Program Notes - Mahler Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"

SOUNDINGS 2015-2016 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 1

MASTERWORKS • 2015-2016

MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 2 “RESURRECTION”

COLORADO SYMPHONY ANDREW LITTON, conductor

SARAH FOX, sopranoKELLEY O’CONNOR, mezzo COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS, DUAIN WOLFE, directorTHE EVANS CHOIR, CATHERINE SAILER, director

Friday, February 19, 2016 at 7:30 pmSaturday, February 20, 2016 at 7:30 pmBoettcher Concert Hall

MAHLER Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection”

Allegro maestoso: Mit durchaus ernstem und feierlichem Ausdruck

Andante moderato: Sehr gemächlich

In ruhig fliessender Bewegung

Urlicht: Sehr feierlich, aber schlicht

Finale: Scherzo

This concert will be performed without intermission.

The custom Allen Digital Computer Organ is provided by MervineMuisc, LLC

This weekend of concerTs is graTefully dedicaTed To Merle chaMbers and hugh granT

saTurday’s concerT is graTefully dedicaTed To alan and Judy wigod

PROGRAM 2 SOUNDINGS 2015-2016 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIESANDREW LITTON, conductor

Colorado Symphony Music Director Andrew Litton is the newly appointed Music Director of the New York City Ballet. Mr. Litton also serves as Bergen Philharmonic Music Director Laureate, Artistic Director of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Sommerfest, and Conductor Laureate of Britain’s Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. He guest conducts the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies, and has a discography of over 120 recordings with awards including America’s Grammy, France’s Diapason d’Or, and many other honors. Besides his Grammy®-winning Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast

with Bryn Terfel and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, he also recorded the complete symphonies by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, a Mahler cycle with the Dallas Symphony, and many Gershwin recordings as both conductor and pianist. Mr. Litton is a graduate of the Fieldston School, New York, and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School in piano and conducting. The youngest-ever winner of the BBC International Conductors Competition, he served as Assistant Conductor at Teatro alla Scala and Exxon/Arts Endowment Assistant Conductor for the National Symphony under Rostropovich. His many honors in addition to Norway’s Order of Merit include an honorary Doctorate from the University of Bournemouth, Yale University’s Sanford Medal, and the Elgar Society Medal. An accomplished pianist, Litton often conducts from the keyboard and enjoys performing chamber music with his orchestra colleagues. For further information, visit www.andrewlitton.com.

SARAH FOX, soprano

Born in Yorkshire, Sarah Fox is one of the leading English sopranos of her generation. She was educated at Giggleswick School, London University and the Royal College of Music. A former winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the John Christie Award, she is equally at home in many musical genres including opera, folksong and musical theatre. Roles at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden have included Micaela/Carmen, Asteria/Tamerlano, Zerlina/Don Giovanni and Woglinde/Der Ring des Nibelungen. Other highlights include Asteria (Munich and Barcelona opposite

Domingo); Zerlina (Glyndebourne and Cincinnati); Woglinde (Salzburg & Aix-en-Provence Festivals); Susanna/Le Nozze di Figaro (Glyndebourne and The Royal Danish Opera); Ilia/Idomeneo (De Vlaamse Opera); and Mimi/La Boheme (Opera North). Her prestigious concert career has taken her worldwide. Highlights include engagements in Denver, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Tel Aviv and Tokyo, as well as tours throughout the UK, Europe & Scandinavia.Collaborations include the Berlin Philharmonic/Rattle, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Nelsons and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra/Litton. Other highlights include concerts with Rufus Wainwright & with the John Wilson Orchestra. She is also a highly accomplished recitalist with a particular affinity for French Song. Her discography includes Il re pastore/Aminta (Classical Opera Company), The Cole Porter Songbook, Poulenc Songs and Mahler’s 4th Symphony (Philharmonia/Mackerras) for Signum/Signum Classics; Vaughan Williams’ 3rd Symphony (Halle/Elder) for the Halle label; Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem (Colorado Symphony Orchestra/Litton) and Poulenc Songs (with Graham Johnson) for Hyperion; “That’s Entertainment” (John Wilson Orchestra) for EMI classics; and “Cole Porter in Hollywood” (JWO) for Warner Classics.

