Tonal Strategy in the First Movement of Mahler's Tenth Symphony

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Tonal Strategy in the First Movement of Mahler's Tenth SymphonyAuthor(s): V. Kofi AgawuSource: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 9, No. 3, Special Strauss--Mahler Issue (Spring, 1986), pp. 22

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ehearings

Tonal

Strategy

n

the First

Movement

of

Mahler's

Tenth

Symphony

V.

KOFI

AGAWU

During

his summer retreat

of

1910,

Mahler

sketched

a five-movement

symphony

in

F#

ma-

jor

that was to be his tenth. He

did not

live to see

the work

completed.

In

spite

of

this,

or rather

because of

it,

the Tenth

has accumulated

a

fas-

cinating

history,

evident

in

the series

of at-

tempts

to "realize"

Mahler

sketches,

the best

known

of

which

is

Deryck

Cooke's

"performing

version."''

An unfinished

work

always

leaves

room

for

speculation

on

what the

composer

"might

have

done,"

and Cooke's

work

certainly

answers

some

of

these

questions,

although

he

always

in-

sisted

that

the essence

of the work was

already

implicit

in the

manuscript

before

he

undertook

the realization.

This

viewpoint

is corroborated

by

an examination

of the

published

facsimile of

the entire

sketch

material,

a sizeable and

im-

pressive

document

which

provides

ample

mate-

rial

for the

study

of Mahler's

compositional

process.2

The Tenth

may

be

put

to other

uses,

how-

ever.

As a

work-in-progress,

t can

provide

the

basis

for

evaluating changes

in the

composer's

language

and

style,

and for

assessing

their

im-

plications

for future

developments

in

composi-

tion. The

present

essay

takes

its cue

from

this

approach.

The

aim is

to

offer

a

technical

de-

scription

of the structure

of the

Adagio

first

movement, by

far the

most

complete

move-

19th-Century

MusicIX/3

(Spring,

1986).

?

by

the

Regents

of

the

University

of

California.

'Gustav

Mahler,

A

Performing

Version

of

the

Draft of

the

Tenth

Symphony,

prepared

by Deryck

Cooke

in

collabora-

tion with

Berthold

Goldschmidt,

Colin

Matthews,

and

David

Matthews

(New

York,

1976).

For

a

history

of

the

work,adescriptionof the sources,and discussionregarding

the

validity

of a

"performing

ersion,"

see the

following

by

Cooke:

foreword

to

the

Performing

Version,

pp.

ix-xxxiii;

"Mahler's

Tenth:

Artistic

Morality

and

Musical

Reality,"

Musical

Times

102

(1961),

351-54;

"The Facts

Concerning

Mahler's

Tenth

Symphony,"

Chord and Discord

2

(1963),

3-27;

and

"Mahler's

Tenth

Symphony: Sonority,

Texture

and

Substance,"Composer

16

(1965),

2-8. A

thorough

de-

scription

of

the source

material is contained in Susan M.

Filler,

Editorial

Problems n

Symphonies

of

Gustav

Mahler:

A

Study

of

the Sources

of

the Thirdand Tenth

Symphonies

(Ph.D.

diss.,

Northwestern

University,

1977).

Filler also

considers

he

question

of

a

performing

ersion in

"The

Case

for

a

Performing

Version

of Mahler's

Tenth

Symphony,"

Journal

of Musicological

Research

3

(1981),

274-92.

A use-

ful summary of Mahler'sworking methods is Colin

Mat-

thews,

"Mahler

at Work:Some Observations

on the

Ninth

and

Tenth

Symphony

Sketches," Soundings

4

(1974),

76-

86.

See

also Richard

Swift,

"Mahler's

Ninth and Cooke's

Tenth,"

this

journal

2

(1978),

165-72.

2Gustav

Mahler,

X.

Symphonie:

Faksimile

nach der

Handschrift,

ed.

and

with an

intro.

by

ErwinRatz

(Munich,

1967).

222

This content downloaded from 151.225.150.42 on Fri, 05 Feb 2016 10:43:46 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions





ment

sketched

by

Mahler,

focussing

on form

and

tonality,

two elements which

embody

es-

sential

aspects

of Mahler's musical

language.

While the

approach

s

analytical, my

ultimate

concerns are

historical insofar as

the

analysis

is

directed

at

illuminating

Mahler's

composi-

tional

strategies

in relation to

those of other

composers.

I

shall

be

developing

both a

prospective

and

retrospective

view

of

Mahler,

arguing,

irst,

that

formal

expression

in this

movement,

though

superficially

akin

to the

methods

of

earlier

nineteenth-century

composers,

traces a

meta-

phorical

dramatic scenario

whose

gestural

sense

looms so

large

that

it dwarfs

the

specific

means

by

which the

individual

gestures

are

re-

alized.

In thus

overturning

the

traditional

hier-

archy

of musical

elements,

Mahler

departs

significantly

from the

precedent

of

Beethoven

and

Wagner.

Second,

on

other

levels

of struc-

ture, an irresistiblelogic informs the unfolding

of

pitch

events,

cutting

across

the surface

dis-

junctions

that

threaten

the

syntactical

dimen-

sion,

and

making

of

this

movement a subtle

es-

say

in

tonal

unity.

There

are, then,

both

significant departures

from,

as

well as token

gestures

toward,

normative

procedures

of nine-

teenth-century

music. In other

words,

the

inno-

vative

aspects

of

Mahler's

language

are

con-

tained-sometimes

concealed-in

outwardly

conservative

presentations,

and it

is

only by

looking

beyond

these

presentations

that we can

more

fully appreciate

the

significance

of

his

work.

