The Symphony No. 7 by Gustav Mahler is a symphony in five movements composed in 1904–05, sometimes referred to by the title Song of the Night (), which was not the composer's own designation.David Hurwitz, The Mahler Symphonies: An Owner's Manual (includes 1 CD), Amadeus Press (2004), Although the symphony is often described as being in the key of E minor, its tonal scheme is more complicated. The symphony's first movement moves from B minor (introduction) to E minor, and the work ends with a rondo finale in C major."Gustav Mahler (Works)", in New Grove, Macmillan, 1980 Thus, as Dika Newlin has pointed out, "in this symphony Mahler returns to the ideal of 'progressive tonality' which he had abandoned in the Sixth".Dika Newlin: Bruckner, Mahler, Schoenberg (New York, 1947), p. 186
Background In 1904, Mahler was enjoying great international success as a conductor, but he was also, at last, beginning to enjoy international success as a composer. His second daughter was born that June, and during his customary summer break away from Vienna in his lakeside retreat at Maiernigg in the Carinthian mountains, he finished his Symphony No. 6 and sketched the second and fourth movements (the two Nachtmusik movements) for Symphony No. 7 while mapping out much of the rest of the work. He then worked on the Seventh intensively the following summer. While Mahler later claimed to take just four weeks to complete the first, third and fifth movements, scholars have asserted that a timeframe of six to seven weeks is more plausible.
The completed score was dated 15 August 1905, and the orchestration was finished in 1906; he laid the Seventh aside to make small changes to the orchestration of Symphony No. 6, while rehearsing for its premiere in May 1906. The Seventh had its premiere on 19 September 1908, in Prague with the Czech Philharmonic, at the festival marking the Diamond Jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph.
The three years which elapsed between the completion of the score and the symphony's premiere witnessed dramatic changes in Mahler's life and career. In March 1907 he had resigned his conductorship of the Vienna State Opera, as the musical community in Vienna turned against him (which was why he chose Prague for the work's debut); on 12 July his first daughter died of scarlet fever; and, even as she lay on her deathbed, Mahler learned that he was suffering from an incurable heart condition. Musicologists surmise that this is why the optimism and cheerfulness of the symphony was subsequently tempered by the small but significant revisions Mahler made in the years leading up to its premiere.
The symphony was first published in 1909 by the firm Bote & Bock. In 1960, a critical edition of the symphony edited by Erwin Ratz appeared, correcting about 800 printing errors. Two years later, Hans Redlich's edition of the symphony was published without any of Mahler's amendments to the score made after publication, unlike Ratz's edition. In 2012, a new critical edition (Volume VII as part of the New Critical Complete Edition of Gustav Mahler's Works; edited by the International Gustav Mahler Society) prepared by Reinhold Kubik was published. As of 2019, Breitkopf & Härtel has plans to publish score and parts for the Seventh Symphony as part of their complete "Gustav Mahler - The Symphonies."
Instrumentation The symphony is scored for large orchestra. As in some of his other symphonies (particularly his 5th and 6th), Mahler's use of unconventional instruments is displayed in the 7th with the scoring of tenorhorn, cowbells, guitar and mandolin. The orchestra consists of the following:
Woodwinds piccolo
3 oboes cor anglais E clarinet 3 B and A clarinets bass clarinet 3 bassoons contrabassoon
Brass
4 horns 3 trumpets 3 trombones tuba
Percussion 4 timpani bass drum
cymbals triangle
tam-tam
glockenspiel (keyboard and mallet)
Strings
2 harps
1st violins 2nd violins violas cellos double basses
Structure The duration of the symphony is around 80 minutes. There is, however, an exceptionally lengthy recording by Otto Klemperer, which is 100 minutes long. Another recording by Hermann Scherchen with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra is 68 minutes long.
The work is in five movements:
I. Langsam – Allegro risoluto, ma non troppo
(E minor, beginning B minor)
The movement is in sonata form. It begins with a slow introduction in B minor, launched by a dark melody played by a Tenorhorn.
The accompaniment rhythm
was said to have come to Mahler whilst rowing on the lake at Maiernigg after a period of compositional drought.Floros, C., & Pauly, R. G. (1997). Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies. The principal theme, presented by horns in unison in E minor, is accompanied similarly, though much faster and in a higher register.
The second theme is then presented by violins, accompanied by sweeping cello arpeggios.
This theme is infected with chromatic sequences. At one point the violins reach an F7 (the highest F on a piano).Mahler, G. (1992). Symphony no. 7 New York: Dover The exposition is wrapped up with a march theme from the introduction, which is followed by a repeat of the principal theme.
This leads straight into the development, which continues for some time before suddenly being interrupted by pianissimo trumpet fanfares and a slow chorale based on the march theme from the introduction.
