Beethoven Mahler Influence

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COMPOSITIONAL STYLES AND INFLUENCES Mahler is quoted to have exclaimed, “The symphony is the world! It must embrace everything.” (Kamien pg 388). Thus, music can be said to be his personal quest for finding meaning in his life, a quest to be shared with others. In Mahler’s day, the vogue was to push music to new limits of expression and thus to break away from the past. Musically, this time was the transition period from Romantic to Modern. Composers emphasised freedom and emotions. New harmonies and colours of tone were sought, resulting in greater use of dissonance and chromaticism. This led to demands for greater dynamics, ranges, combinations, and orchestras became large and multi-dimensional often exceeding 100 members. Thus, Mahler had available to him two key means to achieve his musical quest: larger orchestras and venues to express himself; and a general public willing and ready to hear and accept anything and everything new. Mahler’s music can be sweet and …show more content…

But Mahler’s works also include the dissonance we find in the works of Wagner, who was Mahler’s contemporary during his time at the Vienna Conservatory.(http://www.utahsymphony.org/the-mahler-cycle/mahlers-symphonic-style)(http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Gustav_Mahler#Style_of_writing) By blending the old with the new into his own creativity, Mahler developed his compositions into ones of deep personal meaning and expression: in particular, the 4th movement of his 9th Symphony. Leonard Bernstein, in his 5th lecture of his Norton Lectures at Harvard in 1973, remarked this 4th movement was Mahler’s “last will and testament” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDW1qQYcjto) and speculated the 4th movement is revealing to us Mahler's impending death.