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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
233Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746528Accessed: 05-02-2016 10:43 UTC
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8/17/2019 Tonal Strategy in the First Movement of Mahler's Tenth Symphony
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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