Deryk Musical Weblog

Marvellous! No sooner had I congratulated the Victoria Symphony for not calling Mahler's First by its inappropriate nickname "Titan" anywhere on their website when I saw that their advertising material and programme for the concert actually go one step further, calling it "The Titan."

OK folks, I know this is a particular bee I have in my bonnet, but can we try and get this straight once and for all?

At its first performance, in Budapest in 1889, Mahler's First was programmed as a "Symphonic Poem in two parts", the first part consisting of three movements, the second of two.

The next performances of the work were in 1893 in Hamburg and 1894 in Weimar. For these Mahler made considerable changes to the work (composing a new final coda), introduced a programme and dubbed the work "Titan" (no definite article, please note), or, to be precise: "'Titan', eine Tondichtung in Symphonie-form."

The programme, in translation, reads:

    1st Part. 'From the days of Youth', Flower-. Fruit- and Thorn-pieces.
	1. 'Spring without End' (Introduction and Allegro comodo). The
 	   Introduction depicts Nature's awakening from the long sleep
 	   of winter.
	2. 'Blumine' (Andante)
	3. 'In full sail' (Scherzo)

    2nd Part. 'Commedia humana'.
	4. 'Aground' (Funeral March 'in the manner of Callot'). The
 	   following may serve as an explanation: The external
 	   stimulus for this piece of music came to the composer from
 	   the parodistic picture, known to all children in Austria,
 	   'The Hunter's Funeral Procession', from an old book of
 	   children's fairy tales: the beasts of the forest accompany
 	   the dead woodsman's coffin to the grave, with hares
 	   carrying a small banner, with a band of Bohemian
 	   musicians, in front, and the procession escorted by
 	   music-making cats, toads, crows etc. with stags, roes,
 	   foxes and other four-legged and feathered creatures of the
 	   forest in comic postures. At this point the piece is
 	   conceived as the expression of a mood now ironically merry,
 	   now weirdly brooding, which is then promptly followed by:
	5. 'Dall' Inferno' (Allegro furioso), the sudden eruption of a
 	   heart wounded to the quick.

The Weimar programme has a few minor emendations but is essentially identical.

At the next performance, in Berlin, 1896, there were major changes: the work was billed as "Symphonie in D-dur für grosses Orchestra" (Symphony in D major, for large orchestra), the original second movement was dropped, as were all of the titles, the programme and the division of the work into two parts.

The finally-published full score (Berlin, 1899) is similarly lacking any sobriquet, in four movements and programme-less.

There is therefore neither reason, nor justification for billing the 1899 version as "Titan" (and even less for prepending the definite article).

Presumably this is done (and the Victoria Symphony are far from alone in this) to convey the notion that the music is - like the Academy Award-winning ocean liner - "Titanic", yet this was hardly Mahler's intention.

The name "Titan" which, as we have seen, should only be attached to the 1893/4 Hamburg-Weimar revision, was derived from a three volume "novel of ideas" of that title, by Jean Paul (Richter), who was also the favourite author of another composer: Robert Schumann.

Moreover, there are significant differences between the 1893 and 1899 versions, both in musical detail and the size of the orchestra. Indeed, I'm surprised that more orchestras don't perform the 1893 version: despite the differences in instrumentation, it is substantially the same work, yet would be cheaper to stage.

So, to sum up: unless you are talking about the 1893/4 Weimar-Hamburg revision, Mahler's First Symphony should not be referred to as "Titan".

And never as "The Titan".

Please.

It seems that everybody and his dog has a "blog" these days, so I thought I shouldn't get left behind. Of course, there's no point writing unless you actually have something to say, so the entries in here are likely to be sporadic, to say the least. deryk