History Symphony No. 5

Composed

• Year 1901
• Year 1902

Performances by Gustav Mahler

• 1904 Concert Cologne 18-10-1904 – Symphony No. 5 (Premiere).
• 1905 Concert Hamburg 13-03-1905 – Symphony No. 5.
• 1905 Concert Strasbourg 21-05-1905 – Symphony No. 5.
• 1905 Recording Leipzig 09-11-1905 – Symphony No. 5 – Movement 1: Trauermarsch (Funeral March). In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt (piano).
• 1905 Concert Trieste 01-12-1905 – Symphony No. 5.
• 1905 Concert Vienna 07-12-1905 – Symphony No. 5.
• 1905 Concert Breslau 20-12-1905 – Symphony No. 5.
• 1906 Concert Antwerp 05-03-1906 – Symphony No. 5.
• 1906 Concert Amsterdam 08-03-1906 – Kindertotenlieder, Ruckert-lied, Symphony No. 5.
• 1907 Concert Rome 01-04-1907 – Symphony No. 5 – movement 4.
• 1907 Concert St Petersburg 09-11-1907 – Symphony No. 5.

Versions

• Duration:
• Movement 1: Trauermarsch (Funeral March). In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt 13.00
• Movement 2: Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz 15.00
• Movement 3: Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell 18.00
• Movement 4: Adagietto. Sehr langsam 10.00
• Movement 5: Rondo-Finale. Allegro – Allegro giocoso. Frisch 15.00
• Total duration 1.11.00

Publications

• The score appeared first in print in 1904 at Peters, Leipzig. A second “New edition”, incorporating revisions that Mahler made in 1904, appeared in 1905. Final revisions made by Mahler in 1911 did not appear until 1964 (ed. Ratz), when the score was re-published in the Complete Edition of Mahler’s works. In 2001, Edition Peters published a further revised edition (ed. Kubik) as part of the New Complete Critical Edition Series. This edition is the most accurate edition available so far. Previous editions have now gone out of print.
• Willem Mengelberg (1871-1951) wrote notes on “Spitzentechnik” on the front cover of the score of Symphony No. 5, a technique for the strings, writes Mengelberg, which must be used in all symphonys of Gustav Mahler, and of which it is important that all strings do this. His notes to Movement 4: Adagietto. Sehr langsam are the key to a good understanding of the music.

Historical recordings

1. 09-11-1905 Leipzig. Year 1905. Gustav Mahler. Symphony No. 5 – Movement 1: Trauermarsch (Funeral March). In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt (14:14). Welte-Mignon.

Remarks

• Herbert von Karajan once said that when you hear Mahler’s Fifth, “you forget that time has passed. A great performance of the Fifth is a transforming experience. The fantastic finale almost forces you to hold your breath.”