FORM

Many

writers have tried

to come to

grips

with

the unorthodox

outer

form of this

movement,3

proposing

such formal

categories

as

"theme

and

variations,"

"sonata

form,"

"an

overlay

of

so-

nata

design

on a

five-part organization,"

and "a

subtle combination

of

sonata

and rondo."4The

effort

to hear a traditional formal scheme in this

movement

would

seem

justified

in

view

of

the

fact that

Mahler

had

used

many

such

designs

in

earlier

works.' Yet the

implicit

premise-that

because this

is a

symphonic

movement

it

must

utilize a standard

symphonic

form-betrays

a

ratherstatic notion

of form

which,

as

Tovey

of-

ten maintained,

is

generated by the nature of

the

musical

material,

ratherthan

imposed

as an

abstraction

from without.

Mahler

himself,

whose discussions

of his

own

compositional

procedures

constitute

a

rich

resource forthe an-

alyst,

spoke

increasingly

of

the inner

form

of his

work as

opposed

to its outer

form,

directing

at-

tention

away

from

the formal mold

to

the

"in-

ner

experience,"

from

style

to

substance,

and

from

structure

to

rhetoric.6

But how can we de-

scribe this

inner

experience

without

recourse

to

some kind of

impressionistic

or

speculative

lan-

guage?

In

order to

answer

this

question,

it will

be helpful to review the categories mentioned

above and

find

out the

extent to which

they

illu-

minate

the formal

process.

Only

the first

third

or

so of this movement

(mm. 1-111)

would lend

any

support

o the

cate-

gory

theme and

variations,

and even then

the la-

bel obscures

many

of

the

salient features

of

the

piece.

In

figure

1,

where the

outer

form

of

the

movement

is

presented,

the main

Adagio

mate-

3References

hroughout

this

essay

are

to

Gustav

Mahler,

Adagio aus der Symphonie Nr. 10, ed. Erwin Ratz,

Simtliche

Werke,

vol.

XIa

(Vienna,

1964).

4See, espectively,Filler,

Editorial

Problems,

p.

568;

Deryck

Cooke,

GustavMahler:An Introduction to

his Music

(Cam-

bridge,

1980),

pp.

120-21;

Richard

Kaplan,

"The

Interaction

of Diatonic Collections in

the

Adagio

of

Mahler's

Tenth

Symphony,"

In

Theory Only

6

(1981),

36;

and

Donald

Mitchell,

"Some

Notes on

Mahler's

Tenth,"

Musical Times

96

(1955),

657.

50n

Mahler'smethods

of formal

organization, ncluding

his

use of sonata-allegro, ondo,and variationforms, see Paul

Bekker,

Mahlers

Sinfonien

(Berlin,

1927; rpt.

Tutzing,

1969);Henry-Louis

de la

Grange,

Mahler,

vol.

I

(New York,

1973),

pp.

723-823;

Erwin

Ratz,

"Musical Form

n

Gustav

Mahler:

An

Analysis

of the Finale of the Sixth

Symphony,"

Music Review

29

(1968),

34-48;

Hans

Tischler,

"Musical

Form in

Gustav Mahler's

Works,"

Chord and Discord 2

(1941),

15-21;

Donald

Mitchell,

Gustav

Mahler:

The Wun-

derhornYears

(London,

1975);

Form

und

Idee

in

Gustav

Mahlers

Instrumentalmusik,

ed.

Klaus Hinrich Stahmer

(Wilhelmshaven,1980).

6Cf. he

following

remarkmade

by

Mahler n

1899

to Nata-

lie

Bauer-Lechner:

In

earlier

years,

I

used to like

to do

unu-

sual

things

in

my compositions.

Even n

outward

orm,

I de-

parted

rom the

beaten

track,

in the

way

that a

young

man

likes

to dress

strikingly,

whereas

ater on one is

glad enough

to conform

outwardly

and not to

excite notice. One's

inner

differencefrom otherpeople is greatenoughwithout that

So,

at

present,

I'm

quite

happy

if

I

can somehow

pour

my

content into the usual

formal

mould,

and I avoid all innova-

tions unless

they're absolutely

necessary."

Cited

from

Na-

talie

Bauer-Lechner,

Recollections

of

Gustav

Mahler,

ed.

Peter

Franklin,

rans.

Dika Newlin

(London,1980),

p.

131.

Bauer-Lechner's

recollections constitute

a

particularly

valuable source of information about Mahler's views on

composition, especially

his own.

223






LO

<4

LO

Cu

cLO

c-~

c-J

?I

-

<4

0 g

~~0

Z

XL

0

0

<I

x

<I0

101

<1? -

1-

C

enO

LO

0

o

I-,

Q3

0

0

C

C,

wz4

0

Et

o)

CD

•D

o)

•D

o

o,

ot

.?

rial,

mm. 16-23

(labelledA

and

quoted

n

ex.

la),

occurs a total of five times in

part

1. But this is

hardly

he

process

of

a theme and

variations,

for

the variations are

slight,

involving

changes

in

texture

and

orchestration,

and

only

minimal

changes

in those

parameters

that

function fun-

damentally

in a variation

form:

rhythm,

mel-

ody, and harmony. Nor is this a double varia-

tion,

for the

contrasting

material,

mm. 31-38

(labelled

B

n

fig.

1 and

quoted

as

ex.

ib),

is,

like

A,

only minimally

varied.

While

it is

true that

B

forms the basis

of

the

"development"

in

part

2

(mm. 112-40),

one

could

hardly speak

there of

variationsin the formalsense.

Although

the

concept

of

theme and

varia-

tions is

inapplicable

to this

movement,

the

process

of variation is

everywhere

in

evidence.

