Gustav Mahler's Third Symphony

384 Pages·2010·7.6 MB·English

Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony:
Program, Reception, and Evocations of the Popular

by

Timothy David Freeze

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Music Musicology)
in The University of Michigan
2010

Doctoral Committee:
Associate Professor Steven M. Whiting, Co-Chair
Professor Albrecht Riethmüller, Freie Universität Berlin, Co-Chair
Professor Roland J. Wiley
Professor Michael D. Bonner
Associate Professor Mark A. Clague
© 2010 Timothy David Freeze

All rights reserved
To Grit
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The road leading to the completion of this dissertation was longer and more
scenic than I ever intended it to be. It is a great pleasure to acknowledge here the many
individuals and organizations that provided support and encouragement along the way.
I am especially grateful to the co-chairs of my committee. Without the unflagging
support of Steven M. Whiting, whose sage counsel on matters musical and practical
guided me from start to finish, this project would not have been possible. I am equally
indebted to Albrecht Riethmüller, whose insight and intellectual example were a beacon
by whose light this dissertation took shape. I would also like to thank R. John Wiley,
whose extensive and penetrating feedback improved the dissertation and my own
thinking in countless ways, and Mark Clague and Michael Bonner, both of whom
provided valuable comments on content and style.
In Ann Arbor, I would like to acknowledge the support of the entire musicology
faculty at the University of Michigan. Louise K. Stein gave helpful advice in the early
stages of this project. In Berlin, I benefited from conversations with Federico Celestini,
Sherri Jones, and Peter Moormann. In Vienna, Hans-Dieter Roser, Stefan Schmidl, and
Morten Solvik gave generously of their time and expertise, and Norbert Nischkauer
kindly made available many scores in his private collection. In addition, I would like to
thank John Behling, Carlo Caballero, Stephen Hefling, Jason Heilman, David Paul,
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Stephen Rodgers, Scott Southard, Ryan Wines, and Jim Zychowicz. Four comrades in
the dissertational trenches—Alexandra Monchik, William Quillen, Christopher Scheer,
and Laurie Silverberg—deserve special recognition for their help over the years.
I had the great fortune to receive generous financial support for research, travel,
and writing from the following sources: a Regents Graduate Fellowship, Rackham
Humanities Candidacy Research Fellowship, Louise Cuyler Award Travel Grant, and
Rackham One-Term Dissertation Award from the University of Michigan; a fellowship
with extension from the Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies at
the Freie Universität Berlin, and research grants from the German Academic Exchange
Service (DAAD) and the Fulbright Program. I would have stumbled on many an
administrative hurdle were it not for the help of Karen Frye, Karin Goihl, and Ulrike
Seiss. I also owe my gratitude to the helpful staff of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin,
Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek,
Wien-Bibliothek, and Internationale Gustav-Mahler Gesellschaft.
It is with particular pleasure that I recognize three individuals who, more than
any others, endured the vicissitudes of my doctoral career, and did so with unfailing
grace and magnanimity. My parents, David and Jean Freeze, have been a wellspring of
support in these years, as in every one preceding. Finally, I could never fully convey my
indebtedness to my wife Grit Herzmann. Suffice it to say that the road would have been
far bumpier and less scenic had she not come along for the ride. She will forever be the
greatest discovery of my dissertation, which is lovingly dedicated to her.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication ii
Acknowledgments iii
List of Appendices vii
Abstract viii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1
Mahler the Idealist: The Program and Promotion of the Third Symphony 9
Genesis of the Third Symphony 13
Mahler’s Aesthetic Views 16
Mahler on Program Music and Programs 30
Influence of Programmatic Ideas on Composition 44
Chapter 2
The Reception and Study of Mahler’s Allusions to Vernacular Music 55
The Early Monographs: Justifying Allusions to Vernacular Styles 57
Influence of Race on the Reception of Mahler’s Vernacularisms 73
Comparative Studies of Mahler’s Vernacularisms 85
Scholarship since the Mahler Renaissance 89
Allusions to Operetta: A Case Study from Mahler’s First Symphony 102
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Chapter 3
Multivalent Evocation in the Posthorn Solos of the Third Symphony 111
The Posthorn and its Imitations in Art Music before Mahler 117
Popular Models for Mahler’s Posthorn Episodes 128
Multivalent Evocation 135
Chapter 4
Allusions to Operetta and Military Bands in Mahler’s Marches 139
Mahler and Operetta 140
Military Music and Operetta: Two Intertwined Genres 147
Marches in Military Music and Operetta 155
Stylizations of Military and Light Marches in Mahler’s Oeuvre 167
Chapter 5
Mahler the Subversive: The First Movement of the Third Symphony 187
Form as Manipulation of Idiom 188
Allusions, Quotations, and their Meaning 216
Associative Power of Vernacular Styles 243
Appendices 259
Bibliography 346
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LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix A
Formal Programmatic Commentaries on the Third Symphony 259
Appendix B
Informal Commentaries on the First Movement of the Third 276
Appendix C
Operettas conducted by Mahler 287
Appendix D
Musical Examples for Chapter 2 288
Appendix E
Tables and Musical Examples for Chapter 3 293
Appendix F
Tables and Musical Examples for Chapter 4 302
Appendix G
Figures, Tables, and Musical Examples for Chapter 5 320
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ABSTRACT

GUSTAV MAHLER’S THIRD SYMPHONY:
PROGRAM, RECEPTION, AND EVOCATIONS OF THE POPULAR

by

Timothy David Freeze

Co-Chairs: Steven M. Whiting and Albrecht Riethmüller

This dissertation examines Mahler’s evocations of popular styles in the Third
Symphony. These vernacularisms, long recognized as a hallmark of the work, remain
peculiarly understudied. Here they are considered from a number of perspectives: their
critical and scholarly reception, their sources in the popular musical environment of
Mahler’s day, and their aesthetic function within the symphony.
The study begins with the composer’s own words about his music. Chapter 1
argues that the public programs were a means to promote the symphony at a time when
Mahler lacked a secure position in the concert hall repertory, and that these programs,
though part of the creative process, did not motivate the work’s specific allusions to
popular styles. Chapter 2 shifts focus to reception, demonstrating how strongly the
aesthetic and ideological frameworks of listeners condition which referents they
attribute to Mahler’s vernacularisms. Before World War II, for example, the
intersection of Mahler’s Jewish heritage with ideologies of race greatly influenced
whether writers identified references to folksongs or to popular music. The next part of
the dissertation uncovers allusions to popular styles based on musical and expressive
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conventions no longer familiar today. Chapter 3 focuses on the third movement,
identifying elements of posthorn stylizations unique to genres of entertainment music.
Chapter 4 examines the variety of popular march types in the first movement, using as a
basis of comparison sound profiles derived from military music and operetta, a genre
that Mahler enjoyed and knew intimately.
This dissertation proposes that Mahler found folk and popular styles attractive
in part for the manifold associations that lurked behind their deceptive immediacy. His
vernacularisms are thus most typically instances of multivalent evocation: seemingly
referential music that can be convincingly traced to multiple, even contradictory
sources. Chapter 5 places these evocations in the context of an extended analysis of the
formal processes and semantic content of the first movement. Specific allusions to
popular styles do not contribute overtly to the symphony’s meaning as articulated in its
song texts. Instead, Mahler uses multivalent evocation of vernacular styles to trigger
strong emotional reactions, positive and negative, in a maximally diverse audience.
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