Event is Live
CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Monday, October 10, 2016
8 PM
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Mahler touches the heart’s deepest, most tumultuous emotions in his Sixth Symphony. His opening movement includes a rapturous musical portrait of his wife, Alma. But the work's devastating conclusion is eerie and agitated. The original finale surges up three times, stopped in each case by a tremendous hammer stroke, presaging tragedies in Mahler’s life: the loss of his Vienna State Opera position, the death of his daughter, and the diagnosis of a heart condition that would prove fatal. Superstitious, Mahler eventually removed the third stroke, but his symphony remains one of his most powerful creations.
Performers
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor
Program
MAHLER Symphony No. 6
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.
Perspectives: Sir Simon Rattle
Sponsored by Breguet, Exclusive Timepiece of Carnegie Hall
At a Glance
Mahler
performed his Sixth Symphony just three times in his career; on the last
occasion, in Vienna, the title “Tragic” was printed in the program. While so
much of Mahler’s music is deeply personal, and much of it despairing, he
plumbed new depths in this work.
Long after Mahler’s death, his widow recounted elaborate stories about the autobiographical meanings of the symphony, which culminates with “blows of fate” sounded by a hammer in the final movement. The possible meanings the Sixth Symphony may have held for Mahler can never be determined, but its passion, integrity, and innovations remain extraordinarily powerful for performers and audiences alike more than 100 years after its composition.
Long after Mahler’s death, his widow recounted elaborate stories about the autobiographical meanings of the symphony, which culminates with “blows of fate” sounded by a hammer in the final movement. The possible meanings the Sixth Symphony may have held for Mahler can never be determined, but its passion, integrity, and innovations remain extraordinarily powerful for performers and audiences alike more than 100 years after its composition.