler VIII Symposium (Rotterdam: Universitaire Pers,
1992), 195-208.

34 Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) used the Veni Creator Spiritus for the motetus of one of his
last motets (Christe. Qui Lux Ex/Veni, Creator Spiritus/ Tribulatio Proxima). This work was
written between the years 1359-1360, when the English under Edward 11, laid siege to Rheims. It
was known to be sung at the Council of Rheims in 1049. It was very popular in that town during
that time. Jeremy Yudkin, Music in Medieval Europe (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1989),
476-481.

35Henry-Louis de la Grange, Gustav Mahler Volume III Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion ('l 904-
1907), 428, (see footnote # 126).

36 Heinrich Lausbcrg claims that Raban Maur, or Hrabanus Maurus wrote it on the occasion of a
synod in Aachen in 809. Maurus lived in Mainz and was a Benedictine monk. He was a pupil of
Alcuin and of Saint Martin of Tours, master and organizer of the Abbey of Fulda, finally becoming
archbishop of Mainz. He wrote many works but his most famous was the Veni Creator. This
hymn celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit to the apostles on the day of the Pentecost (La
Grange, 892).

37 Constantin Floros, 216.

38 David B. Greene, Mahler Conscious and Temporalitjv (New York: Gordon and Breach Science
Publishers, 1984), 258.

14

Veni Creator Spiritus is the first line of a hymn, which was sung at Vespers
on the Feast of Pentecost, but it is widely used in other ceremonial and liturgical
contexts. Goethe was very fond of this hymn, and there is ample evidence that
Mahler knew this. Goethe had translated the hymn into German, and in a letter to
the composer Karl Friedrich chter dated 10 April 1820 Goethe had requested that
the piece be set to music “so that it could be sung by a chorus, every Sunday in
front of my house.” Goethe mentioned the hymn many times in other letters. He
called it “ein Appcl an das allgemeine Weltgenie”(An appeal to the condition of
the world genius)”

What is perhaps most characteristic of the hymn is the opening falling
fourth on the word Veni. This falling fourth sets the tonality of the piece.
Mahler’s attempt to define the tonality by using the falling fourth rather than the
ascending fifth was an important device that he used in many other pieces. He
used the falling fourth in his Symphony No. l (1888), which in actuality was a re-
working of an earlier work, Lieder einesfahrenden Gesellen (Songs of the
Wajjarer 1884-85)“, specifically the second lied “Gieng heut’ Morgens fiber’s
F eld” (I went out this morning over the countryside). The interval of the falling
fourth in his Symphony No.1 sets the tonality of the entire first movement quickly,
similarly to the beginning of his Symphony No.8 in which the tonality of E-F lat
major is established by the second measure of the work through the device of the

falling fourth and the word Veni.

 

39 Constantin Floros, 217.
40 Gustav Mahler, Songs of the Wayfarer and Kindertotenlieder in Full Score. (New York: Dover
Publications, Inc., 1990).

15

However, Deryck Cooke claims that the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus is
more than a humble Christian prayer for personal salvation in another world. It is
concerned with Pentecost—the great moment of inspiration, when the Holy Ghost
descended and spoke in many tongues through the mouths of the Apostles, and
was interpreted by Peter in the words of the prophet Joel: “Your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall
see visions.” In other words, it is concerned with the time when the Christian faith
itself was at its most dynamic, and it suggests the march of men towards higher
things. It addresses the Creator Spirit as Dux ——lcader — and contains the lines:
“Scatter the foe; with Thee as our leader going before us. may we shun all that is
evil.”’“

Goethe himself was the main guiding light or source of inspiration for
Mahler’s Eighth Symphony. But more importantly this was going to be a great
work for chorus which Mahler called “the most beautiful of all instruments.”42 He
was, like most of the other great composers of the time, deeply interested in the
resurgence and study of Bach.43 Beethoven set the standard that any monumental
work of substance and universality required a chorus. However, what made
Mahler’s Eighth Symphony different from all others was that this one was literally

to be a sung symphony in which the voice would be the “bearer of the poetic

idea.”44 In a letter to Alma one year before the premiere Mahler said that Goethe’s

 

’1 Deryck Cooke, “The Word and the Deed, Mahler and his Eighth Symphony”, in Vindications:
Essays on Romantic Music. (London: Faber and Faber, 1982), 1 l4.

‘2 La Grange, 430.

43 Norman Lebrecht. Mahler Remembered (London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 1987), 254-55.

44 Henry-Louis de la Grange, A “Mass " For The Masses: Proceedings Of The Mahler VIII
Symposium, Amsterdam, 1 988 Chapter 11- Mahler ’5 Eighth From Different Angles—“The Eighth:
Exception or Crowning Achievement?” (Rotterdam: Nijgh & Van Ditmar Universitair 1992). 133.

16

text contrasted the “eternal masculine,” desire, effort, the driving force, the striving
towards a goal, with the “eternal feminine.” the Mater gloriosa, incarnation of
pcacefulncss, the supreme goal.45

True to Mahler’s instincts as a composer, he made changes in the text of
Veni Creator Spiritus. He repeated many words and phrases of the text before
moving on. The first two verses remain the same as in the liturgical version.46 La
Grange suggests that Mahler may have mislaid his copy of the hymn. Mahler’s
most important omission is the second half of verse three, which never makes it to
his final version. Then the switching of the two halves of verse four becomes
Mahler’s third verse. Mahler’s verse four was the original verse five but with the
word no’xium replaced by pessimum. The first half of the original verse three
becomes a poetic and musical interlude between Mahler’s verse four and five.
Mahler’s verse five is the most reworked verse from the original liturgical version
(formerly verse six). He omits the word atque and Te utriusque Spiritum,
shortening the last two lines of the original verse into Credamus spiritum, Omni
tempore. Verse six of Mahler’s text occurs only in the Munich manuscript that
L'o’hr had sent him. Finally in Mahler’s verse seven both he and the liturgical

version differ from the Hrabanus Maurus old “Roman” text. Mahler composed

 

45Henry-Louis de la Grange, Gustav Mahler Volume III Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (I 904-
1907). (New York: Oxford University Press. 1999). 430. (Footnote #133- In 1820 Goethe himself
translated the hymn into German. According to the psychoanalyst Theodor Reik, Mahler’s strange
combination of texts was perhaps inspired by an unconscious recollection of Goethe’s versified
translation, which he could well have read in the complete works. Reik considers Mahler’s idea of
the Virgin and the eternal feminine to have been consciously and unconsciously determined by the
conflict between his creative instinct and sexual desire which made him idealize woman as the
Heavenly Mother, distant and unapproachable, because he no longer experienced effective sexual
desire for his young wife. (RHM 330)).

4" Stefan Strohm, “Die ldee der absoluten Musik als ihr (ausgesprochenes) Programm Zum
unterlegten Text der Mahlerschen Achten.” Schulz-Jahrbuch (1982/83). 91.

17

two lines of his own, Deo sit Gloria/Etfilio qui a mortuis, creating a six-line text
at the end. Mahler managed still to create a seven-verse work. The significance of
the number of verses (seven) has profound meaning and alludes to the seven gifts
of the spirit, which, according to Isaiah 1 1:2 are spirit, wisdom, knowledge,
counsel, strength, insight, and fear of the Lord. However, another way to see it is
that Mahler created an eight-verse work. If you combine the two extra lines of the
Doxology with the two-line interlude section they become an even, four-line verse.
Thus Mahler really created an eight-line work. This is one way in which Mahler’s
unique genius searched for new and different approaches to inspirational materials
of the past. What many see as a traditional, seven-verse work is really a newer
form created by Mahler and disguised as the old.47

A Mahler autograph of the text of Veni Creator has survived.48 An
important sign that Mahler thought the text extremely important reveals his early
struggle with the text. Here, written in ink, are stanzas one and two of the
Hrabanus/liturgical version. However, in Mahler’s handwritten version in the
second stanza we can see his first conflict with the words Paraclitus diceris, where
he writes these two words then inverts them over what he has already written (see
appendix B). The second half of the third stanza then follows. What will become
verse four is complete. At this point in Mahler’s text the words Gloria Patri
Domino are at the bottom of this page. They will become the first line of verse 7

in his final version. The next three lines Mahler lists as verse seven. Added in

 

47 See Appendix A.

48 La Grange (p. 893) says this document is to be found at the Library of the Performing
Arts/Lincoln Center/ Bruno Walter Collection. Floros cites it as being formerly owned by Bruno
Walter and it is now in the New York Public Library (p.212).

