Mahler Foundation

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn -  Urlicht with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

Gustav Mahler score Klavierquartett, piano quartet, Movement 1: in A.---A listening guide of Klavierquartett with Lew Smoley.

The final movement culminates in a resolution. The music, also reused in the First Symphony (in the Scherzo “Funeral March in Callot's manner”), is subdued and gentle, lyrical and often reminiscent of a chorale in its harmonies. Its title, “Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz” (“The Two Blue Eyes of my Beloved”), deals with how the image of those eyes has caused the Wayfarer so much grief that he can no longer stand to be in the environment.He describes lying down under a linden tree, allowing the flowers to fall on him. He wishes to return to his life before his travels. He asks that the whole affair had never occurred: “Everything: love and grief, and world, and dreams!”  ---A listening guide of Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen – Die Zwei Blauen Augen with Lew Smoley

Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) is a song cycle for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mahler. The words of the songs are poems by Friedrich Ruckert (1788-1866).The original Kindertotenlieder were a group of 428 poems written by Rückert in 1833-1834 in an outpouring of grief following the illness (scarlet fever) and death of two of his children. Karen Painter describes the poems thus: “Rückert's 428 poems on the death of children became singular, almost manic documents of the psychological endeavor to cope with such loss. In ever new variations Rückert's poems attempt a poetic resuscitation of the children that is punctuated by anguished outbursts. But above all the poems show a quiet acquiescence to fate and to a peaceful world of solace.” These poems were not intended for publication, and they appeared in print only in 1871, five years after the poet's death.---A listening guide of Kindertotenlieder – Intro with Lew Smoley.

A listening guide of Kindertotenlieder – Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n with Lew Smoley.

A listening guide of Kindertotenlieder – Nun seh' ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen with Lew Smoley.

A listening guide of Kindertotenlieder – Wenn dein Mütterlein with Lew Smoley.

A listening guide of Kindertotenlieder – Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen with Lew Smoley.

A listening guide of Kindertotenlieder – In diesem Wetter, In diesem Braus with Lew Smoley.

Das klagende Lied is a work in which Mahler comes closest to the opera. This is because the composition is pervaded by drama and its elaboration in a text that regularly gets the character of a theatrically very effective dialogue.Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was fourteen years old when his younger brother Ernst Mahler (1862-1875) died. The loss touched him deeply and gave him a gnawing guilt. A few years later he started Das klagende Lied, his first major work. Mahler himself wrote the text. He relied on a folk tale about two brothers, in which the elder kills the younger. Mahler called the work ‘My worry child'. It was his requiem for his brother Ernst.---A listening guide of Das Klagende Lied –  Intro with Lew Smoley

This song is the first of the Wunderhorn Lieder for Voice and Piano. It is titled “Um sclimme Kinder artig zu machen” (To make bad children good) and is much longer than any from the previous collection. The quick and witty style will challenge the novice tubist with soft dynamics and repeated articulations.“To teach naughty children to be good”. Original German folk song: “Es kam ein Herr zum Schlösseli”.---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Un Schlimme Kinder Artig Zu Machen with Lew Smoley.

“I went joyfully through a green wood,” is a beautiful slow melody challenging the tubist to keep a consistent color of sound in the low register of the bass tuba. The first note is the lowest in the entire collection, a low G. Fingered 2-3-4-5 on a German Rotary F tuba, this pitch is a whole step above the fundamental of the instrument and somewhat unresponsive with less secure intonation and tone.Starting the C major arpeggio on a low G, this opening phrase serves as a wonderful exercise for the tubist as they work on consistency of tone, response, and intonation in this challenging low register.---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Ich Ging Mit Lust Durch Einen Grünen Wald with Lew Smoley.

