Symphony No. 5

1. 0:00
   Opening trumpet solo

   A solo trumpet opens the movement with repeated-note triplets, then a dotted rhythm rising higher. Mahler headed the page In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt (measured, strict, like a funeral procession) and added a footnote that the triplets are to be played a little hurried, like military fanfares. The orchestra soon joins the trumpet.

2. 0:40
   Austrian military signal

   The trumpet call comes from an Austrian military signal. Haydn used the figure in his Military Symphony, and Mendelssohn based a funeral march on it, the Song without Words Op. 62 No. 3. The rhythm of its repeated notes resembles the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth.

3. 1:20
   Funeral tune, first violins and cellos

   First violins and cellos play the funeral tune together, with the double basses pizzicato beneath.

4. 2:00
   Villa at Maiernigg, 1901

   In June 1901 Mahler moved into his new villa at Maiernigg, on the Wörthersee. He wrote the Fifth over that summer and the next. For the rest of the year his working day belonged first to the Vienna Court Opera.

5. 2:55
   Der Tamboursg’sell, 1901

   Several details of the march tune recall Der Tamboursg’sell, Mahler’s Wunderhorn song of a drummer boy led out to the gallows, who ends by wishing the hills and the soldiers good night. Mahler had set the song as a funeral march by 16 August 1901.

6. 3:55
   Haemorrhage, February 1901

   On 24 February 1901 Mahler lost so much blood that the next morning he described it as a near-death experience. Two operations and several weeks in a sanatorium followed. By the summer he was writing funeral music.

7. 5:18
   First trio, B♭ minor

   The key changes to B♭ minor, five flats. Mahler marks the trio Plötzlich schneller. Leidenschaftlich. Wild. (suddenly faster, passionate, wild), and the violins play fast chromatic runs while a solo trumpet plays a long new melody above them. A footnote tells the conductor that the violins must always be as vehement as possible.

8. 6:58
   Return of the opening signal

   The trumpet’s opening rhythm returns, and with it C♯ minor. Over string tremolos Mahler marks Unmerklich zu Tempo I zurückkehren, an imperceptible return to the first tempo, and the triplet signal sounds again. The funeral tune resumes in flutes, oboes and clarinets, marked Schwer (heavy).

9. 8:20
   First performance, Cologne, 1904

   Mahler conducted the première in Cologne on 18 October 1904, with the Gürzenich Orchestra. He divided the five movements into three parts. This march and the stormy movement after it make up Part I.

10. 9:30
    Quotation from Kindertotenlieder

    Before the second trio, the violins play a phrase marked singend. Mahler took it directly from “Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n”, the first of the Kindertotenlieder, a cycle he was writing in the same years.

11. 9:56
    Second trio, rehearsal 15

    The second trio begins at rehearsal 15, marked Immer dasselbe Tempo. The first violins play the trio tune, molto espr., over quiet repeated staccato notes in the second violins, divided in three. The material comes from the wild first trio, now with rising scales.

12. 10:50
    Climax at rehearsal 18

    The second trio intensifies through steigernd at rehearsal 16 and etwas drängend at 17. At rehearsal 18 the whole orchestra plays fff chords marked Klagend (plaintive), and the horns and trumpets raise their bells (Schalltrichter auf!). At Zurückhaltend (holding back) the chords fade, and the trumpet fanfare soon returns.

13. 11:36
    Coda, muted trumpet and flute

    After the climax the trumpet call returns in fragments. At the end the triplets pass to a muted trumpet, marked quick but not rushed, then to a solo flute marked fleeting, over a bass-drum roll falling to ppp. Violas, cellos and basses pluck a final pp note.

Joins

1. 5:18
   The trumpet call is cut short

   A quiet trumpet begins the familiar triplets, and the music thins to a double bar. The key signature changes to five flats, and the first trio begins, marked Plötzlich schneller. Leidenschaftlich. Wild. The violins play chromatic runs, and above them the first trumpet plays a long melody.

