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In 1938 Paul Stefan published an article in English and Dutch
that reported that Willem Mengelberg, in the company of Max von
Schillings, had discovered the manuscripts of four unknown early
symphonies in the Dresden home of Marion von Weber, the widow of
Carl Maria von Weber's grandson (PSFMS;
the Dutch version appeared in De Telegraf (7 March 1938;
see also the books by de La Grange and Mitchell listed above).
This tantalizing report attracted attention over the years, but
inevitably this second-hand narrative had to be treated with
some circumspection: it clearly related to events that had
occurred some years earlier, since Baroness von Weber died in 1931
and von Schillings in 1933. It has subsequently emerged that the
crucial visit took place in 1907, and was described at the time
in some detail in a letter from Mengelberg to his wife dated 10
July 1907 (BHOWM,
53–7 with a partial facsimile; text and translation quoted below from
WM1995, 197–9):
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Toen ging ik er natuurlijk op door en
toen zei ze in eens – met 'n soort verlegenheid
–'von Gustav Mahler habe ich auch noch Manuscripte'
– nu weer – tableau – mijnerzij ds – Ik spring op –
en zeg – `wat zegt U daar – Manuscripten van
Mahler?' Je begrij pt dat ik paf was – en nu
ontwikkelde zich een lang gesprek over Mahler
waarbij Schillings nog al dour zat to kijken –je
weet dat Sch. hem niet heelemaal verstaat – de oude
dame werd hoe langer hoe vriendelijker tegen me en
beloofde me ten slotte mij ook die manuscripten to
laten zien. Maar tegen ons beiden met 'n akelige
ernst zeide ze dan: `aber bitte – Sie beide –
Schillings & Sie, sind die ersten, welche diese
sachen zu sehen bekommen! Ich lege viel wert darauf,
Ihnen dies zu sagen, bitte dies auch Mahler zu sagen
wenn Sie darüber sprechen – noch nie habe ich
jemanden für würdig befunden, die Mahlerischen
Manuscripte zu zeigen.'! |
The conversation continued ... and
all at once, she said – rather shyly – 'I also have
Gustav Mahler manuscripts.' Again tableau – on my
part – I sprung up and asked `Pardon me – Mahler
manuscripts?' You can imagine my astonishment. We
began a long conversation about Mahler – Schillings
watching in silence (Sch., you know, does not quite
understand him) – and as it progressed the elderly
woman became increasingly friendly until at length
she promised to show us these manuscripts as well.
But then, deeply earnest, she continued: `but I beg
you both – you and Schillings are the first to see
them! I find it very important that you both know –
and please tell this to Mahler when you see him –
that never before have I considered anyone worthy of
being shown the Mahler manuscripts.'!...
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Den volgenden dag kort na 't diner kwam ze met 'n
dik pak muziek – erg goed in gepakt – ze scheen erg
zenuwachtig. Ze zeide mij: was wollen Sie erst sehen,
sinfonie no. 1– II. oder z.b. das klagende Lied etc!
Je begrijpt ik werd hoe langer hoe meer verbaasd. Ik
riep dadelijk – 'Schillings – das klagende Lied
müßen Sie nächstes Jahr auf dem Fest in München
machen – es ist zu schön –' (Schillings kende dat
heelemaal niet) en dadelijk kwam ze met de
Manuscript partituur van das klagende Lied. Ik
geloofde m'n oogen haast niet, toen ik dat in m'n
hand kreeg, 't heele eerste deel, dat wat hij niet
liet drukken, zooals hij ons destijds vertelde – en
verder, zooals wij 't kennen. Zij ging in 'n hoek
van de kamer zitten en zag hoe Schillings en ik,
gezeten op de oude kanapee van Weber, aan de tafel
van Weber, in dit heerlijke handschrift bladerden en
zongen motieven etc. Toen zei ze tegen mij, `wollen
Sie auch die I Sinfonie sehen'? Ik natuurlijk ja,
bitte! Ze zei, er is nog een satz bij, die niet
gedrukt werd! Alweer groote verbazing. Ik greep
natuurlijk dadelijk naar dit deel – op den titel
stond `In glücklicher Stunde'. De Barones was nu de
kamer uit gegaan, waarom begreep ik later wel, ze
was erg aangedaan ... Ik zei, kom, Sch. we zullen
dat eens even spelen, en aan de vleugel gezeten
speelden we dit droomerig schwärmerische andante 4
handig uit de orkestpartituur, tot heel onder aan de
laatste bladzijde – Mahler met duidelijke letters
geschreven had – An M. zum Geburtstage – von M! Nu
begreep ik er meer van. Zij was zeker een echte `Jugendliebe'
van hem geweest – toen hij in Leipzig Kapellmeester
was (toen was Nikisch er eerste en Mahler, nog
jong-tweede) woonde hij in Leipzig. Ik keek Sch. aan,
hij mij, en hij zeide heel goedig – 'Wir wollen aber
darüber kein Wort sprechen' – Ja – zei ik – die
Musik sagt ja mehr als Worte können! |
The next day, just after dinner, she came with a
thick bundle of music – tidily packed – she seemed
exceedingly nervous. She asked me, `What would you
like to see first, the First Symphony – Second, or
perhaps Das klagende Lied?'! You can imagine how my
astonishment grew. `Schillings', I exclaimed, `you
must do Das klagende Lied next year at the Munich
festival, it is so beautiful.' (Schillings did not
know the piece.) And immediately, she handed me the
manuscript of das klagende Lied. I could scarcely
believe my eyes when I took it in my hands, the
complete first movement, which, as he had told us,
he did not have printed – and the rest, as we know
it. She sat in a corner of the room and watched how
Schillings and I, seated on Weber's old canapé, at
Weber's table, leafed through this wondrous
manuscript, singing motifs, etc. Then she asked me,
`Would you not also like to see the First
Symphony?', and I, of course, `Yes, please!'. She
said there was an additional movement that had not
been printed! Once again, astonishment. Naturally, I
turned immediately to this movement – on the title
page stood `In glücklicher Stunde'. By now, the
Baroness had left the room, I later understood why,
she was very moved ... I said, `Come, Sch., let's
play through it', and seated at the piano we played
this dream-like, rapturous andante four-handed from
the orchestral score, down to the last page – Mahler
had written in bold letters `To M. for her birthday
– from M!' I was beginning to understand. She must
certainly have been an early `sweetheart' of his
while he was the director in Leipzig (Nikisch was
the principal and Mahler, still young, was the
second). I looked at Sch., he at me, and then he
said tactfully, `We shall say not a word of this.