18

pencil on the right side of the page is what Mahler labels as verses four, three, and
six (in that order). What Mahler describes as verse four contains only two lines
(one couplet). From what he labels as verse three he will use only the first couplct,
which acts as a poetic bridge between the full verses four and five in his final
work. His labeling of verse six will become verse five in his final version. Clearly
we can see the conflict Mahler had in working out the texts by the fact that this
facsimile shows his use of both pen and pencil, suggesting that he worked on the
text over the period of a number of different days before the Munich manuscript
arrived to which Mahler was finally satisfied and then set his final version.

Neither La Grange nor F loros date his autograph text. After comparing Mahler’s
finished version to the liturgical version and then once again comparing Mahler’s
autograph text to the version in his final score, it would be interesting to attempt to
date his autograph of the text. The evidence suggests somewhere before 21 June,
when he first wrote Lohr for help, but no later than 18 July 1906, when he left on
his bicycle trip. Because the hand written text does not reflect the order of the
final work, it was a product of Mahler’s first struggle with the piece. It is possible
that Mahler had finished the first part when he left for his bicycle trip and sent a
card to Alma dated 18 July.

Mahler considered the Eighth to be his masterpiece. lts unusual form gives
it the distinct characteristics of a symphony, oratorio, music drama, and most
importantly a redemption mystery all in one work. What Mahler has done in the
first movement of the symphony is set forth the masculine, the Creator and all that

is powerful that comes through him. It is also important to note that Mahler

19

changed the order of the verses, omitted and. composed new words. He felt that he
needed to give a clear statement of his beliefs. There was to be no doubt in
anyone’s mind as to what Mahler wanted to say. This is consistent with Mahler
the man, Mahler the genius, and most importantly Mahler the spiritual being in
that he was very specific as to the clarity of his vision.

The first movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 is agreed by most to be
in a large sonata form generally in the key of E-flat major. There are occasional
changes of meter throughout the movement, but its over-all time signature is 4/4.
[ts rhythm is basically a march, but without the military effects. The tempo
Allegro impetuoso is the basic tempo for the first theme with etwas gema'ssigter,
immer sehrfliessend (a little more moderate, still very flowing), for the second
theme, and etwas gehalten (slightly held back) for the third. According to Julius
Komgold, the duration of the first movement at its premiere was thirty minutes.

The score49 calls for an unusually large number of instruments (see table 1).

 

’9 Gustav Mahler. Symphony No.8 in Full Score. (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1989). The
Dover edition, first published 1989, is a republication of the edition originally published by
lzdatel’stvo “Muzyka,” Moscow, in 1976. The poetic texts have been newly translated by Stanley
Applcbaum.

20

Table 1: Instrumentation for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8

4 Flutes

2 Piccolos

4 Obocs

English Horn

E-F lat Clarinet (doubled throughout)
3 Clarinets (B-Flat & A)

Bass Clarinet (B-Flat & A)

4 Bassoons

Contra Bassoon

8 Horns (F)

4 Trumpets (F, B-flat)
4 Trombones

Tuba

Violins I, II

Violas

Cellos

Basses (With low C -string)

Off Stage: 4 Trumpets (F) and 3 Trombones

Timpani

Triangle

3 Cymbals

Bass Drum

Deep Bells (A & A-Flat) 50
Glockenspicl

Celesta51

Piano52

Harmonium53
Organ

2 Harps54
Mandolins5

Mahler writes, “Bei Starker C hor- und Streichervesetzung emphiehlt

sich Eine Verdoppelung der ersten Hozbla'ser. ’

9

(When a large choir of voices and strings are used,
doubling of the first-chair woodwinds is

recommended.)

 

50 This always poses a problem. The lowest note of the modern chimes is middle C—~howcvcr most

ercussionists substitute.

'l Is the last to enter and is saved for the penitent Gretchen’s Neige, neige at m. 1 104.

52 During the Munich rehearsals Mahler added the piano and the glockcnspiel parts.

53 Theodore Bloomfield, “The Contrasts of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony” A “Mass " For The
Masses: Mahler '3 Eighth Symphony -—Pr0ceedings 0f the Mahler VIII Symposium, ed. Jos van
Leeuwen (Rotterdam: Universitaire Pers, 1992), 168. “Provides an ethereal effect beneath the

orchestra prelude in the Mater gloriosa”.

54 Here the score calls for mehrfach besetzt- (several to a part), knowing Mahler’s propensity for

big sound multiple harps if available would be desired.

55 mehrfach besetzt-Same as #55 above.

(Table 1 cont.)

lst Soprano (Magna Pcccatrix) Tenor (Doctor Marianus)
2nd Soprano (Una pocnitentium) Baritone (Pater ecstaticus)
Soprano (Mater gloriosa) Bass (Pater profundus)

lSt Alto (Mulier Samaritana)

2nd Alto (Maria Aegyptiaca) Boys’ choir

Mixed choirs I, II

Mahler was often criticized for the large orchestral forces he used. The
German press had lampooned him for the large forces in his Symphony No. 6.
The cover to Die Muskete on 19 January 1907,56 showed a perplexed Mahler
saying: “My God, I’ve forgotten the motor horn. Now I’ll have to write another

9957

symphony. Similar to Symphony No. 6, Mahler’s Eighth was also known for its
large forces and the many parts and instruments it took to perform it. However, is
not the longest of Mahler’s works, at approximately seventy-seven minutes it is ten
minutes shorter than the previous Symphony No. 7.

The exposition can be divided into three sections, A-B-A'. Section A uses
verse one first couplet and is in the key of E-flat major. The A section contains
both the first main theme (mm. 1-20) and second theme (21-30). Mm. 31-45 is a
transition (first main theme) to the B section. Mm. 46-107 is the B section; it is a
“rondolike” section with its key centers of D-flat and A-flat major and uses the
second couplet of verse one and verse two. The A’ begins at m.108 by returning to

E-flat ma'or.58 It contains an intermezzo section with a new scttin of Veni theme.
J g

At m. 124-140 there is a musical interlude. In m. 135 (D-minor) we now hear the

 

5" Michael Kennedy incorrectly sets the date for this cartoon as 1906 (see p. 151).
57Alma Mahler, Gustav Mahler Memories and Letters (New York: The Viking Press, 1964), 183.
5” Constantin Floros, 220.

22

low bell on the great A. Beginning at m. 142-68 is the closing section of the
exposition that incorporates verse three (first couplet) and returns us to the home
key of E-flat major.

The development, like the exposition, can be divided into three parts, but it
is not an A-B-A' form. The first section of the development (mm. 169-216) starts
with the distant sounding of an orchestral interlude. The key is A-flat major, and
the low bell on the great A-flat highlights this passage. The low-pitched bells are

“always a symbol of transcendence in Mahler?”

This first section quickly leaves
A-flat major and changes to C-sharp minor which then traverses through F, D, C,
and B major. A second theme is introduced (mm.217-61), where once again the
key is C-sharp minor. But this quickly goes through F, D, C, and E major. This is
a re-working of verse three-Infirma nostri corporis/Virtutefirmans perpeti (With
thy strength which never decays/Confirm our mortal flame), which is the closing
verse to the exposition.

The second section of the development (mm. 262-31 1) has a march-like
character that uses the second couplet of verse three (A ccende lumen
sensibus/Injunde amorem cordibus--Kindle a light in our senses/Infuse love in our
hearts). In this section, with its sudden surge into E-major with all the choirs
declaring in unison Accende lumen, a sense of great light and enlightenment

occurs. Adding to the drama of the moment is the rising fourth, which then falls,

similar to the Veni theme heard at the beginning, followed by four rising notes, a

 

59Henry-Louis de la Grange, Gustav Mahler Volume III Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (l 904-
I 907), 916.

23

characteristic musical motif found in many other Mahler works?0 Once again the
listener is taken quickly through a number of keys, E major, D major, E major then
E-minor. The children’s chorus (m.275) makes its first appearance on Amorem
cordibus singing with innocent joy. The children’s choir will go on to make a
significant contribution to the overall effect of the symphony in the second
movement. The march rhythm increases in tempo when the second chews
declares, Hostem repel/as (Drive away our foes). Later the sopranos angrily
declare, Hostem and with more force Pacem.

