A Small Introduction to a Big Symphony

“Gustav-Mahler-Kohut” by E. Bieber – Kohut, Adolph (1900) “Gustav Mahler” in Berühmte israelitische Männer und Frauen in der Kulturgeschichte der Menschheit (Volume 1 ed.), Leipzig, Germany: Druck und Verlag von A. H. Payne, pp. p. 143 Retrieved on 15 July 2009.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.

This next symphony we’re gonna look at will blow you away into next week with its brilliant climaxes and crescendos that could only come from the one and only Gustav Mahler. His symphonies are so epic, even he was blown away by them. When referring to the final movement of this symphony, he wrote:

“The increasing tension, working up to the final climax, is so tremendous that I don’t know myself, now that it is over, how I ever came to write it.”

(21st century translation: DUDE this finale I wrote is so epic I can’t even)

I do not even know where to begin so I will let this guy introduce Mahler:

As with any great masterpiece, you cannot take it all in in a short time. It’s like eating a delicious meal, you can’t stuff an entire meal into you mouth at once, you have to savor every bite or you won’t enjoy it. That’s why I’m gonna break it up over a series of posts. This piece really is hard to take in all in one sitting, after all, Mahler didn’t know the meaning of brevity (this lasts and hour and a half). You have to take time to get to know the piece and learn about it. In a world with 3 minute songs and 140 character tweets, you can lose attention quickly. But seriously, take the time to listen to and learn the background of this piece.

This symphony is nicknamed “Resurrection” because of the theme of life after death. We’ll look at Mahler’s intentions for the piece as well as the text he uses in the last two movements. And also, IMO parts of this symphony would make sweet battle music so I’ll draw attention to those parts in the next few posts.

As in the video, remember ROI (return on investment). If you take the time to listen to this piece and learn about it, you’ll get something out of it. This piece is well worth the time.

Moll

Brahms was a Hipster

Confused? See the last post for an explanation

 

Classical Music in the Movies: Disney Theme

Disney movies, for many of you, were a big part of your childhood. The Disney theme, which is from the song, “When you wish upon a star”, brings up many childhood memories of the Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin (I was a 90s kid), and the other classics I watched as a kid, in my pre-music nerd days.

But something awesome I discovered a few years ago was that this theme may not be original to Disney. Or at least not intentionally (we don’t know). I was reading a forum discussion (nerdy piano stuff) and someone shared a video of Brahms’ Capriccio Op 76 No 2, and I was like “?!? (Translation: I was flabbergasted). You’ll see why in a minute. But first we must explore how this theme may have come about.

The song “When you wish upon a Star” appeared in the movie Pinocchio, which was released in 1940 (when you see these movies as a kid you don’t realize how old they are). Brahms, one of the great composers, lived from 1833 – 1897, so he died about 40 years before the movie came out. So Brahms would be in the generation of the Disney writers’ parents and grandparents. That is weird when you think that 60 years before Pinocchio, many of the great composers were alive (*music nerd excitement*). In the early days of Disney, they were very close to the end of the Romantic Era, and likely influenced by that style of music.

You can’t find much information out there that finds this connection between Brahms’ piece and the Disney song. Very few online have noticed this similarity, so we can only speculate about the origin of the Disney theme.

Here is the Disney Theme (the part we’re looking at is 00:12):

The theme appears at the end of the middle section of Brahms’ Capriccio Op 76 No 2.

1:51- Almost the Disney theme

2:00- “When you wish upon a-a-a-a-a-a-a star”, Disney theme with a little embellishment there

You may be sitting there now not knowing what to do with this information, or contemplating the originality of Disney, but just remember, however this theme came about, it came from an excellent source (if you needed your faith restored in Disney again).

And you probably know something none of you friends know. 🙂

Moll