The majority of the songs in this collection begin with very soft dynamics. Eleven of the fourteen songs begin with the dynamic of piano, one song begins at pianissimo, and the remaining two songs (this song and the last song in the collection) begin at the dynamic of forte. The tubist should take advantage of this diversity of dynamics and style. The eighth song in this collection, “Aus! Aus!” (Over! Over!), has a strict sense of time. While some of the songs have a lyrical quality that allows for rubato, this melody is one of only a few that requires a steady march-like tempo.---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Aus! Aus! with Lew Smoley

One of the challenges with the ninth song in this collection, “Starke Einbildungskraft” (Strong imagination), concerns clarity of articulation. Sixteenth-note passages sound unclear with the piano part due to the imbalance of lower tones produced by both the piano and tuba. Changes have been notated in the tuba version to reflect these issues of clarity. Staccato markings and accents on the fronts of passages as well as the sixteenth-notes should ensure a clearer melodic line. The tubist could perform this work up an octave if he or she could achieve the desired clarity.The shortest of the songs in this collection is a brief sweet conversation between a boy and a girl, but the simplicity of the melody makes it very musically challenging. ---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Starke Einbildungskraft with Lew Smoley.

The tenth song in this collection, “Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz” (At Strasbourg on the battlement), starts with a very colorful piano entrance marked “as a folk tune” and “imitating the shawm.” As Donald Mitchell points out, this is of a type very characteristic of Mahler in his vocal as well as symphonic output: the slow farewell song or funeral march…We have a relatively simple example of the kind, remarkable chiefly for the piano's imitation of the “Schalmei,” the chalumeau or herdsman's pipe, which lures the homesick soldier into swimming the Rhine by night. There is also the imitation, in the left hand, of the military drums that accompany his capture, his conviction as a deserter, and the march to his execution. Mahler explicitly instructs the right hand to play “like a chalumeau,” and notes for the left: “In all those low trills the sound of muted drums is to be imitated by means of the pedal,” a clear indication that he was moving towards a song form with orchestra.---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Zu Strassburg Auf Der Schanz with Lew Smoley.

Misprints are rare, but this song contains one incorrect note in the piano part. In measure 3 of the IMC edition, the first left hand note should be A instead of F. Few instances exist where Mahler uses a hemiola effect in the piano. Measures 10 and 11 are a wonderful example of this effect, where the pianist can bring out the left hand duple feel by playing stronger.“The changing of the summer guard”. ---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Ablösung Im Sommer with Lew Smoley.

“Scheiden und Meiden” (Partings) explores the metric juxtaposition of two versus three used in “Ablösung im Sommer.” “Trumpetlike” is the first expression in the music as F major arpeggios rise from the tuba and piano. Despite the repeated ascending passages, the first dynamic is piano so the tubist should strive to be precise to start with soft dynamics.In this song, the pianist must take care to follow dynamics, which do not always coincide with those of the tubist. The rhythmic motor of the repeated ostinato in the piano provides the driving force for this first part of the song. As the text notes, “There rode three horsemen,” the piano rhythm mimics a riding motive made famous by Richard Wagner. As the song enters a new time signature (switching from triple to duple), it slows just slightly; however, the eighth note should stay relatively constant through this meter change. Wide triplets are notated in measures 23 and 24, providing an opportunity for both the pianist and the tubist to slow down and expand this duple section musically before the horse-like melody comes back in the piano and forces us to stay in strict time.---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Scheiden Und Meiden with Lew Smoley.

Balancing the soft low texture with piano remains one of the main challenges for tubists in the penultimate song in this collection, “Nicht wiedersehen!” (Never to meet again). It is scored very low on the piano and would be easy to lose the melody inside of the harmony of the accompaniment. Mahler instructs the pianist to use the pedals freely, however perhaps the dampening pedal should be the most important. The effect of the sustain pedal will be too much for this song, especially when the pitches between the piano and tuba overlap.The first three notes of this song are the most challenging notes on a Germany Rotary bass tuba in F, especially at a soft dynamic, like piano. The performer may modify articulations to assist in increasing the line's accuracy and clarity. The first note after a breath should have a stronger articulation, as sometimes noted by a tenuto marking above or below the specified note.“Never to meet again”.---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Nicht Wiedersehen! with Lew Smoley.

