Gustav Mahler's Everlasting Influence, by Payman Akhlaghi (2001, V01a) A Brief Discussion of "Der Abschied" From "Das Lied Von Der Erde"

Gustav Mahler’s Everlasting Influence
A Brief Discussion of Der Abschied

From Das Lied von der Erde
By: Payman Akhlaghi
Music 266A
Professor Paul Reale
UCLA
Fall 2001*
* The paper was created and submitted later

with a generous extension granted by the
Prof. due to special circumstances.
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

A Brief Discussion of Der Abschied By: Payman Akhlaghi
Preface
For many decades, the widely adopted narrative of the history of music in the
twentieth century seemed to have left Mahler behind, buried with reverence, in the
remnants of the Late Romanticism. Yet, neither his progressive aesthetics were fully
compatible with the sensitivities of Romanticism [for example, his adventures in time and
tonality and the treatment of dissonances were atypical to a Romantic ear], nor his music
was containable within the then predominant definitions of twentieth-century Modernism
[‘too’ tonal; ‘too’ lyrical]. Thus, he was forced to live in a limbo, shortly existing in a few
last pages on the Late Romantics, a few first pages on the early Modernists, and the dark
shadow in between. His ‘Yiddish Accent’ and background had only added to the extra-
musical impediments and had cost him almost a perfect silence in the wartime Nazi
societies. Outside Austria and Germany still a foreigner, he was not received without
reservations, either. Donald Mitchell, the noted Mahler specialist, recalls an Eric Blom in
the first half of the past century, telling him “authoritatively that ‘We’–the English, that
is–‘just don’t want Mahler here’, as if the composer was some kind of unwelcome
musical immigrant, to be repelled if he dared to approach our shores” (Mitchell, 1968).
Mitchell further relates that in England before the 60’s, performances of Mahler’s music
were rare and scattered, and often consisted of isolated movements of larger works (ibid).
But Mahler managed to survive the oblivion, in part due to the advocacy of the
likes of Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer and Willem Mengelberg, and eventually, a timely
resurgence of his music was championed in the 1960’s by Leonard Bernstein (Schiff,
2001). And resurgence it was: today, Mahler’s music has become the central piece of
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symphonic seasons (Mitchell, 1968); he is now the most frequently performed composer
of our time (Schiff, 2001, and Reale, 2001); his influential role in the history of music is
increasingly better recognized in the scholarly realm.
The mere persistence and increasing prevalence of this revival hints at the
relevance of Mahler and his music to the contemporary humane and artistic sensitivities,
far beyond potentially political considerations. Warm embrace of this music by the
general public points to the congenially emotional cords with which it resonates, while
the ever-increasing professional attention being parted on it is an indication of its
musically progressive elements. Mahler had much to offer his immediate successors, and
perhaps even more, to those who would re-discover his music anew, with a gaze, almost a
hundred years later.
In Mahler’s world, technique, meaning and composer’s personality are fully
intertwined. In fact, it appears that no commentary on this music could remain indifferent
to its connotations, or to the composer’s mind, life and spirit. Often, biographical
information can even clarify some aspects of the music that might otherwise appear
puzzling. For example, an awareness of the autobiographical significance of the
embedded Marches and Ländlers in a number of his symphonies (e.g. the First and the
Fourth) could rectify a sense of structural inconsistency that might otherwise impede a
full appreciation of these works. This hints to the subtlety, breadth and sophistication of
his innovations in matters of form and structure, as well as the symbolic aspect of his
music. To put it more succinctly, his is a music so sincere and personal that its syntax and
semantics could hardly be dissociated one from the other. Yet, his music also defies
excessive programmaticism, as only a slight suggestion of those extra-musical

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associations suffices to give the music an independently cohesive life of its own in the
mind of the listener.
Approached from this angle, we might notice not only the association of abstract
sounds and tangible meaning, but also the fact that some of his purely musical
innovations are a direct result of expressive needs and semantic considerations.
Notwithstanding the general difficulty of establishing with any degree of certainty the
expressive origins of abstract musical ideas—and Mahler’s music is not an exception—to
our help comes the fact that a major portion of his output employed words as the
associate vehicles of musical thoughts. Besides his important song-cycles, such as Lieder
eines fahrenden Gesellen (‘Songs of a Wayfarer’) and especially, Kindertotenlieder
(‘Songs on the Deaths of Children’), he also used words to clarify his ideas even in a
certain number of his more abstract works, i.e. the symphonies (Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 8). But
perhaps even more consequentially is the case of Das Lied von der Erde, ‘The Song of
the Earth’, where such integration of music and meaning, words and sounds, elevates to a
higher-order union of two genres and their associated forms—symphony and Lieder—
besides radical temporal, melodic, harmonic, textural and timbral influences. This is most
prominently evident in the Finale of the work—Der Abschied, or ‘The Farewell’. Here,
composer’s philosophical reflections on life and death, compounded with the recent
tragic events in his personal life, influenced both the literary and the musical elements of
the piece, from the selection and manipulation of the words, to minute musical decisions.
As Das Lied von der Erde patiently approaches the last measures of Der Abschied, the
hitherto acquired perception of time [at least in the immediate history of Western music]
as a function of an established, regulated pulse, is evoked, challenged, transcended, and

