Mahler – Symphony no. 7 in e minor
Now that the sun is setting, I can talk about Mahler’s weirdest symphony. The 7th is a bit of a tough nut to crack at first, but if we focus on the subtitle given to it “Song of the Night”, then I think it’s easier to understand the structure. This symphony has gotten the most criticism out of his output, and is considered confusing and weird, with the two book end movements sticking out like sore thumbs. I have my own theory as to how to “interpret” the work. (and it’s just my personal idea so don’t take it to be a well based fact or anything. I mean for real, Mahler wouldn’t approve of me adding all this extra-musical program to one of his absolute symphonies) I like to think of it as depicting the different emotions and evocations that nighttime has in our culture, and each movement corresponds to a different period of time. The first movement, 6 pm, Twilight to Dusk, just as the sun slips away beyond the horizon we are thrown into the beginning of the long darkness of night. Here we get a mix of emotions, arousal at the idea of having fun, going out with friends, maybe meeting someone to spend the night with, but also an anxiety creeps up on you, at the dangers lurking at night. Criminals. Living in the city I always hold this anxiety walking around after dark. The music opens with sinister chords and a deep call from the tenor horn, and the structure is confused by episodic bursts of different moods, from dramatic and almost “Star Wars” like, to the almost religious rise of the violins around the halfway point, like ascending a mountain. The movement ends on an unexpected bright note. The next movement, 9 pm, the first Nachtmusik, the actual nighttime begins. This movement makes me think of the horrors associated with night, imagine a creepy forest lit by the moon, you can barely see, it’s cold, and there are all kinds of animals, potential monsters, lurking in the darkness. That’s what I think of. The combination of fear and excitement at the sublime and almost surreal nature of the earth at night. The music opens with evocative horns calling and answering each other. The winds flutter in sounding like nocturnal birds, or the wind, as the horns repeat their calls, and you can feel the darkness of the soundscape take over. But it isn’t sinister for long, as a more playful and less unnerving waltz comes in. The third movement, Midnight, is the beginning of the Midnight Hour leading into the Witching Hour. The time of night that is most scary, that the world is uneasily quiet, and that even skeptics like me tremble at the thought of some kind of evil thing waiting to prey on me. This movement plays like a Viennese waltz, but the dancers are corpses. Yes, this is Mahler’s Danse Macabre, and as the waltz plays on with spooky sonorities, it sounds as if the music itself is decaying. The fourth movement, 4am, the second Nachtmusik. The chilling terrors of the night have begun to pass. This to me is depicting the calmness of night, the serenity of the silence and the dark, how peaceful most of us feel asleep in beds, cows asleep in their fields, the moon is bright and lighting up the sky, and dawn is approaching, the sky is turning a brighter shade gradually. The orchestra is toned down severely, most of the brass and woodwinds take a break, and so the instrumentation is almost like a concerto for several solo instruments, like a call back to the Baroque era. The use of mandolins and guitars to add to the texture, along with the subtitle “amaroso”, makes this feel like a serenade. Love songs sung under the moon, sweet words to calm the mind after dark. The passionate aspect of nighttime. The final movement, 6 am, the moment the sun rises, isn’t a gradual build up. Instead, the timpani and brass breaks the doors blaring a triumphant song, so uncharacteristic of the rest of the work, it leaves people scratching their heads. I think of it as the sun rising, the light concurring the evil of the night, and bringing us another day, bringing us warmth. However, the fanfare and melodies feel sarcastic. They’re banal, and the overinflated orchestra feels like a cheap trick, like a composer who is trying to make a “grand finale”. This movement is a parody, and it also parodies melodies from Wagner’s gargantuan Die Meistersinger… and Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow. The movement is built of constantly changing variations on the opening themes, and is packed with false climaxes and let downs. Even when the melody and orchestra release their full grandeur at the end, the coda is interrupted by a hesitant and hushed chord, right before the final slap. While I get that this is more for comedic affect, [and that this movement is strange in how it is so distant from the music that came before], I like to think of the final hesitation as a reminder that, even though the sun is up, and another day is here, the darkness of night is always ahead, and the fears we have of ourselves and each other and monsters real and imaginary still live in the back of our minds, waiting for another night to come out to haunt us.
Movements:
1. Langsam – Allegro risulto, ma non troppo
2. Nachtmusik I
3. Scherzo
4. Nachtmusik II
5. Rondo finale
mikrokosmos: Mahler – Symphony no. 7 in e minor Now that the sun is setting, I can talk about Mahler’s weirdest symphony. The 7th is a bit of a tough nut to crack at first, but if we focus on the subtitle given to it “Song of the Night”, then I think it’s easier to…