Mahler's

belief

that "variation is

the

most

im-

portant

element

of

musical

work"7 is

amply

borne out

by

the thematic

process

of

the move-

ment,

as

we shall see. The distinction between

variation

as a formal

category

and variation

as

process,

then,

is a

very

important

one for

Mahler,

and

it

may

be

regarded

as

one of the

metaphorical

equivalents

of the inner-outer

form

dichotomy

mentioned

earlier.

The

movement

is

not a

rondo

either,

be-

cause,

as

will be shown

later,

A

and

B

interact

with each other as

independent

units,

thereby

sacrificing

both

the

functional

hierarchy

(the-

matically speaking)

and the

sense

of tonal re-

turn

that are

so

crucial to a

true rondo form.

Finally,the designationof this as a sonataform

movement, although

attractive

in

many

re-

spects-the

movement

features thematic

con-

trast,

sections

of

formal

elaboration,

a climactic

moment,

the return

of

the

opening

material,

and an

overall

similarity

between its

five

parts

(see

fig. 1)

and

the

introduction-exposition-de-

velopment-recapitulation-coda

scheme of so-

nata-allegro

orm-fails on

at least two counts.

First,

the tonal-harmonic

structure

is

decidedly

'Attributed

o

Mahler

by

Anton

Webern,

who

reports

a con-

versationwith Mahleraftera performance f the Kinderto-

tenlieder

in

1905.

See

Kurt

Blaukopf,

Mahler:

A Documen-

tary

Study (New

York,

1976),

pp.

239-40.

References to

variation

procedure

may

also be

found

throughout

Bauer-

Lechner's

Recollections.

See also

Erwin

Stein,

Orpheus

n

New

Guises

(London,

1953),

pp.

5-14;

and

Mitchell,

The

Wunderhorn

Years,

pp.

29-31,

for

technical

discussions

of

this

procedure.

224






a.

Main

Material

of

the

Adagio.

cres

. . .

ifes..-.

.

. . . .

. .

.

Pabersehrwarm

ik-

20

11

= o /

oco

cresc

molto

cresc.

b.

Contrasting

Idea.

-1n

-,

.

.

.."dA•

I

?

TI

(di.)

Example

1

static,

displaying

none of the

purposeful explo-

ration

of

key

characteristic

of sonata form. The

primary

F#

is

articulated either as

major

or mi-

nor,

with

the

subsidiary

centers

Bb

m.

92)

and A

minor

(m. 112) functioning alongside

F#

in a

"solar,"

as

opposed

to

"polar,"system

of tonal

organization.8

Second,

with

regard

to the the-

matic

process,

there

are

at

least

two levels

of

in-

terpretation,

neither of which

supports

the so-

nata-form

model.

On

one,

the

main contrast

is

among

the viola

melody

(labelled

x in

fig.

1

and

quoted

in

ex.

2),

A,

and

B,

ideas which are

presented

in

alternation,

never in

opposition.

On

the

other,

the extent of thematic

continuity

between

the

ideas

is,

on the

surface,

so

persua-

sive that

it

seriously

undermines

any

sense of

initial thematic

conflict and

eventual resolu-

tion,

as one would

expect

in

sonata form

(see

ex.

2,

where some

of the

relationships

between

x, A,

and

B

are

shown).

How, then, arewe to understand the form of

this movement?

The alternative

to

a

descrip-

tion that uses traditional forms as a crutch

is

one that treats

form

as the

metaphorical expres-

sion of a dramaticscenario.

Literary

works,

for

example,

are often described

n

terms of a model

8LeonardRatner's

terminology.

"Solar"refers to the circu-

lar

arrangement

f

keys

found

chiefly

in

eighteenth-century

concertos and

fantasias,

while

"polar"

denotes the contrast-

ing arrangement

n

which

the dominant

key,

for

example,

is

set in

opposition

to its

majortonic,

as in

many

sonata-alle-

gro

movements. See

Ratner,

Classic Music:

Expression,

Form

and

Style (New York,

1980),pp.

48-51.

225






x

li

"

f---go"1:

A

.16

m f .

r

19

I

B

A

IL

f32

,irlqTk

-

*

-

,

.,1 I

-•

--.....

P.

Example

2:

Relationships

Among

Main Thematic

Elements

(x,

A,

and

B).

such

as statement-intensification-climax-

closure,

and

effortshave

been made

along

these

lines

by

music

theorists.9

For

this

movement,

I

9Barbara

ernstein

Smith,

in

Poetic Closure:

A

Study

of

How

Poems

End

(Chicago,

1968),

writes: "Theformula

of

introduction-complication-climax-resolution,

most

fa-

miliar

to

us in

connection

with

dramatic

structure,

has

its

counterpart

n

any

temporally

organized

work

of art from

short

story

to sonata"

(p.

35).

One

application

of

this

model

to music is

Barney

Childs,

"Time:

A

Composer's

View,"

Perspectivesof

NewMusic

15

(1977),

194-219.

On

climax,

see the

present

author's "Structural

Highpoints'

n Schu-

mann's

Dichterliebe,"

Music

Analysis

3

(1984),

159-80,

esp.

the

bibliography

n

pp.

177-79. On

general

principles

of

musical

closure see Edward

T.

Cone,

Musical Form

and

Mu-

sical Performance (New York, 1968), pp. 15-23;

and

Leonard

B.

Meyer,

Emotion and

Meaning

in Music

(Chi-

cago,

1956),

pp.

128-56.

For he

application

of some

of

these

analytical principles

to Mahler's

music,

see Robert

G.

Hopkins,

Secondary

Parameters

and Closure

in

the

Sym-

phonies

of

Gustav

Mahler

(Ph.D.

diss., University

of Penn-

sylvania,

1983).

Also of interest is

JeffreyKallberg's

discus-

sion

of

closure

in

"Compatibility

n

Chopin's

Multipartite

Publications,"Journalof Musicology

2

(1983),

404-17.