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eventually, altered for good. And this is only one of the many contributions of Das Lied
von der Erde, and in particular, its Abschied to the future of music.
In the present paper, following a brief overview of the entire symphony, the
discussion will focus on Der Abschied, in an attempt to explore some of its most salient
characteristics.
***
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An Overview of Das Lied von der Erde
Background
Das Lied von der Erde, henceforth Das Lied, was composed1 in 1908-09, one year
after the tragic death of the composer’s eldest daughter, Maria, in the summer of 1907,
which was further complicated by the unexpected, simultaneous diagnosis of the fatal
condition of Mahler’s heart, and hence, the news of the imminence of his own death.
Although Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) lived long enough to also complete his Symphony
No. 9 and the Adagio of the Tenth Symphony, his untimely death, at the age of 51,
deprived him of hearing a live performance of Das Lied. It was Bruno Walter, the
composer’s conducting protégé, long-time friend, and life-long advocate, who would
premiere the work in Munich, in November of 1911, almost seven months after
composer’s final departure. Notably, Walter was possibly the first to have acquired an
intimate knowledge of the score directly from the composer; indeed, Mahler himself had
entrusted the premiere to his hands.
Das Lied can be viewed largely as the culmination of Mahler’s longtime, perhaps
intuitive, quest for and ideally cohesive convergence of two rather distinct worlds of
symphony and song-cycle, both of which he held equally dear—one signifying the public
side, and the other representing the private side of his personality. Essentially, the
problem was set forth first by Beethoven in the Finale of The Ninth: the introduction of
1
The exact dates of composition are debated by scholars. See Hefling, 1999.
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words, and thus, human voice, into the—until then—purely instrumental genre of
symphony. But for Mahler, the project eventually found much broader dimensions: how
to bring the voice and the words into the symphonic world without subordinating one to
the other. In other words, how to make words, and voice, an integrated part of the totality
of the composition, as opposed to a mere accident of it.
Along this path, Mahler first created symphonies that respectfully invited large
vocal forces (No. 2) or even a single soprano line (No. 4) into their chambers, as well as
song-cycles for voice and orchestra that manifested conspicuous symphonic ambitions
(e.g. Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen2 of 1883-93; Fünf Lieder nach Rückert3 of 1901-
02). By 1906, the project seems to have taken a clearer shape; the Eighth Symphony, a
more or less thorough setting of a medieval hymn (Veni, Creator Spiritus) and the last
scene of Goethe’s Faust, called for 8 vocal soloists, a double choir and a boy’s choir, to
sing along with the orchestra, in the manner of a cantata or an oratorio. The consistent
presence of the human voice throughout the entire work proved an appropriate device to
avoid the problem of sub-ordination; but the overall segmented form of the work seems
to have compromised its symphonic aspect, while its enormous proportions appear to
have deprived it of a sense of intimacy.
With Das Lied, Mahler seems to have found the ultimate solution to the problem,
elements of which had so far lived in two parallel worlds—song-cycles vs. symphonies—
one that was as elegant as simple. The solution, he realized, lied in the fact that if a
coherent work is intended, words and voices could not come into the symphonic world
2
‘Songs of a Wayfarer’
3
‘Five Songs after Rückert’, or for short, ‘The Five Rückert Songs’
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devoid of their own means of organization; the symphony too had to meet them halfway.
In other words, the solution lied not in a mere interdigitation of voice and symphony, but
in a fundamentally mutual approach between their musical traditions—that is the fusion
of two genres and their associated forms, namely the symphony and the song-cylce
traditions. This fact is also reflected in the subtitle of the work, Eine Symphonie für eine
Tenor- und eine Alt- (oder Bariton-) Stimme und Orchester (nach Hans Bethges “Die
chinesische Flöte”.
Overall Design of the Symphony
Das Lied is the result of this fusion, a highly sophisticated hybrid of symphony
and Lieder. Distinctly conceived in 6 movements, it could still be viewed in two parts,
with Part I consisting of the first 5, and Part II, the final movement— Der Abschied, h.f.
Abschied, which at about 29 minutes, is almost as long as the previous 5, altogether. The
entire work is orchestrated for large symphony orchestra with added instruments (notably
mandolin, celesta, extended winds and percussions, including tam-tam), besides one solo
vocalist in each movement. The vocal part alternates between solo tenor in the odd, and
solo alto in the even numbered movements. The composer has allowed for the alto to be
substituted with a baritone, although it seems prudent to follow Bruno Walter’s practical
advice and avoid the succession of two mail voices.4
The movements also alternate in mood and tempi—I, III and V are primarily fast,
energetic and either rhapsodic (I), or joyful (III and V); IV explores a variety of tempi
4
See footnote 37 of Hefling, 1999.
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[following the images of the words] before it settles for a thin, slow ending at a pppp
dynamic; II and especially VI are slow and melancholic, and they touch on the heavy and
dark side of the compositional palette of the piece.
While the massive dimensions of the work undeniably remind us of Mahler the
symphonist, its personal tone and reflective dramatic content represent more of Mahler,
the song-writer5. Indeed, it is generally believed that the most immediate predecessor to
Das Lied is not one of his symphonies, but one of his song-cycles: the five
Kindertotenlieder6 of 1901- 04. H. F. Redlich has maintained that the “style of
confessional intimacy [of Kindertotenlieder] achieved a final climax of refinement in
Mahler’s greatest and last cycle of songs only: In the valedictory vocal “symphony” of
Das Lied von der Erde” (Redlich, 1961). In general, they both share in a clearly divided
movemental structure, a highly selective, generally thin, and extremely imaginative
orchestration, and composer’s signature lyricism. Das Lied also further extends the
heterophonic techniques of Kindertotenlieder, and also reminds of their orientalistic
atmosphere and melodic content. Isolating Der Abschied—henceforth Abschied—the
serene and private mood of the 5 Kindertotenlieder nominates them as the closest
precursors to this sublime movement. And of course, the two works still share in one
similar pre-occupation: the enigma of death. For considering the literary content of its
text and its unusual, tranquil and increasingly disintegrated ending, Das Lied can be
clearly understood as a meditation on life, death and the question of immortality—or to
be more exact, as a journey towards coming to terms with mortality.
5
Mahler, in part to emphasize the Lieder aspect of Das Lied, the symphony, himself also prepared its
reduced version for piano and voice.
6
‘Songs on the Deaths of Children’, or for short, ‘Songs of Children’s Death’
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Finally, the real-life circumstances surrounding the composition of the work, as
well as its conceptual content and formal relations, especially its ending in a long, serene
movement, bring more than Kindertotenlieder to mind: Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony,
which similarly opts for a calm ending, is believed by some to have been prompted by a
knowledge of his death in the near future. Perhaps, in the words of a commentator,
Mahler too was writing his own epitaph.7
The Text of Das Lied
Following the tragic events of the summer of 1907, Mahler soon found solace in a
newly published collection of poems, called Die chinesische Flöte (1907), or ‘The
Chinese Flute’, seven of which he selected and eventually organized into the 6
movements of Das Lied. The collection was the work of Hans Bethge, and it consisted of
a set of Nachdichtungen, or ‘paraphrased poems’, based on previous French and German
translations of original, centuries-old Chinese poetry. While the authenticity of the
individual poems, especially those used in Das Lied, has been subject of much scrutiny
and scholarly debate, nevertheless, it was this collection that Mahler first encountered and
felt to be close to what he needed for his future composition. The poems could have
appealed to the composer for reasons far beyond his sensitive psychological state at the
time, or a superficial attraction toward the exotic, oriental aura of the poems. These
poems resonated deeply with Mahler’s long-time affinity toward a form of oriental
7
Amid the aforementioned comparison, few other compositions have managed to achieve the convincing
manner in which Das Lied comes to its open-ended conclusion in the final bars of Abschied. Years later, in
regards to this very section of the piece, Britten would write to a friend, “…I might possibly have gone on
repeating the last record indefinitely – for ‘Ewig’ keit, of course. It is cruel, you know, that music should be
so beautiful” (Mitchell, 1985).
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philosophy and the idea of mystical rebirth that he had inherited earlier through the
poetry of Rückert and Goethe, and the philosophies of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche
(Hefling, 1999)—hence the Orientalism of Das Lied.
Comparative studies of the final text of the symphony8 and the original versions
by Bethge, as well as Mahler’s compositional sketches (Mitchell, 1985), have
demonstrated clearly the composer’s extreme deliberation in selecting the text. Most
conspicuously, he changed one of the titles (the joyful mvt. III) from Der Pavillon aus
Porzellan9 to Von der Jugend10, perhaps to make its sense more consistent with the
overall tone of the work. He also edited the text of the first poem to make it accommodate
for the intended [sonata] form of the opening movement, i.e. Das Trinklied vom Jammer
der Erde11. Even more consequentially, he tied two poems by two poets into the text of
Abschied, modified both of them, and himself added some of the most crucial lines to the
