Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2004 "Classicality" in Gustav Mahler's Symphonies Dragana Matic Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC “CLASSICALITY” IN GUSTAV MAHLER’S SYMPHONIES by DRAGANA MATIC A Thesis submitted to the School of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Music Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2004 The members of the Committee approve the thesis of Dragana Matic defended on March 22, 2004. ______________________ Douglass Seaton Professor Directing Thesis _________________________ Jeffery Kite-Powell Committee Member ____________________ Charles Brewer Committee Member The office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Examples...........................................................................................................v List of Symbols ..........................................................................................................vii Abstract .....................................................................................................................viii INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1 1. CULTURAL AND SOCIAL DISCOURSE IN FIN-DE- SIÈCLE VIENNA................................................................................6 2. THE STATUS OF CLASSICAL AND EARLY ROMANTIC TRADITIONS IN POST-ROMANTICISM .....................................................11 3. CHARACTERISTICS OF CLASSICALITY IN GUSTAV MAHLER’S FIRST SYMPHONY ...................................................................17 Sonata Forms......................................................................................18 Movement II.......................................................................................23 Movement III......................................................................................26 Overview of Possible Meanings of the Uses of Convention in the First Symphony ................................................32 4. THE FOURTH SYMPHONY..........................................................................36 Analytical approach............................................................................36 Possible Meanings of the Conventions in the Fourth Symphony.....................................................................42 5. ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES OF MAHLER’S CLASSICALITY ..................45 The Second Symphony –movement II...............................................45 The Sixth Symphony –movement I....................................................47 The Seventh Symphony –movement II..............................................49 Mahler’s polyphony in the Eighth Symphony ...................................54 6. MUSIC ABOUT MUSIC IN MAHLER’S SYMPHONIES............................61 iii 7. RELATIONSHIPS OF MAHLER’S PRINCIPLE TO OTHER NEO-CLASSICAL TRENDS IN THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY.................67 CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................72 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................75 APPENDIX B ............................................................................................................79 APPENDIX C ............................................................................................................82 APPENDIX D ............................................................................................................83 APPENDIX E.............................................................................................................85 APPENDIX F.............................................................................................................86 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................89 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH......................................................................................95 iv LIST OF EXAMPLES 1. Symphony No. 1/ I, mm. 57-83............................................................................19 2. Symphony No. 1/ I, mm. 256-62..........................................................................23 3. a. Symphony No. 1/ II, mm. 1-22.........................................................................24 b. Symphony No. 1/ II, mm. 32-37 ......................................................................25 4. Symphony No. 1/ III, mm. 1-23...........................................................................27 5. Symphony No. 1/ III, mm. 39-50.........................................................................28 6. Symphony No. 1/ III, mm. 62-79.........................................................................30 7. Symphony No. 1/ III, mm. 138-145.....................................................................31 8. Symphony No. 4/ I, mm. 1-10..............................................................................37 9. Symphony No. 4/ I, mm. 37-49............................................................................39 10. Symphony No. 4/ III, mm. 1-20...........................................................................41 11. Symphony No. 2/ II, mm. 1-16 ............................................................................46 12. Symphony No. 2/ II, mm. 90-100 ........................................................................46 13. Symphony No. 6/ I, mm. 57-76............................................................................48 14. Symphony No. 7/ II, mm. 30-45 ..........................................................................51 15. Symphony No. 7/ II, mm. 62-67 ..........................................................................52 16. Symphony No. 7/ II, mm. 83-90 ..........................................................................53 17. Symphony No. 7/ II, mm. 260-265 ......................................................................54 18. Symphony No. 8/ I part, mm. 8-17 ......................................................................55 19. a. Wagner, Siegfried, act II, scene 3.....................................................................56 b. Mahler, Symphony No. 8/ I part, mm. 366-369...............................................57 20. a. Symphony No. 8/ I part, mm. 5-10...................................................................58 v b. Symphony No. 8/ I part, mm. 18-28 ................................................................58 21. Symphony No. 8/ I part, mm. 314-319 ................................................................59 22. Symphony No. 2/ V, mm. 343-353 ......................................................................64 vi LIST OF SYMBOLS Structural diagrams in Appendixes A-F contain symbols representing: vii ABSTRACT “CLASSICALITY” IN GUSTAV MAHLER’S SYMPHONIES This study explores Mahler’s incorporation of general or specific references to musical Classicism and early Romanticism in his symphonic works. It also establishes proper terminology for such references, which emerges as a problem in the research of this topic. The thesis articulates all types of conventions recognized in Mahler’s symphonies: the conventional symphonic cycle, traditional forms, periodic phrase structures, dance character with an intermezzo function in inner movements, diatonic harmony, simple homophonic texture, and reduction of the orchestral forces. It identifies the nature of Mahler’s references to the past as subtle or profound deformations of the conventions. It shows different combinations of tradition and modernity in several examples and reveals their possible functions. The conclusions are based not only on analytical observation, but also on the programmatic inspiration, biographical facts, ideas that the composer communicated with friends and colleagues, and on the comparison of Mahler’s symphonies to the related song cycles. The thesis also shows a possible influence of Vienna’s cultural and political life on Mahler’s classicality. The most influential elements are the paradoxical conservatism of the Liberals’ cultural practices and nostalgia reflected in the architectural style of the Ringstrasse, a complex of buildings built around the city. The archaic nature of its style was a reflection of the cultural values that could influence Mahler’s development. viii INTRODUCTION The implication in some histories of music that a “revolutionary break” from tradition took place in Romanticism can be misleading. A simplistic view of this complex problem can be observed in statements such as Alfred Einstein’s: “Romanticism in music is, by its very nature, a revolutionary movement directed against the fathers and grandfathers of the revolutionary generation; accordingly, Romanticism hates Classicism – or what it considers to be Classical.”1 This attitude has changed with modern musicology and historicism, and different approaches to the connection of Romanticism with the earlier styles have been developed in the last few decades.2 Aidan Day’s recent study of Romanticism provides an example of its current position in the literature of the general history of the arts: To characterize Romanticism as the revolutionary movement overturning Neoclassicism in general is to oversimplify what