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Symphony No. 6 (Mahler)

The Symphony No. 6 in A minor by Gustav Mahler is a symphony in four movements, composed in 1903 and 1904, with revisions from 1906. It is sometimes nicknamed the Tragic ("Tragische"), though the origin of the name is unclear.[1]

Symphony No. 6

1903–1904: Maiernigg

  • 1906 (1906) C. F. Kahnt (original edition)
  • 1906 (1906) C. F. Kahnt (revised edition)

77–85 minutes

4

27 May 1906 (1906-05-27)

Introduction[edit]

Mahler conducted the work's first performance at the Saalbau concert hall in Essen on 27 May 1906. Mahler composed the symphony at an exceptionally happy time in his life, as he had married Alma Schindler in 1902, and during the course of the work's composition his second daughter was born. This contrasts with the tragic, even nihilistic, ending of No. 6. Both Alban Berg and Anton Webern praised the work when they first heard it. In a 1908 letter to Webern, Berg said in his opinion there was just one "sixth symphony", despite that of Beethoven.[2]

Nickname of Tragische[edit]

The status of the symphony's nickname is problematic.[1] Mahler did not title the symphony when he composed it, or at its first performance or first publication. When he allowed Richard Specht to analyse the work and Alexander von Zemlinsky to arrange the symphony, he did not authorize any sort of nickname for the symphony. He had, as well, decisively rejected and disavowed the titles (and programmes) of his earlier symphonies by 1900. Only the words "Sechste Sinfonie" appeared on the programme for the performance in Munich on November 8, 1906.[3]: 59  Nor does the word Tragische appear on any of the scores that C. F. Kahnt published (first edition, 1906; revised edition, 1906), in Specht's officially approved Thematische Führer ('thematic guide')[3]: 50  or on Zemlinsky's piano duet transcription (1906).[3]: 57  By contrast, in his Gustav Mahler memoir, Bruno Walter claimed that "Mahler called [the work] his Tragic Symphony". Additionally, the programme for the first Vienna performance (January 4, 1907) refers to the work as "Sechste Sinfonie (Tragische)".

The Scherzo is an example of 'developing variation' in its treatment of material from the first movement, where separation of the Scherzo from the first movement by the Andante disrupts that linkage.

The Scherzo and the first movement use identical keys, A minor at the beginning and F major in the trio.

The Andante's key, E major, is farthest removed from the key at the close of the first movement (A major), whilst the C minor key at the beginning of the finale acts as transition from E major to A minor, the principal key of the finale.

Controversy exists over the order of the two middle movements. Mahler conceived the work as having the scherzo second and the slow movement third, a somewhat unclassical arrangement adumbrated in such earlier large-scale symphonies as Beethoven's No. 9, Bruckner's No. 8 and (unfinished) No. 9, and Mahler's own four-movement No. 1 and No. 4. It was in this arrangement that the symphony was completed (in 1904) and published (in March 1906); and it was with a conducting score in which the scherzo preceded the slow movement that Mahler began rehearsals for the work's first performance, as noted by Mahler biographer Henry-Louis de La Grange:


Alfred Roller, a close collaborator and colleague of Mahler's in Vienna, communicated in a 2 May 1906 letter to his fiancée Mileva Stojsavljevic, on the Mahlers' reaction to the 1 May 1906 orchestral rehearsal of the work in Vienna, in its original movement order:


During those later May 1906 rehearsals in Essen, however, Mahler decided that the slow movement should precede the scherzo. Klaus Pringsheim, another colleague of Mahler's at the Hofoper, reminisced in a 1920 article on the situation at the Essen rehearsals, on Mahler's state of mind at the time:


Mahler instructed his publishers Christian Friedrich Kahnt to prepare a "second edition" of the work with the movements in that order, and meanwhile to insert errata slips indicating the change of order into all unsold copies of the existing edition. Mahler conducted the 27 May 1906 public premiere, and his other two subsequent performances of the Sixth Symphony, in November 1906 (Munich) and 4 January 1907 (Vienna) with his revised order of the inner movements. In the period immediately after Mahler's death, scholars such as Paul Bekker, Ernst Decsey, Richard Specht, and Paul Stefan published studies with reference to the Sixth Symphony in Mahler's second edition with the Andante/Scherzo order.[12]