final text. Notably amongst these additions is the last stanza, mostly the work of Mahler
himself:
Die Liebe Erde, allüberall
Blüht auf im Lenz und grünt aufs neu!
Allüberall und Ewig blauen licht die Fernen,
Ewig…Ewig!12
8
In reference to Das Lied, I will use the terms ‘symphony’ and ‘song-cyle’, as well as ‘movement’ and
‘song’ interchangeably.
9
‘The Pavilion of Porcelain’
10
‘Of Youth’
11
‘The Drinking Song of Earth’s Sorrow’
12
For a complete text and translation of the poetry, see Mitchell (1985), Cooke (1980), or Dover’s
republication of the score of Das Lied….
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He also changed the point of view of the last poem from first person to third [a
few verses before the above citation]. Mitchell (1985) much convincingly concludes that
this alteration is a surely suggests Mahler himself as the protagonist of Abschied. In the
end, the last words of the text, Ewig…Ewig! (that is ‘Forever…Forever!’) would
ultimately provide the best opportunity for the memorable, open-ended sense of the
closing of Abschied, which is so vital to the concept of the piece.
It is also observable that Das Lied partially hints at the cycle of seasons, two of
which are even reflected by name in the titles (autumn, in mvt. II, and spring in mvt. V).
The joyful Von der Jugend (mvt. III) much seems to depict a scene from the summer, and
winter seems to be suggested by Abschied, at the end of which spring and the re-
awakening of the earth are associated with spiritual rebirth and eternity. Meanwhile, the
vicinity of these diverse poems results in a halo of nostalgia surrounding the otherwise
carefree poem of III, and it further intensifies the sarcasm of Der Trunkene im Frühling13
(mvt. V). In other words, in the light of the whole, the more joyful sections and tempi
appear as nostalgic remembrances by the dying protagonist of Abschied.
Such minute attention to textual details of the work in effect testifies to the degree
of semantic influences on the composition’s musical decisions, while the order of the text
results in the large-scale dramatic scheme of Das Lied. But it is also clear that often, the
text was modified for musical needs (Mitchell, 1985). Evidently, the texts themselves
were carefully selected and manipulated to serve certain fundamental concepts that would
yield in the totality of the work—concepts and ideas that apparently had been very clear
to the composer even at the seminal stages of composition. Indeed, it was the ultimate
13
‘The Drunkard in Spring’
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interplay of words and music that would reveal the essential ideas behind Das Lied, some
of which could have never been fully captured by mere words.
***
Der Abschied
Abschied first depicts a lonely picture of twilight, as the speaker (in first person)
laments on his longing for a friend who has been late to their meeting. Then (in the
second poem), the final farewell of the two is narrated in the objective voice of third
person: “He alighted from his horse and handed him the drink of farewell.” When asked
about his destination, he replies, “[…] I journey to my homeland, to my resting place.
[…] My heart is still and awaits its hour!” Finally, the last stanza [Mahler’s lines] sees
the promise of eternity in the re-awakening of the earth at the threshold of the spring.
(See above, under ‘The Text of Das Lied’).
The change of voice and the ambiguity of the two third person masculine
pronouns of the second poem have somehow obfuscated the narrative. Who is leaving
whom? Which one asks the question and who replies? Amid the debates surrounding this
subject (Mitchell, 1985), there should be no confusion about the main outline of
Abschied: someone is saying farewell to another one—forever. With an eye on one of the
well-known biblical texts, Song of Songs, perhaps this is a symbolic representation of a
soul that is leaving its body. And if so, this is Mahler himself, who first speaks of
expecting of the moment of farewell, and next, takes the position of an impartial
spectator, and comments in an objective tone on the scene of their [his] departure.
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The private world of Abschied, from its dramatic content to its sense of time and
space, is so removed from the hitherto expectations surrounding the finale of a
symphony. It is hard to imagine if anyone but Mahler the conductor/song-
writer/symphonist could have discovered orchestra’s potential for intimacy.
Large-Scale Formal Strategies
In order to create a unified hybrid throughout Das Lied, Mahler juxtaposes the
traditional strophic procedures and/or rounded binary forms (ABA’), both common to
vocal styles, on the symphonic forms, such as sonata, rondo-variation, or extended
rounded binary forms.
The sonata aspect is mostly conspicuous in mvt. I, Das Trinklied vom Jammer der
Erde. There, strophes 1 and 2 form the body of the two expositions, and the 3rd strophe
acts as the recapitulation of the movement. An instrumental bridge heralds the second
exposition (Figs. 12 to 15) 14; a 12-measure codetta at Fig. 24 brings the music to an
instrumental interlude that functions as the development section of the movement (Figs.
25 to 31); and after the extended 3rd strophe (i.e. the recapitulation), a 13-bar orchestral
codetta (Fig. 48 to the end) brings and abrupt, unresolved closure to the movement. The
developmental treatment of each motive, besides contrasting tonal relations of the
14
Fig. numbers refer to the rehearsal numbers in Dover’s 1988 republication of the 1912 Universal Editions
score. Fig. numbers followed by + or – sign indicate the number of measures after or before the given
rehearsal number, e.g. Fig. 63 +5 means 5 bars including and after 63.
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episodes15, reaffirm the sonata aspect of the movement (Mitchell, 1985, and esp. Hefling,
1999, Diagram 19.2). [Contrastingly, mvts. III, IV and V employ a broad ABA’ outline.]
Abschied too, at one level, could be considered a sonata: after the short, but
patient orchestral introduction, two ‘recitative-aria(s)’ complexes ensue that function as
two expositions; next, an extended instrumental section develops the March motive that
has been initially heard in the introduction, and as such, can be considered the
development of the sonata; thereafter, follows another recitative-aria complex, which at
Fig. 59, leads to the extended coda of the piece—the renowned section of ‘Ewig’.
But an exclusive submission to this analysis could also risk an oversimplification
of the multi-layered, intuitive and highly original form of this movement. Indeed, the
freely episodic, segmented, and yet inter-related form of Abschied allows for more than
one interpretation. Mitchell (1985) proposes a much convincing scheme, which allows
for both interpretations (my summary):
Unit 1 Unit 2
Prelude/Recit.1/Aria 1/Aria 2/Coda + Transition Recit. 2/Aria 3 (2 strophes)/Transition
2 strophes
Unit 3 (instrumental) Unit 4
15
The main tonality of this movement is a [A-minor]. The large-scale tonal scheme is organized around a-
g-ab-a, while many other key areas are also explored, including the relative major, C. One of its
consequential modulatory moves is the parallel and relative minor/major mode oscillations, e.g. between
a/A or a/C. See Hefling, 1999, Diag. 19.2.
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Prelude/March/Coda+ transition Recit. 3, now including reprise of Aria 1/Reprise of Aria 2/
Reprise of Aria 3/Coda (Ewig)
[On another level, Abschied also suggests a ‘rondo-variation’ form, where each
return of the recitative-aria complex can be thought of as a free variation on the first
group, while the orchestral introductions and the central march are viewed as variations
and/or developments of the prelude, with an overall scheme of A B A' B' A" B".]
Meanwhile, the Bailey-Hefling formal analysis of the movement (Hefling, 1999;
Diag. 19.4) does not seem to be fully convincing. Their proposed large-scale binary
division finds its fault at the junction of the two poems. Although initially an appealing
hypothesis, it is not necessarily supported by the composition itself. This division is
clearly based on a knowledge of the origins of the text, i.e. its two composing poems; but
the ultimate version used in the work is Mahler’s, more or less, seamlessly modified text
with a coherently continuous narrative. This makes their proposed point of division rather
arbitrary, as far as the overall impact of the music is concerned. Besides, Mitchell’s
perception of the recitatives as introductions to their following strophic arias is audibly
more acceptable than Bailey-Hefling’s inclination to think of them as conclusions for
their preceding orchestral preludes.
Still, on its most obvious level, Abschied is a strophic setting of two poems, to
whose dramatic content it fully adheres.
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Micro-Level Means of Coherence
Das Lied, and in particular, Abschied, also rely on certain detailed structural
devices, some of which are highly original, to achieve its ultimate structural unity.
Pentatonicism
Orientalism is not a mere superficial accident to Abschied, but an intrinsic
element of its fabric, and one of its most fundamental expressions can be observed in the
partial origins of its thematic material, and indeed that of the entire symphony.
Throughout Das Lied, Mahler has drawn extensively upon using pentatonic material,
both the anhemitonic (Chinese) and hemitonic (Japanese) versions. (The former set
contains no semi-tones, while the latter does. See Hefling 1999, for a detailed listing of
these modes.)
Mahler managed to create certain melodic motives—or cells— out of these modes
that would eventually allow him to undermine the dominant-tonic relationship in the
Western music (Hefling, 1999). Not only the inherent intervallic structures of these
[recurring] motives, but also their subsequent harmonic treatments by the composer,
dissociated them from ostensible tonal associations (Reale, 2001). These returning
intervallic material comprise one of the subtle means of cohesion within and between
movements. Furthermore, their occasional vertical alignments also yield in some of the
identifiable harmonic material of the work.
Let’s cite some examples. Mvt. I opens with the following line (Ex. 1):
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The A-G-E
E head motive of the strings alone provides for the opening for mvt. II, Der
Einsame im Herbst16, although in a ddifferent