2. 6:58
   Return to C♯ minor and Tempo I

   The trumpet fanfare cuts back into the faster music. Over string tremolos in four sharps, Mahler asks for an imperceptible return to the first tempo (Unmerklich zu Tempo I zurückkehren), and the introductory triplets return at Tempo I. At rehearsal 12, marked Schwer, the woodwinds resume the funeral tune over its clipped accompaniment.

3. 9:56
   Timpani triplets lead to violin trio

   The opening triplets thin out to pianissimo triplets in the timpani. At rehearsal 15, marked Immer dasselbe Tempo, the first violins play the trio tune, molto espr., while the second violins, divided in three, play repeated staccato notes beneath it.

4. 11:36
   From Zurückhaltend to Poco meno mosso

   The climax fades at Zurückhaltend, at rehearsal 18. At Poco meno mosso the violins sustain tremolo chords, and the trumpets play the triplet fanfare in fragments. The music slows towards its last quiet calls.

1. 0:00
   Opening figure, cellos, basses and bassoons

   Cellos, basses and bassoons open at fff with a five-note figure that rises two steps and falls back. A rit. slows it before each hard orchestral chord. Mahler’s footnote says the pause gathers force and the figure itself stays fast; the marking is Mit grösster Vehemenz, with the greatest vehemence.

2. 1:36
   Cello melody at rehearsal 5

   The rapid woodwind notes stop and a timpani roll remains. At rehearsal 5 Mahler writes Bedeutend langsamer (im Tempo des ersten Satzes “Trauermarsch”), much slower, in the tempo of the funeral march. The cellos then begin a lament in four flats, marked molto cantando.

3. 2:15
   Cello theme, clarinets and violins

   The cello theme is taken up by other instruments. Clarinets and bass clarinet add a counter-melody marked etwas hervortretend, slightly to the fore. The first violins then play the tune, marked zart, over pizzicato violas, cellos and basses.

4. 2:40
   Composition at Maiernigg, 1901–⁠02

   Mahler began the Fifth in the summer of 1901. When he returned to Maiernigg the following summer he had met and married Alma Schindler, and they were expecting their first child. He composed the symphony over those two summers.

5. 3:25
   Start of the development

   The opening figure returns ff in cellos, basses and bassoons, with horns stopped and trumpets muted. This begins the development, which brings back the motives of the movement’s opening.

6. 4:10
   Cellos over a timpani roll

   Marked pp klagend am Griffbrett (plaintive, bowed near the fingerboard), the cellos return to their melody in E♭ minor. A timpani roll continues beneath, and the violas hold a single sustained note; there is little other accompaniment.

7. 5:40
   Rehearsal 12, two horns

   At rehearsal 12 Mahler returns to Tempo moderato (wie im ersten Teil). Two horns, marked espress. and zart hervortretend, play the melody over rapid repeated notes in flutes, clarinets and bassoons.

8. 6:40
   Publication and revisions, 1904–⁠1964

   Peters published the Fifth in 1904, and a second edition in 1905 carried Mahler’s revisions of 1904. His last corrections, made in 1911, were not printed until 1964.

9. 7:20
   Più mosso subito, march in major

   Mahler marked the change Più mosso subito, aber immer noch nicht so schnell wie zu Anfang: suddenly faster, though still slower than the opening tempo. The funeral music changes to a march in a major key, which gains in intensity as it goes.

10. 7:55
    Brass chorale and recapitulation

    The march broadens into a brass chorale over a ringing triangle, with timpani punctuating. The stormy motives of the opening break in, and the recapitulation begins.

11. 11:16
    Climax in D major, brass

    At the high point of the movement the brass hold long chords in D major, two sharps. Strings play rushing upward scales and the harp adds rising runs at fff, with cymbals struck mit Teller. The symphony ends in D major.

12. 12:26
    End of the chorale; coda

    The chorale fades. Mahler marks Ritenuto, the brass chords die away to pp and the strings are marked morendo. The stormy opening motives return for the coda, and the chorale comes back at the high point of the finale.