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MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIESKELLEY O’CONNOR, mezzo-soprano

Possessing a voice of uncommon allure, musical sophistication far beyond her years, and intuitive and innate dramatic artistry, the Grammy® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor has emerged as one of the most compelling performers of her generation. She appears with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and has created meaningful artistic relationships with such eminent conductors and directors as Gustavo Dudamel, Iván Fischer, Louis Langrée, Donald Runnicles, Peter Sellars, Robert Spano, and Franz Welser-Möst. Her discography includes Golijov’s

Ainadamar and Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony as well as Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra. www.kelleyoconnor.com

DUAIN WOLFE, Colorado Symphony Chorus, director

Recently awarded two Grammys® for Best Choral Performance and Best Classical Recording, Duain Wolfe is founder and Director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus and Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. This year marks Wolfe’s 31st season with the Colorado Symphony Chorus. The Chorus has been featured at the Aspen Music Festival for over two decades. Wolfe, who is in his 21st season with the Chicago Symphony Chorus has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, and the late Sir George Solti on numerous recordings including Wagner’s Die

Meistersinger, which won the 1998 Grammy® for Best Opera Recording. Wolfe’s extensive musical accomplishments have resulted in numerous awards, including an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Denver, the Bonfils Stanton Award in the Arts and Humanities, the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline and the Michael Korn Award for the Development of the Professional Choral Art. Wolfe is also founder of the Colorado Children’s Chorale, from which he retired in 1999 after 25 years; the Chorale celebrated its 40th anniversary last season. For 20 years, Wolfe also worked with the Central City Opera Festival as chorus director and conductor, founding and directing the company’s young artist residence program, as well as its education and outreach programs. Wolfe’s additional accomplishments include directing and preparing choruses for Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, the Bravo!Vail Festival, the Berkshire Choral Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Grand Teton Music Festival. He has worked with Pinchas Zuckerman as Chorus Director for the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra for the past 13 years.

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MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIESCATHERINE SAILER, The Evans Choir, director

Catherine Sailer, Director of Choral Studies at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music, conducts the Lamont Chorale, Lamont Women’s Chorus, and the independent chamber choir, the Evans Choir. She is also the Associate Conductor of the Colorado Ballet Orchestra. Conducting credits include the Santa Fe Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Beijing Symphony, National Opera of China, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music Orchestra, Central City Opera, Bravo! Vail Valley Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival Chorus and Orchestra,

Madrigal Vocale (Brazil), Rheinpfalz International Choir, and the Shanghai International Choral League. She has collaborated as conductor or chorus master with singers William Warfield and Marilyn Horne and conductors Bramwell Tovey, Robert Spano, Ed Spanjaard, Eric Whitacre, Victor Yampolsky, Marius Szmolig, Stephen Alltop, David Amram, Tan Dun, David Fanshawe, and Marin Alsop, and prepared choruses for performances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Aspen Festival Orchestra, and Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra. Catherine Sailer received the Doctor of Music with honors in conducting from Northwestern University and the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance and Conducting from the University of Denver. She is president of Colorado ACDA, and was selected as an ICEP exchange fellow to China. She was named the winner of the Robert Shaw Fellowship in 2005, chosen by Chorus America and supported by Warner Brothers and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her other awards include first place at the American Choral Director’s Association Conducting Competition.

COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS

2015/16 Colorado Symphony season marks the 32nd year of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Founded in 1984 by Duain Wolfe at the request of Gaetano Delogu, then the Music Director of the Colorado Symphony, the chorus has grown over the past three decades into a nationally respected ensemble. This outstanding chorus of 180 volunteers joins the Colorado Symphony for numerous performances (more than 25 this year alone), and radio and television broadcasts.The Chorus has performed at noted music festivals in the Rocky Mountain region, including the Colorado Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival and the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, where it has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Dallas Symphony. For over two decades, the Chorus has been featured at the world-renowned Aspen Music Festival, performing many great masterworks under the baton of notable conductors Lawrence Foster, James Levine, Murry Sidlin, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano and David Zinman. The Colorado Symphony Chorus is featured on a recent Hyperion release of the Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem and Hough’s Missa Mirabilis. In 2009, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the chorus, Duain Wolfe conducted the chorus on a three-country, two-week concert tour of Europe, presenting the Verdi Requiem in Budapest, Vienna, Litomysl and Prague. The Chorus will return to Europe in 2016 for concerts in Paris, Strasbourg and Munich. The Colorado Symphony continues to be grateful for the excellence and dedication of this remarkable all-volunteer ensemble. For an audition appointment, call 303.308.2483.


MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIESCOLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS ROSTER

Duain Wolfe, Founding Director and Conductor; Mary Louise Burke, Associate Conductor;Travis Branam, Assistant Conductor; Taylor Martin, Staff Conductor;Eric Israelson, Chorus Manager; Barbara Porter, Associate ManagerBrian Dukeshier, Joshua Sawicki, Danni Snyder, Accompanists

Soprano IJamie BrownLindsay R. CampbellDenelda CauseyLeEtta H. ChoiGretchen ColbertKaylin E. DanielsLaura DukeshierKate A. EmerichJenifer D. GileLori C. GillSusan GraberJennifer HarpelLynnae C. HinkleyAngela M. HuppShelley E. JoyMary E. KirschnerKrista KuhnMarina KushnirCathy LookAnne MaupinStephanie MedemaWendy L. MoraskieBarbara A. PorterLori A. RopaKelly G. RossKathi RudolphCamilia SchawelRoberta A. SladovnikStephanie A. SolichNicole J. SteginkJudy TateCourtney WilliamsCara Young

Soprano IIJude BlumAlex S. BowenAthanasia ChristusRuth A. CoberlyKerry H. CoteClaudia DakkouriEsther J. GrossLisa D. KraftErin MontigneChristine M. NyholmJeannette R. O’NanKim PflugDonneve S. RaeRebecca E. Rattray

Shirley J. RiderNancy C. SaddlerLynne M. SnyerStacey L. TravisSusan Von RoedernMarcia L. WalkerSherry L. WeinsteinSandy Woodrow

Alto IPriscilla P. AdamsLois F. BradyEmily M. BranamKimberly BrownAmy BuesingClair T. ClausonJayne M. ConradJane A. CostainSheri L. DanielAubri K. DunkinKirsten D. FranzSharon R. GayleyGabriella D. GroomPat GuittarEmily HallerMelissa J. HolstKaia M. HoopesCarol E. HorleAnnie KolstadDeanna KraftSusan McWatersLeah MeromyKristen NordenholzGinny PassothMary B. ThayerPat VirtueHeather Wood

Alto IIKay A. BootheCass ChatfieldMartha E. CoxBarbara DeckJoyce DominguezCarol A. EslickDaniela GoldenHansi HoskinsOlivia IsaacBrandy H. JacksonEllen D. Janasko

Janice KiblerCarole A. LondonJoanna MaltzahnBarbara MarchbankKelly T. McNultyBeverly MendicelloLeslie M. NittoliKali PaguiriganLisa PakPamela R. ScoorosLisa TownsendGinny Trierweiler

Tenor IJames DeMarcoDustin DouganBrian DukeshierJoel C. GeweckeFrank Gordon, Jr.Forrest Guittar, Jr.Chris E. HassellDavid K. HodelRichard A. MoraskieGarvis J. MuesingTimothy W. NicholasWilliam J. O’DonnellWilliam G. ReileyRyan WallerKenneth A. Zimmerman

Tenor IIGary E. BabcockMac BradleyDusty R. DaviesStephen C. DixonRoger FuehrerJohn H. GaleKenneth E. KolmTaylor S. MartinBrandt J. MasonStephen J. MeswarbTom A. MilliganRonald L. RuthJerry E. SimsJeffrey P. Wolf