ifferent rhythmic and timbral guise; soon, at m. 7,
the oboe gives (the first?) indication of a hemitonic mode by introducing the pitch Bb
into the line (Ex. 2):
Eventually, the coda of Abschied, brings back the A-G-E

E motive in its inverted
form (Figs. 63 to 68), and employs the vertical alignment of the A

A-C-E-G
G motive in the
form of a C+6 chord (Am7, in its first inversion), for its concluding sonority, a sonority
that in the words of Britten, “goes on forever, even if it is never performed again – that
final chord is printed on atmosphere” (quoted in Mitchell, 1985).
Marginal to our discussion, the pentatonic material is perhaps even more
conspicuously presented at the beginning of mvt. III (Ex. 3):
as well as in mvt. IV at Fig. 1 +2 (Ex. 4):
16
‘The Lonely One in Autumn’
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© Cop
opyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.
© Cop
and too a discernible extent, in mvt. V.
Rhythmic Relations of Various Motives
More prominently, an opening such as Abschied’s

’s should have been prepared, and
indeed, it has been. For example, as Mitchell too has noted (1985), mvts. III, IV and V,
each begin withh accentuated regular beats, the third of which coincides with the main
gestural motive of the movement. Same is true of the opening of Abschied;; two dark
blows of the lower octave C’s, memorably orchestrated for counter

counter-bassoon,
bassoon, 2 horns, 2
.), contra basses ((pizz.)17, and tam-tam, in an almost beat-less

harps, cellos (pizz.), less 4/4,
prepare to meet the penetrating gesture of oboe 1 on their 3rd occurrence (Ex. 5):
17
Mahler asks for Contrabasses that possess the counter
counter-C.
C. The common tuning of the basses in today’s
orchestras only allows them
em to reach the counter
counter-D,
D, through the use of an extension lever. It seems that the
scordatura technique should be employed, as long as the release of the tension of the string does not result
in an unsuitably distorted sound.
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© Cop
The A-G-E-C
C motive of strings in mvt. 1 (Ex. 1) assumes a heavily accented
ee short and one long notes [          ],
rhythmic value of three ], which besides its symbolic
significance as a fate motive [it refers to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony;; see below, under
Symbolism]
ymbolism] also acts as a cohesive device between different movements. Let’s examine
some of its appearances.
It first appears most clearly in mm. 22-3 and 4-5

5 of mvt. I, in the eighth-note
eighth
motive of the horns (Ex. 1, above), then at mm. 88-9 in quarter-note

note values of the strings
(ibid), and soon in an inverted form (Ex. 6):
The tenor too makes its abrupt entrance by echoing the line a second lower (Ex. 7):
Considering its semantic significance, it is not surprising that the motive is first
embedded in the flutter-tongued

tongued flutes, themselves a symbol of the phantom ape of death
(Ex. 8):
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Much later in the symphony in Abschied,, a successive transformation of this triple
rhythm through quadruplet, and then quintuplet rhythmic patterns, creates an effective
way to gradually disperse its fatalistic character (cf. Abschied, Fig. 1 +4,
4, Vn. 1; Fig. 29 -5
to Fig. 30, Vn. 1&2; Fig. 32 to 34, Vn. 1). Some of the other appearances of this motive
in Abschied are its unambiguously accented form at mm. 12

12-13,
13, Vn.1, where it acts as the
head-motive to the gruppetto gesture of m. 13, and also more

ore consequentially, throughout
the March section, where it acts as the head of the march theme, i.e.   etc.
Even the alto’s recitatives echo this motive at their very opening (cf. Ex. 12).
Melodic Contours
In this symphony, melodic con

contour
tour not only have semantic significance on many
levels (see below, Symbolism, and Interaction With Words), they also act as a unifying
device. To begin, there is the unusually concave melodic shape that first starts in mvt. I
by the violins (Ex. 1), shapess the melodic world of alto in mvt. II (Fig. 3 +5 to Fig. 4 +2),
and ultimately resurfaces in Abschied

Abschied’s
’s opening of the recitatives. Thus, it not only
reinforces the internal unity of each movement, but also that of the entire symphony.
Furthermore, its insistent

sistent character provides a major contrast for the descending lines of
‘Ewig’ at the end of Abschied

