GUSTAV MAHLER: RESURRECTION SYMPHONY

MS 5407
MS Short Title GUSTAV MAHLER: RESURRECTION SYMPHONY
Text 1. GUSTAV MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 2 "RESURRECTION", PRELIMINARY SKETCHES FOR 1ST MOVEMENT " TOTENFEIER" 2. GUSTAV MAHLER: SKETCHES FOR THEMES NEVER USED, OR FOR UNIDENTIFIED COMPOSITIONS
Description MS in German on paper, Prague, Czech Republic, 1888, 9 pp., 14-20x24 cm, ruled with 4-7 staves, (up to 15x19 cm), sketches in single staff notation, autograph.
Context Symphony no. 2 was not finished until 1894. Continuity drafts in ink for all 5 movements are known, but preliminary pencil sketches is a rare survival, as Mahler did not usually keep them. In 1888 Mahler intended the first movement to bear the title "Totenfeier".
Provenance 1. Gustav Mahler (Prague and Wien (1888-1911) and heirs; 2. V.A. Heck, Wien (-1980'ies); 3. Private collector and pianist, Germany (1980-2007); 4. Sotheby's 4.12.2007: 74; 5. Otto Haas cat. 43(2008):78; 6. De-accessioned 20.5.2014 to Musikantiquariat Dr. Ulrich Drüner.
Commentary The Sketches refer mainly to the coda of 1st movement bars 400-436 and represent the earliest stage of composition. They are instructive of Mahler's working methods, being mainly single ideas or themes written down in single staff notation, in a spontaneous manner, later taken up at different places in the movement. These small singular elements were later worked into continuity drafts in short score, which then formed the basis of what was to become a gigantic symphony scored with soprano, contralto and chorus. The present autograph is further the sole witness of themes and ideas that were never used, and these do not necessarily lack quality, but they did not fit into the score of the 2nd Symphony.
Place of origin Prague, Czech Republic
Dates 1888