226






propose

the

following

scheme:

statement-

elaboration-restatement-climax-closure.

This

scheme is

expanded

n

fig.

1. It

shows an area n

which

the

basic

ideas

and

procedural

premises

of the

piece

are

exposed

(mm.

1-111),

elaborated

upon,

distorted,

and

shuffled

(mm.

112-40),

then restated in a curtailed form

(mm.

141-93),

superceded by an overwhelming climax (mm.

194-212), and,

finally,

recapitulated

in the con-

text of an elaborate

closing

gesture

(mm.

213-

75). By transferring

the

emphasis

to

the se-

quence

of

gestures

and

away

from

formal

molds,

we

come

closer,

I

believe,

to

understanding

Mahler's

notion of the "inner

experience"

of his

work.

It is

only

after

discovering

this

"sense behind

the sounds" that we

can

turn to

the technical el-

ements that elucidate

these

gestures.

These ele-

ments are discussed

in

the next

part

of

this es-

say,

but it is worth

stressing

here

that the

formal issue in this movement has less to do

with

the definition of

genre

than with

the

elabo-

ration of

an

internal,

dramatically

conceived

idea. There

are

historical

precedents

for

this,

to

be sure-Beethoven's Third

and

Fifth

Sym-

phonies,

Liszt's

tone

poems,

and

Wagner's

dra-

mas all

display

theatrical and

narrative

quali-

ties that

strongly

influenced Mahler.

What is

more

important,

however,

is that

by

postulating

an

understanding

of form on

notions

of

recur-

rence,

elaboration,

defamiliarization,

and so

on,

we can more

easily

observe certain

parallels

in

compositional procedure

between Mahler and

his early twentieth-century contemporaries

such

as

Stravinsky,

whose Sacre

du

printemps

(1913),

for

example,

manifests

a

similar formal

process--based

on the

fundamental reliance

on

a

series

of

choreographedgestures-but,

unlike

Mahler's

movement,

is often seen as

represent-

ing

a radical break with the

compositional

past.

10

TONAL-HARMONIC

YNTAX

All of

Mahler's

compositions

are

tonal.

That

is to

say,

each work is in an identifiable

key

whose

expression

may

be

understood

as

"pro-

longed

motion within

the

frameworkof

a

single

key-determining

progression.""

There

are,

to

be

sure,

passages

in

Mahler

where a

sense of

tonal orientation is

greatly

undermined-one

thinks,

for

example,

of

portions

of the

finale of

the Ninth

Symphony,

where the

extreme

chro-

maticism seems to destroya sense of tonal ori-

entation-but

these are

often

deviations

from

clearertonal

premises

and

goals.

In the

first

movement of

the

Tenth,

not

only

is there

no

ambiguity

about

the

primaryF#,

but

there is

something

overt

about

its

presentation.

The entire

movement

is

saturated

with

the

sound

of

F#,

resulting

in a

kind

of

stasis

which,

though

not

unusual in

Mahler's

music-the

first movement of

the

Ninth

Symphony

is

simi-

larly

saturatedwith

the

sound

of

D-is

verysug-

gestive

for

our

analysis. Thus,

since the

key

and

the material

that

gives

it

profile

do

not

change

much in the course of the movement, Mahler

dramatizes the sense of

F#

by

means of a

device

familiar

from

Schubert:

modal

mixture of ho-

monymous

keys.

Minor

local

tonics

accom-

pany

the

presentation

of

the B

material in

mm.

32, 81,

92, 112, 153,

and

163,

while

major

ones

accompany

the

presentation

of

the

A

material

in

mm.

16,

24,

49,

141,

and

213.

If the

essential tonal

drama

s

inherent in

this

alteration of

modes,

then we

must

reject

critical

views that seek to

confer on

the

major-minor

n-

terplay

in

late

nineteenth-century

music

only

an

"expressive"

or

"ornamental"

role

and to

confine its domain to the musical

"surface."'2

In

this

movement,

F#

major

and

F#

minor

are

not mere

sub-species

of

the

F#

tonality

(despite

the

functional

equivalence

of

parallel

scale de-

'0Cf.

the

argument

regardingparallels

between

Ives and

Mahler n

Robert

P.

Morgan,

"Ives and

Mahler:

MutualRe-

sponses

at

the End

of an

Era,"

his

journal

2

(1978),

72-81.

Charles Reid

hints

at

the

parallels

between

Mahler and

Stravinsky

n

"Mahler's

Tenth,"

Music

Review 26

(1965),

318-25.

"Felix

Salzer,

Structural

Hearing:

Tonal

Coherence

n

Mu-

sic

(New

York,

1962),

p.

227.

12In

his remarkable

early

study,

Gustav

Mahler

(Vienna,

1916),

Guido

Adler

asserts that

"Major

nd

minor are

associ-

ated as

though

in one and

the

same

basic

key."

See

Edward

Reilly,

Gustav

Mahler

and

Guido

Adler: Records

of

a

Friendship (Cambridge,1982), p.

47. This

point

has

been

taken

up (though unacknowledged)

and formulated more

rigorously

n recentwork.

Thus,

PatrickMcCrelesscredits

Robert

Bailey

with the view that "in

the late

nineteenth

century

we have moved from a tonal

universe

in which

there

are

twenty-four

diatonic

major

and

minor

keys

to

one

in

which

there

aretwelve

keys

with

interchangeable

mode"

("Ernst

Kurthand

the

Analysis

of Chromatic Music of

the

Late Nineteenth

Century,"

Music

Theory Spectrum

5

[19831,

0).

227






grees)

but distinct

and

contextually indepen-

dent

functional-expressive systems.

A closer

look at

exs. la and lb will

illustrate

this

point

further.The Amaterial

is marked

by

a

wide-leaping

melodic line and

carefully

con-

trolled chromatic

motion,

giving

the

phrase

a

relentless sense

of

forward drive.

