Mahler's Third
About the event
The monumental, six-movement Symphony No. 3 in D minor, which was written between 1893 and 1896, is considered one of Gustav Mahler's greatest creative achievements. It received its premiere only in 1902. Although the individual movements of the work originally had programmatic titles, the composer never wanted to reveal their contents to the public. He did, however, disclose them to trusted friends. It is enough to recall them to illustrate the significance of the poetic‑philosophical message carried by this extraordinary music, soaked in heroic humanism and emotional depth:
- I. Pan awakens [the god], summer approaches
- II. What the flowers tell me in the meadow
- III. What the animals tell me in the forest
- IV. What a man tells me
- V. What the angels tell me
- VI. What love tells me
This seemingly minimalist program has a very deep meaning. It is not only a manifestation of modernist pantheism, but also a testimony to the eternal human agonies and existential dilemmas experienced by the composer: troubling questions about the meaning of suffering, a great longing for liberation from its power and dreams of achieving eternal happiness.
This is precisely what the text introduced by the composer in the fourth movement, taken from Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, sung by a female solo voice (O Mensch! Gib Acht!), speaks about. In the fifth movement the 'wisdom of the angels' is entrusted to a boys' choir, which intones the song 'Es sungen drei Engel einen süßen Gesang' (the text comes from Mahler's favorite collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano). Beings doomed to suffering and death find comfort in love, which — as the only thing — will remain with us forever. It will endure eternally and will never pass away.
Performers:
- National Philharmonic Orchestra
- Women's Choir of the National Philharmonic
- Artos Boys' Choir named after Władysław Skoraczewski at the Grand Theatre – National Opera
- Christoph König – conductor
- Okka von der Damerau – mezzo-soprano
- Bartosz Michałowski – Director of the NP Choir
- Danuta Chmurska – Director of the Artos Choir
Program:
- Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 3 in D minor [99']
Tickets:
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