Mahler Symphony No.8
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MAHLER SYMPHONY NO.8 KLAUS TENNSTEDTconductor LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA A BBC recording 0052 Mahler 8 booklet 20 page version.indd 1 11/01/2011 10:06:37 MAHLER SYMPHONY NO.8 Mahler composed his Eighth Symphony at scherzo and finale. And since Faust’s his lakeside summer home in Carinthia in aspirations towards superhuman wisdom 1906. His wife Alma, to whom he dedicated paralleled the Catholics’ invocation of the the work, remembered that time as their ‘last Holy Spirit, it was logical as well as musically summer of peace and beauty and content’. unifying to develop themes from Part I in Part The following year they suffered three II. The first draft was finished in eight weeks, grievous blows: the loss of Mahler’s musical and Mahler wrote to the conductor Willem directorship of the Vienna Court Opera, the Mengelberg: ‘It is the greatest work I have death of their four-year-old elder daughter and yet composed…Imagine that the universe the diagnosis of Mahler’s heart disease. Yet bursts into song. We no longer hear human in 1906 all seemed well. The summer began voices but those of planets and suns.’ The as usual with him fearing loss of inspiration. triumphant first performance took place Then one morning there came into his mind in Munich on 12 September 1910. Eight the words of Veni, Creator Spiritus (Come, months later Mahler died, burnt out at fifty. Creator Spirit), the 9th-century Catholic hymn for Pentecost. He started setting the In his handling of the huge forces Mahler lines to music, beginning what developed integrates the eight solo voices and three into the work that a German impresario choirs into complex orchestral textures nicknamed with pardonable exaggeration the with scant regard for the singers’ comfort. ‘Symphony of a Thousand’. The performance In Part I we sense worshippers almost recorded here employs over four hundred hysterically striving for divine illumination. singers and an orchestra of 128 players. There Part II, which begins with a long orchestral is also an important role for the organ. introduction, is more relaxed until the closing pages. In both parts most of the If the tumultuous setting of the Latin hymn musical themes derive from the bracing could be regarded as a powerful symphonic invocation that launches the symphony. first movement, Mahler perceived that setting the mystical last scene of Goethe’s Faust could Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) provide equivalents of a slow movement, devoted many years to his dramatic poem on 0052 Mahler 8 booklet 20 page version.indd 2 11/01/2011 10:06:37 the ancient fable of Faust, the philosopher who Magna Peccatrix, Mulier Samaritana and made a fatal compact with Mephistopheles, Maria Aegyptiaca pray as redeemed sinners the Devil. This myth gave Goethe a medium for Gretchen to be pardoned, and the penitent for examining and commenting upon the Gretchen sings happily of reunion with Faust. human condition in Western civilization. The Goethe having refused to let Mephistopheles listed dramatis personae require explanation. claim Faust’s soul, Mater Gloriosa bids angels Magna Peccatrix is the woman of whom to bear it to higher spheres. Doctor Marianus Christ said (St. Luke, ch.7): ‘Her sins, which hails Mater Gloriosa as Virgin, Mother, are many, are forgiven, for she loved much’. Queen and Goddess. An ethereal orchestral Una Poenitentium (a penitent) is the soul passage topped by a solo piccolo leads to of Gretchen, whom Faust seduced. Mater the pianissimo Chorus Mysticus, which tells Gloriosa is both the Virgin Mary and the of a spirit world where human aspirations, mythological earth mother symbolising indescribable and unattainable on earth, the source of life. Mulier Samaritana is the are fulfilled. Goethe says a mystic force sinful woman of Samaria (St. John, ch.4) that he terms the ‘Ewig-Weibliche’ (eternal who met Christ by a well. Maria Aegyptiaca womanhood) draws us onward. Mahler, is the apocryphal Mary of Egypt. The male discussing these closing lines with his wife, felt figures are not individuals but symbols. that he was right to call it the force of love. The Faust scene is set amid mountain Swelling repetitions of Mater Gloriosa’s theme ravines, where the voices of anchorites climax in a shortened fortissimo reprise of the echo between chasms. Pater Ecstaticus Chorus Mysticus. The voices cease, and in a and Pater Profundus sing of the need for huge orchestral peroration the creator spirit is divine love, and in the following section invoked once more. As the fanfares sound, we (the symphony’s scherzo as it were) angels may think ourselves to have been granted for conduct Faust’s soul. Doctor Marianus a few moments some apprehension of glory. salutes Mater Gloriosa, whose appearance at this point in Goethe’s poem coincides with © Eric Mason the beginning of the symphony’s finale. 