Abschied.
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Systematic Use of Gestures
Gestures are an important aspect of Mahler’s musical language (Reale, 2001), and
to our particular interest, that of Abschied. Throughout Das Lied, gestures not only
possess significant semantic values, but also provide another means of unity for the
composition.
Gestural motives are present indeed from the very first bar of mvt. 1—an upbeat
leap of 4th by horns—and can be seen in the flutter-tongued flutes of mm. 3-5 of the same
movement, the trill head-motive of mvt. IV, the ornamented head-motive of mvt. V, and
of course, the oboe entrance in the 3rd bar of Abschied. Typically, they have an
autonomous rhythmic, melodic and timbral identity that not only makes them memorable,
but also allows them to freely migrate between diverse key centers, quickly from new
tonal associations, and thus, connect different tonal areas with their own distinguishable
identities—hence, a more coherent structure.
The opening oboe gesture of Abschied is an excellent example. At first, this self-
contained gruppetto around C, audibly emphasizes the tonic of c. Soon its rhythmic (and
intervallic) content experience an augmentation process, until the first violins receive and
continue the line (with hints of C-major). At Fig. 2, oboe and flute daringly employ
octave-displacement to create a convex melodic line, which temporarily blurs the tonality
at its climax. Then, at Fig. 5+5, the gestural motive relocates to dominant degree of c, and
soon at Fig. 7+2, is heard as a gruppetto around the tonic of F(major), at Fig. 14 centers
around the dominant degree of d, and so forth.
The aural independence of these gestural motives allows them to be proximated in
different configurations against different motives and make varied, long melodic lines
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that would no more fit within the ordinarily strict phraseology of most music prior to that
period. In the words of Schoenberg (1947):
“An extraordinary case, even among contemporary
composers, is the melody from ‘Abschied’, the last
movement of Mahler’s Lied von der Erde. All the units
vary greatly in shape, size and content, as if they were not
motival parts of a melodic unit, but words, each of which
has a purpose of its own in the sentence."
(He is referring to the oboe melody o Figs. 2 to 9, as indicated by his illustration.)
In comparison to Wagner’s Leitmotif technique, Mahler’s application of the
gestural motives seems to have a more abstract musical value, devoid of ostensible
dramatic denotations, which makes it more versatile in a symphonic context. While the
Leitmotif would evolve into the fabric of tone-poems (of say, R. Strauss), Mahler’s
approach would allow him to address the more abstract language of symphony. Boulez,
for one, has admired Mahler for his preference between the two genres (Watson, 1995).
Tonal relations
As noted by Mitchell (1985) and Hefling (1999), the largest tonal outline of Das
Lied is centered around A and C: a/A in mvt. I, A in mvt. V; c to a/C in Abschied. (Mvts.
II, III and IV explore d, Bb/G and G, respectively. See Hefling, 1999). Amid the surface
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conservatism of such key relations (parallel and relative major and minor tonalities), Das
Lied achieves a tonal language that at times seems at the verge of what would later
become known as ‘atonalism’. The aforementioned inherent tonal ambiguity of
pentatonic cells is further complicated by restless modulations, extended chromaticism,
constant major-minor key oscillations (e.g. a/A or a/C, or c/C), and in the case of
Abschied, even juxtaposition of c and a, specifically afforded by the C+6 (the coda), as
well as modal obfuscation through simultaneous presentation of the modal degrees of Eb
and E in different lines, and thus, the uncertainty of c or C modes. The latter modal
ambiguity starts early on, at Fig. 1, by horns: they introduce E instead of Eb to their line,
and violins take over the major mode one measure later; but at m. 13, the minor is
reaffirmed. Toward the end, at Fig. 64 +8 to +10, the Eb (c minor) once more is
reminded, but soon resigns to E in the subsequent line, as the composition ends in C.
The local c/C oscillation also becomes a major large-scale binding element of
Abschied. The satisfactory resolution of the movement, sounding so natural to the ear, is
in part due to this gradual move from c to C. Therefore, Das Lied avoids tonal
conspicuity at the local level, while it maintains a high degree of coherence in its larger
tonal scheme.18
Timbral Strategies
Abschied is also propelled by a deliberate orchestral scheme that combines
beautiful local sonorities with macro-level color distributions that parallel its precise
18
It should be noted that these modal shifts although subtle, take place rather suddenly, almost without
traditional harmonic preparations.
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tonal organization. Three of the most notable macro-level decisions in the piece are
reserving tam-tam for the opening of Abschied, withholding celesta until the sublime
coda of the same movement (Fig. 61+4, as alto extends the word ‘Ewig’), and exposing
the tremolando mandolin sound19 only at Fig. 64, where it joins the celesta to further
enhance – by its sheer timbre – alto’s ‘Ewig’ and clarify the beatific vision of oneness
with nature, or eternity.
Each return of the recitatives also employs an appropriate change of timbre. After
oboe’s solo, this is the flute that accompanies the voice in recit. 1 and 2, and in the third,
the mere silence above a pedal point in the strings (the lowest octave C’s). This is not
only a practical decision (oboe can hardly play that softly), but one that is consistent with
the timbral scheme of the movement.
As for the local sonorities, not only Abschied, but the entire Das Lied, is abundant
with colorful strokes of a master orchestrator. Besides the aforementioned examples (the
opening bars and coda of Abschied), one can also cite the ‘howling’ sound of flutter-
tongued flutes; the opening bars of mvt. 2 with its sudden textural reduction, scored for
violins and oboe; and the contrasting opening of mvt. IV.
As in his previous compositions, notably Kindertotenlieder, here too Mahler’s
orchestration is highly selective. In Abschied, the composer’s signature treatment of the
space finds its most refined form, especially in the introduction, and in the closure on
‘Ewig’. In general, the timbral progression of Abschied—from its dark heavy opening
beats and the melancholy of solo oboe, to its final bright, open and yet calming bars—is
one of the excellent examples of timbral modulation in the orchestral repertoire.

19
The mandolin has already has also been present in mvt. IV, but in a rather submerged role.
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Interaction of Words and Music
Das Lied is as much a song-cycle as a symphony; which means it also has to
vitalize and broaden the reach of the words of the text. The words and the drama have
had a crucial unifying role for the work, besides inspiring sonar effects. Overall, the
music follows the drama rather faithfully. At one level, is the task of ‘portraying’ the
opposition of life and death, and the final resolution, through a dramatic scheme that sets
out from the warning of death (mvt. I), passes through meditations on loneliness (II),
carefree reflections on youth and beauty (III and IV), an attempt to ignore the reality (V),
and the arrival at the transforming experience of Abschied. In Abschied, against the free
gestural line of the oboe, a strict march-like motive, consisting of a descending sequence
of falling seconds, is first introduced by the horns and clarinets. With the two contrasting
ideas, the opposition of life and death is re-stated, each is further developed through the
movements (the free recitatives and arias, in contrast to the strict, extended death march
of the development), and the resultant tension is relieved in the coda.
The music has also been influenced by the text in its minute musical elements, not
only in Abschied, but also in all preceding movements. For example, in mvt. I, spring-
time breaks in with the leaping 4th of two horns, at the very beginning of the work; the
shrieking howl (or laughter?) of a monkey (the phantom ape of death) is effectively
signified by flutter-tongued flutes; the refrain ‘Dunkel is das Leben, ist der Tod’20
20
‘Dark is life, is death’
Page 26 of 41

becomes painted with a descending vocal line that ends in a m

melismatic
elismatic cadence; and the
drama yields in another means of control for the orchestral density and succession of
tempi—bright
bright and joyful for the happy mvts. III to V; dark and slow for VI.
Still Mahler’s ‘word-painting’

painting’ or ‘concept
‘concept-depiction’ does not position
tion music at a
simplistic relation—a one-to--one correspondence—with

with the text, but rather makes them
interact freely and more meaningfully. For example, the leaping 4th and the flutter-
flutter
tongued flutes of the first movement, which signify the breaking in of spring and the ape
of death, respectively, are presented in the orchestra long before their semantic
associations are directly established by the words. This gives the movement a pictorial
quality, a spatial existence, in addition to its temporal dimension

dimension.. As a result, it seems as
if the voice is commenting in time on a visual installment of nature that exists in both
time and space, and as if the subject of the commentary has been fully available to us
from the outset. Such free interactions and foreshado