"Yes,' I answered, `the music says so much more than
words ever could!' |
If the style seems a bit self-conscious, this may simply
reflect Mengelberg's sense that he was recording a momentous event. Crucially the details are plausible, as the
compositions he lists – Das klagende Lied, Symphony No. 1 and
Symphony No. 2 – are all works Mahler had either completed
before his arrival in Leipzig, or worked on during his stay there,
although, since
there is no evidence that Mahler was much in touch with the Webers after his departure, the Second Symphony was presumably
represented only by material relating to the first movement).
No surviving manuscripts of these works can now be be linked
to Baroness von Weber's collection and the general assumption is
that they were destroyed in the Allied air-raid on
Dresden on 13–14 February 1945. What they were is an interesting
question. Some or all may have been otherwise unrecorded
manuscripts, but, while bearing that in mind, it is nevertheless
possible to propose two conjectural identifications.
Mengelberg apparently looked through a manuscript of the
complete, three movement version of Das klagende Lied:
this was Mahler's first large-scale work to be completed so one
cannot be certain that its creative evolution was that adopted
by Mahler in his mature works. Fragments of short-score
continuity drafts for parts II and III survive (Das klagende
Lied, SS2, SS3)
but no orchestral draft has come to light. The Weber manuscript
could have been the latter, but it was most probably one of the
two complete manuscript copies prepared in 1881 for submission
by Mahler for the Beethoven prize (closing date 30 September
1881) and for a state stipendium (closing date 15 August 1881)
(see
RKNI).
One survives (listed in this catalogue as Das klagende Lied
ACF1) and was retained by Mahler and
used for revisions in later years; the other ([ACF2])
has not been traced, so could have been the copy given to Marion
von Weber. Mengelberg's letter suggests
that he did not actually examine the manuscript material for the
Second Symphony, which would explain why he offered no clue about the nature of the
document(s) in the Weber collection. However, apart from some
sketches for what became the second movement (see Symphony No.
2, S2.1), Mahler's main work in 1888 was on the first movement: an orchestral
draft (OD1)
was completed on 8 August and a fair copy (AF1)
on 10 September. Both manuscripts survive, but the dates suggest
that it was not until after the completion of the First, and the
composer's abrupt departure from Leipzig in late May (see
HLG1,
178–80) that he did much work on the new Symphony. Since
there is currently no evidence that Mahler was in contact with
the Weber's after his resignation from Leipzig, it seems
possible that the material relating to the Second in Marion von
Weber's collection was modest, perhaps only a few early,
discarded sketches. In the case of the First Symphony Mengelberg refers
specifically to an orchestral score, raising two interconnected
questions: what was this score, and when was it given to the
Webers? No definitive answers are possible, and it is with due
caution that the following conjectural observations
are offered: If the manuscript was a gift
made before Mahler's departure in late May:
-
It cannot have been
[AF1],
not least because for some time after his departure from
Leipzig that score was Mahler's sole copy of the finalized
state of the work;¹
-
It could have been a copy specially
prepared for Marion von Weber: there would have been about a
month (mid April-mid May) for this to have been prepared,
either by Mahler or a copyist;²
-
It could have been an orchestral draft
of the work: that such a working manuscript existed is
hinted at by Mahler's reference, in a letter to his parents
from March 1888, to his hope that he would finish the 'fair
copy' ('Reinpartitur')
by mid April (GMLJ,
91;
GMLJE,
51).
If the gift of the manuscript was made
after Mahler's departure from Leipzig, then his original fair
copy ([AF1])
would be a strong candidate.
Mengelberg's letter also offers details
about one movement in particular, the subsequently deleted Blumine:
-
That it was originally headed or
titled 'In glücklicher Stunde';
-
That is was a 'dream-like, rapturous
Andante' (the tempo marking in
AF2 is Andante alegretto
[sic])
-
That Mahler had inscribed the score
(presumably at the end) 'To M. for her
birthday – from M!'.³
This final revelation offers food for
thought: the movement apparently carried a special meaning for
both giver and recipient, but it was one that it had recently acquired,
since the music had been composed in Kassel in 1884 as part of
the incidental music to Der Trompeter von Säkkingen, i.e.
at least two years before Mahler met Marion von Weber.⁴
This connection between the movement and the most significant of
his early relationships probably helps to explain Mahler's
striking indecision over its retention in the Symphony. |
