Mahler's Resurrection Premieres
Mahler's Second turned the symphony into a ritual of death and resurrection in Berlin, 1895.
Related
Time and place
13 December 1895, Berlin, with the Berlin Philharmonic and Mahler conducting the first complete performance of his Second Symphony. In March of the same year Richard Strauss had conducted the first three movements. The work was written between 1888 and 1894. Its finale uses Klopstock's ode Die Auferstehung, with additional words by Mahler.
What happened
The first movement is a funeral march, low strings and brass carrying the hero to the grave. The second and third movements are brief interludes, dance and irony taking turns. Then the finale opens suddenly: offstage brass, drums, organ and chorus enter together, and the words "Rise again, yes, you shall rise again" are finally sung. Mahler placed soloists, chorus and a huge orchestra in one space and gave the symphony a religious, ritual function.
What changed
The symphony was no longer only a four-movement instrumental form; it could be a "world picture" of life, death and belief. A choral finale, distant bands and sudden changes of space became basic to Mahler's later symphonies and opened a door for Shostakovich and Britten. The premiere sold poorly, yet the work soon became one of Mahler's most performed symphonies.
Listen to the turn
Begin with the low bass of the first movement, like steps walking toward a grave. Then the offstage brass in the finale, sounding from beyond the platform like another world knocking. Finally the chorus enters, every part rising while the orchestra holds it from below. Three stretches line up death, distance and resurrection.
Related
This turn belongs to Romantic; see Symphony and Requiem, and Trumpet.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- Grove Music Online, entry "Symphony No. 2" — premiere and finale text checked, not quoted
- Jens Malte Fischer, Gustav Mahler (Yale University Press) — Berlin premiere checked, not quoted
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.