The B mate-

rial,on the otherhand,is moreplayful-the piz-

zicato articulation

of the

cellos is

only

the clear-

est indication

of this-while

its harmonic

underpinning

s

more

diatonic and more

simply

expressed.

This is not to

say

that

there are no re-

lations between

A

and B.Pitch

relations are

easy

to

find

in this

music,

as

ex. 2

has shown. But it

is

clear that

the essential

gesture

is one of

juxtapo-

sition.

This is

perhaps

one

reason

why

the local

transitions between

A

and B sound

contrived

and

unnatural;

by

drawing

attention to

them-

selves

they ironically

weaken rather than

strengthen

the

sense

of

logical

arrival.

It is partly because of this juxtaposition of

ideas that the movement

develops

a

quality

of

reminiscence.

Every subsequent

occurrence of

x,

A,

or

B

produces

a

sense of

reminiscence

that

is not

merely

the recall of

previously-stated

ma-

terial, but,

in the

single-mindedness

of the the-

matic

process,

a

reference

to

something

older,

something

more archaic.

This

experience

is not

predicated

on the

listener's

ability

to locate a

specific

source

for

the ideas

exposed

previously

in

the movement.

A

distinction

must therefore

be madebetween this

strictly

contextual

sense

of

reminiscence and the

more

obvious internal

and external references found

throughout

Mahler's

oeuvre:

references to his own earlier

works,

to

those

of other

composers

such as

Schubert and

Wagner,

and most

important

of

all,

to

precompositional

models such as

Liindler,

marches,

folk

songs,

and so

on.'3

I be-

lieve

it is because

of such

retrospective

ele-

ments

that some

writers have heard

a "narra-

tive

quality"

in

Mahler's

tonal

writing.14

A

more

important

consequence

of

the exist-

ence

of

independent

tonalities in this

move-

ment is a

disjunction

or

discontinuity

in

the

tonal

process.Is

A

good

example

is the

Ab

minor

outburst n m.

194,

which

represents

the

begin-

ning

of the climactic area.

The

approach

o

this

moment shows a

drastic reduction in

texture

(mm. 184-93), bringing the sense of forward

motion to

a

virtual

standstill.

The outburst is

particularlystriking

because it

contrasts so viv-

idly

with

the

preceding

music

and also

because

it is

largely unexpected. (I

shall

refine this

point

later

by

showing

how

the

outburst is

prepared.)

The effect is one of

disjunction

in

the tonal-har-

monic,

textural,

and

summarily

gestural

do-

mains.

While

the refinements and

emphases

sug-

gested

in

the

foregoing

discussion of

modal

in-

terplay,

the sense of

reminiscence,

and

disjunct

syntax point

to

the

"revolutionary"

aspects

of

Mahler's anguage,there is a substratum of har-

monic

activity

that

exemplifies

the more

con-

servative

elements.

One

such

element

is the

chromatic-diatonic

duality,

a

discussion

of

which will

serve

to

close our

investigation

of

syntax.

The

major

difference

between

chromatic

writing

in

this movement and

that

which

stems

from

Wagner

s

that

Mahler's

is contained in

a

way

that

Wagner's

s not. It

demonstrates,

we

might say,

an internal

referentiality.

The

clear-

est moments

in the

movement,

tonally speak-

ing,

are

beginnings

of

periods,

not

endings.

(The

important exception

of x will be considered

later.) Many

of these

clear

beginnings

are

marked

by

a

semitone relation

with the

preced-

ing

note

or chord

(see

the

approaches

to

F#

in

mm.

14-16,

24, 48-49, 57-58,

68-69,

and

140-

41), resulting

in

a

sequence

of

gestures

that

opens

out from clear

premises,

rather than

ap-

proaching clarity

from

ambiguity.

In

this

way,

we

get

a different

impression

of

tonal

orienta-

tion

from that

of

nineteenth-century composi-

tions that

begin

in

medias

res. It also

goes

with-

out

saying

that

tonality

remains

an

active,

structuring force in Mahler's music, and is no

'3Cf.

Monika

Tibbe,

Uber

die

Verwendung

von

Liedernund

Liedelementen

in

instrumentalen

Symphoniesidtzen

Gus-

tav

Mahlers

(Munich,

1971);

and

Warren

Storey

Smith,

"MahlerQuotes Mahler," Chord and Discord 2 (1954),

7-13.

14Mitchell's

description

of

Mahler's

onal

strategies,

or

ex-

ample,

frequently

nvokes

metaphors

associated

with

jour-

ney

and

travel in

explaining

"progressivetonality."

See

"Gustav

Mahler,"

n New Grove

Dictionary of

Music and

Musicians,

ed.

Stanley

Sadie

(London,1980),

vol.

11, esp. pp.

518-27.

'5For

urther

discussion of

the

use of

this

technique

see Mor-

gan,

"Ives and

Mahler,"

and

my

"The

Musical

Language

of

KindertotenliederNo.

2," Journalof

Musicology

2

(1983),

90-93.

228






less functional

in

the

hierarchy

of

elements

than such so-called

"secondaryparameters"

as

texture,

dynamics,

and

timbre.'6

On a

larger

evel of

structure,

chromaticism

is best

understood

within

the

framework

of

Schenkerian

notions

of

foreground

and back-

ground. Kaplan

has

clearly

demonstrated that

the basic model of all the harmonic progres-

sions

in this movement is

conceptually

diatonic,

and

that Mahler's chromaticism is the

result

of

either

displaced

resolutions of linear

processes

or chromaticization

of diatonic

tones.'7

Now,

if it

is true that the

greater

the

chromatic content

of a tonal

piece,

the

more re-

mote

is its

background,

hen the

background

of

this

movement would

seem

quite

far

removed

from the literal

foreground.