The third and last section ofthe development (mm.3 12-412) is a double
fugue of tremendous complexity that is nonetheless regular in its construction with
the entries always coming on E-flat and B-flat.61 This section uses most of the
remaining text, the second couplet of verse four and all of verses five and six.
Mahler does not close the development with the double fugue but provides an
extension to the Accende theme and develops it along with other motifs. This
creates a type of da capo structure that encases the drama of the previous verses
within the drama of the final fiigue.

The rccapitulation after a long pedal point on B-flat begins m. 413 with a

loud cymbal crash that lasts through m. 507. We are brought back to the main

 

601bid., 917. (Footnote #86—Notably the theme of the Finale of the First. the resurrection theme in
the Second, the opening theme of the Fourth, the Adagietto of the Fifth, the Alma theme in the
Sixth).

6'David B. Greene, 260. (Footnote # l9 — “The double fugue is one of the most conspicuous
justifications for the vast choral and orchestral forces that Mahler calls for and that constitute the
basis for Wellesz to link this symphony with the tradition of the “colossal style” going from
Benevoli’s Festival Mass in fifty-three parts (1628) through Berlioz’ Requiem and the Liszt Gran
Festival Mass. Hans-Ferdinand Redlich (in Bruckner and Mahler (1963). 49-52) said that Mahler
knew the Benevoli Mass well.

24

theme, Veni creator spiritus before going on to the final Munich verse at m. 442.
The close of the rccapitulation deals with the thoughts of victory over evil.

The coda uses the last verse of the hymn with the inclusion of Mahler’s
two extra lines of his own thoughts, Deo sit Gloria et F ilio/Natoque, qui a mortuis
(Glory to God and to the Son/W ho was born and from the dead) which combines
all the previously heard themes, glorifies the Holy Trinity, and makes the
Doxology much stronger. Off stage there is the distant sound of trumpets and

tromboncs, giving the movement the central thought of enlightenment and love?2

SECOND MOVEMENT

Mahler’s second movement is the longest movement he ever composed for
any of his symphonic works; its length is over 55 minutes. But more importantly,
in this section Mahler uses Goethe’s Faust to express mankind’s eternal dilemma
of redemption and salvation. Man does conquer evil and finds final salvation
through love and the eternal feminine. Mahler uses the final scene of Faust Part II
as a complete music drama/oratorio/cantata to express his ideals of
transcendentalism and faith. He combines the Veni and the Faust legend into one
work of massive proportions.

Goethe’s final scene from Part II of Faust is what Mahler used to complete
his Symphony No.8. This final scene of Goethe’s Faust starts in a setting of
Mountain Gorges, perhaps the same gorges and mountains Mahler saw on his brief

tour of Dolsach earlier. This second part of Faust was published in 1832, just

 

63 Constantin Floros, 226.

25

before Goethe’s death. It is in some ways a glimpse of Goethe’s beliefs as an old
man, not the heady idealism of a young man who wrote Part I, but a somber and
more reflective person at the end of his life.

In Part II, Faust’s soul is saved from eternal damnation by the women who
carry it up to heaven. Some have suggested that this scene acts to balance the
Prologue in Heaven. Goethe used Christian symbolism as an answer to the
original Faust legend. The original Faust was dragged off to Hell, but this Faust,
who represents mankind, is taken up to Heaven, because he won his wager with
the Devil. Man could not save himself, so by the use of Christian symbols that
represent a higher force Goethe found the meaning to life that all could
understand, and man was saved.

This scene combines many of the themes of Faust. Faust’s soul is lifted in
cxultation upwards across a landscape of wild beauty. This natural background
was important for Goethe and Mahler, for it represents nature, a kind of
transcendentalism, and a form of religion if you will. In Mahler’s Symphony No.
3 there are many references to nature and what the various aspects of nature “tell”
Mahler."3 This was not a new subject for Mahler’s thoughts and beliefs, for he
held nature in a special reverence and wanted to express this by using Goethe in
this final movement.

In Goethe’s epic poem"4 the Anchorite Fathers were Pater Ecstaticus, Pater
Profundus, Pater Seraphicus, and Doctor Marianus. They represent the mystical

tradition of early Christianity, in that by living in seclusion they become closer to

 

63 Floros, 88.
6" Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Faust. trans, Walter Amdt. ed.. Cyrus Hamlin (New York: W. W.
Norton & Co., 2001), 337.

26

God. Some believed that Goethe learned this from Herder."5 Incidentally, in the
Roman Catholic Church, St. Anthony, c. 250-c. 350, was known as Ecstaticus; St
Bernard, 1091-1 153, as Pro/imdus; and St. Francis of Assisi, 1 182-1226, as
Seraphicus.“ Mahler omitted the Pater Seraphicus part along with two choruses
of the blessed boys and some of the singing of Doctor Marianus.

Although the scene is highly emotional and Mahler’s music adds a great
sense of theater to the work, it is not solemn but is rather joyous in nature. The
Blessed Boys who come in after the Anchorite Paters represent the childlike
innocence and freedom of children, always struggling not to be bound to earth.
They fly upwards towards the angels, who bear Faust’s “immortal essence,” which
by chicanery and delight they have snatched from Mephistophelcs with great glee.

The angels in the first chorus are important for the understanding of the
whole drama. The angels’ song explains that Faust’s special status as the equal of
spiritual beings, and his ceaseless striving, have guaranteed him salvation. But he
will also be welcomed into Heaven because “transfigured love” has spoken on his
behalf. This refers to Gretchen, who loved Faust deeply — too deeply for her own
good — and was redeemed.

Lifting F aust’s soul upwards, the angels pass it on to the Blessed Boys,
who in turn give it a new beginning. The ideal of the mystical woman is revealed
in a song sung by Doctor Marianus to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He asks for the

Virgin’s help to save the chorus of penitent women.

 

65 Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744-1803-Gennan philosopher and writer)

66 Seraphim originated from Hebrew. It is conceived as an order of celestial beings. conceived as
fiery and purifying ministers of Jehovah. The seraphim are usually ranked as the highest order of
angels, immediately above cherubim.

27

Gretchen joins the three penitent women of Christian tradition in pleading
for forgiveness, singing a version of the prayer she spoke in her despair by the city
wall. As the Blessed Boys describe how Faust’s soul will grow so that he can
become their teacher, Gretchen implores the Virgin Mary to allow her to lead
F aust’s soul into eternal salvation.

Her prayer is granted. Gretchen is told to fly upwards and Faust will
follow her. This great epic poem ends with a beautiful chorus in praise of
“Woman Eternal.” The chorus announces that in heaven man finds what was
unattainable on earth: understanding, action, and sincerity. After his long and
arduous journey, Faust is finally redeemed by the love of woman.

Mahler’s music and Goethe’s text reveal to us at the beginning of the
second movement, creating a place of dark foreboding and mystery that is far from
the earthly world and unrecognizable to most humans. There are also angels,
anchorites, and blessed young boys hovering throughout this bizarre world. The
shimmering quality of the strings at the opening further brings on a sense of
surrealism.“7

Mahler changed very little of Goethe’s text except for the omission of the
character of Pater Seraphicus and his dialog with the Blessed Boys (lines 1 1890 to
11925). Sometimes the text had to fit the music and Mahler made small changes
usually with repetition of certain words or small additions such as “Euch” added

after “Hande verschlinget” (line 1 1926) or “uns” added before “Zu tragen

 

67 David B. Greene, 261. (Footnote #31-Mah1er opens “Der Spielmann” [Das klagende Lied] and
his First and Second Symphonies with similar shimmers. Bruckner makes even more extensive us
of this technique).

28

peinlich” (line I 1955). Mahler changed the order of Goethe’s lines for the angel’s
chorus (lines 1 1966ff.),"8 and he omitted line 1 1970.

