Why did Mahler end his symphony like this?

[00:00:00]This is the finale of the 7th Symphony of Gustav Mahler.

[00:00:05]>> [music] >> What's up with that second to last chord?

[00:00:10]>> Cheap Horns Chord of the [music] Week >> The 7th is Mahler's least popular and least performed symphony. And it seems that this last movement might be the reason why. Biographer Jens Malte Fischer says this about the 7th, "If it had not been for its final movement, Mahler's 7th Symphony might have been the firm favorite among audiences [music] and performers of his music."

[00:00:35]The movement's in C major and it remains pretty simple and tonal and accessible throughout, which in 1905 was becoming increasingly unusual for a composer to do. Even somebody like Mahler who was kind of tethered to the romanticism of the previous century.

[00:00:51]Tonal music was beginning to circle the drain as as modernism was on the rise and more harmonically adventurous approaches to music were on the rise.

[00:01:00]This was the same year that Debussy's La Mer and Strauss's Salome premiered. And those pieces are far removed from the previous century's musical vocabulary.

[00:01:09]People were kind of confused by this last movement because the simplicity of it didn't really fit the rest of the symphony. It's sometimes referred to as the song of the night. And finishing with this bright, optimistic statement seemed out of place for a lot of listeners and critics of the time. And the thing is, the second to last chord not that interesting. It's just a C augmented >> [music] >> which is also an E augmented which is also a G sharp augmented. Because of the symmetrical nature of this chord that's kind of the most interesting thing about all the how this chord is constructed.

[00:01:41]So, if you're looking for a video about a complex chord, this probably isn't the right video for you. But, if you're interested in a story about a chord that's a little controversial and caused a lot of conversation stick around. Cuz to me this is less about what the chord is and more about where and how it's used in a larger context that makes it worth talking about. Some analysts hear this augmented interjection toward the end as like a surviving shadow of the darker regions of the symphony about the night. Maybe Mahler does lead us through all these sort of nocturnal ghostly kind of dream-like episodes throughout the symphony among other things. So, that's a possible interpretation. That's that's maybe legit. Others hear it as more ironic and that's where I think the conversation gets interesting. The finale is puzzling for some people because this triumphant feel at the end, it sounds kind of excessive. It's like relentlessly exuberant. And some have wondered whether Mahler is just creating a parody of triumph at the end of the symphony.

[00:02:41]And if that is the case, then this penultimate chord >> [music] >> is like a musical wink. The orchestra is is proclaiming this triumphant victorious moment and it's as if Mahler turns around to the audience and goes, "You guys aren't really buying this. You know I'm messing with you, right?" It's almost as like he's toying with us. And I think it's worth comparing the ending of the seventh to the ending of some of his previous symphonies. Like the end of Mahler's sixth, it it sort of dissolves into nothing >> [music] >> and then we're hit with this giant A minor triad, which is a pretty serious ending. Listen to that.

[00:03:25]>> [music] >> That's nothing like the end of the seventh.

[00:03:41]The end of the fifth, again, we're ending in triumph, D major, and it's interrupted by this B flat, which you'll notice is the the six >> [music] >> of D. The flat six is the note you alter in a major chord to make it augmented. So, this augmented chord at the end of the seventh involves this flat six being sort of interjected or inserted into into this this major tonality. He does it again here at the end of the fifth >> [music] >> with a B flat. And listen listen right after that B flat, you hear a progression of chords that almost sounds like laughter. I think that And I think it's really funny when you consider it that way. Listen to that.

[00:04:22]>> [music] [music] >> A little closer to the ending of the seventh, it's more subversive and surprising. And finally, the first symphony, we're ending again triumphally >> [music] >> in A major. And right before the end, he twists it with this kind of snarling trilling brass chord before he hits us with the final resolution in A. Listen to that.

[00:04:57]>> [music] [music] >> So, this precedent in Mahler's previous work that he likes to twist what he's doing right before the end. And I can't help but wonder if that's what this penultimate chord is doing at the end of the seventh. Just introducing some irony or a lack of seriousness in the end. And if that's true, I love that he's doing that.

[00:05:24]Mahler's symphonies often finish with big statements of triumph or certainty.

[00:05:28]And sometimes that certainty is the certainty of death, like the end of the sixth. But just as often, he twists it right before the end as if to question that certainty. Or maybe not. I could be overthinking all of this. Is Mahler introducing doubt? Or is it sarcasm? Or is it mischief?

[00:05:46]Or maybe it doesn't mean anything at all. I'm curious what you think.

[00:05:51]>> Yeah.

[00:05:52]Who there?

[00:05:53]This beat Yo, who there?

[00:05:54]Yo, who there? Who there?