{"id":936,"date":"2008-04-21T15:13:31","date_gmt":"2008-04-21T22:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/?p=936"},"modified":"2013-02-07T18:52:23","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T02:52:23","slug":"mahler-9-iii-rondo-burleske","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/21\/mahler-9-iii-rondo-burleske\/","title":{"rendered":"mahler 9 – III. Rondo. Burleske."},"content":{"rendered":"

What would a Mahler symphony be without a sprawling, hectic, and by turns achingly beautiful scherzo? Well, quite a bit shorter, for one. Mahler is often in the habit of taking a huge movement in cut time and making a huge journey out of it, and the Ninth Symphony is no exception.<\/p>\n

Mahler is all about extremes, and in this movement, he seems to be playing the sacred against the profane. And wrapping it all up in typical Germanic fashion within a relatively rigid form – in this case, a rondo.<\/p>\n

For those of you who are not familiar with rondo form it can be described rather like a rhyme scheme in poetry – a limerick follows the rhyme scheme of A-A-B-B-A, for example.<\/p>\n

In the rondo, instead of a rhyme scheme, you have a theme or group of themes (in the case of the sonata-rondo) that begins the movement, which you call ‘A’, and it alternates with variations or elaborations, or outright departures, which each get their own letter.<\/p>\n

So rondo form looks like this: A-B-A-C-A-D-A, and so on, until the composer runs out of inspiration, or the audience leaves, or the orchestra falls apart, etc.<\/p>\n

Here’s the opening figure of the movement, which you can use as a signpost to help orient yourself as the movement goes along – you’ll hear this in many different forms, faster and slower, and all around the orchestra, for the next 12 minutes or so:<\/p>\n[audio:mahler931.mp3]\n

As I started the discussion of this movement, you may remember that I talked about my belief that this movement is really about a battle between the sacred<\/em> and the profane<\/em>. It is, but it’s also (as often is also the case in Mahler) a battle between order<\/em> and chaos<\/em>, and the two dichotomies are interrelated.<\/p>\n

The sacred\/ordered<\/em> elements try to take over – the order factions are represented by the forces that keep trying to get the original theme to triumph, but it never really is allowed to take off \u00e2\u20ac\u201c much like the finale of the Fifth Symphony, where the triumphant chorale tries to take flight twice, only to fully bloom and reach its full resolution on the final attempt.<\/p>\n

In an ultimate expression of the (stereotypical) Germanic need for order, a fugue is repeatedly attempted, but always thwarted by various voices jumping in in the ‘wrong’ places and little motives fighting with each other for supremacy.<\/p>\n[audio:mahler932.mp3]\n

Here the opening theme tries to assert itself over the burlesque elements (represented by luridly sliding solo strings and the e-flat clarinet) that threaten its ordered existence.<\/p>\n[audio:mahler933.mp3]\n

As the movement progresses, we see the virtue of order<\/em> beginning to take on the trappings of the sublime or sacred<\/em>, while the lurid burlesque elements begin to lose their hold on power.<\/p>\n

The sacred motive takes a couple of trial runs to take hold, but it does briefly hold sway before the forces of chaos (unleashed forces of order, ironically enough) sweep in to end the movement in a final, hyper-frenetic free-for-all).<\/p>\n

Here is the final sacred<\/em> moment (it takes several tries, with the order<\/em> and chaos<\/em> forces interjecting briefly, with the final sacred moment presented by, what else, the solo viola, after trial balloons by the oboe and trumpet, respectively):<\/p>\n[audio:mahler934.mp3]\n

So, there’s a thumbnail sketch of the sprawling Rondo-Burleske of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony. Tomorrow: the opening, and even more sprawling, first movement: Andante comodo.<\/p>\n

The audio examples are from one of my favorite modern recordings of this piece, a rare live recording of Leonard Bernstein with the Berlin Philharmonic from 1979.<\/p>\n

It is available for download<\/a> from the DG Web Store.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What would a Mahler symphony be without a sprawling, hectic, and by turns achingly beautiful scherzo? Well, quite a bit shorter, for one. Mahler is often in the habit of taking a huge movement in cut time and making a huge journey out of it, and the Ninth Symphony is no exception.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[148,564,115,2],"tags":[310,813,3668],"class_list":["post-936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-audio","category-music","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-berlin-philharmonic","tag-gustav-mahler","tag-oregon-symphony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-f6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14097,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/05\/17\/mahler-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":936,"position":0},"title":"Mahler time","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If it's the end of the Oregon Symphony's season, chances are it's time to hear one of Mahler's magnificent symphonies. This season it is his massive Symphony No. 3. It will be my second time playing this wonderful piece, the first having been back in 2003 under Maestro James DePreist.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"1895-12-13-Mahler_ABPh_","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/1895-12-13-Mahler_ABPh_-300x429.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":944,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/27\/tired-and-sore\/","url_meta":{"origin":936,"position":1},"title":"tired and sore","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"That's how I feel this morning.\u00c2\u00a0 If you've played Mahler's Ninth twice the previous day, plus ridden the 9 miles to work and 9 miles back home before and after the rehearsal - it leads to a healthy sense of fatigue! The performance last night was memorable - this orchestra\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14490,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2017\/05\/21\/a-mahler-for-the-ages\/","url_meta":{"origin":936,"position":2},"title":"a mahler for the ages","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Quick\u00a0bulletin: if you don't have plans for this Monday night (May 22), make a point of coming out to the Oregon Symphony's closing classical concert of the season: Mahler's Second Symphony. Judging by how the first two performances have gone, this final one should be epic. Onstage brass, offstage brass,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/OoZdwam7wgw\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":938,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/23\/mahler-9-mvt-ii-im-tempo-eines-gemachlichen-landlers\/","url_meta":{"origin":936,"position":3},"title":"mahler 9 – II. Im Tempo eines gem\u00c3\u00a4chlichen L\u00c3\u00a4ndlers.","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"With the opening of the second movement of Mahler's Ninth Symphony, we're immediately in the realm of what Carlos Kalmar calls \"the leather pants!\" or lederhosen. Why? Because as the tempo indication at the beginning of the movement says, \"in a comfortable l\u00c3\u00a4ndler tempo\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a l\u00c3\u00a4ndler being a rustic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"lederhosen","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/lederhosen.thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":934,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/19\/a-few-old-school-mahlers-9th-recordings\/","url_meta":{"origin":936,"position":4},"title":"A few old-school Mahler’s 9th recordings","author":"Jeffrey Work","date":"April 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm pleased to welcome as my first guest blogger Jeffrey Work, principal trumpet of the Oregon Symphony. He, among other things, is an enthusiastic collector of old recordings, and as such, I thought that he might like to delve into his massive collection and give us some nuggets that relate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7575,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/05\/09\/sibelius-an-mahler\/","url_meta":{"origin":936,"position":5},"title":"sibelius & mahler","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"[In October 1907] Sibelius met the composer Gustav Mahler, who was visiting Helsinki. The two colleagues noticed that they had experienced the same phenomenon: with each new symphony both of them always lost listeners who had been captivated by the previous symphony. But they disagreed about the essence of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/JS_Goteborg_1915-200x306.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}