Bass IJohn G. AdamsTravis D. BranamGrant H. CarltonGeorge CowenRobert E. DrickeyBenjamin EickhoffCorey FalterMatthew GrayDouglas D. HesseDonald HumeThomas J. JirakNalin J. MehtaKenneth QuarlesTrevor B. RutkowskiDavid R. StruthersDuane WhiteBenjamin WilliamsBrian W. Wood

Bass IIBob FriedlanderDan GibbonsChris GrossmanEric W. IsraelsonTerry L. JacksonRoy A. KentMike A. KraftRobert F. Millar, Jr.Kenneth MoncrieffGreg A. MorrisonEugene J. NuccioJohn R. PhillipsRussell R. SkillingsWil W. SwansonTom G. Virtue


MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIESTHE EVANS CHOIR

The Evans Choir is a chamber choir made up of professional singers and conductors in the Denver area committed to performing and promoting choral music at the highest level. Under the direction of founder-conductor Catherine Sailer, the ensemble performs a wide variety of repertoire, from the Renaissance to the Avant-Garde. The Evans Choir has collaborated in productions with the New York Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Central City Opera, Asian Performing Arts of Colorado, Colorado Ballet, Christopher O’Reily, Josh Groban, the Playground Ensemble, Quattro Mani, Star Wars in Concert National Tour, Joseph Galema, and composers Tan Dun and Morten Lauridsen. Festival appearances include the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and the LA premiere of Poet Li Bai. The choir is named after Evans Chapel, where members of the choir performed together in Sailer’s first conducting recital, and the beautiful Mt. Evans.

THE EVANS CHOIR ROSTERSoprano Lydia ArenasSharon BillingsClelyn BrownMegan BunessGracie CarrJennifer FergusonJoanna FlemingClaire HeCathy SchulzeKaitlin SmithAna Spadoni

AltoKrista BeckmanPiper BrownFaith Goins Hannah GreeneCarolyn HoffmanSkye SavageHeidi SchmidtDanica SmithMyranda Whitesides

TenorNick CapozzolaKevin GwinnBlake Nawa’aMatthew StewartAmra Tomsic

BassLucas AlexanderSam BairdWilliam BarksdaleRich DunstonJohn HetzlerConrad KehnRyan KozakJody ManfordZeky NadjiPaul Zink

Carnival of the Animals and the Story of BabarMAR 13 T SUN 1:00Andres Lopera, conductor SAINT-SAËNS Carnival of the Animals POULENC The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant

coloradosymphony.org T 303.623.7876

BOX OFFICE MON-FRI 10 AM - 6 PM T SAT 12 PM - 6 PM


MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTESGUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911): Symphony No. 2 for Soprano and Mezzo-Soprano Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra in C minor, “Resurrection”Gustav Mahler was born on July 7, 1860 in Kalischt, Bohemia, and died on May 18, 1911 in Vienna. The Symphony No. 2 was composed between 1888 and 1894. Richard Strauss conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in the work’s first three movements on March 4, 1895. Mahler himself led the first complete performance later that year, on December 13th in Berlin. doubling English horn), E-flat clarinet, four clarinets (3rd doubling bass clarinet, 4th doubling E-flat clarinet), four bassoons (4th doubling contrabassoon), six horns, six trumpets, four trombones, tuba, two timpani, percussion, two harps, organ, and strings, plus an offstage band of four horns, four trumpets, timpani, percussion; soprano and mezzo-soprano soloists, and chorus. The last performance by the orchestra was on June 5-7, 2009, with Jeffrey Kahane conducting.

In August 1886, the distinguished conductor Arthur Nikisch, later music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, appointed the 26-year-old Gustav Mahler as his assistant at the Leipzig Opera. At Leipzig, Mahler met Carl von Weber, grandson of the composer, and the two worked on a new performing edition of the virtually forgotten Weber opera Die drei Pintos (“The Three Pintos,” two being impostors of the title character). Following the premiere of Die Drei Pintos, on January 20, 1888, Mahler attended a reception in a room filled with flowers. This seemingly beneficent image played on his mind, becoming transmogrified into nightmares and waking visions, almost hallucinations, of himself on a funeral bier surrounded by floral wreaths.