13. 13:20
    Closing bars

    In the last pages, isolated wind and harp notes sound over soft string chords. The cellos and basses play a final ppp pizzicato figure and the timpani a last soft note. Mahler then wrote folgt lange Pause, a long pause follows.

Joins

1. 1:36
   Timpani roll, then the cellos

   The fast woodwind figures, marked Sehr drängend, break off over a timpani roll that falls from mf to pp. At rehearsal 5, marked Bedeutend langsamer, Mahler returns to the tempo of the first movement’s funeral march. The key signature changes to four flats, and the cellos play molto cantando.

2. 3:14
   The opening figure returns

   The song is cut off. The opening figure returns at ff in bassoons, contrabassoon, cellos and basses, with horns stopped and trumpets muted, and the development takes up the motives of the opening again.

3. 4:10
   Timpani roll into the E♭ minor section

   The tempo slows at a rit. and a timpani roll takes over. The key signature changes to six flats with the marking Langsam aber immer. The cellos begin a slower melody in E♭ minor, pp klagend am Griffbrett, and the violas, also am Griffbrett, hold a long note beneath.

4. 11:16
   D major in brass above strings

   The key signature changes to two sharps and D major is reached in sustained chords for horns, trumpets and trombones. The strings play rushing scales upward, the harp adds rising runs marked fff, and the cymbals are struck with a plate (“Becken mit Teller”).

5. 12:26
   From the brass chorale to the coda

   At Ritenuto the D major brass chords make a diminuendo to pp, the harp plays a few arpeggios and the strings fade morendo. The motives of the Stürmisch bewegt opening return as the coda begins and are short-lived.

1. 0:00
   Opening, corno obbligato

   The horns open the movement with three notes. Mahler writes a separate corno obbligato part for one player. Marked Kräftig, nicht zu schnell — vigorous, not too fast — in three-four and D major, the opening passes its tune between the solo horn, the woodwinds and the first violins.

2. 1:30
   Mahler on the scherzo

   Natalie Bauer-⁠Lechner reported Mahler’s idea for the scherzo: “a human being in the full light of day, in the prime of his life”. In the Fifth it follows the funeral march and the storm.

3. 2:15
   First trio, first violins

   At Etwas ruhiger (a little calmer) the first violins play a softer waltz in B♭ major over a largely pizzicato accompaniment. Mahler’s footnote asks for the eighth note in the motive to be played always a little fleetingly, a little carelessly.

4. 3:20
   Horn call and fugato

   The opening horn call returns at fff and breaks off the waltz. A string fugato follows, with each entry starting before the previous line has finished, and Mahler marks wild! over the entries.

5. 4:15
   Conversation with Natalie Bauer-⁠Lechner, 1901

   In March 1901, while recovering from surgery, Mahler told Natalie Bauer-⁠Lechner of his dream of themes that “develop freely, side by side, each with its own impetus and purpose”.

6. 5:12
   Solo horn, Tempo (poco sostenuto)

   The solo horn plays a slow melody marked Tempo (poco sostenuto). Its phrases are marked lang and verklingend, dying away, and stop on fermatas while English horn, bass clarinet, bassoons and low strings reply.

7. 6:00
   Mahler and the Bach edition

   Mahler subscribed to the collected edition of Bach’s works. Counterpoint plays a larger part in the Fifth. In the scherzo the strings continue their own dance beneath the horn’s.

8. 6:40
   Pizzicato fragments, rehearsal 11

   At rehearsal 11, Molto moderato, solo violins, cellos and basses play fragments of the dance pizzicato.

9. 7:35
   Second trio, wind solos

   In the second trio the music is divided among small groups. Oboe, bassoons, trumpet and tuba each play a solo marked p espress. over sustained strings and a timpani roll. The themes pass from group to group.

10. 8:25
    Letter to Alma, Cologne, 1904

    During rehearsals in Cologne in October 1904, Mahler wrote to Alma that conductors for the next fifty years “will all take it too fast and make nonsense of it”. He wished he could give the symphony “its first performance fifty years after my death”.