This section has been interpreted as a "religious vision". It has also been asserted that this section contains the chains of fourths that impressed Arnold Schoenberg. After this section plays itself out, a harp glissando propels the music into a new section based on the second theme and the march/chorale theme. But before a climax can be articulated, the final cadence is interrupted by the music from the introduction and the baritone horn arioso. This leads into the recapitulation, but before the actual recapitulation occurs, there is an incredibly difficult high note for trumpet. In fact, the principal trumpet for the work's premiere even confronted Mahler, saying "I'd just like to know what's beautiful about blowing away at a trumpet stopped up to high C." Mahler had no answer, but later pointed out to his wife Alma that the man did not understand the agony of his own existence.
The recapitulation is very similar to the exposition, although it is significantly more agitated. There is a grand pause during the first thematic section that leads into a massive climax. The second theme is also considerably shortened. The march theme from the introduction leads straight into an epic coda that features march rhythms and multiple high points in the orchestral texture, before ending on an E major chord.
The lengthy and dramatically intense first movement is followed by three distinct pictures of night: two movements entitled "Nachtmusik" (i.e. nocturne) and a "shadowy" scherzo in between them.
II. Nachtmusik I
Allegro moderato. Molto moderato (Andante) C major – C minor
The first of the two Nachtmusik movements is said to represent a Nachtwanderung ("wandering by night"). Mahler, who described the movement in vague terms, compared it to Rembrandt's painting The Night Watch, though he did not intend to evoke the painting itself.Mahler Symphony No. 7 at andante.com Overall, the movement possesses a grotesque quality, but always with friendly intentions. The movement progresses through a series of marches and dances and naturalistic nocturnal descriptions. One remarkable aspect of the movement is its symmetrical form; it is a rondo following the structure (I)–(A)–(B)–(I/A)–(C)–(I/A)–(B)–(A)–(I), where (I) is an introductory section and (I/A) combines the introductory music and the (A) theme.
The second movement opens with horns calling to each other.
The second horn is muted, however, to create the illusion of distance. Scampering woodwinds imitating somewhat grotesque bird calls pass off into the distance, as the trumpets sound the major/minor seal from Symphony No. 6. The horns introduce a rich, somewhat bucolic (A) theme, surrounded by dancing strings and a march rhythm from his song "Revelge".
This theme leads to some confusion about the key, as it switches between C major and C minor every few beats. The rural mood is heightened by a gentle, rustic dance for the (B) section – typical of Mahler at his most carefree and childlike – as well as by the gentle clanking of distant cowbells in the returns of the introductory section. The malicious (C) theme, upon its return, is arabesqued by the "Revelge" rhythms and bird calls from earlier in the movement.
III. Scherzo
Schattenhaft. Fließend aber nicht zu schnell ("Shadowy. Flowing but not too fast") D major
There is an undercurrent of night about the spooky third movement; while "scherzo" means "joke", this movement is remarkably spooky and even grim. If the first Nachtmusik possessed a friendly mood disguised in grotesqueries, this movement is a demon sneering at the listener. Nonetheless, as the Spanish musicologist José L. Pérez de Arteaga points out,Pérez de Arteaga, José L.: Mahler, Barcelona, Salvat, 1987, p. 148 this movement is really "a most morbid and sarcastic mockery of the Viennese waltz".
The movement begins with a strange gesture: a pianissimo dialogue between timpani and pizzicato basses and cellos with sardonic interjections from the winds. After some buildup, the orchestra sets off on a threatening waltz, complete with unearthly woodwind shrieks and ghostly shimmerings from the basses, with a recurring "lamenting" theme in the woodwinds. The scherzo is contrasted by a warmer trio in the major mode, introduced by and containing a "shrieking" motif beginning in the oboes and descending through the orchestra.
The brilliance of this movement lies in its extraordinary and original orchestration, which gives this movement a strongly nightmarish quality. Multiple viola solos rise above the texture, and there is a persistent timpani and pizzicato motif that pervades the dance. The theme and its accompaniment are both passed around the orchestra rather than being played by a specific instrument. At one memorable point in the score, the cellos and double basses are instructed to play pizzicato with the volume , with the footnote, "pluck so hard that the strings hit the wood".
IV. Nachtmusik II Andante amoroso. F major
The fourth movement (the second Nachtmusik) contrasts with the first in that it illustrates a more intimate and human scene. With its amoroso marking and reduced instrumentation (trombones, tuba and trumpets are silent and the woodwinds are reduced by half) this movement has been described as "a long stretch of chamber music set amidst this huge orchestral work". A solo violin introduces the movement,
while a horn solo above the gentle tones of a guitar and mandolin create a magical serenade character.
However, sardonic dissonances give this movement a more satirical and even diseased feel. The trio contrasts with this, and more reflects the intimate mood that would be expected from a Viennese serenade. The movement ends in transcendence, providing a peaceful backdrop for the finale's abrupt entrance.A Listener's Guide to Mahler's Seventh Symphony by Kelly Dean Hansen at mahlerfest.org
Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht accounted for the unusual musical episodes of this movement by offering a program in which Mahler walks through Vienna one evening, Thomas Peattie thus described it as "nothing less than an aural mapping of the city at night". He noted that the metaphor of walking was often heard musically as a succession of fragmentary tableaux.
V. Rondo Finale
Boisterous timpani joined by blazing brass set the scene for the riotous final movement in C major.