The First Symphony was completed in March 1888 and its successor was begun almost immediately. Mahler, spurred by the startling visions of his own death, conceived the new work as a tone poem entitled Totenfeier (“Funeral Rite”). The title was apparently taken from the translation by the composer’s close friend Siegfried Lipiner, titled Totenfeier, of Adam Mickiewicz’s Polish epic Dziady. Though he inscribed his manuscript, “Symphony in C minor/First Movement,” Mahler had no idea at the time what sort of music would follow Totenfeier, and he considered allowing the movement to stand as an independent work.

The next five years were ones of intense professional and personal activity for Mahler. He resigned from the Leipzig Opera in May 1888 and applied for posts in Karlsruhe, Budapest, Hamburg and Meiningen. To support his petition for this last position, he wrote to Hans von Bülow, director at Meiningen until 1885, to ask for his recommendation, but the letter was ignored. Richard Strauss, however, the successor to Bülow at Meiningen, took up Mahler’s cause on the evidence of his talent furnished by Die Drei Pintos and his growing reputation as a conductor of Mozart and Wagner. When Strauss showed Bülow the score for the Weber/Mahler opera, Bülow responded caustically, “Be it Weberei or Mahlerei [puns in German on ‘weaving’ and ‘painting’], it makes no difference to me. The whole thing is a pastiche, an infamous, out-of-date bagatelle. I am simply nauseated.” Mahler, needless to say, did not get the job at Meiningen, but he was awarded the position at Budapest, where his duties began in October 1888.

In 1891, Mahler switched jobs once again, this time leaving Budapest to join the prestigious Hamburg Opera as principal conductor. There he encountered Bülow, who was director of the Hamburg Philharmonic concerts. Bülow had certainly not forgotten his earlier low estimate of Mahler the composer, but after a performance of Siegfried he allowed that “Hamburg has now acquired a simply first-rate opera conductor in Mr. Gustav Mahler.” Encouraged by Bülow’s admiration of his conducting, Mahler asked for his comments on the still-unperformed Totenfeier. Mahler described their encounter:


MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES“When I played my Totenfeier for Bülow, he fell into a state of extreme nervous tension,

clapped his hands over his ears and exclaimed, ‘Beside your music, Tristan sounds as simple as a Haydn symphony! If that is still music then I do not understand a single thing about music!’ We parted from each other in complete friendship, I, however, with the conviction that Bülow considers me an able conductor but absolutely hopeless as a composer.”

Mahler, who throughout his career considered his composition more important than his conducting, was deeply wounded by this behavior, but he controlled his anger out of respect for Bülow, who had extended him many kindnesses and become something of a mentor. Bülow did nothing to quell his doubts about the quality of his creative work, however, and Mahler, who had written nothing since Totenfeier three years before, was at a crisis in his career as a composer.

A year after Bülow’s withering criticisms Mahler found inspiration to compose again in a collection of German folk poems by Ludwig Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano called Des Knaben Wunderhorn (“The Youth’s Magic Horn”). He had known these texts since at least 1887, and in 1892 set four of them for voice and piano, thereby renewing some of his creative self-confidence. The following summer, when he was free from the pressures of conducting, he took rustic lodgings in the village of Steinbach on Lake Attersee in the lovely Austrian Salzkammergut, near Salzburg, and it was there that he resumed work on the Second Symphony, five years after the first movement had been completed. Without a clear plan as to how they would fit into the Symphony’s overall structure, he used two of the Wunderhorn songs from the preceding year as the bases for the internal movements of the piece. On July 16th, he completed the orchestral score of the Scherzo, derived from Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt, a cynical poem about St. Anthony preaching a sermon to the fishes, who, like some human congregations, return to their fleshly ways as soon as the holy man finishes his lesson. Only three days later, Urlicht (“Primal Light”) for mezzo-soprano solo was completed; by the end of the month, the Andante, newly conceived, was finished.

