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Little information about this untraced
but crucial document has come to light, but it was
presumably the score to which Mahler referred in
a letter to Arnold Berliner, written on 10 July 1894 (GMB2a,
137;
GMSL,
155 (revised below)):
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Ich bin
naturlich mitten im Arbeiten. Der 5 Satz ist
grandios und schließt mit einem Chorgesang, dessen
Dichtung von mir herrührt. – |
I am of course hard at work. The
fifth movement is grandiose, concluding with a
chorus for which I have written the words. |
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Bleibt strengstens unter uns (die
ganze Mitteilung). – |
Strictly between ourselves (the whole
report). - |
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Die Skizzierung ist bis in die
kleinste Einzelheit vollendet and eben bin ich daran,
die Partitur auszuführen. - Es ist ein kühnes Stück
von mächtigstem Aufbau. Die Schlußsteigerung ist
kolossal. Anfang August bin ich in Bayreuth.... |
The sketching is complete down to the
last detail, and I am now completing the score. It
is a bold piece, immense in structure. The final
climax is colossal. At the beginning of August I
will be in Bayreuth.... |
The reference to 'die Partitur' is somewhat ambiguous, but on
25 July Mahler wrote again to Berliner, to announce his
departure the following day for Bayreuth, where he hoped to meet
up with both Berliner and Hermann Behn. In a postscript he
announced that (GMB2a,
138;
GMSL,
157):
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Der letzte Satz (Partitur) der
zweiten Symphonie is fertig! Es ist das Bedeutendste,
was ich bis jetzt gemacht habe. |
The last movement (score) of the
Second Symphony is finished! It is the most
important thing I have yet done. |
After meeting up with the
Krzyzanowskis and his brother Otto on 5 August (HLG1,
305) Mahler returned to Steinbach for a couple of weeks
where he may have begun work on the fair copies of the
scores of the last four movements of the new Symphony.¹
He then travelled back to Hamburg – via Vienna where he
spent a few days, 21–23 August (GMB2a,
139;
GMSL,
157) – and on 29 August played the new Symphony to an
enthusiastic J.B. Foerster (GMLJ,
395;
GMLJE 285).
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