The final song, “Selbstgefühl” (My mood), starts with a dynamic of forte. To maintain a high level of playfulness, the tubist must observe the strict dynamic indications. Mahler indicated that the octave in the left hand of the piano part can be omitted throughout the song if the additional low notes create too thick of a texture in this register.The piano extends the melodic line throughout this final song, playing the same melody in the right hand and completing the soloist's musical thought, as seen in measures 25 and 56-57. ---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Selbstgefühl with Lew Smoley.

Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) is a composition for two voices and orchestra by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Composed between Year 1908 and Year 1909 following the most painful period in Mahler's life (Year 1907). The songs address themes such as Living, Parting and Salvation.Mahler had already included movements for voice and orchestra in his Symphony No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 8. Das Lied von der Erde is the first work giving a complete integration of song cycle and symphony. The form was afterwards imitated by other composers, notably by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942). It has been termed a ‘song-symphony'. A hybrid of the two forms that had occupied most of Mahler's creative life. ---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Intro with Lew Smoley.

The first movement continually returns to the refrain, Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod (literally, 'Dark is life, is death'), which is pitched a semitone higher on each successive appearance. Like many drinking poems by Li Bai, the original poem 'Bei Ge Xing' (a pathetic song) mixes drunken exaltation with a deep sadness.The singer's part is notoriously demanding, since the tenor has to struggle at the top of his range against the power of the full orchestra. This gives the voice its shrill, piercing quality, and is consistent with Mahler's practice of pushing instruments, including vocal cords, to their limits.---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde with Lew Smoley.

This movement is a much softer, less turbulent movement. Marked ‘somewhat dragging and exhausted', it begins with a repetitive shuffling in the strings, followed by solo wind instruments. The orchestration in this movement is sparse and chamber music-like, with long and independent contrapuntal lines.The lyrics, which are based on the first part of a Tang Dynasty era poem by Qian Qi, lament the dying of flowers and the passing of beauty, as well as expressing an exhausted longing for sleep.---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Der Einsame im Herbst with Lew Smoley.

The third movement is the most obviously pentatonic and faux-Asian. The form is ternary, the third part being a greatly abbreviated revision of the first. It is also the shortest of the six movements, and can be considered a first scherzo. First this movement was called ‘Der Pavillon aus Porzellan' (‘The pavilion made of porcelain').---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Von der Jugend with Lew Smoley.

The music of this movement is mostly soft and legato, meditating on the image of some 'young girls picking lotus flowers at the riverbank'. Later in the movement there is a louder, more articulated section in the brass as the young men ride by on their horses.There is a long orchestral postlude to the sung passage, as the most beautiful of the young maidens looks longingly after the most handsome of the young men.---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Von der Schönheit with Lew Smoley.

The final movement is nearly as long as the previous five movements combined. Its text is drawn from two different poems, both involving the theme of leave-taking. Mahler himself added the last lines. This final song is also notable for its text-painting, using a mandolin to represent the singer's lute, imitating bird calls with woodwinds, and repeatedly switching between the major and minor modes to articulate sharp contrasts in the text.---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Der Abschied with Lew Smoley.

The second scherzo of the work is provided by the fifth movement. Like the first, it opens with a horn theme. In this movement Mahler uses an extensive variety of key signatures, which can change as often as every few measures. The middle section features a solo violin and solo flute, which represent the bird the singer describes.---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Der Trunkene im Frühling with Lew Smoley.

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (‘Songs of a Wayfarer') is a song cycle by Gustav Mahler on his own texts. The cycle of four Lieder for low voice (often performed by women as well as men) was written around 1884-1885 in the wake of Mahler's unhappy love for soprano Johanna Richter (1858-1943), whom he met while conductor of the opera house in Kassel, Germany, and orchestrated and revised in the 1890s.---A listening guide of Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen – Intro with Lew Smoley.