foreshadowing,
wing, are present in all other
movements of the piece, as well.
Movement II assumes a decidedly dark color for the ‘lonely one in autumn’, and
depicts ‘the floating bluish mists over the lake’ [first line of the poem] literally by a
floating line of oboe over a steady, yet asymmetric line by the violins. This is further
reflected in the concave vocal line of alto’s entrance (Ex. 9):
And yet, its consequent portrays the ‘standing blades of grass’ with a long ascent (Ex.
10):
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In contrast, ‘the porcelain pavilion’ of mvt. III is depicted by a convex melodic contour,
first in the orchestra, and next by the tenor, which not only reflects the shape of the
pavilion, but also puts it at sharp contrast to the concave contours of the ‘life-death’
‘life
movements. Its youthful

outhful imagery also determines the major mode tonality and joyous
tempo of the movement (Ex. 11):
And finally, in Abschied,, besides our previous observations, we can still notice that:
Alto’s first recitative depicts sunset with a descending line, and the mountains
with an ascending line, both in the same phrase (Ex. 12):
And yet, in a gesture of repulsion, it reinforces the sad

sad—and grieving— tone of the poem
by practically contradicting the words (Ex. 13):
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By now, it is clear that concave melodic shapes through Das Lied represent the
down-pull
pull of death and the uprising spirit of defiance. This challenge is not fully resolved
until the very end of Abschied

Abschied, where the voice rests on downward motions on the
‘Ewig’, and the flutes and oboe gradually wi

withdraw
thdraw from their pentatonic ascent, note by
note, and rest on the treble A pitch. But as final gesture of a sublime ascent, the second
harp calmly arpeggiates upward, covering two octaves through selected pitches of a C
major chord, and finally rests on tthe

he treble E, the first note of the ‘Ewig’ motive—and
motive
interestingly enough, its first letter. On a larger scale, the dramatic contour of the
movement is also reflected in its timbral procession (dark to light) and tonal progression
(c to C).
Meanwhile, the events of the coda are of prominent interest to us. Clearly, the
word ‘Ewig’—Forever—and
and hence, the concept of ‘Ewigkeit’ (eternity), and especially,
composer’s ethereal notion of this concept, comprise the most fundamental dramatic
layers of Abschied, andd indeed, Das Lied.. The music captures this concept by thinning
the orchestral fabric, introducing new colors (celesta and tremolando mandolin), using
prolonged note duration, a major tonality (C), and a narrow tessitura in the vocal line,
and a long diminuendo

uendo approaching the final ppp—in
in effect, a fully detailed perdendosi
effect. But Mahler’s creative genius still goes one step further: at Fig. 65, the harmonic
structure of the piece starts to imply both transfiguration and eternity by dropping out,
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one note at a time, until at the end only a treble A is kept hanging over the quiet C major
chord of the celli, first violins, and trombones (a C+6 chord, or an Am in its first
inversion.) The final chord, itself a juxtaposition of C and Am sonorities, sustains the
modal opposition of the symphony to the very last moment, although with a sense of
resolution.
To be more precise, at Fig. 64, after the entrance of mandolin, the music tries to
find a settling harmony around the dying alto line, ‘E——wig, Ewig’, on E——D, D-C.
First, the flutes, celesta and sustained clarinets examine C major with an added 6 (C-E-G-
A). Soon, the clarinets and harp 1 introduce an Eb, which is taken up by the flutes, 2 bars
later (the last hint of minor mode of the opening). But the celesta counters them with an
Em arpeggio that it reiterates until Fig. 66 +5, when it is resolved into a C. Still, the
violins sustain a treble D, while flutes continue repeating the pentatonic cell of E-G-A
and the harps’ upper voices double the D of the strings. Alto returns at Fig. 67 –5 but
only once sings ‘E—wig’ on the notes E—D. Its two subsequent returns also are identical
to this appearance. By Fig. 69, all active voices, but the flutes, have resolved into C
major.
This harmonic activity is controlled by Mahler’s free contrapuntal style, which in
many respects (e.g. the inter-relation of lines) seems to be an extension of his
heterophonic style of Kindertotenlieder—indeed, a salient feature of his last
compositional period, in general, and that of Abschied in particular. The dissolution into
‘Ewigkeit’ is in effect a freely organized interaction of selected notes from a C13 tertiary
harmony—in effect pitches of the C major tonal set, with an emphasis on the pentatonic
tones of the scale by the flutes. From a linear perspective, the effect is achieved as the
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primary lines (flutes, oboes and alto) gradually fail to complete their pitch-cells:
flutes/oboes (E-G-A-B) sound as if trying to reach the upper C, but never manage, and
they finally submit to remain on the A; alto seems to come back to reach the C of its
descending E-D-C, but this too fails and yields to stay on the D. Finally, by second harp’s
successful reach for the treble C, the protagonist’s serene resign to a transcendental death,
in a vision of becoming one with the nature and eternity becomes complete.
As for the vocal line, the voice is generally treated independently within the
orchestral fabric, while the meaningful interaction between the two is consistently
maintained. Throughout the symphony, the vocal line is rarely doubled, but antiphonal
correspondences are employed (in a very lose sense) to enhance the fusion of the voice
and the orchestra.
Metric Dissolution
In Abschied, “gradually, yet inexorably, time and space are dissolving; so, too is
all striving toward definite musical goal (Hefling, 1999).” The opening of Abschied with
its long, un-pulsated note durations, establishes an ambiguity of meter, which well
prepares the listener for the metrically free world of the recitatives, the gradual metric
dissolution through cross-rhythms, and finally, the ultimately meter-less ending of
‘Ewig’. (For example, see Fig. 60 ff., where quadruplets and quintuplets are set against a
triple meter.) The effect is consistently underscored through the construction of
asymmetric phrase structures and the avoidance—or confusion of—periodic phrasing
(Hefling, 1999). Besides, this timelessness is even more effectively sensed because of its
Page 31 of 41

sharp contrast to the strictly metered march motive, and its extensive development in the
middle of the movement.
The incrementally developed metric disintegration of Abschied – so tightly
intertwined with its harmonic progression – as well as the spatial organization of the
movement, are two intrinsic elements of the concept of the movement and one of the
most progressive aspects of this music. The semantic associations of such temporal and
spatial treatments of music in the context of Abschied are so intense that it becomes
almost impossible to separate the dramatic concept of the movement from its purely
musical means.
Abschied and Symbolism
The close interaction of words and music suggests the symbolic aspect of
Mahler’s musical language. Orientalism is signified not only by Pentatonicism and
instrumentation, but its essence is captured through the gradual dissolution of time and
space in the course of the movement. In the opening of Abschied, the dark colors of low
counter-bassoon and horn are further intensified by the resonant sonority of tam-tam, an
instrument known for its oriental associations. In this context, even the pizzicato of the
cellos and contra-basses and especially the ring of two harps’ low C, find an exotic aura.
This is while the very simpleness of the pitch material—an octave C in the lowest
register—also establishes a connection with the mystical traditions of the world. In the
closing of Abschied, celesta and mandolin still extend the air of the orient to the very last
bars of the movement.

