Program notes for Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Resurrection)
By Emily Reese

Gustav Mahler
b. July 7, 1860; Kalischt, Bohemia
d. May 18, 1911; Vienna
Premiered movements 1-3 Berlin, March 4, 1895; complete symphony premiered Berlin, December 13, 1895

Despite festering and intensifying anti-Semitism throughout Europe, primarily in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Gustav Mahler established himself as an accomplished composer and innovative conductor by his early twenties. It was well known that Mahler was Jewish, just as it was clear that Richard Wagner was a staunch anti-Semite; yet Mahler maintained a public loyalty to Wagner by conducting frequent performances of Wagner’s works, and also by his membership to the Academic Wagner Society. Mahler's international success was no doubt hindered because of bans placed on Jewish composers at the time, and it was not until the posthumous celebration of his 100th birthday that the composer officially reached international praise and acclaim.

Mahler completed the first movement of his second symphony in 1888, either simultaneously with his First Symphony or shortly thereafter. He titled it Todtenfeier (Funeral March), then set aside the composition for a number of years. He knew he wanted to compose an orchestral piece with choir on the scale of Beethoven’s Ninth and Mendelssohn’s Second, but his concern that any outcome would be critically compared against those works slowed his creative production. While attending the funeral of his friend and mentor Hans von Bülow in February of 1894, Mahler had an unexpected epiphany that charged his otherwise flat vision when, “the choir, in the organ-loft, sang Klopstock’s Resurrection chorale. It was like a flash of lightening, and everything became plain and clear in my mind!”

The premiere of the first three movements occurred in Berlin in March of 1895.  The energetic audience response was overshadowed by callous disapproval from critics, but Mahler still pushed for a full premiere by the end of the year in the same city. The negative response from the March premiere undoubtedly affected ticket sales, forcing Mahler to provide free tickets to musicians and conservatory musicians. Mahler developed a debilitating migraine the day of the complete premiere in December, but forced himself to conduct, and later collapsed backstage when the performance was complete.

Mahler’s Second Symphony didn’t gain more attention until after the premiere of his Third Symphony in 1902. The Third was quite a success, despite being considered more progressive than his Second. Musical tastes, nonetheless, had caught up with Mahler’s abilities, and The Resurrection Symphony suddenly achieved more popularity.

Customary of his early works, Mahler provided numerous extensive programs for his Second Symphony. The programs were written after the symphony was finished; for Mahler, the music produced the program rather than the program inspiring the music. The composer occasionally contradicted himself within his own notes, but they supply valuable perspective into his own reactions of his works, and the Second Symphony is no exception.

Mahler explains the first movement: “This movement takes place at a funeral where the mourners are confronted by eternal questions: Why did you live, struggle? Is life nothing but a frightful joke? We have to answer these questions somehow if we are to go on living – indeed, even if we are only to go on dying!” There is a five-minute pause following the first movement. Mahler felt that the second movement, an Austrian dance called a Ländler, would sound unexpected after the lengthy first movement, and felt the pause would offer a reflective solution.

He continues with the second and third movements, explaining them “as an interlude, the second being a memory! A ray of sunlight, pure and cloudless, out of that hero’s life.” Mahler further reflects on the third movement: “Reality of life returns, and the world appears distorted and crazy. You cry out in a scream of anguish.” The fourth movement, a “moving voice of naïve faith” in the ear of the deceased, singing ‘I am of God, and desire to return to God! God will give me a lamp, will light me unto the life of eternal bliss!’ The final movement: “The Day of Judgment has arrived, but what happens now is far from expected: Everything has ceased to exist. The gentle sound of a chorus of saints and heavenly hosts is then heard. Soft and simple, the words gently swell up: ‘Rise again, yea, thou wilt rise again.’ Then the glory of God comes into sight.  A wondrous light strikes us to the heart.  All is quiet and blissful.  Lo and behold: There is no judgment, no sinners, no just men, no great and no small; there is no punishment and no reward. A feeling of overwhelming love fills us with blissful knowledge and illuminates our existence.”