No. 1. D major. Begun in December, 1883; completed at Budapest in 1888;
produced at Budapest, Mahler, conductor, on November 20, 1889; published
in 1898. The Budapest programme described it as a “symphonic poem in two
parts.” When it was performed at the Tonkünstler Fest at Weimar on June
3, 1894, through the insistence of Richard Strauss and Dr. Kretzschmar,
it was known as “_Titan_” (after Jean Paul Richter’s romance).
No. 2. C minor. Begun and completed in 1894. First performed at a
Philharmonic Concert in Berlin, Richard Strauss, conductor, on March 4,
1895. Only the three instrumental movements were then performed. The
second and third met with great favor; Mahler was called out five times
after the _scherzo_. The majority of the Berlin critics distorted or
suppressed this fact and represented the performance as a fiasco. The
whole of the symphony was performed for the first time at Mahler’s
concert at Berlin on December 13, 1895. According to Ernst Otto
Nodnagel, the critics again behaved “indecently”; took the purely
orchestral movements for granted, and heard only the _finale_ with the
tenor and contralto solos. One of them spoke of “the cynical impudence
of this brutal and very latest music maker.” Nikisch and Weingartner
were deeply impressed, and the greater part of the audience was wildly
enthusiastic.
No. 3. F major, known as the “_Summer Morning’s Dream_,” or
“_Programme_” symphony. Sketched in 1895, completed in 1896. Produced
piecemeal in 1896 at Berlin and Hamburg; in 1897 at Berlin. First
performance of the whole symphony at a concert of the Allgemeiner
Deutscher Musikverein at Krefeld in June, 1902. Published in 1898.
No. 4. G major. Composed in 1899-1900. First performance at Munich by
the Kaim Orchestra on November 28, 1901. Mahler conducted. Published in
1900.
No. 5. C-sharp minor, known as “_The Giant_” Symphony. Completed in
1902. First performance at a Gürzenich concert in Cologne, October 18,
1904.
No. 6. A minor. Composed in 1903-04. Performed under Mahler’s direction
at the Tonkünstler Fest at Essen on May 27, 1906. Published in 1905.
No. 7. E minor. Composed in 1904-06. Produced at Prague on September 19,
1908. Mahler conducted. Published in 1908.
No. 8. In two parts, with soli and double chorus; first part, hymn,
“Veni, Creator Spiritus,” as a sonata first movement, with double fugue;
second part, the last scenes of _Faust_, in form of an _adagio_,
_scherzo_, and _finale_. Composition begun in 1906. First performance at
Munich as “_Symphony of the Thousand_” on September 12, 1908, the year
of publication.
No. 9. Begun in 1906. Produced at Vienna late in June, 1912, Bruno
Walter, conductor. The last movement is an _adagio_.
No. 10. Composed in 1909-10; left unfinished by Mahler. First
performance at Prague on June 6, 1924, Alex von Zemlinsky, conductor.
“_Das Lied von der Erde_” (Song of the Earth), a symphony in six parts
for tenor and contralto soli with orchestra, the text taken from _The
Chinese Flute_, a collection of Chinese lyrics by Hans Bethge. Composed
in 1908, first produced at Munich November 10, 1911, Bruno Walter,
conductor.
Some of Mahler’s symphonies are described as programme music, but he was
no friend of realism as it is understood by Richard Strauss. Mahler was
reported as saying: “When I conceive a great musical picture, I always
arrive at the point where I must employ the ‘word’ as the bearer of my
musical idea.... My experience with the last movement of my second
symphony was such that I ransacked the literature of the world, up to
the Bible, to find the expository word.” Though he differed with Strauss
in the matter of realistic music, he valued him highly: “No one should
think I hold myself to be his rival. Aside from the fact that, if his
success had not opened a path for me, I should now be looked on as a
sort of monster on account of my works, I consider it one of my greatest
joys that my colleagues and I have found such a comrade in fighting and
creating.”
One reason why Mahler’s symphonies were looked at askance by conductors
was the enormous orchestra demanded. No. 2 called for as many strings as
possible, two harps, four flutes (interchangeable with four piccolos),
four oboes (two interchangeable with two English horns), five clarinets
(one interchangeable with bass clarinet—and when it is possible the two
in E flat should be doubled in _fortissimo_ passages), four bassoons
(one interchangeable with double bassoon), six horns (and four in the
distance to be added in certain passages to the six), six trumpets (four
in the distance, which may be taken from the six), four trombones, tuba,
two sets of kettledrums, bass drum, snare drum (when possible several of
them), cymbals, tam-tam of high pitch and one of low pitch, triangle,
glockenspiel, three bells, a Ruthe (a bundle of rods to switch a
drumhead), organ, two harps. In the distance a pair of kettledrums, bass
drum, cymbals, triangle. Soprano solo, contralto solo, mixed chorus.