The first movement is entitled “Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht” (“When My Sweetheart is Married”), and the text discusses the Wayfarer's grief at losing his love to another. He remarks on the beauty of the surrounding world, but how that cannot keep him from having sad dreams. The orchestral texture is bittersweet, using double reed instruments, clarinets and strings.---A listening guide of Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen – Wenn Mein Schatz Hochzeit Macht with  Lew Smoley.

The second movement, “Ging heut Morgen übers Feld” (“I Went This Morning over the Field”), contains the happiest music of the work. Indeed, it is a song of joy and wonder at the beauty of nature in simple actions like birdsong and dew on the grass. “Is it not a lovely world?” is a refrain. However, the Wayfarer is reminded at the end that despite this beauty, his happiness will not blossom anymore now that his love is gone.This movement is orchestrated delicately, making use of high strings and flutes, as well as a fair amount of triangle. The melody of this movement, as well as much of the orchestration, is developed into the ‘A' theme of the first movement of the First Symphony.---A listening guide of Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen – Ging Heut' Morgens Über's Feld with Lew Smoley.

The third movement is a full display of despair. Entitled “Ich hab'ein glühend Messer” (“I Have a Gleaming Knife”), the Wayfarer likens his agony of lost love to having an actual metal blade piercing his heart. He obsesses to the point where everything in the environment reminds him of some aspect of his love, and he wishes he actually had the knife.The music is intense and driving, fitting to the agonized nature of the Wayfarer's obsession.---A listening guide of Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen – Ich Hab' Ein Glühend Messer with Lew Smoley.

The final movement culminates in a resolution. The music, also reused in the First Symphony (in the Scherzo “Funeral March in Callot's manner”), is subdued and gentle, lyrical and often reminiscent of a chorale in its harmonies. Its title, “Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz” (“The Two Blue Eyes of my Beloved”), deals with how the image of those eyes has caused the Wayfarer so much grief that he can no longer stand to be in the environment.He describes lying down under a linden tree, allowing the flowers to fall on him. He wishes to return to his life before his travels. He asks that the whole affair had never occurred: “Everything: love and grief, and world, and dreams!”  ---A listening guide of Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen – Die Zwei Blauen Augen with Lew Smoley.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Intro with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Phantasie Aus Don Juan with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Serenade Aus Don Juan with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Erinnerung with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Frühlingsmorgen with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Maitanz Im Grünen with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Im Lenz with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Winterlied with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

A beautiful, but proud queen would like to get married but do not know who. She conceives of a competition: the man who first brings her the very special flower that grows in the forest may marry her.Many men from the kingdom accept the challenge, including two brothers. The eldest brother is brave, mean and reckless, the youngest brother kind, gentle and curious. Soon the youngest brother finds the flower, picks it and places it on his hat. Satisfied he takes a nap against a tree.The eldest brother is furious when he discovers his younger brother with the flower in his hat, steals the flower and kills the boy in his sleep. He returns to the castle to claim the queen's hand.---A listening guide of Das Klagende Lied – Waldmärchen with Lew Smoley

A minstrel that runs through the forest finds a bone under a tree, and cuts a flute. When he plays the flute, the voice of the murdered youngest brother, who tells the story of his unfortunate death, sounds. The minstrel feels that he can not leave this story untold and goes on his way to the castle to reveal the true nature of the queen's fiancée.---A listening guide of Das Klagende Lied – Der Spielmann with Lew Smoley.

On the day that the minstrel arrives at the castle there is just a party going on for the occasion of the upcoming wedding of the queen and the eldest brother. The murderer is pale and feels guilty about the way he earned his royal engagement.The minstrel plays the flute and the song of the murdered brother, the complaining song, sounds. The eldest brother takes the flute and plays it himself. Again the voice of his brother sounds and accuses him of the murder. The piece ends in chaos: the queen faints, the partygoers flee and the castle collapses.---A listening guide of Das Klagende Lied – Die Hochzeitstück with Lew Smoley.