La Grange cites Susanne Vill saying there was music originally written for
the passage “Um sic verschlingen” (lines 12013 to 12019) in the first proofs
corrected by Mahler but he cut this episode for reasons of length, and partly
because of the visual metaphor.” Occasionally there are sections where the chorus
and soloists overlap. Finally, Rudolf Stephan observes that the passage where
Mahler makes the most changes to the text is “Uns bleibt ein Erdenrest” (bar 532,
line 1 1954) and on to the entrance of Doctor Marianus (bar 604). He uses the
music of “Infrima nostri corporis”, from the first section, at the price of repetitions
of words or half-lines, and of some switching around. All the last part of Dr.
Marianus monologue (“Dir, der Unberiihrbaren”: lines I2020ff.) is given to the
chorus. In the “Chorus mysticus” the treatment of the text is also very free, as
might be expected in such an apotheosis.”70
La Grange says that there is only one complete autograph score of the Eighth

Symphony and that it used to belong to Alma Mahler but is now in the Bayerische

Staatsbibliothek in Munich. However, two separate autograph pages of orchestral

 

6“Henry-Louis de la Grange, Gustav Mahler Volume III Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (I 904-
1907), 904. (Footnote #41 — Mahler’s order oflines is as follows: 1 1967, 1 1966, l 1969, 11968,
1 1972, and 1 1971. Rudolf Stephan notes than Mahler changed certain words for reasons of diction.
notably “beweget” to “bewegt” and “traget” to “triigt” [lines 12002 and 12004]. At line 12050 he
changes “fliessest” into “fliesst” but fails to modify the previous “ergiesset” [bars 934-5]).
691bid., 904. (Footnote # 43 - Vill, in Vermittlungsformen. 152, quotes in a footnote the various
melodic lines of this episode, which Mahler dropped in the proofs. It contains 26 bars for chorus
(between bars 763 and 7640. Later on. a reprise of “Jungfrau, rein in schonsten sinne” (28 bars for
chorus between bars 844 and 845 of the score) is also dropped, as well as the melody of “zu hohem
7Sophéiren” (bars 1249 to 61) and “alle rcuig Zarten” (bars 1280 to 1283)). See also footnote #41.
lbid., 904.

29

score are in BMG — Bibliotheque musicale Gustav Mahler, Paris.71 Mahler made
changes to the score after the first rehearsals (which took place in June of 1910),
and there is also a piano score of the work.72 A complete set of proofs bearing
numerous corrections by Mahler himself survived. The second corrected piano
score was composed in October of 1910. Some string parts were published before
the premiere in 1910, but were corrected by Mahler after the June rehearsals and
the definitive version was available in September. Other orchestral parts were
published between November 191 l and February 1912, after Mahler’s death.
Richard Specht, one of the first to attempt an analysis of the Eighth, and
Paul Bekker believe the second movement should be divided into three parts. The
Andante or Adagio (mm. 1-184), the Scherzo (mm. 443-611) and the Finale (mm.
612-ff). However many musicologists now disagree with this simple approach.
Ortrun Landmann in a strong and scholarly analysis of the Eighth Symphony feels
that this movement should be divided into 5 parts,73 the basis of which is poetic

preference for the episodes of Goethe’s text as follows:

1. Description of the landscape; presentation of the Paters; entrance of the
angels with the soul of Faust (up to “die ewige Liebe nur”/Only the
Love beyond, line 1 1965).74 (m.579)

2. We approach the sphere of Mater gloriosa; Dr. Marianus and the
children start to take care of F aust’s soul (up to “Gottem ebenbfirtig”/
In the great perfection! 1ine12012).75 (m. 758)

 

7'lbid., 905. “BGM” in La Grange should read “BMG.”

'72 Mahler wrote Alma on September 4 1910 regarding the dedication: “At home 1 found the
keyboard reductions with the dedication and hoped that Hertzka was smart enough to send a copy
to Toblach. It was strange and exciting to see the tender, beloved name on the title page for all the
world to see. like a joyful confession.” Constantin Floros, 339.

73 Henry-Louis de la Grange, Gustav Mahler Volume III Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (l 904-
1907), 912.

7"Corrected from La Grange; line 1 1965 the last line,Vermages zu scheiden/Time can divide them.
(m. 579)

30

3. Principle episode: appearance of the Mater gloriosa; prayers of the
three sinning women and of Gretchen (from line “Er kommut
zuriick/Comes back to me! Line 12075. (m.1130)

4. Faust’s soul blossoms: the Mater gloriosa pronounces redemption;
hymn to the action of grace (up to “Gottin, bleibe, gnadig”/Goddess,
kind for ever! Line 12103). (m.1383)

5. Chorus Mysticus: final commentary. (m.1449-1572)

CHORUS MYSTICUS CHORUS MYSTICUS

Line 12104 Alles Vergangliche All that must disappear
Ist nur ein Gleichnis; Is but a parable;
Das Unzulangliche, What lay beyond us, here
Heir wird’s Ereignis; All is made visible;
Das Unbeschreibliche, Here deeds have understood
Heir ist’s getanzm Words they were darkened by;
Das Ewig-Weibliche Eternal Womanhood
Zieht uns hinan. Draws us on high.

Landmann asserts that the division exactly fits the formal scheme it
suggests, episode 1 is the exposition, followed by episodes 2 through 4, (a kind of

977 -
’ The various themes

development in three sections). Episode 5 is the Epilogue.
are divided into families according to their rhythmic and melodic character. The
emphasis is that the first movement is entirely dominated by the sonority of the
choruses, while the orchestra participates in a more consistent manner is a
secondary role. Landmann notes, finally, that Mahler’s most important change to
Goethe’s text concern the end of the monologue of Dr. Marianus (“Dir, der

Unberuhrbaren”, Though inviolate. exempted line 12020)”, which Mahler gives to

the chorus and places after the entrance of the Mater gloriosa?” This type of

 

75 Corrected line number from La Grange I believe this is a misprint, (Originally 1212).

76 Hermann Danuser notes that Goethe’s text. in most editions. reads “ist es getan” but that Goethe

corrected his own text in an earlier version of the text as “ist’s getan” (Danuser. “Interpret”, 279).

77Henry-Louis de la Grange, 912.

:: Corrected line number from La Grange (originally 12090) I believe this to be another misprint.
lbid., 912.

31

orchestral blurring creates a sense of uncertainty as to where the last section ends
and the next begins, and it is often heard in Mahler symphonies. (Note that at this
point Mahler omitted two lines of poetry at the end of Doctor Marianus’ solo: Wen
betort nicht Blick und Gruss/Schmeichel-hafter Odem? (Ardent eye and flattering
lip IBreathe such strong seduction?)

David Greene offers another analysis on the structure of Mahler’s second
movement. He maintains the three sections (Adagio, Scherzo, and Finale) but

offers a slightly different breakdown in a truncated Scherzo formula. 80

—
a

Adagio -— mm. 1 -3 84

2. Scherzo — mm. 385-638

(Two interpolations-mm.548-579 & mm.604-638)
Finale mm. 639-905

Scherzo returns — mm.906-1204

5. Finale returns -— mm. 1 205-end (1572)

PS"

Although F loros and Greene use the term Scherzo for the middle section of
the last movement (under the influence of Specht), the tempo for this section is
never in 3A and the form never follows that of a minuet. This entire section is
either alla breve or 4/4. Perhaps when Specht first formed an. analysis of the piece
he misunderstood Mahler’s use of the term Scherzando in m. 443 as “in the
manner of a scherzo.” The term could simply be interpreted as “light-hearted” or
“humorous.” Nowhere in this movement, however, is there any sense of a true

scherzo.

 

80 David B. Greene. 223-233.

Seeing Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in terms of being the most consonant
and optimistic of all his works as compared to his other more tortured works
would be a compelling comparison. Most of all its sections are centered on E-F lat.
There is little variance from this tonal center, either on E-flat minor/Major or E
Major for most ofthe time. 8'

Its structure can be easily understood in the manner of the sonata structure;
Introduction, Exposition in three sections, Development in three sections. and

Epilogue.

Table 2: Structure of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. 2"d Movement.

INTRODUCTION (orchestra)
Bars Themes and Motifs Tempos Keys

1-56 instrumental Arioso Poco Adagio E-flat minor
(anticipating the lSt chorus) (somewhat slow)

57-96 (anticipating the Pater Etwas bewegter
ecstaticus solo) (somewhat quicker)
97-146 theme of Pater Profundus piu mosso
similar to mm. 580-593 (more agitated)
147-66 Coda

EXPOSITION (first part mm. 167-384)

167-218 Chorus: “Waldung, sie Wieder langsam E-flat minor/
Schwankt ” (again slow ) Major
219-60 Baritone: Pater ecstaticus Moderato
“Ewige Wonnebrand” sehr leidenschaftlich

(very passionate)

 

8‘ Isabelle Werck, “Cosmogony Of The Eighth Symphony.” A “Mass " For The Masses: Mahler ’s
Eighth Svmphony — Proceedings Of The Mahler VII Synuiosium. ed. Jos van Leeuwen. (Rotterdam:
Universitaire Pers. 1992). 88-91.

