Kindertotenlieder

For composition dates (or possible date-ranges) of individual songs, see the notes below.

Transposed versions of the songs were not published during Mahler's lifetime; when a high voice version was issued by Kahnt in 1916, all the songs were transposed up a minor third. The voice ranges of the original version given below are at notated pitch and use Helmholtz notation; breaking with his usual practice Mahler provided no ossias at either extreme of the compass (but see the note on performance practice and transpositions below); the timings are derived from PFMD2.

The texts are by Friedrich Rückert

Fl 1–2, picc (no. 5 only), ob 1–2, ca (nos 3, 5), cl 1–2 in A/B, bcl in B/A (nos 1, 3, 5), bsn 1–2, cbsn (no. 5 only)

Hn 1–4 in F (3–4 in no. 5 only)

Timp, glock, cel, Glöckchen¹

Harp, strings (at least some of the double-basses must have C)

There is good evidence that:

• the choice of small venues (i.e. the Kleiner Musikvereinsaal (Brahmssaal) in Vienna and the Stephaniesaal in Graz) for the first performances was the composer's preference; and that

• he used a orchestra with a string section of probably no more than 10, 8, 6, 6, 4 (see SHRL, 343; RHVSS, 9).

c. 27:00

Completion

Despite the absence of dates on a number of the crucial autograph manuscripts of the individual songs,  Mahler scholars are broadly agreed that three were composed in the summer of 1901 and two more in the summer of 1904: either nos 2 and 5 (see BONW, passim; COLK, passim; HLG II, 826–27) or nos. 3 and 4 (DM3, 111–121). On the other hand, despite her not always reliable memory, Alma recalled that two songs had been written in 1901 and that three were added in 1904 (AMGM, 89).

Henry-Louis de La Grange makes a more general, and pertinent suggestion: that the impetus to complete the cycle was provided by Mahler's involvement with the Vereinigung schaffender Tonkünstler Wiens (HLG II, 710). By the summer of 1903 Schoenberg and Zemlinsky were living in the same apartment block in the 9th District of Vienna, and they began to formulate plans for a new society to promote adequate performances of contemporary music, whose existence was announced on 1 April 1904, in a Neue Freie Presse article 'Eine neue musikalische Vereiningung' by Guido Adler, who noted that initially Beethoven's late works, and those of Wagner, Brahms and Bruckner had not been welcomed by Viennese audiences:

Mahler was presumably approached at the beginning of 1904 by proponents of the Association, though, it would appear, merely as a potential conductor of one of the Society's first concerts. By 8 April the Statutes of the new society had been submitted to the Statthalterei² and the inaugural general meeting, at which Mahler was unanimously elected Honorary President, was held on the 23 April.³ The society publicly invited the submission of works for possible performance at its concerts and by the end of September 1904 had received 858 submissions from 127 composers.⁴ Exactly when Mahler and the other executive members agreed that his concert should be devoted to performances of his orchestral songs seems not to be documented.

Alma Mahler's memoir indicates that Mahler probably worked on the song-cycle early in his 1904 summer vacation (AMGM, 89), and his correspondence provides an approximate terminus ante quem: on 11 July he wrote to Alma requesting that she bring the manuscripts of the two inner movements of the Sixth Symphony with her to Toblach (GMBaA, no. 100, p. 115). Mahler had presumably drafted the additional songs and now wished to resume work on his next symphony. Mahler's normal practice was to prepare fair copies (in this case, a full score and a version for voice and piano) of the newly finished songs in his spare time during the new opera season; these would then form the copy-texts for manuscript vocal scores, full scores, and sets of orchestral parts prepared by copyists. These would be needed for rehearsal and performance of the work and later, by the publisher, for the preparation of the first edition. In this context it is notable that the five songs in the manuscript full score (ACF) of the cycle, are the work of four different copyists: no. 1: an unidentified Viennese copyist; nos 2–3: Josef Strohs; no. 4: Alma Mahler; no. 5: Emil Zöphel. This suggests that Mahler was under time pressure. The new scores were essential so that their accompanying part sets could be prepared and until the date of Mahler concert was moved from 6 to 29 January (see below), this was a matter of some urgency.

First Performance

Adler's extended and supportive article reported that it was originally envisaged that six concerts (three orchestral and three chamber/vocal concerts would be given in the Vereinigung's 1904/05 season, of which one of the orchestral concerts would be conducted by Mahler. However, he also foresaw that the main issue would be the recruitment of wealthy patrons who would underwrite any deficits, commenting that 'talent must be united with worldly wisdom'. He also observed that Viennese publishers of new music might conceivably have seen it in their own interest to mount or at least subsidise concerts of new music. To what extent the society's officers heeded Adler's advice is uncertain, but it may be significant that he pointed to the current fashion for Lieder recitals devoted to the output of a single composer were currently fashionable: the earliest newspaper announcements of the Society's 1904–05 season included a concert on 6 January devoted entirely to Mahler's orchestral songs, conducted by the composer.⁵ This was followed on 20 November by an announcement – motivated, perhaps by a mixture of benevolence and/or the need to fill a few more seats – that for the Society's first concert, on 23rd, high-school students would be admitted to the gallery at half price.  A further announcement at the end of October gave 29 January as date for the concert of orchestral songs,⁶ a change presumably necessitated by an unavoidable alteration to the Hofoper repertoire, which required two of Mahler's singers, Erik Schmedes and Anton Moser, for a performance of 'Cav & Pag' on 6 January. On the other hand, a replacement for the original, unidentified singer of the orchestral songs by Oskar Posa to be heard at the second orchestral concert (25 January) – the Polish baritone Dr Konrad von Zabilowski (1880–1958) – was not announced until a week before the event.⁷ For all the practical experience of Mahler and Zemlinsky, it might be doubted whether there was an experienced or effective manager overseeing the organisation and publicity for Society's first season. Only one advert appeared in the Vienna press: the various announcements and changes of plan were brief paragraphs included in the arts pages of a few newspapers. Nevertheless, by 24 January Mahler's concert was sold out: in response tickets for the afternoon dress rehearsal were made available, and a repeat of the concert arranged for 3 February. (See also the entry for the Sieben Lieder for a further details of the preparation for and participants of the event.)