By late summer 1893, the first four movements of the Symphony were finished, but Mahler was still unsure about the work’s ending. The finality implied by the opening movement’s “Funeral Rite” seemed to allow no logical progression to another point of climax. As a response to the questions posed by the first movement, he envisioned a grand choral close for the work, much in the manner of the triumphant ending of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. “My experience with the last movement of my Second Symphony was such that I literally ransacked world literature, even including the Bible, to find the redeeming word.” Still, no solution presented itself.

In December 1892, Bülow’s health gave out and he designated Mahler to be his successor as conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic concerts. A year later Bülow went to Egypt for treatment but died suddenly at Cairo on February 12, 1894. Mahler was deeply saddened by the news. He met with Josef Förster the same day and played through the Totenfeier with such emotion that his friend was convinced it was offered “in memory of Bülow.” Förster described the memorial service at Hamburg’s St. Michael Church: “Mahler and I were present at the moving farewell.... The strongest impression to remain was that of the singing of the children’s voices. The effect was created not just by Klopstock’s profound poem [Auferstehen — ‘Resurrection’] but by the innocence of the pure sounds issuing from the children’s throats. The funeral procession started. At the Hamburg Opera, where Bülow had so often delighted the people, he was greeted by the funeral music from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung [conducted by Mahler].


MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES“Outside the Opera, I could not find Mahler. But that afternoon I hurried to his apartment as

if to obey a command. I opened the door and saw him sitting at his writing desk. He turned to me and said: ‘Dear friend, I have it!’ I understood: ‘Auferstehen, ja auferstehen wirst du nach kurzen Schlaf.’ I had guessed the secret: Klopstock’s poem, which that morning we had heard from the mouths of children, was to be the basis for the finale of the Second Symphony.” On June 29, 1894, three months later, Mahler completed his monumental “Resurrection” Symphony, six years after it was begun.

Mahler once wrote, “What is best in music is not to be found in the notes.” Music, he believed, reflected the greatest thoughts of man, and the creative musician needed to bring to his work not only a technical skill but also the best qualities of a man of letters, a philosopher and a painter. There was no higher calling in Mahler’s world than the one to which he had been summoned. “What one makes music out of is still the whole — that is, the feeling, thinking, suffering human being,” he wrote to his protégé Bruno Walter. Mahler’s symphonies, especially those incorporating the sung word, carry transcendent messages of hope, as though, wrote Philip Barford, “In the background of his mind there seems always to be the image of a ladder up which humanity can climb to heaven.” After the funeral rite of the Second Symphony’s opening (and the two intervening intermezzo-like movements), the surpassingly beautiful Urlicht for mezzo-soprano soloist, with its symbolism of holy light leading the soul out of the darkness of death, serves to introduce the vision of resurrection — the resurrection of the body in Klopstock’s poem and the transfiguration of the spirit as it soars toward eternal light in verses added by Mahler.

The composer himself gave the following guide to the unfolding of this epochal Symphony: “1st movement. We stand by the coffin of a well-loved person. His life, struggles, passions

and aspirations once more, for the last time, pass before our mind’s eye. — And now in this moment of gravity and of emotion which convulses our deepest being, our heart is gripped by a dreadfully serious voice which always passes us by in the deafening bustle of daily life: What now? What is this life — and this death? Do we have an existence beyond it? Is all this only a confused dream, or do life and this death have a meaning? — And we must answer this question if we are to live on.

“2nd movement — Andante (in the style of a Ländler). You must have attended the funeral of a person dear to you and then, perhaps, the picture of a happy hour long past arises in your mind like a ray of sun undimmed — and you can almost forget what has happened.