11. 8:55
    Scherzo theme in the minor

    The solo horn announces a new section. The scherzo theme returns in a minor key with four flats, gradually faster, louder and more thickly scored. Its shape takes on the contours of the first trio’s waltz.

12. 9:55
    Nicht schleppen, running figure in the bass

    Mahler marked the page Nicht schleppen (don’t drag). Bassoons, trombones, tuba and basses repeat a short running figure while the trumpets play across it. Woodwinds trill and the glockenspiel plays above.

13. 10:45
    Return of the scherzo, rehearsal 17

    After a sudden halt, at rehearsal 17 the key signature changes from four flats to D major and the opening horn call returns, marked poco rit. a tempo I. The scherzo’s material is recapitulated as at the start of the movement.

14. 15:05
    Obbligato horn solo, tempo changes

    The obbligato horn plays its long phrase again while the tempo changes around it: Langsam, a tempo (schnell), rit., a tempo. Over the horn’s line Mahler writes nicht zurückhalten! (don’t hold back). The strings play tremolo beneath.

15. 16:00
    Coda from rehearsal 32

    At rehearsal 32 winds, brass and violins play dotted rhythms fff over running scales in violas, cellos and basses. The score is marked Sehr drängend bis zum Schluss (very pressing to the close). The movement ends on two short fff chords.

Joins

1. 2:15
   B♭ major, with plucked strings

   The dance breaks off, and horns and trumpets play calls that fall from ff to pp. At rehearsal 6, marked Etwas ruhiger, the key signature changes to two flats. The first violins begin the waltz over pizzicato violas and basses, and half the cellos play a separate line arco.

2. 3:20
   Horn call returns before the fugato

   At rehearsal 8 the opening horn call returns at fff, and the dance resumes in D major. The running string figure then enters in one string part after another. Each entry is marked wild!, and the accompaniment becomes a fugato.

3. 5:12
   Horn entries lead to slower tempo

   Over fff string chords, the four horns enter one after another on the same held note, bells raised. The solo horn then takes the line, marked rit. and molto portamento, and the tempo slows to Tempo (poco sostenuto).

4. 10:45
   Return to D major at rehearsal 17

   The music stops at a breath mark. At rehearsal 17 the key signature changes from four flats to D major, and the opening horn call returns, marked poco rit. a tempo I.

5. 16:00
   Bass-drum roll and quicker tempo

   The tempo quickens at a tempo (schnell) over a bass-drum roll and string tremolos. At rehearsal 32 the woodwinds, brass and violins play dotted rhythms over running scales in the lower strings. From the marking Sehr drängend bis zum Schluss the tempo presses forward to the end of the movement.

1. 0:00
   Opening bars, violas and harp

   The divided violas hold a chord while the harp begins to move. The cellos enter, then the first violins play the long melody, which Mahler marked seelenvoll, soulful.

2. 1:00
   Harp as continuo

   The harp takes the role of a basso continuo under the strings. Mahler left out the winds, brass and percussion used in the surrounding movements, and the Adagietto is scored for strings and harp only.

3. 2:08
   Mengelberg’s annotation on Alma

   Willem Mengelberg wrote in his score that the Adagietto was Mahler’s declaration of love to Alma, and that both Mahlers had told him so. According to his account, Mahler sent her the manuscript without a covering letter, and she understood.

4. 3:25
   Poem with the manuscript

   Another version of the story comes from a letter Alma wrote to Mengelberg. In it she said that Mahler had left a small poem with the manuscript: “How much I love you, you my sun, I cannot tell you in words. I can only lament to you my longing and my love.”

5. 4:36
   Middle section, violins on the G string

   At rehearsal 2 (bar 38) the tempo becomes more flowing. The first violins play on the G string, with warmth and a full tone, and the harp rests. Harp arpeggios return briefly in bars 44–⁠46, and the string melody moves towards G♭ major, whose key signature begins at bar 47.