0052 Mahler 8 booklet 20 page version.indd 3 11/01/2011 10:06:37 MAHLER SYMPHONY NO.8 TEXTS CD1 Part 1. Hymn: Veni, Creator Spiritus Tracks 01-08 Veni, Creator Spiritus Come, Creator Spirit, Mentes tuorum visita; Dwell in our minds; Imple superna gratia, Fill with divine grace Quae tu creasti pectora. The hearts of Thy creatures. Qui Paraclitus diceris Thou named the Comforter Donum Dei altissimi Gift of God most high, Fons vivus, ignis, caritas Souce of life, fire, love Et spiritalis unctio. And soul’s anointing. Infirma nostri corporis Our weak frames Virtute firmans perpeti; Fortify with Thy eternal strength Accende lumen sensibus, Inflame our senses with light, Infunde amorem cordibus. Pour love into our hearts. Hostem repellas longius Scatter the enemy, Pacemque dones protinus; Grant us Thy peace; Ductore sic te praevio, Our leader, go before, Vitemus omne pessimum. That we may shun all evil. Tu septiformis munere, Grant us Thy sevenfold blessing, Dexterae paternae digitus. Thou right hand of the Father. Per te sciamus da Patrem, Grant us knowledge of the Father, Noscamus (atque) Filium, And of the Son, (Te utriusque) Spiritum And faith in Thee, O Spirit, Credamus omni tempore. Now and evermore. 0052 Mahler 8 booklet 20 page version.indd 4 11/01/2011 10:06:38 Da gaudiorum praemia, Grant us the foretaste of bliss, Da gratiarum munera; Grant us saving grace; Dissolve litis vincula Free us from bonds of strife, Adstringe pacis foedera. Bind us with pacts of peace. Ductore sic te praevio, So that with thy guidance Vitemus omne pessimum. we may avoid all ills. Gloria Patri Domino Glory be to God the Father, Deo sit gloria et Filio Glory be to God and to the Son Natoque, qui a mortuis Incarnate, who from the dead Surrexit, ac Paraclito Arose, and to the Holy Spirit In saeculorum saecula. From everlasting to everlasting. CD2 Part 2. Final Scene from Goethe’s Faust 01 Poco adagio 02 Piu mosso: Allegro moderato 03 Chorus and Echo Waldung, sie schwankt heran, The forest sways, Felsen sie lasten dran, rocks lie heavy, Wurzeln, sie klammern an, roots cling, Stamm dicht an Stamm hinan. tree-trunk against tree-trunk. Woge nach Woge spritzt, Wave breaks foamingly on wave, Höhle, die tiefste, schützt. the deepest cavern gives shelter. Löwen, sie schleichen stumm - Lions prowl silent and Freundlich um uns herum, friendly about us – Ehren geweihten Ort, honouring the sacred place, Heiligen Liebeshort. love’s holy sanctuary. 0052 Mahler 8 booklet 20 page version.indd 5 11/01/2011 10:06:38 04 Pater Ecstaticus (hovering high and low) Ewiger Wonnebrand, Eternal blazing rapture, Glühendes Liebeband, love’s flaming bond, Siedender Schmerz der Brust, heart’s painful seething, Schäumende Gotteslust. God’s effervescent love! Pfeile, durchdringet mich, Arrows, pierce me, Lanzen, bezwinget mich, spears, subdue me, Keulen, zerschmettert mich, clubs, crush me, Blitze, durchwettert mich; lightning, flash through me, Dass ja das Nichtige that nothingness Alles verflüchtige, may make all vanish, Glänze der Dauerstern, that the constant star may shine forth, Ewiger Liebe Kern. kernel of love eternal! 05 Pater Profundus (from the depths) Wie Felsenabgrund mir zu Füssen As the rocky chasm at my feet lies Auf tiefem Abgrund lastend ruht, heavy on the deep abyss, Wie tausend Bäche strahlend fliessen as a thousand streams flow sparkling Zum grausen Sturz des Schaums der Flut, to the dread rapids’ foaming drop, Wie strack, mit eig’nem kräft’gen Triebe, as straight, by its own powerful urge, Der Stamm sich in die Lüfte trägt; the tree-trunk rears into the air, So ist es die allmächt’ge Liebe, so it is almighty love Die alles bildet, alles hegt. that shapes and nurtures all. Ist um mich her ein wildes Brausen, Around me is wild tumult, Als wogte Wald und Felsengrund, as though forest and rocky floor quaked! Und doch stürzt, liebevoll im Sausen, And yet, lovingly, roaring waters’ profusion Die Wasserfülle sich zum Schlund, hurls itself into the gorge, Berufen, gleich das Tal zu wässern; ordained to water presently the valley; Der Blitz, der flammend niederschlug, the flaming lightning, hurtling downwards Die Atmosphäre zu verbessern, to render pure an atmosphere Die Gift und Dunst im Busen trug! bearing poison and fumes at its heart – Sind Liebesboten, sie verkünden, these are messengers of love, proclaiming Was ewig schaffend uns umwallt. that which ever seethes, creating, about us. Mein Inn’res mög’ es auch entzünden, Might it kindle also my inmost being, 0052 Mahler 8 booklet 20 page version.indd 6 11/01/2011 10:06:38 Wo sich der Geist, verworren, kalt, where my cold, bewildered spirit Verquält in stumpfer Sinne Schranken, agonises, confined by dulled sense, Scharfangeschloss’nem Kettenschmerz. bound fast by fetters’ pain. O Gott! beschwichtige die Gedanken, Oh, God, assuage my thoughts, Erleuchte mein bedürftig Herz! enlighten my needy heart! 06 Angels (hovering in the upper atmosphere, bearing Faust’s immortal essence) Gerettet ist das edle Glied Saved is that noble member Der Geisterwelt vom Bösen, of the spirit world from evil: ‘Wer immer strebend sich bemüht, ‘He who endeavours, ever striving, Den können wir erlösen’.