33

261-265

266-361

362-84

385-420

418-442

443-519

520-539

love theme (trumpet)

Bass Pater Profundus: A llegro appassionato E-flat Major
(fast with passion)

Postlude (Hymn like transition C-flat Major
motivic material from song of
Pater ecstaticus 2nd Part (mm. 385-539)

Women’s Chorus: Allegro deciso B-Major
Gerettet its ' theme (fast deliberate)

used earlier in Mvt. I-

A ccende lumen mm. 262-281 Allegro mosso (faster)

Transition: trumpet & horn an- G-Major

nounce Faust’s spiritual reincar-

nation

Choir of the younger angels Scherzando E-flat Major
(Humorous)

Postlude

3rd Part (mm.540-79)

540-79 Prelude (orchestra) Schon etwas D-minor
Choir of more langsamer
perfect angels. (already somewhat E-flat Major
Borrowed from slower)
I-mm.135-168. Alto solo

DEVELOPMENT

15' section (mm. 580-779)

580-604 Chorus of Im Anfang noch etwas E-flat Major
younger angels (at the beginning held back)

604-638 Dr. Marianus Noch etwas kecker G, B-Major

(still a little livelier)
639-723 solo Dr. Marianus Sempre l'istesso tempo E-Major

(always the same tempo)

34

724-57

758—79

Praise of Sehr langsam E-flat Major
Mater Gloriosa (very slow)

Interlude Poco piu mosso E-flat, E-Major
(Slightly more agitated)

2nd Section (mm. 780-1248)

780-867

868-905

906-56

956-67

968-1016

1017-93

1093-1141

1141-1185

1186-1212

1213-48

Men & Mixed Chorus Adagissimo E-Major
(extremely slow)
Magna Peccatrix B, G-#-minor,
E-flat-Major
Mulier Samaritana B-flat minor/
E-flat Major
Intermezzo (played
by trumpets)
Maria Aegyptiaca Immerfliessend G-minor
(steadily flowing)
Trio of Pcnitent women Sehrfliessend. C, A, F -Major
beinahefliichtig
(very flowing,
almost hasty)
Prelude and song of the Sick etwas ma'ssigend D-Major
Una Poenitentium (a little more moderate)
Choir of the blessed Ummerklichjrischer
young boys-(theme of (Imperceptibly faster)

Mater Gloriosa)

Choir of the blessed young Allegro B-flat Major
Boys (with Glockenspicl), (fast)

Later Una Poenitentium.

Same music as mm. 613-638

(Faust’s spiritual life)

Soprano II- Wie die korrespondierende B-flat Major
Una Poenitentium. Stelle im ersten T eil.

(Like the corresponding

passage in the first part)

35

3rd Section (mm 1 249-420)

1249-76 Mater Gloriosa and Chorus Sehr Langsam, E-flat Major
Dolcissimo
(very slow, sweetly)
1277-383 Dr. Marianus and Choir Hymnlike E-flat Major/
C-minor/E-Major
1384-420 Postlude F liessend (flowing) E-flat Major
EPILOGUE — (1421-572)
1421-48 Prelude or Transition Langsam (slow) E-flat Major
1 149-1528 Chorus Mysticus82 and Sehr langsam beginnend
Soloists (very slow at the beginning)

Schon bewegter, etc
(already getting faster)

1528-72 Postlude (orchestra) F liessend
(with the Veni theme (flowing)
from Mvt. I.)

Mahler’s great oratorio/music drama continuously uses motives reverting
"back to the first movement in many ways. First by seldom leaving the keys of E-
flat major, E-flat minor, E major, however, always returning to E-flat major. The
massive choral symphony sets the tonality around E of one type or another. This
can also assist the choir in always keeping in mind their tonal center by this
reference to E-flat. This constant tonal center lends gravity to the idea that Mahler
was portraying in Goethe’s Faust and Faust’s final redemption. The falling fourth
or the “Veni " theme is the melodic/tonal cell of the symphony from which most all

of the major themes were created,” followed by the inversion or the ascending

 

83 Alban Berg once owned a preliminary sketch of the Chorus Mystic-us written on toilet paper
(ca.8x1 1 cm2) in pencil by Mahler. The Alban Berg Foundation in Vienna now owns it.
8" According to Constantin F loros, “Mahler considered it a theme of enlightenment and love”. 230.

36

fourth. Another thematic interval important to Mahler is the ascending sixth.
Lyrical soprano lines along with powerful ostinato lines combine to become the
basis for this symphony. Mahler basically used six thematic groups to create his
entire symphony.84 It is easy to see that Mahler employed Wagner’s technique, so
popular during that time, of the Leitmotif in his own particular and unique
Mahlerian way. The feeling, or sensing, of being musically projected forward or
backward in time by the borrowings of one motif from one another, the excitement
of what is to be or what was can be heard frequently. The Wagnerian categories of
Ahnug, (foreboding), Vergegenwdrtigung (bring to mind), and Erinnerung
(remembrance) are liberally used in this work.85 The use of these qualities created
outer (emotional) and inner (intellectual) connections that the people of the time
were well aware of.

The basic ideas of eternal love, divine grace, earthly inadequacy, and
spiritual reincarnation guided Mahler in his creation of his Eighth Symphony.86
Beethoven previously used the chorus to extol the glories of Mankind and Mahler
was sensitive to that standard and followed his example. Schumann was also an
influence on Mahler and Mahler’s use of the chorus. Schumann had written many

”87 that Mahler would have been familiar with.

“cantata-oratorio-ballad admixture
Using the forces of many different types of choirs (male, female, boys,

mixed) gave Mahler the many colors in which to paint his sound picture of

Goethe’s Faust. Zoltan Roman notes that Mahler put great demands upon the

 

MHenry-Louis de la Grange. Gustav Mahler Volume III Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (I 904-
1907), 934-938.

85 C onstantin Floros, 230.

”lbid., 23o.

R7Zoltan Roman. “The Chorus in Mahler’s Music.” in The Music Review Vol. 43. No.1 (1983), 32.

37

chorus in terms of its tessitura. Sopranos varied from a major 13‘h to two octaves
plus a major third. Altos were expected to sing a major 13th or up to two octaves
with a major second. Tenors needed only to do a minor 13th to two octaves less a
major 2'”. However, it was upon the basses that Mahler put the most demands.
The ranges for the expectations of the basses in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony were
to combine the qualities of a basso pro/undo to a basso cantante; this group was
expected to perform in a range from two octaves plus a perfect 4th to a major 6th
beyond two octaves.88 Mahler came to use the voice and the chorus as simply
another sound source from which to paint with his samples of tonal colors. The
voice became another medium of endless timbres from which to choose. Often he
would press the chorus to the extreme of their ranges, the sopranos to high C and
the basses down to the great B-flat. He would extend the range of the voice for
color and texture and sonority, but would keep the middle range clear for the

message of Goethe’s text.

The Performance:

Mahler left Vienna in Sept 1907 for the United States and the Metropolitan
Opera in New York. He had decided to leave the Imperial Opera in Vienna after
reaching the pinnacle of success. The decision to leave Vienna had been in some
ways the result of the great amounts of money he was being offered in New York.

His new financial status gave Mahler the freedom of a life style similar to Richard

 

8" lbid., 35.

38

Strauss.89 His years in Vienna had turned into troubling times both personally and
professionally. Many of his good friends such as Lilli Lehmann did not wish to see
him leave saying, “...1 was sorry that he had to cross the ocean to attain. . .what so
many wished to attain: financial independence for his old age, his family and not
least for his own creativity?”0 His favorite daughter Maria Anna (Putzi) had died
of scarlet fever in July and his heart condition had been diagnosed.9| America was
to become the chance for a complete change of milieu. Mahler would now live in
New York but would return for the summers to the South Tyrolean farmhouse (see
fig. 2) and the composing hut for his remaining years of 1908-1910. 92

In 1909 Mahler wrote to Alma with his thoughts regarding the Goethe

scene of the symphony:

That which draws us by its mystic force, what every created thing, perhaps
even the very stones, feels with absolute certainty as the center of its being,
what Goethe here — again employing an image — calls the eternal feminine
— that is to say, the resting-place, the goal, in opposition to the striving and
struggling towards the goal (the eternal masculine) —— you are quite right in
calling the force of love. Goethe. . .expresses it with a growing cleamess
and certainty right on to the Mater Gloriosa — the personification of the

eternal feminine!

