Symphony No. 10 (Mahler)

The Symphony No. 10 by Gustav Mahler was written in 1910 and 1911, and was his final composition. At the time of Mahler's death the composition was substantially complete as a draft, but was unperformable in that state.

Realisations of the work

After Mahler's death there was no immediate attempt to complete the symphony, or render it in a state where it could be performed, although figures such as Paul Stefan described the high quality of the work as drafted. Arnold Schönberg famously expressed the opinion that no one could possibly write a Tenth Symphony without being close to the hereafter; and a mistaken report led Richard Specht to suggest Mahler wanted the manuscript burnt after his death. Hence it was only in the 1920s that Alma Mahler-Werfel asked the composer Ernst Křenek to make a fair copy of Mahler's orchestral draft for a festival of performances of Mahler works, and at about the same time some of the manuscripts were published by the company of Paul Zsolnay in facsimile. The facsimile made evident that the stress of Mahler's final year had not adversely affected the composition, and that the draft contained music of great beauty.

Related Topics:
Arnold Schönberg - Ernst Křenek

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In 1924 Křenek made a fair copy of only the first (Adagio) and third (Purgatorio) movements, and might have made a fair copy of the second movement, but as Mahler's draft of the Scherzo was very much patchier this was evidently less feasible. Alban Berg was enlisted to proofread the work, however his suggested corrections were never incorporated, while at the same time some unauthorised changes were introduced, possibly by one of the conductors of the first two performances, Franz Schalk and Alexander von Zemlinsky. Křenek is supposed to have renounced the changes to his version, which was subsequently published. Performances of the Křenek-Schalk/Zemlinsky version have been moderately successful, however the third movement is not generally convincing when taken out of context between the second and fourth movements: it is possible some of the conductors who have refused to perform the Tenth, most famously Bruno Walter and Leonard Bernstein, took exception to such a piecemeal representation.

Related Topics:
Adagio - Alban Berg - Franz Schalk - Alexander von Zemlinsky - Bruno Walter - Leonard Bernstein

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It was soon realised that a performing version of only two movements did not give listeners a clear idea of the entire symphony, let alone comprise a complete artistic statement, so in the 1940s the American Mahler enthusiast Jack Diether tried to encourage several notable composers to realise the work. Figures such as Shostakovich, Schoenberg, and Britten refused, and instead the task was taken up by musicologists: early attempts at realising the entire work were made in America by Clinton Carpenter (completed 1949, subsequently revised 1966), in Germany by Hans Wollschläger (1954-1962, withdrawn), and in England by Joe Wheeler (1953–1965) and Deryck Cooke.

Related Topics:
Shostakovich - Britten - 1949 - 1966 - 1954 - 1962 - 1953 - 1965 - Deryck Cooke

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A first, still incomplete performing version by Cooke (1959–1960) stemmed from a performance and an associated lecture for radio broadcast on the BBC Third Programme, marking the centenary of Mahler's birth. This aired on 19 December 1960, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Berthold Goldschmidt, who also assisted with the production of Cooke's edition. At its first performance Cooke's realisation of the final movement proved to be a revelation to listeners, and Cooke resolved to revise the orchestration of the Scherzo movements, which had required much more compositional work than he had time for. Alma Mahler, who had at one point taken the views of Bruno Walter to heart and demanded a veto on further performances of the Cooke performing version, actually changed her mind upon seeing Cooke's revised score and hearing the recording. In May 1963 she wrote Cooke a letter of encouragement, lifting the ban on both the performing version and the BBC recording. Cooke's revised and completed version was premiéred in 1964 and recorded soon after. After Alma's death, also in 1964, her daughter Anna allowed Cooke access to the full set of manuscript sketches, many of which had not been published four decades earlier. In the light of these Cooke made another revised performing version in association with the British composers Colin and David Matthews between 1966 and 1972, and hereafter his final version up to his death in 1975. This also prompted the International Gustav Mahler Society in Vienna to issue another, more complete collection of Mahler's manuscripts in facsimile. This revised edition of Cooke's second version was published in 1976, shortly after Cooke's death. Yet the final revision (Cooke's third version) appeared in print only as late as 1989.

Related Topics:
1959 - 1960 - 19 December - Berthold Goldschmidt - Bruno Walter - 1963 - 1964 - Colin - David Matthews - 1966 - 1972 - 1975 - 1976 - 1989

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Clinton Carpenter started working on his edition long before Cooke, which he called a "completion" rather than a "performing version", but although he completed it in 1949 (revising the work in 1966), it had to wait until 1983 for a performance. Carpenter reviewed the other symphonies by Mahler to guide him in his effort in orchestrating the work, though a view has been expressed that much of this process of recomposition gives the impression that he has written his own symphony, using Mahler's as a basis. The completion by Joseph Wheeler dates from 1953 to 1965, and like Cooke he also refined his ideas several times, so the final version of 1965 was actually the fourth iteration; the American composer Remo Mazzetti Jr. considers Wheeler's fourth version to be the closest to Mahler's late orchestral style.

Related Topics:
1949 - 1966 - 1983 - 1953 - 1965

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In recent years several further realisations of the symphony have been attempted: Remo Mazzetti initially made his 1989 version from dissatisfaction with the existing Cooke, Carpenter, and Wheeler editions, though the spur of preparing a performance of Wheeler's version in 1997 led him to recant his earlier view. Of his own revised version he remarked, "I really believe I got things right this time". Two more completions have been produced since, by the conductor Rudolf Barshai (2000), and a joint effort by Nicola Samale and Giuseppe Mazzucca (2002). All have been performed and recorded, though the version by Samale and Mazzucca has not been commercially released.

Related Topics:
1989 - 1997 - 2000 - 2002

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