Mahler Foundation

“Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving” (Gustav Mahler).

• Part I is based on the (sacred) Latin text of a 9th-century Christian hymn for Pentecost, Veni creator spiritus (“Come, Creator Spirit”).
• Part II is a setting of the words from the (secular) closing scene of Goethe’s Faust. The depiction of an ideal of redemption through eternal womanhood (das Ewige-Weibliche).

The two parts are unified by a common idea, that of redemption through the power of love, a unity conveyed through shared musical themes.

---

A listening guide of Symphony No. 8 - Intro with Lew Smoley.

The movement opens with horns calling to each other. The second horn is muted, however, to create the illusion of distance. Scampering woodwinds imitating somewhat grotesque bird calls pass off into the distance, as the trumpets sound the major-minor seal from the sixth symphony. The horns introduce a rich, somewhat bucolic (A) theme, surrounded by dancing strings and a march rhythm from his song “Revelge”.

This theme leads to some confusion about the key, as it switches between C major and C minor every few beats. The rural mood is heightened by a gentle, rustic dance for the (B) section – typical of Mahler at his most carefree and childlike – as well as by the gentle clanking of distant cow-bells in the returns of the introductory section. The malicious (C) theme, upon its return, is arabesqued by the Revelge rhythms and bird calls from earlier in the movement.

---

A listening guide of Symphony No. 7 - 2nd Movement with Lew Smoley.

The second part of the symphony follows the narrative of the final stages in Goethe’s poem-the journey of Faust’s soul, rescued from the clutches of Mephistopheles, on to its final ascent into heaven.

---

A listening guide of Symphony No. 8 - 2nd Movement with Lew Smoley.

The fourth movement (the second ‘Nachtmusik’) contrasts with the first in that it illustrates a more intimate and ‘human’ scene. With its ‘amoroso’ marking and reduced orchestration (trombones, tuba and trumpets are silent and the woodwinds are reduced by half) this movement has been described as ‘a long stretch of chamber music set amidst this huge orchestral work’.

---

A listening guide of Symphony No. 7 - 4th Movement with Lew Smoley.

Veni Creator Spiritus (“Come Creator Spirit”) is a hymn believed to have been written by Rabanus Maurus in the 9th century. When the original Latin text is used, it is normally sung in Gregorian Chant. As an invocation of the Holy Spirit, in the practice of the Roman Catholic Church it is sung during the liturgical celebration of the feast of Pentecost (at both Terce and Vespers).

---

A listening guide of Symphony No. 8 - 1st Movement with Lew Smoley.

Symphony No. 3 by Gustav Mahler was written between 1893 and 1896. It is his longest piece and is the longest symphony in the standard repertoire, with a typical performance lasting around ninety to one hundred minutes.

In its final form, the work has six movements, grouped into two Parts. The first movement alone, with a normal duration of a little more than thirty minutes, sometimes forty, forms Part One of the symphony. Part Two consists of the other five movements and has a duration of about sixty to seventy minutes.

---

A listening guide of Symphony No. 3 - Intro with Lew Smoley.

Very leisurely. Never hurry. Two sections alternate in this idyllic movement, so different in style, atmosphere and scale from the first that Mahler specified their separation by a few minutes’ pause. The first section is a graceful ländler in the major, the second a triplet theme in the minor. Mahler was particularly proud of the cello countermelody that accompanies the principal theme’s second exposition.

---

A listening guide of Symphony No. 2 - 2nd Movement with Lew Smoley.

Primeval Light. Very solemn but simple (In the manner of a chorale). After the “tormenting” questions of the opening movement and the grotesque dance of the Scherzo, humankind is freed from uncertainty and doubt. 
The Wunderhorn-Lied brings with it the first ray of a light that will shine in glory at the end of the finale. A solemn chorale, gently stated on the brass, affirms the innocent faith of childhood; later on, an expanded version of this same ascending theme will become the final movement’s “Resurrection” theme.

---

A listening guide of Symphony No. 2 - 4th Movement with Lew Smoley.

At the same speed as the Scherzo. In a wild outburst. The Scherzo’s “cry of despair” is recalled, then answered by a hesitant statement on the horns of the emerging “Resurrection” theme. There follows a “voice calling in the wilderness”, again on the horns, but this time offstage, before the contours are once again blurred by a descending triplet figure that works its way down through the orchestra.

---

A listening guide of Symphony No. 2 - 5th Movement with Lew Smoley.

The symphony, particularly due to the extensive number of movements and their marked differences in character and construction, is a unique work. The opening movement, colossal in its conception (much like the symphony itself), roughly takes the shape of sonata form, insofar as there is an alternating presentation of two theme groups; however, the themes are varied and developed with each presentation, and the typical harmonic logic of the sonata form movement (particularly the tonic statement of second theme group material in the recapitulation) is changed.

---

A listening guide of Symphony No. 3 - 1st Movement with Lew Smoley.