Publication

It was probably no accident that Alfred Hoffmann, the director of C.F. Kahnt visited Mahler at his hotel when the composer was in Leipzig for the local première of his Third Symphony in late November 1904. Hoffmann may have been aware of press announcements, which began to appear in mid-October 1904, for the third concert of the Vereinigung schaffender Tonkunstler Wiens in January 1905, indicating that it would be devoted entirely to Mahler's orchestral songs. If so, he may have surmised that some of these were unpublished. His approach must have seemed fortuitous to Mahler: performance material for the new songs had to be prepared for the concert (and the copying was presumably already under way) so it could be refined and corrected following rehearsals and performance in preparation for publication, and he wrote immediately to Alma (GMBaA, 234; GMBaAE, 192):

In the event it was perhaps not until March the following year that the copies were dispatched to Hoffmann (see below).

Some figures relating to early C.F. Kahnt print orders (1905–13) and sales of the piano-vocal score of Kindertotenlieder survive at A-Wigmg (see RKGMK, 171). These offer tantalising, though not wholly unambiguous insights into the distribution of the song cycle, especially when combined with information derived from the relevant UE Verlagsbuch:

Table 1.

Print runs and sales (Kahnt) and UE orders of Kindertotenlieder, piano-vocal score 1905–13

The figures in columns 2–4 are from documents in the Kahnt archive now housed at A-Wigmg (see RKGMK, 171):

Print orders 1905–15: Kahnt-11; sales figures 1905–12: Kahnt–10;

Stock at Year/end: editorial (derived by subtracting sales from the available stock)

Taken at face value these figures would suggest that Kahnt was warehousing a substantial amount of unsold stock. Reinhold Kubik reports (loc. cit.) that between 1905 and January 1912 848 copies were sold, but even if this higher figure were correct, this would not significantly modify the impression that the documents are failing to offer a complete picture of the production and sales figures. In particular, it is unclear whether or not the U.E. orders from 1910 onwards are reflected in the Kahnt documents cited.

In the absence of any available documentation of the licensing arrangement between Kahnt and UE, one can only speculate whether the printing of sheets used in copies issued under the UE imprint was undertaken in Leipzig or Vienna. The entries for 1910 indicate that Kahnt would not have had enough stock to supply the first UE order, evidence that might indicate that the transaction was recorded and accounted for separately and not included in the surviving Kahnt documents. On the other hand, if the UE orders up to the end of 1911 are not taken into account it is difficult to understand the strategy behind the very large order placed at the end of the year. Kahnt's previous sales figures on their own would not have justified such a capital investment. In the 6½ years up to the middle of 1911 Kahnt had ordered 1300 copies and in a year (1910–11) UE had ordered just over 400 (and subsequently ordered a further 300 later that year). So, if they don't resolve the issue of apparent over-production, these figures do provide evidence that UE's retail performance was probably rather more impressive than Kahnt's.

As far as the full score is concerned, Reinhold Kubik reports that between 1905 and 1915 250 copies were printed (this total may include copies of PFm1 and PFm1a) of which only eight were sold (RKGMK, 171). Given the number of performances with orchestra (at least 89 up to the end of the 1913/14 concert season) the number of sales seems implausibly low. This figure appears to derive from a royalty statement for the period ending on 30 June 1915 (Kahnt–14; facsimile: RKGMK, 169):⁸ perhaps this is not a cumulative statement, but rather the annual statement which, under the terms of Mahler's 1905 contract with Kahnt, had to be prepared on 1 July every year (FWGMV, 163).

The publicity campaign mounted by Kahnt was extensive and included a three-part article, 'Gustav Mahler als Liederkomponist' by Dr. A. Schering, published in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (72/35-36, 30 August 1905; 72/37, 6 September 1905; 72/40, 27 September 1905). Presumably inspired by this article and the success of the performances earlier in the year, Schott advertised the Lieder und Gesänge in the issue containing the third installment Schering's essay (72/40, 27 September 1905).

Performance Practice  and Transpositions

Performance practice, and in particular the issue of transpositions, are discussed in a separate essay, Mahler on the performance of his Lieder (1906–7). Mahler's contract with Kahnt covering the publication of Kindertotenlieder and the Sieben Lieder permitted the publisher to issue transposed versions, and in 1915 Kahnt issued a high-voice transposition of the cycle in which all the songs were transposed up a minor third.

Critical Editions

Low voice and Piano

SWXIII/3: Gustav Mahler, Kindertotenlieder für eine Singstimme mit Klavier, Sämtliche Werke, Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Band XIII, Teilband 3, ed. Zoltan Roman (Frankfurt: C.F. Kahnt, 1979)

Low voice and orchestra

SWXIV/3: Gustav Mahler, Kindertotenlieder für eine Singstimme mit Orchester, Sämtliche Werke, Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Band XIV, Teilband 3, ed. Zoltan Roman (Frankfurt: C.F. Kahnt, 1979)

Eulenburg: Gustav Mahler, Kindertotenlieder für Solostimme und Orchester, edited by Andreas Ballstaedt and Klaus Döge (London: Ernst Eulenburg Ltd., 1988)

This is an impressive edition, and in some respects supersedes SWXIV/3, although the Eulenberg house style requires the use of Italian names only for the instruments.