Rückert-Lieder is a song cycle of five Lieder for voice and orchestra or piano by Gustav Mahler, based on poems written by Friedrich Ruckert (1788-1866). Lied Ruckert 1: Blicke mir nicht in die LiederLied Ruckert 2: Ich atmet' einen linden Duft!Lied Ruckert 3: Um MitternachtLied Ruckert 4: Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommenLied Ruckert 5: Liebst du um Schoenheit---A listening guide of Rückert-Lieder – Intro with Lew Smoley.

Um Mitternacht moves from the most brilliant day to deepest night, and the change is once more immediately apparent in its coloration. Mahler calls for an orchestra without strings. In addition to pairs of woodwinds (with a single oboe d'amore replacing the usual oboes), three horns, two trumpets, three trombones, a single tuba, and timpani, both harp and piano are prescribed.The length, weight and scale of the song match its theme. Five six-line stanzas (each of which begins and ends with “Um Mitternacht”) are set in a rich and complex contrapuntal idiom, more symphonic than lyric in character. ---A listening guide of Rückert-Lieder – Um Mitternacht with Lew Smoley.

The poetic theme of “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,” one of Mahler's most beautiful and moving songs, is again unusual. It evokes the peace achieved through the poet's withdrawal from the everyday turmoil of the world and his absorption in the most meaningful and central aspects of his life: his heaven, his life, and his song. (By implication the last is the product of the preceding two).---A listening guide of Rückert-Lieder – Ich Bin Der Welt Abhanden Gekommen with Lew Smoley.

Revelge is the most intense and manic of the Wunderhorn settings, and also by far the most extended. It is a persistent march of a magnitude matching the great march movements of the symphonies. The speaker is a fallen drummer boy whose comrades pass him by on the march and leave him for dead. For most of the song, a persistent military rhythm in the trumpets is omnipresent, becoming obsessive in its insistence.A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Revelge (Reveille) with Lew Smoley.

Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder explores a more unusual theme. It warns the listener not to be too inquisitive about the process of creation, and suggests that the poet does not trust himself to inquire too much: only the finished work counts, not how it was achieved. The analogy made with the work of bees in the second stanza provides Mahler with the basis for his musical imagery. A brief introduction establishes a kind of perpetuum mobile with a subtle buzzing produced by an orchestra of muted strings, without double bass, single woodwinds and a horn, together with a harp. The two stanzas are variants of one another, but the first has an extra line, which repeats the text of the opening. In this repetition Mahler preserves the rhythm and some of the melodic features of his first vocal phrase, but shifts it to a different level and concludes with an upward rather than downward movement.---A listening guide of Rückert-Lieder – Blicke Mir Nicht In Die Lieder with Lew Smoley.

Ich atmet' einen linden Duft is perhaps unique in musically evoking a fragrance, the delicate fragrance of the lime tree with which the poet associates his love. The color of the setting is still more transparent, and much brighter than “Blicke mir nicht.” The orchestration again consists of single winds, horn and harp, but only violins and violas are called for, and a celesta has been added. The continuing even motion in the strings suggests the quiet wafting of the scent through the air.---A listening guide of Rückert-Lieder – Ich Atmet' Einen Linden Duft with Lew Smoley.

The most traditional of the songs was the last composed, “Liebst du um Schönheit.” It is the most clearly strophic in form, with the four stanzas presented in pairs, with a very brief orchestral interlude in the middle. The first three stanzas are clear variants of one another.The fourth begins as if it were to continue in the same pattern, but underscores the central message of the song by stressing the words “liebe” (love) and “immer” (always) through rhythmic prolongation and emphasis on the upper register in the melody. Love must be for its own sake, not for beauty, youth or treasure.---A listening guide of Rückert-Lieder – Liebst Du Um Schönheit with Lew Smoley.

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Verlorene Müh' with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.

Tamboursg'sell is the last composed of Mahler's Wunderhorn settings. Like Revelge, it is sung by a doomed drummer. Rather than lying in the field, however, this drummer lies in prison. Where Revelge was manic, this song is more heavy and mournful. The drum rolls here are slower and more deliberate, and are balanced by lamenting woodwind trills. The song itself is most effective at a slow tempo.---A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Der Tambourgsell with Lew Smoley.