Classical Music | Orchestral Music

Gustav Mahler

Adagio, from Symphony no. 9  Play

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Orchestra
Leonard Bernstein Conductor

Recorded on 10/25/1990, uploaded on 06/28/2012

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

In the summer of 1907, Gustav Mahler returned, with his family, to his summer lakeside villa in Maiernigg. However, soon after their arrival, both of his daughters fell ill to scarlet fever and diphtheria. While Anna recovered, his beloved Maria succumbed to the illnesses after two weeks of struggle. Another blow to composer came not long after when he was diagnosed with a heart defect. Though Mahler expressed confidence that he would be able to continue living a normal life, his wife Alma related the news as a veritable death sentence. Perhaps a result of the heartbreak he suffered that summer, Mahler never returned to Maiernigg. Nonetheless, he continued to work and tour as a successful conductor, and the following year began work on his Ninth Symphony.

Though likely not intended as such, as evidenced by the fact Mahler work on a Tenth Symphony leading up to his death in 1911, the Ninth is perceived by many as his “farewell” to the symphony. Yet, on the other hand, the character of the music certainly supports this perception, as well as the persistent use of a motif from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Les Adieux Piano Sonata throughout the first movement. Thus, whether Mahler intended to be so or not, the Ninth Symphony did in fact become the last symphony he would finish. Completed in 1909, it was not premiered until June 1912, over a year after the composer’s death.

While containing the usual number of movements for a symphony, the order of them in the Ninth is unusual—two expansive, slow movements, each lasting nearly half an hour, appear as the outer movements, framing a quicker paced Ländler and Rondo. The first, an Andante comodo, is a loose sonata form that begins innocently with a main theme derived from Beethoven’s Les Adieux. It builds to several tremendous climaxes, but ultimately comes to a disparaging close. The following Ländler decays in a similar manner until the original dance is hardly recognizable. The only respite comes in the Trio. Mahler then follows the second movement with a devilish Scherzo. Entitled Rondo-Burlesque, it is an example of the modernism Mahler moved towards in his later years. His proficient skill at counterpoint is here combined with the harshness and dissonance of modern music, perhaps the source of the humor indicated by the addition of “Burlesque” in the title. Lastly, the Adagio Finale provides a resigned close after the harshness of the inner movements. A dramatic climax is ultimately reached, but the symphony closes with a quiet coda.       Joseph DuBose

 

IV, Adagio Sehr langsam und noch zurückhaltend  Very slow and even reluctant

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