Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony: Program, Reception, and Evocations of the Popular by Timothy David Freeze A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Music Musicology) in The University of Michigan 2010 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Steven M. Whiting, Co-Chair Professor Albrecht Riethmüller, Freie Universität Berlin, Co-Chair Professor Roland J. Wiley Professor Michael D. Bonner Associate Professor Mark A. Clague © 2010 Timothy David Freeze All rights reserved To Grit ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The road leading to the completion of this dissertation was longer and more scenic than I ever intended it to be. It is a great pleasure to acknowledge here the many individuals and organizations that provided support and encouragement along the way. I am especially grateful to the co-chairs of my committee. Without the unflagging support of Steven M. Whiting, whose sage counsel on matters musical and practical guided me from start to finish, this project would not have been possible. I am equally indebted to Albrecht Riethmüller, whose insight and intellectual example were a beacon by whose light this dissertation took shape. I would also like to thank R. John Wiley, whose extensive and penetrating feedback improved the dissertation and my own thinking in countless ways, and Mark Clague and Michael Bonner, both of whom provided valuable comments on content and style. In Ann Arbor, I would like to acknowledge the support of the entire musicology faculty at the University of Michigan. Louise K. Stein gave helpful advice in the early stages of this project. In Berlin, I benefited from conversations with Federico Celestini, Sherri Jones, and Peter Moormann. In Vienna, Hans-Dieter Roser, Stefan Schmidl, and Morten Solvik gave generously of their time and expertise, and Norbert Nischkauer kindly made available many scores in his private collection. In addition, I would like to thank John Behling, Carlo Caballero, Stephen Hefling, Jason Heilman, David Paul, iii Stephen Rodgers, Scott Southard, Ryan Wines, and Jim Zychowicz. Four comrades in the dissertational trenches—Alexandra Monchik, William Quillen, Christopher Scheer, and Laurie Silverberg—deserve special recognition for their help over the years. I had the great fortune to receive generous financial support for research, travel, and writing from the following sources: a Regents Graduate Fellowship, Rackham Humanities Candidacy Research Fellowship, Louise Cuyler Award Travel Grant, and Rackham One-Term Dissertation Award from the University of Michigan; a fellowship with extension from the Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, and research grants from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Fulbright Program. I would have stumbled on many an administrative hurdle were it not for the help of Karen Frye, Karin Goihl, and Ulrike Seiss. I also owe my gratitude to the helpful staff of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien-Bibliothek, and Internationale Gustav-Mahler Gesellschaft. It is with particular pleasure that I recognize three individuals who, more than any others, endured the vicissitudes of my doctoral career, and did so with unfailing grace and magnanimity. My parents, David and Jean Freeze, have been a wellspring of support in these years, as in every one preceding. Finally, I could never fully convey my indebtedness to my wife Grit Herzmann. Suffice it to say that the road would have been far bumpier and less scenic had she not come along for the ride. She will forever be the greatest discovery of my dissertation, which is lovingly dedicated to her. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ii Acknowledgments iii List of Appendices vii Abstract viii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Mahler the Idealist: The Program and Promotion of the Third Symphony 9 Genesis of the Third Symphony 13 Mahler’s Aesthetic Views 16 Mahler on Program Music and Programs 30 Influence of Programmatic Ideas on Composition 44 Chapter 2 The Reception and Study of Mahler’s Allusions to Vernacular Music 55 The Early Monographs: Justifying Allusions to Vernacular Styles 57 Influence of Race on the Reception of Mahler’s Vernacularisms 73 Comparative Studies of Mahler’s Vernacularisms 85 Scholarship since the Mahler Renaissance 89 Allusions to Operetta: A Case Study from Mahler’s First Symphony 102 v Chapter 3 Multivalent Evocation in the Posthorn Solos of the Third Symphony 111 The Posthorn and its Imitations in Art Music before Mahler 117 Popular Models for Mahler’s Posthorn Episodes 128 Multivalent Evocation 135 Chapter 4 Allusions to Operetta and Military Bands in Mahler’s Marches 139 Mahler and Operetta 140 Military Music and Operetta: Two Intertwined Genres 147 Marches in Military Music and Operetta 155 Stylizations of Military and Light Marches in Mahler’s Oeuvre 167 Chapter 5 Mahler the Subversive: The First Movement of the Third Symphony 187 Form as Manipulation of Idiom 188 Allusions, Quotations, and their Meaning 216 Associative Power of Vernacular Styles 243 Appendices 259 Bibliography 346 vi LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A Formal Programmatic Commentaries on the Third Symphony 259 Appendix B Informal Commentaries on the First Movement of the Third 276 Appendix C Operettas conducted by Mahler 287 Appendix D Musical Examples for Chapter 2 288 Appendix E Tables and Musical Examples for Chapter 3 293 Appendix F Tables and Musical Examples for Chapter 4 302 Appendix G Figures, Tables, and Musical Examples for Chapter 5 320 vii ABSTRACT GUSTAV MAHLER’S THIRD SYMPHONY: PROGRAM, RECEPTION, AND EVOCATIONS OF THE POPULAR by Timothy David Freeze Co-Chairs: Steven M. Whiting and Albrecht Riethmüller This dissertation examines Mahler’s evocations of popular styles in the Third Symphony. These vernacularisms, long recognized as a hallmark of the work, remain peculiarly understudied. Here they are considered from a number of perspectives: their critical and scholarly reception, their sources in the popular musical environment of Mahler’s day, and their aesthetic function within the symphony. The study begins with the composer’s own words about his music. Chapter 1 argues that the public programs were a means to promote the symphony at a time when Mahler lacked a secure position in the concert hall repertory, and that these programs, though part of the creative process, did not motivate the work’s specific allusions to popular styles. Chapter 2 shifts focus to reception, demonstrating how strongly the aesthetic and ideological frameworks of listeners condition which referents they attribute to Mahler’s vernacularisms. Before World War II, for example, the intersection of Mahler’s Jewish heritage with ideologies of race greatly influenced whether writers identified references to folksongs or to popular music. The next part of the dissertation uncovers allusions to popular styles based on musical and expressive viii conventions no longer familiar today. Chapter 3 focuses on the third movement, identifying elements of posthorn stylizations unique to genres of entertainment music. Chapter 4 examines the variety of popular march types in the first movement, using as a basis of comparison sound profiles derived from military music and operetta, a genre that Mahler enjoyed and knew intimately. This dissertation proposes that Mahler found folk and popular styles attractive in part for the manifold associations that lurked behind their deceptive immediacy. His vernacularisms are thus most typically instances of multivalent evocation: seemingly referential music that can be convincingly traced to multiple, even contradictory sources. Chapter 5 places these evocations in the context of an extended analysis of the formal processes and semantic content of the first movement. Specific allusions to popular styles do not contribute overtly to the symphony’s meaning as articulated in its song texts. Instead, Mahler uses multivalent evocation of vernacular styles to trigger strong emotional reactions, positive and negative, in a maximally diverse audience. ix INTRODUCTION Mahler’s symphonies teem with allusions to folk and popular styles. These vernacularisms still speak with an immediacy and clarity of expression to listeners today, conveying a powerful sense of the rich musical environment in which Mahler lived.1 Mahler’s allusions to popular styles, though long recognized as a hallmark of the Third Symphony, remain peculiarly understudied. In fact, they are far more complex and ambiguous than has been portrayed in the secondary literature. This dissertation considers the vernacularisms of the Third Symphony from a number of perspectives: their critical and scholarly reception, their sources in the popular musical environment of Mahler’s day, and their aesthetic function within the symphony. Allusions to folk and popular styles cannot be reduced to a purely musical substrate. Being inherently referential, they are constituted fully only in the act of listening. For this reason, vernacularisms are particularly susceptible to the vicissitudes of individual experiences and ideological agendas. As Carl Dahlhaus has claimed, “the categories that take a formative part in musical perception are just as aesthetically ‘real’ when they owe their impact less to a solid foothold in the musical material than to associations accumulated over the years.”2 In this dissertation, therefore, an important 1 Consider, for example, the quotation by Robert