 

8° Herta Blaukopf, Gustav Mahler Richard Strauss Correspondence [888-191 I (Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press 1996), 149-50.

90 Herta Blaukopf, comp., Mahler’s Unknown Letters (London: St. Edmundsbury Press Ltd..
1983), 90.

9' Maria Anna was laid to rest in Keutschach cemetery near Maiemigg on 13 July. The coffin was
move to Vienna and re-interred in 1909. La Grange, Footnote # 250. 692.

92 Kurt Blaukopf and Herta Blaukopf, Mahler His Life, Work and World (New York: Thames &
Hudson 2000), 173.

39

 

Figure 2 — Mahler and Alma lived in the second story of this South Tyrolean
farmhouse at Toblach during the summers of 1908-10.

40

Mahler and Alma traveled to Toblach in April of 1910. The summer
would be spent on finishing all sorts of details for the September premiere of the
Eighth, in Munich. Mahler worked feverishly that summer. By this time Mahler
had lived with his heart condition for a number of years, there was always intrigue
and drama with his New York season not unlike Vienna. However Mahler would
not have the luxury of composing this summer (although he did work on sketches
of the 10‘”). It was to be a working time for Mahler preparing for the next season
in New York but most importantly the premiere of his Eighth Symphony. He was
always possessed with a single mindedness when it came to his work. His career
(his music) came first and everything else was second. Goethe and Mahler both
shared the same thoughts regarding work, both of them were nearing the ends of
their lives when Goethe quoted the lines, “Wer immer strehend sich hemiilt/Den
ko'nnen wir erlo'sen ” (Whoever strives unceasingly/Him we can redeem), adding
that they contained the “key to F aust’s salvation,” in many ways Mahler felt the
same way about his life."3

During the early rehearsals for the symphony in June Mahler wrote Alma

saying:

The essence of it is really Goethe’s idea that all love is generative, creative,
and that there is a physical and spiritual generation, which is the emanation
of this “Eros”. You have it in the last scene of Faust, presented

symbolically... The wonderful discussions between Diotima and

 

93 Jonathan Carr, 187.

41

Socrates. . .The comparison between (Socrates) and Christ is obvious and

has arisen spontaneously in all ages. . .in each case Eros as Creator of the

world?“
Alma decided in the summer of 1910 that she needed another rest cure. This cure
however was cut short due to her romantic involvement with a young architect
name Walter Gropius (later to become her second husband) whom she met while
on this cure.

August 26, 1910 Mahler sought the advice of the now famous Sigmund
Freud while Freud was on vacation in Leyden in Holland.95 Freud’s thoughts are
remarkable in what he said to Mahler. Mahler was struggling to find the same
answers to life"6 though his understanding of the feminine that he was writing
about in his Symphony No.8.97 On 4 January 1935 in a letter to Theodor Reik,

Freud wrote the following about Mahler;

I analyzed Mahler for an afternoon in Leiden. If I may believe reports, I
achieved much with him at that time. The necessity for the visit arose, for
him, from his wife’s resentment of the withdrawal of his libido from her.

In highly interesting expeditions through his life history, we discovered his

 

(”Michael Kennedy, The Master Musicians- Mahler, (London: J .M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1974), 150.
95 Klaus Pringsheim in 1907 relates a story where a few years earlier Mahler did not think much of
Freud, the subject of psychoanalysis did not interest him. Mahler said, “Freud. . .he attempts to cure
everything from a single point of view.” From a single point: he did not name it; he obviously
shrank from letting me hear the word in question in the presence of his wife. Kurt Blaukopf and
Herta Blaukopf, 237.

9° Peter Ostwald, “Gustav Mahler: Health And Creative Energy.” A “Mass " For The Masses:
Mahler's Eighth Symphony — Proceedings Of The Mahler VII Svmposium, ed. Jos van Leeuwen.
(Rotterdam: Universitaire Pers, 1992), 100-117.

97 David Holbrook. Gustav Mahler and The C ourage To Be. (London: Vision Press Ltd.. 1975), 71-
72.

42

personal conditions for love. especially his Holy Mary complex (mother
fixation). I had plenty of opportunity to admire the capability for
psychological understanding of this man of genius. No light fell at the time
on the symptomatic facade of his obsessional neurosis. It was as if you

would dig a single shaft through a mysterious building.

Mahler was a man who believed that fate along with faith controlled many
aspects of his life. Yet Mahler was always there to challenge the concept of fate,
but it was faith that would allow Mahler to realize his potential in all things
including love. There is help along the way, and Eros was there to ensure that end.
In a letter to Alma from 4 September shortly before the 1910 premiere, Mahler
revealed his thoughts to her in exactly the same way he was trying to illuminate

Hrabanus Maurus and Goethe’s thoughts in his Symphony No.8.

By the way, I have made a strange discovery! You see it was always just
like this, and with almost the same longing, that I sat straight down to write
when I was away from you. . .Freud is quite right — you were always my
light and my focal point. . .But what a torment, what an agony, that you can
no longer return it. But as truly as love must re-awaken love, and faith will
find faith again, as long as Eros remains the ruler of men and gods, so truly
I shall reconquer everything again, the heart that once was mine and which

still can find God and happiness only in union with mine.98

 

9“ Michael Kennedy, 150.

43

Mahler’s Symphony No.8 was not only a world premiere, it was to be the
first work to be presented in the new the Munich Exhibition Hall especially built
for the occasion. Mahler’s work, which flowed forth with great ease in 1906, was
now a testament, a solution to the complexities that had befallen his life. Like the
new orchestra hall and the new symphony, this was to be a new beginning for both
him and Alma. Goethe’s Faust and Mahler’s great music were to prove the point
to both of them and to the world that Eros’ love along with the divine grace of the
Mater Gloriosa were life’s answer. Mahler was taking stock of his life and the few
opportunities left to him with his marriage in the performance of his great work.

Before the final rehearsals and concert Alma relates the following;

One night I was awakened by an apparition by my bed. It was Mahler
standing there in the darkness. “Would it give you any pleasure if 1
dedicated the Eighth to you? You might regret it.” “I have just written to
Hertzka99 now — by the light of dawn, he said. Any pleasure! All the

same I said: Don’t. You have never dedicated anything to anybody.

Mahler left Toblach for Munich at the beginning of September to be in
charge of the final rehearsals and Alma was to follow later. This huge undertaking
took the talents of choral members from three cities. In his letters to Alma, Mahler

graphically reflected a man whose mental states alternated between “bouts of

 

99 Emil Hertzka (1869-1932) ~-Director of Universal Edition one ofthe leading music publishing
firms in Europe.

44

 

Figure 3 — Mahler rehearsing the Symphony No. 8 in the Exhibition Hall in
Munich.

45

elation and anxiety which characterized the last eight or nine days of

' 99 i ()0
preparation.

The concert would never have taken place at all but for the high-
handed and unscrupulous conduct of Emil Gutmann?“ who organized it. He
cabled to Mahler in New York, telling him that the score was already printed and
that the preliminary rehearsals had long ago begun in Vienna. In fact, not a note
had been printed. As soon as Mahler knew this, he wanted to cancel the
performance immediately, but by this time rehearsals were actually in progress.

It is the use of large forces in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony that speak to our
imagination. '02 The orchestra for this work along with the immense choirs reached
a gigantic size of 1021 performers. The Munich Concert Society’s orchestra was
enlarged to include 84 strings, 2 harps, 22 woodwinds, and 17 brass, plus 4
trumpets and 3 trombones set off from the main body. All total there were 171
instrumentalists. The 250 vocalists from Vienna were members of the Singverein
of the Gesellschaft der Musik/reunde, 250 members of the Riedel Verein from
Leipzig, and 350 children from the Zentral Singschule in Munich.103 Bruno
Walter, Mahler’s trusted disciple, was in charge of rehearsing the eight soloists.
Alfred Roller, the great theater set designer, was in charge of positioning all the
musical forces for their best acoustical advantage. Both Mahler and Roller tried to

create a total environment that would elevate the visual, musical, and emotional

and mental experiences for which this work was reaching. The bold step of

 

'00 Zoltan Roman. Gustav Mahler '5 American Years 1907-1911 — A Documentary History
(Stuyvesant: Pendragon Press, 1989), 376.