“3rd movement — Scherzo, based on Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt. When you awaken from the nostalgic daydream [of the preceding movement] and you return to the confusion of real life, it can happen that the ceaseless motion, the senseless bustle of daily activity may strike you with horror. Then life can seem meaningless, a gruesome, ghostly spectacle, from which you may recoil with a cry of disgust!

“4th movement — Urlicht (mezzo-soprano solo). The moving voice of naïve faith sounds in our ear: I am of God, and desire to return to God! God will give me a lamp, will light me to eternal bliss!

“5th movement. We again confront all the dreadful questions and the mood of the end of the first movement. The end of all living things has come. The Last Judgment is announced and the ultimate terror of this Day of Days has arrived. The earth quakes, the graves burst open, the dead rise and stride hither in endless procession. Our senses fail us and all consciousness fades away at the approach of the eternal Spirit. The ‘Great Summons’ resounds: the trumpets of the


apocalypse call. Softly there sounds a choir of saints and heavenly creatures: ‘Rise again, yes, thou shalt rise again.’ And the glory of God appears. All is still and blissful. And behold: there is no judgment; there are no sinners, no righteous ones, no great and no humble — there is no punishment and no reward! An almighty love shines through us with blessed knowing and being.”

©2015 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

Urlicht (“Primal Light”)

O Röschen rot! Oh red rose!Der Mensch liegt in grösster Not! Man lies in deepest need,Der Mensch liegt in grösster Pein! Man lies in deepest pain.Je lieber möcht’ ich im Himmel sein! Much would I rather be in heaven!

Da kam ich auf einen breiten Weg: Then I came onto a broad path:Da kam ein Engelein und wollt’ mich abweisen! An angel came and wanted to send me away.Ach nein! Ich liess mich nicht abweisen! Ah, no! I would not be sent away.Ich bin von Gott und will wieder zu Gott! I am from God and will return to God!Der liebe Gott wird mir ein Lichtchen geben, Dear God will give me a light,Wird leuchten mir in das ewig selig Leben! Will illumine me to eternal, blessed life!

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Chorus and Soprano

Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n wirst du, Rise again, yes you will rise again,mein Staub, nach kurzer Ruh: my dust, after a short rest:Unsterblich Leben Immortal lifewird der dich rief dir geben. will He who called you grant to you.

Wieder aufzublüh’n wirst du gesät! To bloom again you are sown!Der Herr der Ernte geht The Lord of the harvest goesund sammelt Garben and gathers sheaves,uns ein, die starben! even us, who died!

MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES


Mezzo-Soprano

O glaube, mein Herz, o glaube, O believe, my heart, o believe,es geht dir nichts verloren! Nothing will be lost to you!Dein ist, was du gesehnt, What you longed for is yours,dein was du geliebt, Yours, what you have loved,was du gestritten! what you have struggled for!

O glaube, O believe,du warst nicht umsonst geboren! You were not born in vain!Hast nicht umsonst gelebt, You have not lived in vain,gelitten! Suffered in vain!

Chorus

Was entstanden ist, What was createddas muss vergehen! must pass away!Was vergangen, aufersteh’n! What has passed away must rise!Hör auf zu beben! Cease trembling!Bereite dich zu leben! Prepare yourself to live!

Soprano and Mezzo-Soprano

O Schmerz! Du Alldurchdringer, O suffering! You that pierce all things,dir bin ich entrungen! From you have I been wrested!O Tod! Du Allbezwinger, O death! You that overcome all things,nun bist du bezwungen! now you are overcome!Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen, With wings that I have won for myselfin heissem Liebesstreben, in the fervent struggle of love,werd’ ich entschweben I shall fly awayzum Licht, zu dem kein Aug’ gedrungen! to the light which no eye has pierced.

Chorus

Sterben werd’ ich, um zu leben! I shall die in order to live!

Soloists and Chorus

Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n wirst du, Rise again, yes you will rise again,mein Herz, in einem Nu! my heart, in the twinkling of an eye!Was du geschlagen, What you have conqueredzu Gott wird es dich tragen! will carry you to God!

MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES

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Program Notes - Mahler Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"