CMP Teaching Plan #2

Krista Witak

Adagietto – Symphony No. 5

Gustav Mahler/Carrie Lane Gruselle
arr. Gloria Dorschner
Alfred Music – Grade 3, ca. 3

Broad Description
 Scored for strings and harp; fourth movement of Symphony No. 5
 Slow, grand, and expressive
 Love song for Alma Mahler (wife)

The Heart Statement -

The heart of Mahler’s Adagietto is its representation of love and longing through harmonic tensions
and dissonances that develop the piece’s singular, simple melody, which evokes unique emotions in each
iteration.

Composer Biography: Gustav Mahler

- Mahler was born in Bohemia in 1860 to Jewish, German-speaking parents.

- As an Austrian/Bohemian composer and conductor, his music was briefly banned
from performance in Europe during the Nazi period. Nevertheless, his
reputation as a
conductor was unrefuted during his lifetime.
- He was one of the last great Romantic composers, and his work inspired the next era
of modernism by Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg.
- Upon marrying his wife, Alma, he declared that he could be the only composer in the
house, despite her musical accomplishments leading up to their relationship.
- Compositions were less central to his focus on conducting, and he preferred
symphonic works to operatic and chamber works. He confined most of his
composing to the summer months, as he had more time away from conducting. Thus,
 his compositions regularly overlapped one another during his writing process, which
may explain why many of his works have similar themes and musical ideas.

- He had several grand philosophies about music and life itself. Upon meeting Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, Mahler engaged
him in a deep discussion about the meaning of symphonies, claiming that a symphony, “must embrace the whole world” and
all its elements. This ideology led to his immense Eighth symphony, but was likely a driving force behind several of his earlier
works, as well.
- Mahler died in Vienna, Austria—as was his wish—in 1911 from Pneumonia.
Background Information
- Mahler composed his fifth symphony between 1901 and 1902, doing much of his work at a summer cottage. The work
premiered in 1904 in Cologne.
- Also during 1901, Mahler discovered he had nearly died from a hemorrhage, which took a long time to heal. The near-death
experience likely fueled much of his inspiration for the fifth symphony.
- “Adagietto” is the fourth movement of his fifth symphony, and is one of his most famous works. The movement is scored only
for strings and harp, and is regularly performed as a standalone piece.
- The movement serves as a love song for his wife, Alma Mahler (Schindler), who was also a composer prior to their marriage.
Conflict arose when he asked her, shortly after their courtship, to stop work on her own pieces to focus on copying down his
works. Mahler was notably stubborn, and rather entitled, but he was also deeply in love with Alma, hence his several works
openly written in her honor.
- The piece juxtaposes the rest of the symphony’s broad, often melancholy nature, reflective of Mahler’s struggles with his own
health and illness between 1901 and 1902. Prior to meeting Alma, Mahler’s outlook on life was rather grim, which is
evidenced in the three earlier movements of the fifth symphony, but Alma gave Gustav hope and inspired him to seek more
from life than what he was previously enraptured with.

Elements of Music
Measure Meter and Form Melody Rhythm Harmony Timbre Texture Expression
Tempo
1-11 Very slow; ♩ Exposition; First Quarter-note The movement is All strings; The section is Very soft
= 58 roughly violins pulse starts on in F major, but warm and almost beginning,
imitating have the beat 2 of m. 1 starts on the with lots of monophonic, but almost

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 theme in in the harp, dominant, C vibrato. the occasional inaudible.
mm. 2. followed by major. It then Airy tone that counter-melodic Arises from
the quarter- moves to the still has core. movement in the total silence,
note melody tonic and back String bass middle and lower building at max
in the first again, pizzicato, strings make it to a piano
violins, and to eventually along with the homophonic. dynamic.
harmonic move through the harp, adding
support in the tonic and rhythmic and
viola part supertonic to textural
alternating return to C at the contrast.
sonata form.
between the end of the theme,
tonic and leaving the
dominant. melody open and
The unresolved.
remaining
strings have
whole or half
notes
supporting the
harmony.
11-18 Tempo stays Continued First Non-melody More accidentals Celli pizz. at Homophonic Still whisper-
the same, Exposition violins strings are present in all m. 11-15, texture develops soft, the melody
melody has continue introduce parts; harmony joining the into a starts to turn
slight the melody quarter-notes; drifts away from bass and harp. heterophonic away from the
freedom until m. 12, parts are more the The loss in structure through sweet, gentle
when a rhythmically tonic/dominant bowed texture the call and ambience of the
quarter- involved. area to develop for these response action previous
note motif the supertonic and measures during m. 14-17 section.
is given to predominant facilitates the in the upper Suspensions
the second areas before build into m. strings and celli. and retardations
violins, returning to the 15 when the facilitate the
then to the dominant in m. cellos rejoin first glimpses of
celli, and 14-18. the rest of the the restless,

