GUSTAV MAHLER (1860–1911) Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) 1. Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde 4. Von der Schönheit (The Drinking Song of the (Beauty) 7:46 Earth’s Sorrow) 9:00 5. Der Trunkene im Frühling 2. Der Einsame im Herbst (Wine in Spring) 5:06 (Autumn Loneliness) 9:47 6. Der Abschied GUSTAV MAHLER 3. Von der Jugend (The Farewell) 30:30 (Youth) 3:40 Das Lied von der Erde St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble George Manahan, conductor Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano Paul Groves, tenor SLC 3011 — & © 2012 Orchestra of St. Luke’s GUSTAV MAHLER (1860–1911) The individual may deal with the inevitable concerts. A number of orchestral works were passing of all things by choosing to drink reduced to the dimensions of a large piece Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) and forget, by swathing oneself in sadness, of chamber music for this organization. This by recalling (or envying) the joys of youth, was, of course, a cost-cutting device, but Arranged for chamber ensemble by Arnold Schoenberg and Rainer Riehn by concentrating on the doleful fact that it also demonstrated that modern works by even beauty passes away, by developing a composers such as Debussy did not require Das Lied von der Erde is Mahler’s most learned from the doctor that he, too, had a particularly acute sensitivity to natural beauty, the full orchestra to convey their essence. perfect work and one of the most poignantly heart lesion and would live under a medical or by means of a poignant and nostalgic expressive compositions in the entire sentence of early death. The next summer departure. All of these responses are to be In the case of Das Lied von der Erde, the literature of music. It is music of farewell from he began to sketch some settings from a found in the individual songs of the work, and score contains a number of thematic kernels a man who knows that he has but a short collection of 83 Chinese poems in a German sometimes in the same text. that Mahler used elsewhere for his expressive time to live. Yet there is nothing dismal or rendering by Hans Bethge. The book The purposes—the assertive fourth, rising or dreary about the work. Mahler was a man Chinese Flute, a collection of poems already As in the Ninth Symphony, which is the falling (as at the opening, challenging the who loved life, and had reveled in it actively. a thousand years old, had been a gift from companion piece of Das Lied von der Erde, singer’s mortality), the rising minor third, His leave-taking is that of one who still recalls Theobald Pollak. Mahler turned to it at a Mahler’s textures are clear and transparently and—most eloquent of all—the descending the pleasures and the beauties that he is moment when he was particularly aware of scored, but essentially polyphonic, with second, a single downward step, which soon no more to enjoy. It is among Mahler’s his own mortality, and found poems that intertwining melodic lines that carry the becomes utterly unforgettable in its yearning most beautifully crafted scores, delicate and spoke directly to his condition. He chose music forward. The sound of the original at the very end of the score. In addition, rich in color, evocative in every detail. Like all seven texts from Bethge’s collection and set score often suggests a chamber ensemble, Mahler has sprinkled his score with the most of the greatest masterworks, it seems to be them as six movements (the last movement but one of enormous size. This fact no delicate chinoiserie, pentatonic figures that inventing itself afresh at every performance, is a setting of two poems separated by a doubt encouraged the idea of making a recall the original Chinese poetry. to be unfolding for the very first time. And, lengthy interlude). chamber version of the work for the Society like most of the greatest musical settings of for Private Musical Performances, which Mahler arranges the songs so that tenor and a text, its rhythms and contours, once heard, The title “The Song of the Earth” is slightly was organized after World War I, largely mezzo-soprano alternate throughout, the never leave the memory, but return to it misleading: there is no intimation that the by Arnold Schoenberg and a circle of his former generally having the more assertive whenever the words come to mind. earth itself is singing here; a fuller and more students and friends to present carefully music and moods, the latter having the most accurate title might have been “The Song of prepared performances of contemporary “internalized” expression. In 1906 Mahler tragically lost a young Life on This Earth,” for the six movements music before an audience of the society’s daughter to scarlet fever, and his mother-in- deal with human beings and their actions and members and their guests. No journalists law suffered a heart attack. At this time he perceptions in a world where all is transient. were allowed to write reviews of the 1. Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde and the frosts. All is world-weary, longing for entrance, just three short measures later, C in the double basses, the singer sets the (The Drinking Song of the Earth’s Sorrow) repose, though with enough energy left for lurches into B-flat. The inspired orchestration scene. The friend’s reply becomes warmer, a single outburst: “O love’s warm sunshine, is filled with special effects suggesting more sustained, more richly accompanied by A horn fanfare and an outburst of orchestral have you gone for ever, and will my burning the consequences of this overindulgence, the orchestra until it blossoms into a softly laughter set the scene in some drinking tears be never dried?” while the tenor is by turns assertive and shimmering C major with harps and violins resort, where the wine flows freely to drive off sentimental, finally declaring his full intention as the singer evokes the endless rebirth nagging thoughts of impending death. The 3. Von der Jugend (Youth) of staying drunk. of spring. Perhaps Mahler’s single most solo line, with this powerful orchestration, expressive stroke in the whole work is the requires a Heldentenor of Wagnerian The poem depicts a scene of young people final page for the mezzo-soprano, who four stamina. The singer furiously defies his grief thoughtlessly enjoying their youth in a 6. Der Abschied (The Farewell) times repeats “Ewig....ewig...” (“Ever...ever....”) and mortality with more wine, and still more porcelain pavilion in the middle of a carp The sixth and most profound of the songs with a two-note melodic figure that moves wine. Only when the text turns briefly to the pond, a scene familiar from much Chinese in Das Lied von der Erde lasts nearly a from E to D but never completes the final blue firmament and spring’s eternal renewal art (and imitations thereof). It is a simple half hour, as much as the previous five put step to the closing C; only the instruments does Mahler allow him a moment of peace— miniature, with the music of the opening together. Here, with the most delicate and of the orchestra, representing the endless but to no avail: “But thou, O man, how long stanza returning for the close. restrained of orchestral treatments, Mahler blossoming of nature, are able to bring that livest thou?“ Each stage of the opening intertwines thematic ideas that have been final repose. song ends with the refrain “Dunkel ist das 4. Von der Schönheit (Beauty) heard throughout the work. The text is filled Leben, ist der Tod” (“Life is only twilight, so with images of departure—the setting sun, This, too, is a delicate translation into music of For many years listeners and scholars is death”), each time appearing a semitone the moon’s light, the sound of the brook at a scene familiar from Chinese painting: young accepted at face value the depiction of higher (G minor, A-flat minor, A minor) until night, birds huddling for sleep, and the poet/ women pick flowers on the riverbank, and a Mahler in Alma’s memoirs as a man who was achieving the home key. singer longing to take a last farewell. All of group of horsemen gallops past, inspiring a obsessed with death, an emotional cripple. this Mahler treats with the most exquisite loving glance from one of the maidens. Yet any open-minded and open-hearted 2. Der Einsame im Herbst delicacy—totally without sentimentality or listening to Das Lied von der Erde forces us (Autumn Loneliness) dramatic posturing. An extended orchestral to challenge this view. The music is, without 5. Der Trunkene im Frühling interlude functions as a quiet funeral march. Autumn, of course, has always suggested question, valedictory. But it is, in John (Wine in Spring) As this builds to its climax and suddenly not only the closing of the year but also Donne’s phrase, a “valediction forbidding dies away, the final poem begins: a friend is the autumn of life. Over a gentle muted The poem praises drinking for its own sake, mourning,” a farewell from one who loved life saying farewell forever. It is not clear where scale figure in the violins, the oboe sings its to excess, and Mahler’s music suggests that and celebrated it in music that reminds us all he is going or why he has to go, but he must. yearning melody, and the mezzo-soprano, the tenor has been taking his own advice: it how very precious it is.