'0' Emil Gutmann (1877-1922(?)). Concert agent in Munich for Mahler’s Eighth Symphony

remiere. He was the agent who coined the subtitle, Symphony of a Thousand. "

02 Robert Becque, “A Survey ofthe Performances of Mahler’s Symphony Vlll In The
Netherlands”, A “Mass " For The Masses: Mahler '3 Eighth Symphony. ed. Jos van Leeuwen,
(Rotterdam: Universitaire Pers. 1992), 195.

‘03 Egon Gartenberg, Mahler: The Man and His Music (New York: Schirmcr Books 1978). 320.

46

changing the typical atmosphere was challenged when the lights in the F esthalle
were lowered and the hall was cast into almost complete and eerie darkness.
Mahler noticed during the final rehearsal that during the pianissimo passages he
could hear the bells of the Munich street cars.104 Ever the perfectionist, with the
whole town excited about this upcoming event, the street cars would go by and not
use their bells on the nights of the performance out of respect for Mahler’s wishes.

As the concert neared, Mahler’s admirers, close friends and disciples came
to Munich to be with him and hear this great work. In attendance was Arnold
Schonberg; conductors Otto Klemperer and Siegfried Wagner; Alfred Casella and
Anton Webem (who got free tickets from Schonberg); writers Stefan Zweig, and
Thomas Mann: and the theater’s rising star Max Reinhardt. In addition, Oskar
Fried (composer/conductor), Fritz Erler (painter), Albert Ncisser (Dr. of
Dermatology), and Arnold Berliner (physicist) were there.

The C hronik der Stadt Miinchen reported in its review of the “monster
concert” event that also in attendance were “their Royal Hi ghnesses Princess
Gisela of Bavaria and Prince Ludwig Ferdinand, Hermann Bahr and his wife,
Court Singer Bahr-Mildenburg, Richard Strauss, Court Singer Lilli Lehmann,
Court Singer Schmedes, Princes Thurn and Taxis, Princess Marietta zu Hohenlohe,
Countess Palin Paul Clemenceau from Paris, Professor Kolo Moser, Professor

Anton [sic] Roller, the well-known stage designer, Professor Dr. Oskar Bic, Dr

 

I04While writing his early symphonies at his composing hut on lake Attersee in Steinbach in
Austria, Mahler would often have his family shoo the birds away to keep the area quiet so he could
concentrate on his composition without the distraction of other sounds.

47

Leopold Schmidt, Court Conductor Schalk, Director of the Vienna Singverein,
Court Conductor Bruno Walter from Vienna and many, many more?”05

The review ended with a short paragraph praising Mahler’s Eighth
Symphony; “The success of the evening was extraordinary, as befitted the
participation in it of the whole musical world. The final scene left an unforgettable
., 106

impression, culminating in a long and enthusiastic apothcosis of Mahler.

Alma in her memoirs relates how she thought Mahler felt about the

opening:

I too found a copy of the Eighth'07 with its dedicatory page on my table.
Mahler was eager now to hear what his old fiiends would have to say; for
egocentric though he was, he expected his friends to enter into and share
his pleasure. But his friends kept silent. He found himself alone; his
feelings and his happiness were of no account; he was of importance to
them only in so far as he reflected credit on themselves. . .Mahler refused to
give an audition to a certain singer. She sent a gilded basket of roses up to

my room an hour later as a propitiatory offering. But he was blind no

 

'05 Kurt Blaukopf and Herta Blaukopf. 239. “Chronik der Stadt Miichen”. ms.. 1910, vol. 1 1,
Stadtarchiv Miichen, 2312-13).

'06 Later many would disagree See: Theodor W. Adorno, Mahler A Musical Physiognomy
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996), 140-410r Donald Mitchell. “Mahler’s
Paradoxical Eighth, Eveline Nikkels, Robert Becqué, Jos van Leeuwen. ed., A “Mass " For The
Masses: Mahler's Eighth. Symphony — Proceedings of the Mahler VIII Symposium (Rotterdam:
Universitaire Pers, 1992), 185-194.

107 This was a piano reduction by Josef von Woess. 1863-1943. He also made the piano reductions
for Maher’s 3rd 4‘“, 8m, 9m Symphonies. and Das klagende Lied. Later in 1912 there was a piano
duet published by Universal Edition arranged by Alfred Neufeld it too was also dedicated to Alma.

48

longer. On the contrary, he was ready to take offense at the slightest sign
that I was not paid enough honor or not received with enough warmth. "’8
Alma’s feelings about the premiere reflected an almost dismissal quality in

their brevity as read in her memoirs:

The whole of Munich as well as all who had come there for the occasion
were wrought up to the highest pitch of suspense. The final rehearsal
provoked rapturous enthusiasm, but it was nothing to the performance
itself. The whole audience rose to their feet as soon as Mahler took his
place at the conductor’s desk; and the breathless silence which followed
was the most impressive homage an artist could be paid. I sat in a box
almost insensible from excitement.

And then Mahler, god or demon, turned those tremendous volumes
of sound into fountains of light. The experience was indescribable.
Indescribable too, the demonstration which followed. The whole audience
surged towards the platform. I waited behind the scenes in a state of deep
emotion until the outburst died down. Then, with our eyes full of tears, we

drove to the hotel. '09

In Lilli Lehmann’s emotional account from Mein Weg of 1913 she relates

her feelings of that special evening: I '0

 

H”’Alma Mahler, I79.
"’9 lbid. 180.
IIOKurt Blaukopf and Herta Blaukopf. 239-40-

49

I saw Mahler again, and for the last time, in 1910 when he conducted his
Eighth Symphony; Riezl and I had gone there specially. Mahler had aged
very much: it gave me a real shock. His work, which was given by 1,000
performers, sounded as from one instrument, from one throat. The second
part of the Symphony, based on the second part of Faust, touched me
painfully. Was it he, his music, his appearance, a premonition of death,
Goethe’s words, reminiscences of Schumann, my youth? I do not know; I
only know that for the whole of the second part I gave way to emotion,

which I could not control.

Shortly after the concert Thomas Mannl H wrote to Mahler to add his praise

to the excitement of the evening;

How deeply 1 am indebted to you for the experience of 12 September. I
was incapable of telling you in the hotel in the evening. I feel an urgent
necessity to give you at least an inkling of it, and so I ask you to be kind
enough to accept the enclosed book — my latest — from me.

It is ill-suited as a counter-gilt to what I have received from you,
and it must weigh as light as a feather in the hands of the man who
embodies, as I believe I discern, the most serious and sacred artistic will of

”112

our time...

 

1” Wrote Death in Venice in 191 1- Thomas Mann’s character of the novelist becomes an obsessive
composer in many ways similar to Mahler. Peter Franklin. The Life of Mahler, (Cambridge:
University Press, 1997), 166.

l|2lbid., 240.

50

Emil Gutmann whose role in ensuring that Mahler’s premiere was a

success wrote in Die Musik:

As Mahler stepped on the podium in the semidarkness of the enormous
hall, where the black mass of the audience merge with the black and white
mass of the performers, everyone sensed that a primordial, fully formed
and vital being had just been given a heart which was about to start beating.
In this moment, there were no singers and no listeners, no instruments and
no sounding boards, only one single body, with many, many veins and
verves, that was waiting to have the blood and breath of art course through
it. Under no one else has there been such a complete readiness of all for
art, for the artwork and the reception of art. The name and purpose of this
body was the concept of the communality of art!

And Mahler began to beat with this baton — animating blood
throbbed rhythmically through his body, and for the first time humanity,
massed on the sacred heights, brought forth the ardent cry: “Veni creator

- - 113
sprrrtus!”

Bruno Walter in Theme and Variations gave this account of Mahler’s

actions at the end of the concert:

 

”3 Zoltan Roman, Gustav Mahler ’5 American Years 1907-1911, 376-77. (“Gustav Mahler als
Organisator,” in MUB. p.91), This letter was in the form of an eulogy and was first published in
Die Musik.

51

When the last note of the performance had died away and the waves of

”4Mahler ascended the steps of the

enthusiastic applause reached him,
platform, at the top of which the children’s choir was posted. The little
ones hailed him with shouts of jubilation, and walking down the line, he
pressed every one of the little hands that were extended towards him. The

loving greeting of the young generation filled him with hope for the future

- . . S
of hIS work and gave hrm srncere pleasure. I "

All these recollections of that event in September testify to the fact that a
great musical event had happened that evening. To the German people of the
upper and middle class this was the type of work that all would recognize. Most
all would have known the Veni creator hymn and of course all would have read

Goethe’s Faust. Combined with Mahler’s music and Roller’sl '6

setting indeed the
event must have attained a kind of German artistic message that everyone could
understand and feel with a sense of great national pride that evening.