6. 5:45
   Middle section in G♭ major

   After a climax marked Etwas drängend the key signature changes to six flats, G♭ major, and the dynamic drops to pp subito. The harp is silent. Mahler took the second theme of the finale from this passage.

7. 6:55
   Return of the opening melody

   The strings slow and die away. Harp triplets return under held chords, and the opening melody begins again at Tempo I.

8. 7:40
   Kennedy funeral, 1968; Visconti film, 1971

   On 8 June 1968 Leonard Bernstein conducted the Adagietto at Robert Kennedy’s funeral in St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York. Three years later Luchino Visconti made it the musical centre of Death in Venice.

9. 8:25
   Performance timings of the Adagietto

   Mahler and Mengelberg played the Adagietto in about seven minutes. Some modern conductors take nearly twelve, and this recording lasts a little over ten. The score marks it sehr langsam, very slow.

10. 9:15
    Final climax, violins and cellos

    The violins climb and hold their high notes while the cellos rise beneath them. Mahler marks broad bow strokes, frequent bow changes and a full tone. At the highest point the phrase slows further, marked Sehr zurückhaltend, and descends.

11. 9:38
    Quotation from Mahler’s song

    The closing pages draw on Mahler’s own song Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, “I am lost to the world”. The movement ends with its melody for “In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied” (in my love, in my song).

12. 10:00
    Close in F major, attacca

    The harp has stopped, and the strings descend to F major. Mahler marks the last chord with fermatas and “lang”, then asks for the finale to follow without a break.

Joins

1. 4:36
   Harp stops; first violins at Fliessender

   The harp stops after the opening phrases. At Fliessender (rehearsal 2), the first violins begin a more mobile line, marked to be played on the G string. The harmony moves towards G♭ major. The harp returns briefly in bars 44–⁠46, before the new key is established.

2. 6:55
   Harp triplets lead back to Tempo I

   The string figures of the middle section slow through zurückhaltend and morendo. The harp re-enters in triplets under sustained string chords. At Tempo I (Molto Adagio) the opening melody returns, with plucked bass notes underneath.

3. 9:15
   Rising cellos and arco basses

   From Noch langsamer, the cellos rise over harp arpeggios into the violins’ high phrase. Mahler marks the strings breiter Strich (broad bow strokes) as they crescendo. The basses change from pizzicato to arco under the harmony, and the final climax follows.

4. 10:00
   Strings close without the harp

   The harp plays its last broad chord and then rests. Marked Sehr zurückhaltend, the strings descend and diminish through the closing harmony into F major. The final fermata is marked long, and attacca Rondo-Finale is written beneath the basses.

1. 0:00
   Opening of the finale, held A

   The horn holds an A, and the first violins hold it too, pp, dying away. Bassoon, oboe and clarinet play short phrases around it, the oboe marked zögernd (hesitating).

2. 0:22
   Source of the bassoon phrase

   The bassoon’s short phrase comes from Mahler’s Wunderhorn song Lob des hohen Verstandes, “In praise of lofty intellect”. In the song a cuckoo and a nightingale hold a singing contest with a donkey as judge. He awards the prize to the cuckoo.

3. 0:46
   Rondo theme, horns

   The horn plays the rondo theme in D major, marked Allegro commodo, over open fifths held by the bassoons. The second horn enters close behind in imitation. The folk-like melody returns later as a refrain.

4. 1:20
   Fugato in the strings, rehearsal 2

   At rehearsal 2 Mahler wrote Nicht eilen (do not hurry), and the cellos begin a running line. The basses and the other strings enter after them, p leggiero. The passage is a fugato, and each new voice enters while the earlier ones continue.

5. 3:20
   Adagietto melody in the finale

   The finale takes a melody from the Adagietto and sets it among quick string figures. Over the first violins Mahler writes schwungvoll, “with swing”.