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 back to the upper strings longing, and
firsts. with arco to unsettled mood
conclude the further
melody’s first developed in
presentation. later sections.
Violas take In addition to The melody is Same as String bass arco Violas add
the melody the quarter- accompanied by opening, with in m. 26, depth to the
in the notes in the additional gradually accompanying the melody in a
pickup to primary accidentals and more core and mp dynamic build lower register,
m. 18 and theme, eighth- harmonic shifts resonance as into the next creating a
Slight rubato continue notes are away from the the dynamics section. The smoother blend
in celli; until m. 24 introduced as tonic and build. added harmonic in the overall
Ritardando when the passing tones dominant, movement in the tone color.
18-28 in m.26, Cont. second in the melody introducing other strings Dissonance in
before Exposition violins and in the augmented and creates a more the harmony
returning a have a harmonic diminished homophonic adds anxiety
tempo in m. counter support in the chords to the texture in this and tension to
28 melody lower strings. phrase’s section. the already
that harmonic expressive
develops progression. melodic line,
from the building to the
primary development in
melody. m. 28.
28-34 - Exposition, Violins Solely A diminished ii Still piano; Quarter-note All parts start
transitions to return with quarter-note chord in m. 32 resonant but motifs are passed the section with
the the theme movement begins a series of lighter and between the piano dynamic;
Development in beats 3 with half-note chromatic warmer than instruments, cello soli adds
& 4 in m. pulse. dissonances in the the phrase while the even more
27. Celli lower strings prior. String remaining parts depth and
have theme leading into m. pass returns to have non-moving richness to the
in pickup 34. pizz. in m. 30, long notes; melody, with
to m. 29- backing off of creates a more
30. the previously monophonic pronounced

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 thick texture sound. vibrato and
slightly. dynamic
expression as
the phrase leads
to the climax of
the whole piece.
Unsettled, the
phrase doesn’t
resolve before it
modulates to the
next key area,
further
emphasizing the
inner turmoil
and drama
previously
established.
34-41 Stringendo in Development Violins Mostly Harmonically Resonant, Bass arco; almost A poco a poco
m. 36, continues, return with quarter-notes, unstable as the warm, very all parts have crescendo into
followed by leading to the first some half- phrase builds to expressive. similar quarter- measure 41,
rit. in m. 39 recapitulation theme in notes and the dramatic String bass is note motion, getting heavier
m. 35, in whole-notes return to the now arco, building upon the and longer as
conjunction providing dominant in m. 41 adding to the homophonic the phrase
with the harmonic with a descending richness of the structure of the builds. This
tenuto support. Tied arpeggio in the upper strings. previous section. phrase has the
quarter- quarter-note celli and harp. largest dynamic
note tenuto’s in the contrast of the
harmonic upper strings whole piece.
dissonance generate a
in the stronger pull,
remaining still
parts. emphasizing
the half-note

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 pulse.
41-end Eighth-note Eighth-note Return to C major All Starts in an
ascending pattern passed as the dominant breathiness is almost
and between key, emphasized abandoned, heterophonic
descending instruments, by the replaced with style with passing
scale accompanied arpeggiating C-F bold, wide eighth-notes in Fortissimo in
passes by half-note pattern in the vibrato and the upper strings all parts; paired
between pulse in lower strings and strong tone, and harp, with a piu
first and remaining harp. swelling and gradually fading mosso in m. 41,
second strings, by m. ebbing to only the violins which becomes
violins, 43, all gradually playing quarter- meno mosso in
violas, and remaining within sub- notes, reverting to m. 43, and then
Cont. Recap.; celli. strings have phrases to add the minimalistic finally a dim.
call-and- whole notes— to the drama homophonic molto in m. 44
response with including the of the ending. structure present that literally
Coda, of
eighth-notes harp—with at the beginning “dies away”
sorts…
in the first the exception of the piece. with the
few measures of the first morendo in m.
violins that 46, to reach ppp
play quarter- by m. 47.
notes until m. In its
47. All other conclusion, the
parts re-enter piece returns to
beat 3 of m. the same silence
47 with a it was born
half-note, from.
preparing the
final chord in
the following
measure.

Sang through, studied, and marked parts

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Piccolo Cornets/Trumpets ✓ 1st Violins
Flutes Horns ✓ 2nd Violins
Oboes Trombones ✓ Violas
English Horn Euphoniums ✓ Celli
Bassoons Tubas ✓ String Bass
Eb Clarinet ✓ Harp
Clarinets Timpani
Alto Clarinets Snare Drum Sopranos
Bass Clarinets Mallet Percussion Altos
Contra Bass/Alto Clarinet Remaining Percussion Tenors
Saxophones Piano Basses