The Evolution of Symphonic Worlds: Tonality in the Symphonies of Gustav Mahler, With Emphasis on the First, Third, and Fifth

Although Mahler's symphonies have become widely known recently, prompting several important studies of his music, there has been no attempt to consider his forms and style expressly from the viewpoint of the tonal structure. This dissertation, in two parts, makes that attempt. Part I holds the assumption that Mahler developed a hierarchy of articulations, using the strongest means to indicate the most critical formal junctures. It explores his tonal treatment and form through analysis of finished works to discover the hierarchy of tonal gestures. The first chapter defines and describes particular kinds of formal articulations and their tonal contexts, concentrating on elements not typically encountered in the Classical symphony. By surveying the ways in which keys arrive and depart, the second chapter focuses on the possibilities for continuity or discontinuity, and on the relative strength of arrivals. Part II, based on the hypothesis that Mahler had a large-level plan for each work, however modified, offers the large tonal schemes that seem to support three individual works: the First, Third, and Fifth symphonies. Since the Fifth marks a turning point in his style it makes an enlightening comparison to the earlier works, revealing change and continuity in the tonal procedures. Taken together, the three works show Mahler's increasing control over the whole structure. All three end in D major but exhibit three very different ways of attaining that goal. The study suggests the extent of Mahler's reliance on the past, and on Beethoven and Wagner in particular, for his large-scale tonal organization and techniques. Mahler extended these through his unique style that is reflective of the turmoil in Viennese culture at the turn of the century. Mahler remained a tonal composer, however, in spite of contemporary experiments in atonality, because the tonic was the terra firma on and around which he could construct what he termed his "symphonic worlds."