Page 32 of 41

Life and death are also presented in a prominently symbolic language. The
referential ‘fate motive’ that runs through Das Lied (see above, Rhythmic Relations…),
the ‘howling ape of death’ (mvt. I), the march motive of Abschied, all represent some
aspect of death; mvts. III and IV portray life in its most joyful form; Abschied remembers
life in its major-mode sections, and transforms death into a serene experience at ‘Ewig’.
Life and death also determine modality of the passages (major or minor), instrumentation
(bright or dark) and tempi (fast or slow). The choice of key (c minor) for the opening of
Abschied and its middle ‘death march’ is a further reference within the repertoire;
Beethoven’s ‘Funeral March’ of Eroica, as well as Chopin’s funeral march prelude, from
Preludes Op. 28, are both in the solemn key of c-minor. Spiritual rebirth is also
symbolized at the end, through the final resolution of c to C.
More generally, we can speak of Das Lied, in whole and in part, as the
representation of this duality of life and death, and furthermore, a journey towards
finding a resolution for it. While this ‘binary of oppositions’ could have been acquired
through the works of Nietzsche with his Dionysian vs., Apollonian division, Mahler finds
the ultimate resolution in the philosophy of Far East. This duality is reflected in the
alternation of voices (tenor and alto), the tonal-modal relations (a/A and c/C), tempi,
tessitura (the span of ‘Ewig’ is substantially narrower than the opening melodies of the
symphony), instrumental colors (light and dark), and ultimately, what Mitchell (1985)
refers to as free vs. strict. (Death is associated with strict sections of Abschied; life and/or
eternity with the free section.)
Only Mahler’s tonal scheme for Abschied (moving from c to C) and the well-
planned ending of ‘Ewig’ manage to bring a resolution to this polarity. Thus, the
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symbolic world of Abschied becomes an odyssey for the protagonist, going from the
perplexing shock of the imminence of death to a full reconciliation with its reality.
Textural Aspect of Abschied
Throughout Das Lied, there is a free interaction between voice and orchestra, as
well as within the orchestral instruments, which is a result of Mahler’s highly controlled,
seemingly free counterpoint. In particular, this interaction becomes one of the progressive
elements of Abschied, as it nears a fully ‘stratified texture’, more conspicuously, in its
recitatives. Here, the voice becomes a fully independent line against the playful melodies
of flute (recits. 1 and 2), or against the mere pedal point (low C’s of celli and contra-
bassi, in recit. 3). This can be seen as a highly evolved form of Mahler’s heterophonic
style that could be traced back to the 5 songs of Kindertotenlieder.
More generally, n these recitatives, and perhaps in the entire Abschied, it is
possible to talk about ‘tonal atmospheres’ and ‘harmonic clouds’, by which I am referring
to the permissible latitude for each voice to deviate locally from an ostensible horizontal
and vertical position that would be otherwise dictated by the harmonic vocabulary of the
tonal language. Mahler’s application of the technique in Abschied is highly original, and
does not seem to have any precedent in the immediate history of Western music. In his
hands, the tonal sense of each pitch, each part and entire sections are enhanced, without
resulting in a tonally fractured structure.
The effect proves very useful for the gestural introduction to the march section,
with its decidedly ambiguous temporal organization of different gestures, each implying a
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different tonal center, and thus, creating a suspended sense of tonality. This section too
seems to be controlled by the heterophonic principle (Fig. 36 to 38).
The technique further allows Abschied to control its incrementally developed
resolution (the disintegration that takes place towards and through Ewig) texturally and
rhythmically.
Finally, this principle also governs the instrumental and spatial distribution of the
pitches, since for it to be effective, distinct timbral and registral contrasts are necessary.
Abschied: The Way Forward
In particular, Abschied was highly influential on the future generations of
composers. Its influence was diverse and multidirectional, and seems to have radically
affected, for good, temporal and spatial senses, tonal associations, melodic construction
(with its asymmetrical lines), phrase structure, contrapuntal relations, timbral
organization, and textural and harmonic elements [at least] in the Western music.
First of all, it is safe to claim that no subsequent style of music remained
unaffected by the liberation of meter in this movement. (For example, even the metric
world—or perhaps, its lack of one—in Sequenza for oboe of the 1960’s, not to mention
his Sinfonia of 1968, could be easily traced back to the world of Abschied.)
Secondly, there was the modal and tonal fluidity of the piece 21. The tonal
ambiguities of Abschied exerted a major influence on –especially– the composers of the
21
To sum up, parallel minor-major oscillations, extensively chromatic lines with exaggerated contours and
octave displacement (e.g. Fig. 2, oboe and flute), unsatisfied melodic fragments—themselves a side-
Page 35 of 41

second Vienese School, i.e Schoenberg, Berg and Webern. One of its earliest influences
can be seen in Pierrot lunaire of 1912 in its entirety, and in particular, song No. 7: Der
kranke Mond, which is scored for solo flute and sprechstimme. (This movement is further
influenced by the private language of the recitatives of Abschied.)
The free counterpoint of Abschied, besides its immediate impact, resurfaced in a
highly evolved form in the works of Britten (e.g. the heterophony of the overture to Peter
Grimes), and even Copland’s signature pan-tonalism (e.g. Appalachian Spring).
The spatial, thin and selective instrumentation of Abschied affected composers as
distant as Webern (Five Pieces for Orchestra) and arguably, Copland (Appalachian
Spring). Webern, for one, also benefited from the ‘pointillistic’ organization of the work
that is evident in the introduction to unit 3. Still, its layered texture and juxtaposition of
highly contrasting musical lines seems to have influenced the so-called eclectic trends of
post-modernism, which are also inclined toward its complex, yet accessible tonal sense,
perhaps as way forward out of the rigors of Modernism
In short, Abschied empowered music with freedom in meter, pitch, form and
texture, and sonorities that would prove to have a lasting impact on the future of music—
for ‘Ewig’ -keit.
product of Pentatonicism— and vertical sonorities, such as the C+6 chord, that are used to reinforce tonal
ambiguity. To this add restless modulations and a large-scale harmonic scheme that undermines traditional
tonal expectations. Hefling also mentions, “dominant preparation and overt cadences are rare (Hefling,
1999).”
Page 36 of 41

Conclusion
Mahler of Das Lied, and in particular, of Abschied, can be best identified as a
global composer, one that even in his minute attention to detail would not ignore the
gestalt existence of his composition. His music affords the listener, layman or
professional with an abundance of ideas and details, each of which could be developed in
its own unique direction. Each subsequent generation of composers sees to have paid a
primarily exclusive attention to a handful of these elements (pitch aspect became more
important to the so-called atonalists and ‘dodecaphonists’; temporal atmosphere would
appeal to the modernists; etc.) Amid all these trends, however, the music itself has calmly
survived, and confidently remains relevant to our time, both for its sounds and its
meaning.
Mahler himself seems to have once revealed his secret to a lesser-known Sibelius,
indeed at the time when he was preparing for the composition of Das Lied. In November
1907, he countered a little-known Sibelius, who had just admired symphony for its
severity, style, and its underlying logical motivic connection, with this quick reply
(Lebrecht, 1987/1998):
“No; the symphony must be like the world. It must embrace
everything.”
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Listening to Das Lied is as if one is passing by a colorful aquarium, everything
existing in time and space. Mahler’s symphony and perhaps all of his symphonies, are not
mere individual organic structures, but a large ecosystem for a harmonious co-existence
of many such elements. His works, in effect, are indeed not a mere commentary on the
world in which they exist, but a microcosmic representation of it in its entirety.
Page 38 of 41