But we

have

also

ob-

served

that the movement

is

rather

static on

one

level,

so that the

presentation

of

F#

seems to

resist reduction much

beyond

the

foreground.

Bergquist's explication of tonal procedure

also adds

a

further dimension

to

this

problem,

for

according

to

him,

not

only

is there a "sub-

stantial number

of harmonic

progressions

at the

background

evel,"

but "the harmonic

progres-

sions

throughout

are

mainly

background

events."'"

The action in the

foreground

"is

de-

ceptively

static,"

while that

in the

background

is

very

active.

These differences in

the

reading

of

the tonal

structure revolve around

a

conceptual problem

that

cannot

be

resolved

as

long

as

we retain

the

premise

of a

multi-layered

conception

of

musical

structure.

For

ironically,

the

presenta-

tion of F#does not demonstrate"prolongedmo-

tion

through

the

framework of

a

single

key-de-

termining progression,"

but

rather a

referential

and

self-sustained

treatment of

that

keynote.

In

this

sense,

the structural

process

in

the first

movement

of

Mahler's Tenth is

unique,

for

it

does not

fully

utilize the

operational

means of

nineteenth-century

compositions,

nor

does

it

assert

its referentialunit

in such a

way

as to

sug-

gest

a non-functional use of

tonality.

CLIMAX

AND

CLOSURE

In the precedingsection, we noted a discon-

tinuity

between mm.

193

and

194. Such dis-

junct syntax, exemplified

elsewhere

in

the

movement,

embraces

only

the

local

or

immedi-

ate

level

of

structure. There

is,

however,

a

larger

level

on

which

disjunction

is absorbed

by

a

more

global

teleological process.

In other

words,

a

disjunct

progression

on

one level

of

structureis in fact

conjunct

on another.

And it

is with

referenceto this

duality

that we can

best

understand

the most dramatic

event in the

movement: the

climax in mm.

194-212.

There are two

major

sources

for

the climax

in

the movement: the recurringviola melody, x

(see

ex.

3,

where

all

four

occurrences are

quoted),

and

a certain

"abandoned

process,"

to

be

explained shortly.

A

strong

sense of

organi-

cism characterizes the

successive

occurrences

of

x.

In

addition

to

its

recurrence

n

both

origi-

nal and derivative forms-for the

latter, see,

for

example,

m. 112

onward,

where

x's

shape

is

sys-

tematically

distorted in a

developmental

pro-

cess-x

expresses

a

wave-like

contour that

rep-

resents,

in

microcosm,

the

dynamic

shape

of

the movement as

a

whole. More

important,

however,

are the

pitch relationships

within

x

it-

self. In its first occurrence

lex.

3a),

the

opening

C#-D

dyad

is

expanded

in the fourth

and fifth

measures

by registral

transposition, rhythmic

augmentation,

and embellishment

by

the addi-

tion of an

upper neighbor-note,

E.

Since mm.

4-

5 constitute the local climax of the

phrase,

the

16Without

eferring

xplicitly

to

Mahler,

Leonard

Meyer

and

Rose

Rosengard

Subotnik have each noted a

decline

in the

importance

of

large-scale

tonal

relationships

as

organizers

of musical structure

in later

nineteenth-century

music.

Meyerwrites: "Complementingthe increasedimportance

of

secondaryparameters

n

shaping Romantic)

music was

a

decline in

the

importance

of

large-scale

onal

relationships

created

by

primaryparameters"

"Exploiting

Limits: Crea-

tion,

Archetypes,

and

Style

Change,"

Daedalus

109

[1980],

194).

Subotnik

makes

essentially

the

same

point,

though

in

a

different

ormulation: "If

structure n

romantic music

...

is defined

narrowly

..

as

an

abstract nternal

relationality

or as

the

temporal

and

quasi-logical

or,

essentially,

tonal

un-

folding

of

events,

then most

romantic works lack

a

com-

plete

internal structural

intelligibility

and

present

them-

selves

regardless

of

size,

as

semiotic

fragments

ratherthan

universes"

("Romantic

Music as

Post-Kantian

Critique:

Classicism,

Romanticism,

and the

Concept

of

the

Semiotic

Universe",

n

On

Criticizing

Music,

ed.

Kingsley

Price

[Bal-

timore,

1981], p.

82).

"7Richard .

Kaplan,"Interpreting

SurfaceHarmonic

Con-

nections in the Adagioof Mahler's Tenth Symphony,"In

Theory

Only

4

(1978),

32-44.

Christopher

Wintle

develops

a

similar

approach

o

the

analysis

of late

nineteenth-century

music in his

review-essay,

"Issues in

Dahlhaus,"

Music

Analysis

1

1982),

341-55.

'8Peter

Bergquist,

"The First

Movement of

Mahler's

Tenth

Symphony:

An

Analysis

and an

Examination

of

the

Sketches,"

Music Forum5

(1980),

349

and 352.

229






a.

1

____

I

etc.

d.

4etc

j. I

40

etc

I

F - 9

~~8~

d ~ l l

Example

3:

Opening

Viola

Melody

and

its

Subsequent

Occurrences.

climax

may

be heard

as

a

transformation of an

initial "sound

term,"

in

which

sense it func-

tions

structurally.

In addition to

setting

up

a

structural

semi-

tone

relationship,

x

highlights

a

particularpitch

class,

D. In both its

second and third occur-

rences

(exs.

3b

and

3c),

x

projects

D

(or

Cx)

as

the

climactic

pitch, approachedby

an

upward leap

of a tritone

(3b)

and

by

an

even

bigger

eap

of

an

octave and

a fourth

(3c),

the

whole

describing

a

process

of intervallic

expansion.

