Gustav Mahler was born in Kaliště, Bohemia, on July 7, 1860, and died in Vienna, Austria, on May 18, 1911. The first performance of the Symphony No. 4 took place in Munich, Germany, on November 25, 1901, with Margarethe Michalek, soprano, and the composer conducting the Kaim Orchestra. The Symphony No. 4 is scored for soprano solo, four flutes (3rd doubling 1st piccolo, 4th doubling 2nd piccolo), three oboes (3rd doubling English horn), three clarinets (2nd doubling E-flat clarinet, 3rd doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon), four horns, three trumpets, timpani, sleigh bells, glockenspiel, triangle, cymbals, tam-tam, bass drum, harp, and strings. Approximate performance time is fifty-four minutes.
Gustav Mahler completed his Fourth Symphony in the summer of 1900. The premiere took place in Munich on November 25, 1901, with the composer leading the Kaim Orchestra. Before the opening performance, several members of the orchestra approached Mahler and confessed: “they hadn’t been able to make head or tail of the work but would do their best to change their minds the following day.”
The audience and critics demonstrated a like sense of confusion. Everyone seemed to anticipate that Mahler’s Fourth would, in the spirit of his Second and Third Symphonies, be an epic, dramatic piece. They were decidedly taken aback by the apparent naïveté and simplicity of Mahler’s new score. Boos mingled with—and sometimes overwhelmed—demonstrations of support. At the conclusion of the performance, Mahler took his bows “in a manner more furious than friendly.”
Nevertheless, the Fourth Symphony, with its abundant lyricism and relative brevity, quickly proved to be among the most accessible and popular of Mahler’s symphonies. Today, each of Mahler’s Symphonies has received its due, both in concert performances and recordings. Still, the genial lyricism and grace of the Fourth (sometimes called Mahler’s “Pastorale” Symphony) continue to accord the work a favored status. Further, close analysis reveals that beneath the seemingly naïve exterior of the Fourth Symphony is an extraordinarily intricate, sophisticated and unified work.
The following are some of Mahler’s comments regarding the nature and meaning of his Fourth Symphony:
What I had in mind here was unbelievably difficult to do. Imagine the uniform blue of the skies, which is more difficult to paint than all changing and contrasting shades. This is the fundamental mood of the whole. Only sometimes it darkens and becomes ghostly, gruesome. But heaven itself is not so darkened, it shines on in an eternal blue. Only to us it suddenly seems gruesome, just as on the most beautiful day in the woods, flooded with light, we are often gripped by panic and fear. The Scherzo (second movement) is mystical, confused and eerie so that your hair will stand on end. But in the following Adagio you will soon see that things were not so bad—everything is resolved.
In the final movement (“The Heavenly Life”), although already belonging to this higher world, the child explains how everything is meant to be.
The Symphony is in four movements. The first (Bedächtig. Nicht eilen) opens with a “sleigh bell” motif, followed by a grazioso dotted-rhythm figure, introduced by the first violins. Both play crucial roles in the finale. Bruno Walter, the great German conductor and Mahler disciple, described the second movement scherzo (In gemächlicher Bewegung. Ohne Hast) as: “Freund Hein spielt zum Tanz auf (‘Friend Death is striking up the Dance’). Death fiddles rather strangely; his playing sends us up to heaven.” According to Mahler’s friend, Natalie Bauer-Lechner, the composer referred to the third movement (Ruhevoll) as: “‘The Smiling of St. Ursula’ and said that at the time he had a childhood image of his mother’s face in mind, recalling how she had laughed through grieving and had smiled through tears, for she had suffered unendingly yet had always lovingly resolved and forgiven everything.” In the finale (Sehr behaglich), a soprano sings Mahler’s setting of the poem Das himmlische Leben (The Heavenly Life).
Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Das himmlische Leben
The Youth’s Magic Horn: The Heavenly Life
English translation and program notes by Ken Meltzer