Bibliography
Works Cited or Fully Indebted:
1) Barford, Phillipe, Symphonies and Songs of Gustav Mahler; Persian tr. by M. R.
Fayyaz, Terhran, 1998.
2) Hefling, Stephen, E.: Das Lied von der Erde; Chap. 19 of The Mahler
Companion, ed. Donald Mitchell and Andrew Nicholson; 1999, Oxford
University Press.
3) Lebrecht, Norman, ed.: Mahler Remembered; 1987/1998 (paperback), Faber and
Faber, London/Boston.
4) Mahler, Gustav: Das Lied von der Erde, orchestral score of 1912 by Universal
editions; republished 1988, by Dover Editions, with translations and commentary.
5) Mitchell, Donald: Introduction to Alma Mahler’s Mahler/Memoirs and Letters;
1968, John Murray, England.
6) Mitchell, Donald: Gustav Mahler: Songs and Symphonies of Life and Death;
1985, Oxford Unversity Press. [Part II, and specifically, the chapter on Abschied].
7) Redlich, H. F.: Introductory analysis to the score of Kindertotenlieder, 1961,
Ernest Eulenburg, Ltd., London
8) Schiff, David: Leonard Bernstein: The Man Who Mainstreamed Mahler; 1991,
The New York Times; published on the Internet.
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9) Schoenberg, Arnold: Brahms the Progressive (1947), found in Style and Idea;
1975, Faber and Faber/rev. 1984, University of California Press.
Works consulted
1) Smoley, Lewis M.: Gustav Mahler’s Symphonies: Critical Commentary on
Recordings Since 1968; 1986, Greenwood Press
2) Adorno, Theodore W.: Mahler: a Musical Physiognomy; orig. German, 1971; tr.
1980, University of Chicago Press.
3) Cooke, Deryck: Gustav Mahler: An introduction to His Music; 1980/1988,
Cambridge University Press.
4) Blaukopf, Herta, ed.: Gustav Mahler & Richard Strauss: Correspondences, 1888-
1911; tr. Jephcott; 1980/1984, University of Chicago Press.
5) Mahler, Alma: Mahler: Memoires and Letters; 1940/1968, John Murray, England
6) Schoenberg, Arnold: Gustav Maher (1912/1948) found in Style and Idea; 1975,
Faber and Faber/rev. 1984, University of California Press.
7) Schoenberg, Harold C.: The Lives of the Great Composers; 1970, W. W. Norton
and Company,
8) Watkins, Glenn: Soundings: Music in the Twentieth Century; 1995, Simon and
Schuster, Macmillan
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Recordings
1) Das Lied von der Erde: O. Klemperer, C. Ludwig, F. Wuderlich; Philharmonia
and New Philharmonia Orchestras; orig. 1967; EMI records.
(L. Bernstein’s 1960 recording with WPO, and G. Solti’s recording of the piece were also
consulted.)
2) Kindertotenlieder: L. Bernstein, T. Hampson; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra;
1984, 1991. The album also includes, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Fünf
Lieder nach Rückert.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Professors Paul Reale’s 2001 class lectures and personal
communications about Das Lied—and in particular, Abschied. Besides his illuminating
guidance to source material, I am greatly indebted for his suggestions about the roles of
symbols and gestures, the expansion of tonal and temporal senses, the significance of
composer’s personal life and philosophy, and the eminence of the ending strategy in
Abschied in regards to this report.
I am also grateful to Professor Ian Krouse, for his introduction to the work in
terms of its orchestration (1996-7 lectures), and his emphasis on the Orientalism in the
work (2002).
Page 41 of 41


Gustav Mahler's Everlasting Influence, by Payman Akhlaghi (2001, V01a) A Brief Discussion of "Der Abschied" From "Das Lied Von Der Erde"

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Gustav Mahler's Everlasting Influence, by Payman Akhlaghi (2001, V01a) A Brief Discussion of "Der Abschied" From "Das Lied Von Der Erde"

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Gustav Mahler’s Everlasting Influence

A Brief Discussion of Der Abschied

By: Payman Akhlaghi

* The paper was created and submitted later

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

was containable within the then predominant definitions of twentieth-century Modernism

musical immigrant, to be repelled if he dared to approach our shores” (Mitchell, 1968).

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

increasingly better recognized in the scholarly realm.

the ever-increasing professional attention being parted on it is an indication of its

hundred years later.

In Mahler’s world, technique, meaning and composer’s personality are fully

puzzling. For example, an awareness of the autobiographical significance of the

excessive programmaticism, as only a slight suggestion of those extra-musical

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

mind of the listener.

innovations are a direct result of expressive needs and semantic considerations.

expressive origins of abstract musical ideas—and Mahler’s music is not an exception—to

eines fahrenden Gesellen (‘Songs of a Wayfarer’) and especially, Kindertotenlieder

as a function of an established, regulated pulse, is evoked, challenged, transcended, and

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

An Overview of Das Lied von der Erde

entrusted the premiere to his hands.

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

of the composition, as opposed to a mere accident of it.

have deprived it of a sense of intimacy.

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

in a fundamentally mutual approach between their musical traditions—that is the fusion

Overall Design of the Symphony

advice and avoid the succession of two mail voices.4

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

dark side of the compositional palette of the piece.

Kindertotenlieder6 of 1901- 04. H. F. Redlich has maintained that the “style of

confessional intimacy [of Kindertotenlieder] achieved a final climax of refinement in

movemental structure, a highly selective, generally thin, and extremely imaginative

heterophonic techniques of Kindertotenlieder, and also reminds of their orientalistic

atmosphere and melodic content. Isolating Der Abschied—henceforth Abschied—the

clearly understood as a meditation on life, death and the question of immortality—or to

be more exact, as a journey towards coming to terms with mortality.

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

Finally, the real-life circumstances surrounding the composition of the work, as

movement, bring more than Kindertotenlieder to mind: Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony,

Mahler too was writing his own epitaph.7

The Text of Das Lied

a set of Nachdichtungen, or ‘paraphrased poems’, based on previous French and German

translations of original, centuries-old Chinese poetry. While the authenticity of the

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(Hefling, 1999)—hence the Orientalism of Das Lied.

by Bethge, as well as Mahler’s compositional sketches (Mitchell, 1985), have

Die Liebe Erde, allüberall

Blüht auf im Lenz und grünt aufs neu!

Allüberall und Ewig blauen licht die Fernen,

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

closing of Abschied, which is so vital to the concept of the piece.

appear as nostalgic remembrances by the dying protagonist of Abschied.

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

of which could have never been fully captured by mere words.

about his destination, he replies, “[…] I journey to my homeland, to my resting place.

(See above, under ‘The Text of Das Lied’).

well-known biblical texts, Song of Songs, perhaps this is a symbolic representation of a

© Copyright: 2001, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

space, is so removed from the hitherto expectations surrounding the finale of a