Once, when Mahler was 5,his father left him sitting on a tree stump in the Bavarian forest and told himto wait there until he returned. Detained longer than expected, on his returnthe father found his little boy in a trance, so spellbound was he by the sightsand sounds of nature.
The spellbinding powerof nature pervades all of Mahler's music, but especially his Third Symphony. His protégé, the conductor BrunoWalter, wrote: “It is not a ‘lover of nature' who speaks here, but Natureherself transformed into music.”
Composed for largeorchestra in the 1890s, the third of Mahler's 10 symphonies runs nearly 100minutes. It's the longest symphony ever written, but there's never a dull moment. Before he dropped the subtitles for itssix movements, Mahler titled the first movement “Summer Marches In.” As long assome entire symphonies by other composers, it's an exhilarating panorama ofpantheist pandemonium.
The much shorter secondmovement, originally subtitled “What the Wildflowers Tell Me,” nicely reflectsthat delicate side of nature. Thethird movement, originally subtitled “What the Forest Animals Tell Me,”alternates between jaunty and rambunctious and features dreamy solos forposthorn, a rare instrument that is often substituted by an offstage trumpet.
In the fourth movement,marked misterioso, the human voiceenters for the first time, as a mezzo-soprano sings a short passage from Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Who but Mahlerwould put Nietzsche's pantheist version of eternity on equal footing with aChristian version of the same instinctual yearning?
The fifth movementjuxtaposes a child's naïve faith with the philosopher's struggle to turn doubtinto affirmation. The shortest part of this six-part symphony, its text, takenfrom German folk poetry, depicts St. Peter's own admission through heaven'sgate via repentance of his sins. Here a chorus of women's and children's voicescheerfully consoles the apostle and the rest of fallible humanity.
Then, without pause, thestrings begin the sublime adagio final movement, which grows to ecstaticheights, ending in a dazzling climax punctuated by two timpani players. Mahlersaid this movement represents “the peak, the highest level from which one can viewthe world. I could almost call it ‘what God tells me,' in the sense that Godcan only be comprehended as Love.”
The MSO, women from the MSO Chorus, theMilwaukee Children's Choir and mezzo-sopranoKelley O'Connor will perform Mahler's Third Symphony conducted by Edo de Waart in Uihlein Hall, 8 p.m. June 4-5 and 2:30p.m. June 6.