One of the first occasions after Mahler's death where the conductor reverted to the original movement order is in 1919/1920, after an inquiry in the autumn of 1919 from Willem Mengelberg to Alma Mahler in preparation for the May 1920 Mahler Festival in Amsterdam of the complete symphonies, regarding the order of the inner movements of the Sixth Symphony. In a telegram dated 1 October 1919, Alma responded to Mengelberg:[12]


Mengelberg, who had been in close touch with Mahler until the latter's death, and had conducted the symphony in the "Andante/Scherzo" arrangement up to 1916, then switched to the "Scherzo/Andante" order. In his own copy of the score, he wrote on the first page:[12]


Other conductors, such as Oskar Fried, continued to perform (and eventually record) the work as 'Andante/Scherzo', per the second edition, right up to the early 1960s. Exceptions included two performances in Vienna on 14 December 1930 and 23 May 1933, conducted by Anton Webern, who utilised the Scherzo/Andante order of the inner movements. Anna Mahler, Mahler's daughter, attended both of these performances.[16] De La Grange commented on Webern's choice of the Scherzo/Andante order:


In 1963, a new critical edition of the Sixth Symphony appeared, under the auspices of the Internationale Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft (IGMG) and its president, Erwin Ratz, a pupil of Webern,[16] an edition which restored Mahler's original order of the inner movements. Ratz, however, did not offer documented support, such as Alma Mahler's 1919 telegram, for his assertion that Mahler "changed his mind a second time" at some point before his death. In his analysis of the Sixth Symphony, Norman Del Mar argued for the Andante/Scherzo order of the inner movements,[3]: 43 [17] and criticised the Ratz edition for its lack of documentary evidence to justify the Scherzo/Andante order. In contrast, scholars such as Theodor W. Adorno, Henry-Louis de La Grange, Hans-Peter Jülg and Karl Heinz Füssl have argued for the original order as more appropriate, expostulating on the overall tonal scheme and the various relationships between the keys in the final three movements. Füssl, in particular, noted that Ratz made his decision under historical circumstances where the history of the different autographs and versions was not completely known at the time.[12] Füssl has also noted the following features of the Scherzo/Andante order:[18]


The 1968 Eulenberg Edition of the Sixth Symphony, edited by Hans Redlich, restores most of Mahler's original orchestration and utilises the original order of Scherzo/Andante for the order of the middle movements.[13] The most recent IGMG critical edition of the Sixth Symphony was published in 2010, under the general editorship of Reinhold Kubik, and uses the Andante/Scherzo order for the middle movements.[13] Kubik had previously declared in 2004:


This statement has been criticised, in the manner of earlier criticism of Ratz, on several levels:



British composer David Matthews was a former adherent of the Andante/Scherzo order,[6] but has since changed his mind and now argues for Scherzo/Andante as the preferred order, again citing the overall tonal scheme of the symphony.[19] In keeping with Mahler's original order, British conductor John Carewe has noted parallels between the tonal plan of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and Mahler's Symphony No. 6, with the Scherzo/Andante order of movements in the latter. David Matthews has noted the interconnectivity of the first movement with the Scherzo as similar to Mahler's interconnectivity of the first two movements of the Fifth Symphony, and that performing the Mahler with the Andante/Scherzo order would damage the structure of the tonal key relationships and remove this parallel,[19] a structural disruption of what de La Grange has described as follows:


Moreover, de La Grange, referring to the 1919 Mengelberg telegram, has questioned the notion of Alma simply expressing a personal view of the movement order, and reiterates the historical fact of the original movement order:


De La Grange has noted the justification of having both options available for conductors to choose:


Mahler scholar Donald Mitchell echoed the dual-version scenario and the need for the availability of both options:


Matthews, Paul Banks and scholar Warren Darcy (the last an advocate for the Andante/Scherzo order) have independently proposed the idea of two separate editions of the symphony, one to accommodate each version of the order of the inner movements.[6][19] Music commentator David Hurwitz has likewise remarked:


An additional question is whether to restore the third hammer blow. Both the Ratz edition and the Kubik edition delete the third hammer blow. However, advocates on opposite sides of the inner movement debate, such as Del Mar and Matthews, have separately argued for restoration of the third hammer blow.[19]

Boston Symphony Orchestra, RCA Victor Red Seal LSC-7044

Erich Leinsdorf

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Unicorn UKCD 2024/5 (live recording from 1966)

Jascha Horenstein

New York Philharmonic,[20] Sony Classical SMK 60208 (*)

Leonard Bernstein

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Berlin Classics 0090452BC

Václav Neumann

Cleveland Orchestra, Sony Classical SBK 47654

George Szell

Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, Q-DISC 97014 (live performance from November 1968)

Bernard Haitink

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon 289 478 7897-1

Rafael Kubelík

Rafael Kubelík, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Audite 1475671 (live recording of 6 December 1968 performance)

Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, Philips 289 420 138-2

Bernard Haitink

Jascha Horenstein, , BBC Legends BBCL4191-2

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Decca 414 674-2

Georg Solti

Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra, CPO 999 477-2

Hans Zender

Utah Symphony, Vanguard Classics SRV 323/4 (LP)

Maurice Abravanel

Berlin Philharmonic, Deutsche Grammophon 289 415 099-2

Herbert von Karajan

Leonard Bernstein, , Deutsche Grammophon DVD 440 073 409-05 (live film recording from October 1976) (*)

Vienna Philharmonic

London Symphony Orchestra, RCA Red Seal RCD2-3213

James Levine

Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic, Saint Laurent Studio (live recording of 17 June 1977 performance)

Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic, Fachmann FKM-CDR-193 (live recording of 27 August 1977 performance)

Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Melodiya CD 10 00811

Kirill Kondrashin

Czech Philharmonic, Supraphon 11 1977-2

Václav Neumann

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon 289 423 928-2

Claudio Abbado

Milan Horvat, Philharmonica Slavonica, Line 4593003

Kirill Kondrashin, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Hänssler Classic 9842273 (live recording from January 1981)

Vienna Philharmonic, Sony Classical S14K 48198

Lorin Maazel

London Philharmonic Orchestra, EMI Classics CDC7 47050-8

Klaus Tennstedt

Klaus Tennstedt, London Philharmonic Orchestra. LPO-0038 (live recording from the 1983 Proms)

Erich Leinsdorf, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orfeo C 554 011 B (live recording of 10 June 1983 performance)

Gary Bertini, Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, EMI Classics 94634 02382

Philharmonia Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon 289 423 082-2

Giuseppe Sinopoli

Eliahu Inbal, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1986, Denon Blu-spec cd (COCO-73280-1)

Leonard Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic, Deutsche Grammophon 289 427 697-2 (*)

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Pickwick/RPO CDRPO 9005

Michiyoshi Inoue

Bernard Haitink, , Philips 289 426 257-2

Berlin Philharmonic

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Decca 444 871-2

Riccardo Chailly

Hartmut Haenchen, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Capriccio 10 543

Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, 1989, Fontec FOCD9022/3

Hiroshi Wakasugi

Leif Segerstam, , Chandos CHAN 8956/7

Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Christoph von Dohnányi, Cleveland Orchestra, Decca 289 466 345-2

Klaus Tennstedt, London Philharmonic Orchestra, EMI Classics 7243 5 55294 28 (live recording from November 1991)

Anton Nanut, Radio Symphony Orchestra Ljubljana, Zyx Classic CLS 4110

Neeme Järvi, , Chandos CHAN 9207

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Antoni Wit, , Naxos 8.550529

Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philips 289 434 909-2

Seiji Ozawa

Yevgeny Svetlanov, State Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation, Warner Classics 2564 68886-2 (box set)

Emil Tabakov, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Capriccio C49043

Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, RCA 27607

Edo de Waart

Vienna Philharmonic, Deutsche Grammophon 289 445 835-2

Pierre Boulez

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Warner Apex 9106459

Zubin Mehta

Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, RS Real Sound RS052-0186

Thomas Sanderling

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Telarc CD 80444

Yoel Levi

Michael Gielen, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Hänssler Classics 93029

Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Classics 0094612BC

Günther Herbig

Michiyoshi Inoue, , 2000, Exton OVCL-00121

New Japan Philharmonic

San Francisco Symphony, SFS Media 40382001 (recorded September 2001)

Michael Tilson Thomas

Bernard Haitink, , Naïve V4937

Orchestre National de France

The Philadelphia Orchestra, Ondine ODE1084-5B

Christoph Eschenbach

Mark Wigglesworth, , MSO Live 391666

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Bernard Haitink, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, CSO Resound 210000045796

Gabriel Feltz, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Dreyer Gaido 9595564

Vladimir Fedoseyev, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio, Relief 2735809

Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Fontec FOCD9253/4

Eiji Oue

Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Green Door GDOP-2009

Takashi Asahina

Jonathan Nott, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Tudor 7191

Philharmonia Orchestra, Signum SIGCD275

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Hartmut Haenchen, Orchestre Symphonique du Théâtre de la Monnaie, ICA Classics DVD ICAD5018

Antal Doráti, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Helicon 9699053 (live recording of 27 October 1963 performance)

Lorin Maazel, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, RCO Live RCO 12101 DVD

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, C-Major DVD 729404

Paavo Järvi

Jukka-Pekka Saraste, , Simax PSC1316 (*)

Oslo Philharmonic

Pierre Boulez, Orchestra, Accentus Music ACC30230

Lucerne Festival Academy

Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, EMI Classics (Warner Classics 5099908441324)

Antonio Pappano

Philharmonia Orchestra, Signum SIGCD361

Lorin Maazel

Dallas Symphony Orchestra, DSO Live

Jaap van Zweden

Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Out of the Frame OUT 068

Libor Pešek

Czech Philharmonic, Exton OVCL-00259

Václav Neumann

Czech Philharmonic, Exton OVCL-00245

Zdeněk Mácal

Czech Philharmonic, Exton OVCL-00051

Vladimir Ashkenazy

Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, 2007, Fontec SACD (FOCD9369)

Eliahu Inbal

Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, 2013, Exton SACD (OVCL-00516 & OVXL-00090 "one point recording version")

Eliahu Inbal

Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Fontec FOCD9182

Gary Bertini

Wiener Symphoniker, Weitblick SSS0079-2

Georges Prêtre

Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Weitblick SSS0108-2

Giuseppe Sinopoli

Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tobu YNSO Archive Series YASCD1009-2

Rudolf Barshai

Martin Sieghart, Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, Exton HGO 0403

Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Weitblick SSS0053-2

Heinz Bongartz

MusicAeterna, Sony Classical 19075822952

Teodor Currentzis

NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo, RCA Victor Red Seal SICC 19040

Paavo Järvi

Michael Gielen, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, SWR Classic SWR19080CD (live concert performance from 1971)

San Francisco Symphony, SFS Media (digital release, UPC 821936007723, live recording of September 2019)

Michael Tilson Thomas

Essen Philharmonic, Oehms Classics OC 1716

Tomáš Netopil

San Diego Symphony, San Diego Symphony proprietary label, Jacobs Masterworks (recorded 2008)

Jahja Ling

World premiere: 27 May 1906, , conducted by the composer

Saalbau Essen

Dutch première: 16 September 1916, Amsterdam, with the conducted by Willem Mengelberg

Concertgebouw Orchestra

American premiere: 11 December 1947, New York City, conducted by

Dimitri Mitropoulos

Recording premiere: conducting the Vienna Symphony, 1952

F. Charles Adler

: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

Symphony No. 6

MahlerFest XVI, 2003 programme book

David Matthews, 'The order of the middle movements in Mahler's Sixth Symphony' (website blog entry), January 2016