Finally,

in the

fourth

occurrence

(3d),

the entire

melody

is

transposed

up

a

fifth,

shifting

the

high

point

to

A,

thereby

bringing

into focus both A

and

D,

two pitches that play an important role in the

establishment

of the climax of the

movement.

The

significance

of

x, then,

is two-fold.

First,

it

expands

gradually

but

significantly

toward a

goal,

the

climax; second,

it

embodies certain

procedures

and

relationships exploited

else-

where

in the

movement.

The second

climax-generating

factor

is

the

"abandoned

process,"

which

occurs

in four

phasesbeginning

in mm.

69, 137, 157,

and

194.

By

"abandoned,"

mean that

Mahler sets

up

a

goal-oriented

process

that is then

cut off in

midstream,

to

be

resumed later. The

goal

is of-

ten a gesture,or the sense of a gesture, describ-

able with

reference

to the

class of

weak-strong

metaphors.

The overall

impression

of this

pro-

cess is

of

"gestural

composition":

Mahlersets

up

an

expectation

of a

gesture

without

necessarily

specifying

the

musical

elements

that

would

ex-

ecute this

gesture.

This constitutes a radicalre-

reading

of the

traditional

functions of

composi-

tional

variables.

A

look at two

of

these

drives to a

climax will

clarify

the

process.

The

second

of

the four

phases,

mm.

137-40,

is

the

end

point

of

a devel-

opmental

process

which

began

in m.

111,

and

although

the

section

is

not

concerned

primarily

with

tonal

exploration,

its

closing

area ncludes

a more

active harmonic

process, especially

ob-

vious

in the chromatic bass ascent

from

A6

in

m.

137

to D in

m. 140.

The sense of a local cli-

max is achieved

by

the incessant

rhythmic

ac-

tivity,

the use

of

brass

to fill

in

the middle har-

monies while creating a sense of urgency in

their

rising

chromatic

lines,

and the recall-and

therefore

promise

of transformation-of the

chorale-like

melody

from m.

58.

The

expecta-

tions thus

generated

are

immediately

aban-

doned

in

m.

141,

where the Amaterial returns.

It

might

even

be

argued

hat the

gesture

of m. 140

is

essentially

disjunct

with that

of m.

141,

de-

spite

the token transition

between the

two

mea-

sures.

What the listener

experiences

here

is

an ex-

pectation

that

this

process

will

be

resumed and

brought

to

completion.

Indeed,

the

passage

in

mm. 157-61, the third of the drives to the cen-

tral

climax,

seems

to

promise

this

completion,

only

to

abandon the

goal

in

m.

162 with the re-

turn,

this

time,

of the

B

material. In this five-

measure

phrase,

too,

it

is the bass line that most

clearly exemplifies

the

preparation

or

the aban-

230






doned

process.

The

phrase

describesan overall

motion roma

tonally

clear

point

to

an

ambigu-

ous

one,

witness the

pair

of

descending

erfect

fifths

(mm.

157-58)

contracted o

a

diminished

fifth

(mm.

159-60)

andbroken

venfurther

nto

two minor hirds

m.

161).

Underlining

his

in-

tervallic contraction s

a melodic ascent

that

begins n m. 159(firstviolins)butis discontin-

ued

after

wo

measures.

Again,

he

sense

of

this

passage

is the

interruption

of a

teleological

process.

Like

mm.

140-41,

mm.

161-62

consti-

tute a

gesturaldiscontinuity.

It is

only

with the

expectations

enerated

y

these

abandoned

rocesses

hat we

can under-

stand the

syntax

of the

climactic

area,

mm.

194-212.

This

nineteen-measure

passage

di-

vides into three

phrases

of

nine,

six,

and

four

measures,

representing espectively,

he

out-

burst

on,

and

prolongation f,

A6

minor;

he set-

ting up

and

mmediate

epetition

of

the famous

nine-notechord;and,finally,the return rom

this

high

point

to the A material n

m. 213.

(A

synopsis

of the

pitch

elements

n

this

region

s

given

as

ex.

4.)

The natureof the

events

in

the climacticre-

gion stronglysuggests

that the

Ab-minor

es-

ture,

though ocally disjunct

and

tonally

unex-

pected,

answers,

on a

larger

level,

to

the

expectations

reated

by

the

series

of

abandoned

processes.

These

processes

eft

the listener

with

the

need for a

gesture

of

cataclysmic

propor-

tions.And that is

precisely

what we

get

in m.

194.

Though ocallydisjunct, hen,

the

gesturefulfills a more

mportant

macro-level

unction,

thereby aking

on

conjunct

status in

the com-

pany

of the

larger equence

of

gestures.

This is not to

suggest,

however,

that the

pitch

elements in the climactic

region

are in

any way

arbitrarily

chosen. The

nine-note chord

in

m.

206,

for

example,

has baffled

many

critics and

has been

dismissed

by

some

as

a

mere

"color

chord."'9

But it is

clearly

more than

that,

for

the

superimposed

thirds add

up,

significantly,

to

two dominant ninths, that of F#on the bottom

layer

and that

of

Bb

on the

top

one.20

Since both

keys

function

prominently

in the

movement,

it

is

entirely

appropriate

hat

Mahler

should

com-

bine their

respective

dominants

at

the moment

of

greatest impact.

In

this

sense,

the chord

per-

forms both rhetorical and

structural

functions,

rhetorical

because it

uses such so-called

"sec-

ondary parameters"

as

timbre,

dynamics,

and

register

in

a

big

way,

and

structural

because

it

presents

the ultimate

conflict

between

the

pri-

mary key system, F#,

and a

subsidiary

one.

