1894 – Mahler Symphony No. 2 (e minor)

Question 1

1st Movement
1894 – Mahler Symphony No. 2 (e minor)

Answer 1

• Nearly 25 minutes.
• Shows a typically Romantic approach to sonata form in that it contains huge contrast and drama.
• Has a stormy C minor opening, followed by a quiet and lyrical second subject in E major.
• Like Tchaikovsky, Mahler hugely expands the second subject group of themes and makes them highly contrasting to the turbulent opening.

Question 2

2nd Movement
1894 – Mahler Symphony No. 2 (e minor)

Answer 2

• There are 2 slow movements in this symphony (2nd and 4th).
• Mahler wrote that the Andante 2nd movement was like a memory of a happy moment.
• It is like a Landler and has a delicate sense of innocence.
• The form is very simple as the Landler idea is alternated with two contrasting ideas in the form ABACA.
• The 4th movement is very different and takes the form of a song.

Question 3

3rd Movement
1894 – Mahler Symphony No. 2 (e minor)

Answer 3

• A sinister 3/8 scherzo back in the C minor of the first movement.
• The relentless rhythms and distorted melodies lead eventually to a a tutti fff chord with thundering timpani and percussion that has been described as a shriek of pain.
• The movement ends, however, with a whimper, fizzling out on an extraordinary unison scored for contrabassoon, very low horns, harps and double bass.

Question 4

Dev. of Orchestra
1894 – Mahler Symphony No. 2 (e minor)

Answer 4

• Used the largest orchestra ever specifically demanded by any composer to date.
• At the first performance 120 instrumentalists, which means there were between 60 and 70 string players.
• The last two movements require 2 solo singers (soprano and alto). and a large mixed choir.
• Mahler uses vast forces in this piece, at least 8 brass players offstage.
• “a symphony must be like the world, it must contain everything”.
• Orchestra is supplemented by organ, choir, tubular bells, etc.