6. 6:00
   Mahler and the Bach edition

   While writing the Fifth, Mahler was studying Bach’s collected works, to which he subscribed. In the finale the string parts enter one after another in fugues and canons. A horn then plays a tune.

7. 9:35
   Change to two flats

   The key signature changes from two sharps to two flats. Mahler marks the passage Nicht eilen. (Pesante.), meaning do not hurry, weightily. The running figure of the fugue returns in violas, cellos and basses beneath staccato horns and trombones.

8. 13:00
   Return of the brass chorale

   The brass chorale returns in D major at Pesante (Etwas gehalten). Horns, trumpets and trombones play broad fff chords with bells raised, a cymbal is left to ring, and strings run beneath. In the second movement the chorale dissolved back into the stormy music.

9. 14:00
   Presto coda and final chords

   The closing pages move into Presto, with chromatic runs in winds and strings. Short chords marked secco follow, and timpani, cymbals, bass drum and triangle are told to damp quickly. The symphony ends on these short chords.

10. 14:50
    Mahler’s piano roll, Leipzig, 1905

    On 9 November 1905 Mahler sat at a Welte-⁠Mignon reproducing piano in Leipzig and recorded the symphony’s first movement, the funeral march, as a piano roll.

Joins

1. 0:46
   From oboe to horn

   After a riten. the horn takes the main tune at Allegro commodo (Hauptzeitmass), and a second horn follows in imitation. Beneath the tune’s falling phrases the bassoons hold D major in open fifths.

2. 13:00
   The brass chorale in D major

   At Pesante (Etwas gehalten) the horns, trumpets and trombones make a crescendo to fff on a D major chord, with bells raised (Schalltrichter auf), and the cymbal is left to ring (Becken klingen lassen). The strings continue their running figures underneath. At this climax a chorale appears that Basinger likened to the second movement, and the music moves into the faster coda.

1. 0:00
   First violin entry, Mengelberg

   Harp and low strings play before the first violins enter. Mengelberg places their pickup early in the bar, and the phrase then broadens. The tempo changes slightly within the long melodic line.

2. 0:45
   String portamento

   The strings slide audibly between some notes, moving together as a section. Mengelberg makes these portamento slides part of the phrase, along with its pauses and abrupt changes of tempo.

3. 1:45
   Mengelberg and Mahler, Krefeld, 1902

   At Krefeld in 1902 Mengelberg heard Mahler conduct the première of his Third Symphony, and he invited him to Amsterdam the following year. The Concertgebouw became one of Mahler’s strongest homes. Mengelberg went on conducting the music after the composer’s death.

4. 2:35
   Columbia L 1798, Amsterdam, 1926

   The Adagietto filled both sides of Columbia L 1798, recorded in the Concertgebouw in May 1926 (matrices WAX 1548 and 1549). This transfer from the original 78 rpm disc joins the two sides in a single file.

5. 3:18
   Fliessender section, strings alone

   At Fliessender, the harp stops and the violins play a melody on the G string, marked mit Wärme. The harmony moves towards G♭ major. The strings play most of this middle section alone, with one brief return of harp arpeggios in bars 45–⁠48.

6. 4:46
   Reprise of the first melody

   The harp triplets return beneath the held strings, and the first melody begins again. Mengelberg takes this reprise more slowly than the opening. Its long notes extend across the bar while the harp plays shorter notes beneath them.

7. 5:35
   Adagietto performance timings

   Mahler and Mengelberg played the Adagietto in about seven minutes. Mengelberg’s 1926 disc lasts seven minutes seventeen seconds. Modern performances often take ten minutes or more.

8. 6:15
   Final crescendo, violins

   The violins climb over rising cellos and harp arpeggios. Mahler marks the strings breiter Strich, viel Bogen wechseln and viel Ton, and the basses play arco beneath them. The phrase then descends.

9. 6:58
   Final chord and fermata

   The harp rests. Strings descend into the last F major chord and hold it under a long fermata. In the complete symphony, Mahler marked the Rondo-⁠Finale to begin without a break.