Furthermore,

the

pitch-classes

A and

D,

highlightedin the successive occurrences of the

viola

melody (ex. 3),

are

shown in their

struc-

tural function in the

neighborhood

of the

nine-

note chord.The chord s

"set

up" by

the A

of the

first

violins

(m.

203);

the

pitch

is

emphasized

by

the

first and

third

trumpets (m.

206). Then,

while

the A

is left

hanging

for

seven

measures,

the

first violins

engineer

the return

home

via D

in m.

209,

the same D-in

the

same

register

and

instrumentation-that

formed the

first

climax

in m.

75.

'9See,

for

example, Bergquist,

"The

First

Movement,"

p.

377.

20Kaplan,

The

Interaction

of

Diatonic

Collections,"

p.

38.

Mm:

194-200 203

208

211

213

F:i

V

V

F

iiV

V

(IS

Example

4:

Summary

of

Pitch

Elements

of

the

Climactic Area.

231






Climax and closure

usually

go

hand in

hand.

The most

important

function

of this

closing

section

is to resolve the

tensions

generated

by

the

preceding

climax and

bring

the

movement

to a

satisfying

conclusion.

Closure

is therefore

both a

syntactical

andrhetorical

necessity.

Two

points

need to

be made about the

closing

sec-

tion, whose main pitch elements are summa-

rized in ex.

5.

The

first has to do

with

harmonic

syntax.

It

will be

remembered

that the

nine-

note chord

consists

of

a bi-triadic

dominant

complex.

Now,

since

F#

s the

primary

onality,

its dominant has to be extracted

from the

com-

plex

before the macro-level

harmonic

resolu-

tion

can

be effected. This

resolution,

initiated

in

m.

213

by

means

of

a

dominant-function

6

chord,

is

prolonged

until

m.

220,

where the

chord

resolves

to

the tonic.

Second,

perhaps

he

most

remarkable

eature

of this

ending

is the

displacement

of

the

overall

melodic and harmonic closure. Schenker held

that

the

background

of

most tonal

composi-

tions

features a

melodic-structuraldescent and

a

large-scale

I-V-I

progression

in

the

bass.21 n

this

closing

section,

there

is a clear

3-_-i

me-

lodic

descent

in

mm.

240-43,

but no

corres-

ponding

harmonic

progression.

This occurrence

of

melodic closure

apart

rom its

harmonic

sup-

port represents

another

radical

reinterpretation

of one of the most

important givens

of tonal

syntax.

Two

things

are done to

reconcile the dis-

placed

processes.

First,

to

give

the

illusion of

further

activity,

Mahler

composes

out an

F#-F#

melodic

ascent

between

m.

259

and m.

275.

But

the

ascent

is

decorative,

not

structural,

and it

exists on a separate ayerabove the more funda-

mental dominant

prolongation.

Second,

in the

closing

measures

(267-end),

the

dominant

of

F#

is

prolonged by

means of

rising

thirds diatonic

to

F#,

thus

providing

a

strong

recall of the nine-

note chordfrom m.

206,

which

is

also

built

from

thirds. One effect of this echo of

thirds is a

promise

of another

high point,

since

we

have

come to make that association. This

might

ex-

plain,

in

part,why

the

movement

sounds some-

what

unfinished,

quite apart

from its

being

the

first of five movements.

Nor

does the

pizzicato

string

chord

in the

final measure lend

much

weight

to the sense of an

ending.

Because of

this,

the

gestural quality

of

the

ending

becomes

functionally analogous

to

that of the

series of

abandoned

processes

that

cumulatively pre-

pared

he climax of the movement.

Each one of

the

organizational procedures

dis-

cussed

in

this

essay--disjunct

syntax,

the dislo-

cation of harmonic

and melodic

closure,

elabo-

ration

of

a climactic areawith reference o

pitch

and

non-pitch relationships

established earlier

in the piece, and the emphasis on gesture-

could

be taken as

the

starting

point

for

further

study

of

Mahler's musical

language.

But it

210n various

background

models,

or what Schenker calls

"formsof the fundamental line," see Heinrich Schenker,

Free

Composition,

trans. and ed. Ernst Oster

(New

York,

1979),

pp.

17-21.

Mm: 213 220 225 230

241 253

259 267 271

8pva--

_

32 1

r, "'--"-

A-

;. ..

F~:(V7

I)

(V

-

I)L

FI: I

V

v

V13-

I

TIi

Example

5:

Summary

of

Pitch

Elements of the

Closing

Section.

232






should

be

clear

by

now that while the

norms of

nineteenth-century compositional

practice

form the

inevitable

reference

point

for

any

anal-

ysis

of

Mahler,rarely

does the

composer

abide

predictably

by

that code.

Rather,

he retains an

external

conformity

while

concentrating

his

most innovative

procedures

in his

declared

realm of "inner experience." In this lies

Mahler's

unique

contribution to

compositional

trends

at the

turn

of the

century.

Although

broader

generalizations

about

Mahler's

style

would

require

many

more

analy-

ses than

the

single

example

offered

here,

I

hope

to have shown that a

proper

historical

assess-

ment

of the

composer

would

have to

accommo-

date,

at a

fairly

fundamental

level,

this

apparent

disparity

between external

conformity

and in-

ternal

non-conformity. Only

then

can

we mod-

ify

our

evolutionary

historical

paradigm,

which

typically

places

Mahler at

the end

of

the succes-

sion of nineteenth-century Austro-Germanic

composers,

to take in the

striking

parallels

with

the

apparently

non-evolutionary composers

(such

as Ives and

Stravinsky)

and

even

the more

startling

features that

are

uniquely

his own.22

221

wish to

thank

Professors

Robert

P.

Morgan

and EdwardR.

Reilly

for their

comments on an

earlier

version of this

paper.

233

Documents

Tonal Strategy in the First Movement of Mahler's Tenth Symphony