Emotionally as well as creatively, Mahler’s Eighth, Symphony was the
culmination and highpoint of his life. Mahler’s Eighth Symphony represents the
end of the expansion and the enlargement of sonorities and form that began with
Beethoven’s Eroica (some would say earlier with Haydn or even earlier with the

antiphonal juxtaposition of tonal masses traced back to the Venetian Renaissance

of the sixteenth century) in regard to the enlargement of form and sound, and of

 

”4 There were over 3,000 people in attendance in which they gave Mahler a 30-minute standing

ovation.

"5 Egon Gartenberg, 321-22.

”6 Alfred Roller (1864-1935) — symbolist-inspired painter and important figure in the Vienna
Secession movement. He was director of design at the Vienna Opera from 1903-9.

52

another which also began with Beethoven’s Ninth — in regard to the inclusion of
the human voice into the symphonic structure.I ‘7
This was a symphony of triumphant for Mahler, he would later go on to the
brooding resignation and final farewells in his Das Lied von der Erde and
Symphony No. 9, but Mahler’s dream of a total choral symphony had come to

fruition and his personal artistic recognition could not be denied. Mahler had

reached for the universe and had achieved it with his Eighth Symphony.

 

H7Egon Gartenberg, 322-23.

53

APPENDICES

Appendix A — Comparison of texts: Hrabanus Maurus / Liturgical/Mahler
/English Translation/ Measure
Numbers.

Appendix B — Facsimile of Mahler’s handwritten text.

54

 

APPENDIX A
Hrabanus Maurus

l. Jeni, Creator Spiritus.
memes Iuorum visita.
imp/e suprena gratia
quac tu creasti pet tora.’

e. Qui Paracletus tliceris.
(lo/rum Del Altissimi.
[fans virus. ignis. caritas
et spiritalis unction.‘

3. fit septiformis mime/'e
dextrae Dei tu cligitus,
tu rite promissum Patris‘
sermone ditans guttura:

4. accencle lumen sensiluts.
infiaule amorem cordibus.

Infirma nostri corporis
\‘irtuefirmans per/Jeri;

5. hostem repel/as langius.
pacemque clones protinus:
ductore sic te praevio
vitemus omne no'xium,’

6. per te sciamus, (la. Patrem,
noscamus atquefilium,
te utriusque Spiritum
crca’amus omni tempore.’

7. Praesta hoc, Pater pilssime
Patrique compar Unice

cum Paracieto Spiritu
regnans per omne saeculum!
Amen.

 

Liturgical Tradition
Veni creator spiritus.
\Icntes tuorum \'I.\‘lltl
Imp/c suprenu gratla
Qlttlt’ Ill cl‘etlsll pectoral

Qui Parac/itus tliceris.
Donum Del altissimi.
Fons i‘ivus, ignis, ctiritas.
Et spirittilis unction.

Tu septi/ormis mzlnere.
dextrae Dco tu tligitus,
Tu rite promissum Patris.
Ser/no/ze (litans glittura.

Accent/e lumen semi/ms:

Infant/e amorem cordibus:

ln/lrma nostri corporis
Virtz'tte fir/turns perpeli.

Hostem repellas longius

Par 'émque dones protitms:

Ducttire sic Ie praei‘io
lt’itémus omne horizon

Per te scitimus da Patrem.

Nosczimus att/ue F I'lium.
Te utriusL/ue Spiritum
C retlcimus omni te'mpore.

Stanza taken from the
Munich manuscript
(see above)

Gloria Patri Domino,
Natoque, qui a mortals

Surre'xit. ac Paraclito,
In saeculo'rum saecula,
Amen.

Gustav Mahler

1 cm creator spit/tin
Memes tuorum \‘isita
Imp/e suprena grin/a.
Quae Iu creasti [)(‘I'IUI

Qui l’a/‘aclitus tlit eris
Domtm Dei alliwimi.
Fons virus, ignis, cart
El spiritalis unction.

[Ii/irma nostri corpori
l"irtutctfir/trans per/u

.-l(‘('(’ll(l(’ llllllt’ll Sellfi'l/

ln/‘i/ntle amorem cord»:

Hostem repel/as long.
Pacemaue clones prots
Doctore sic te praevit
l/"itemus omne pcssim
Tu septi/ormis mutter.
Dextrae pate/nae dig ,’
Per te sciamus (la [)(tl’l.
Noscamusfilium

C reddmus Spiritum
Omni tempore.

Da gaua’iorum praem
Da gratiarum munert
Dissolve litis vincula.

Gloria Patri Domino
Natoque qui a mortal
Deo sit gloria

Et Filio qui mortals
Surrexit. ac Parachtt
In saeculorum saecut

English Translation

Come. Holy Ghost. Creator comc.
From the bright heavenly throne.
Come. take possession of our souls.
And Make them all Thine own.

Thou who art called the Paraclctc.
Best Gift ofGod abmc.

Li\ ing fountain. fire. charitable love.
Sweet Unction. and True Love!

With Thy strength which ne’er decays
Confirm our mortal frame

Kindle a light in our senses.
With love our hearts inflame

Far from us drive our hellish foe.
True peace unto us bring.

And through all perils guide us safe
Beneath Thy sacred wing.

Thou who are sevenfold in Thy grace.
Finger of God's right hand.

Through Thee may we the Father know.

Through Thee the Eternal Son.
And Thee. the Spirit of them Both
Be worshipped for all time.

Give us the heavenlyjoy
Give us Your divine grace.
Appease our human quarrels

All Glory to the Father be,
And to the risen Son; .'
God and to the Son

Who was born and from the dead
The same to Thee, O Paraclete,
While endless ages run.

Bars
1-45 (Theme A)

46-80 (Theme B)

80—90

91—108

108-22 (Veni Creator)

122—140 Orchestral Interlude
142—68 Closing section (Theme C)

169—216 Interlude
218—53 (Theme D)
254-61: Interlude
262-89 (Theme E)

366-412: Accende
413-416 Veni Creator
442-74

475-88: Ductore te praevio
488-507: Interlude
508-80

I These two lines were added by Mahler, making the ‘Doxology’ more explicit than in the original text ofthe stanza. usi; the same words but replacing ‘Domino’ with ‘Deo’, and ‘Nato’ with ‘Filio”.
LaGrange, Henry—Louis de. Gustav Mahler. Volume III Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (1904—1907) (New York: Oxfcl University Press, 1999), 895.

 

 

English Translation

(Tome, Holy Ghost, Creator come,
From the bright heavenly throne.
Come, take possession of our souls.
And Make them all Thine own.

 

Thou who art called the Paraclcte.
Best Gift of God above.

Living fountain. fire, charitable love,
Sweet Unction, and True Love!

With Thy strength which ne‘er decays
Confirm our mortal frame

Kindle a light in our senses.
With love our hearts inflame

Far from us drive our hellish foe,

True peace unto us bring.

And through all perils guide us safe
Beneath Thy sacred wing.

Thou who are sevenfold in Thy grace.
Finger of God’s right hand.

Through Thee may we the Father know,
Through Thee the Eternal Son,

And Thee, the Spirit of them Both

Be worshipped for all time.

Give us the heavenlyjoy
Give us Your divine grace,
Appease our human quarrels

All Glory to the Father be,
And to the risen Son;
God and to the Son

Who was born and from the dead
The same to Thee, O Paraclete.
While endless ages run.

Bars

l-45 (Theme A)

46-80 (Theme B)

80-90

9I-I08
108-22 (I’eni C reutor/

l22-l40 Orchestral Interlude
I42-68 Closing section (Theme C)

I69-216 Interlude
2I8-53 (Theme D)
254-61: Interlude
262-89 (Theme E)

290-307
3OX-I I
312-32

333—49

349-66

366-4I2: Aeeemle
4 I 3-4 I 6 Veni Creator
442-74

475-88: Duetore te pruevio
488—507: Interlude
508-80

same words but replacing ‘Domino’ with ‘Deo’, and ‘Nato’ with ‘Filio”.
iversity Press, I999), 895.

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX B‘

 

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I Constantin Floros, 212.

56

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59

   

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