Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was an Austrian composer and respected conductor. He further developed the symphony by combining orchestral and choral elements and exploiting the newly expanded orchestral sound. While he composed ten symphonies, the last one is unfinished due to the composer`s death.
Mahler composed this piece in 1906 and the first performance was in Munich, on 12 September 1910. Listening the symphony, we can discover several of Mahler elements. First is the length of the work. Generally, Mahler`s symphonies are long. This piece is ninety-minute long scored for a large orchestra with organ, choirs (adult and children) and eight vocal soloists. Mahler knew which resources will be suited best to different moods. For example, he created a reflective mood by quickly shifting the vocal soloists from one to another. The orchestral colour also has an important role. It not only supports the chorus and the specific meaning of phrases of text but also in transitional passages the orchestra drives forward the musical motion. Other example can be heard in the second part, where the orchestral introduction first haunting, then increasingly getting bold in character and the ghostly lines from the male chorus joins in evoking a forest scene.
Mahler occasionally includes quotations from his own works, for example in the development section which begins with a fragmentary passage using dotted rhythms found in the first movement of his Symphony No. 2.
The Romantic ideal appears in the second part of the symphony. First the instrumental introduction portrays a Romantic landscape to the listener with its slow, solemn and use short figures in woodwinds. The romantic feeling is strengthened when Pater Ecstaticus enters with a song in praise of love which is warm, ardent, and saturated with a 19th-century style lyricism.
The Symphony includes a connected sequence of passages for various combinations of choruses, solo ensembles, and solo arias. The music becomes increasingly ecstatic and culminate in the final chorale. During the second part of this composition, many themes and motives return and transform into a bewildering new shape which creates a sense of progression Mahler carefully planned the connections and the meaning of his texts. The joining of a 9th century Latin hymn and Goethe`s Faust was unusual but still the composer managed to create a unity by linking them musically More example is the “Veni”, where he made many slight alterations to the hymn in order to stress one meaning as opposed to another. In the opening line of text “Veni creator spiritus” the composer stresses the opening word by repeating it. This emphasize the in-vocational character of the line.
Mahler also makes many philosophical connections throughout his work by consistently stressing the principles of divine grace, earthly inadequacy, and spiritual reincarnation.
References:
Mahler, G., 1906. Symphony No. 8 In E-Flat Major. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7WgXhUBrps> [Accessed 2 October 2019]
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