In its final form, the work has six movements, grouped into two parts: The first movement alone, with a normal duration of a little more than thirty minutes, sometimes forty, forms Part One of the symphony. Part Two consists of the other five movements and has a duration of about sixty to seventy minutes. As with each of his first four symphonies, Mahler originally provided a
programme of sorts to explain the narrative of the piece. He did not reveal the structure and content to the public. But, at different times, he shared evolving versions of a program for the third symphony with various friends: Max Marschalk, a music critic; violist
Natalie Bauer-Lechner, a close friend and confidante; and
Anna von Mildenburg, the dramatic soprano and Mahler's lover during the summer of 1896 when he was completing the symphony. Bauer-Lechner wrote in her private journal that Mahler said, "You can't imagine how it will sound!" In its simplest form, the program consists of a title for each of the six movements: Mahler, however, elaborated on this basic scheme in various letters. In an 1896 letter to Max Marschalk, he called the whole "A Summer's Midday Dream", and within Part One, distinguished two sections, "Introduction: Pan awakes" and "I. Summer marches in (Bacchic procession)". In a June 1896 letter to Anna von Mildenburg, Mahler reaffirmed that he conceived the first movement in two sections: I. What the stony mountains tell me; II. Summer marches in. In another letter to Mildenburg from Summer 1896, he said that "Pan" seemed to him the best overall title () for the symphony, emphasizing that he was intrigued by Pan's two meanings, a Greek god and a Greek word meaning "all". All these titles were dropped before publication in 1898. Indeed, several musical motifs taken from "Heavenly Life" appear in the fifth (choral) movement of the Third Symphony. The posthorn melody is suddenly interrupted (in measure 345) by a trumpet fanfare representing a literal quotation of the Austrian military signal for falling out (
Abblasen). Another important quotation in the movement is a Spanish folk melody of
jota aragonesa used by
Mikhail Glinka in
Caprice brillante and by
Franz Liszt in
Rhapsodie espagnole. Most probably it is borrowed here from
Ferruccio Busoni's transcription of the Rhapsodie for piano and orchestra, as the harmonies are almost identical and passages are equally quite similar. Busoni himself was the first to remark on this quotation in 1910. The
reprise of the scherzo music is unusual, as it is interrupted several times by the post-horn melody.
IV. Sehr langsam-Misterioso (What Man Tells Me) The last three movements of the symphony are linked together. At this point, in the sparsely instrumentated fourth movement, we hear an alto solo singing a setting of
Friedrich Nietzsche's "Midnight Song" ("
Zarathustra's roundelay") from
Also sprach Zarathustra ("O Mensch! Gib acht!" ("O man! Take heed!")), with thematic material from the first movement woven into it. The movement is punctuated by oboe
glissandi, representing the cry of a night bird. : { \new ChoralStaff 2 | r | \time 3/2 r r | \time 2/2 2. r4 } >> }
V. Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck (What The Angels Tell Me) The cheerful fifth movement, "Es sungen drei Engel", is one of Mahler's
Des Knaben Wunderhorn songs, (whose text itself is loosely based on a 17th-century church hymn, which
Paul Hindemith later used in its original form in his
Symphony "Mathis der Maler") about the redemption of sins and comfort in belief. : \relative c' { \clef treble \key f \major \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \autoBeamOff \partial 8*1 c8 | c'4 c8 bes a8. bes16 a8 g | f4 d8 d c4 r8 } \addlyrics { Es sun- gen drei En- gel ei- nen Sü- ßen Ge- sang; } Here, a
children's choir imitating bells and a female chorus join the alto soloist. (In order to make the imitations sound realistic, Mahler asks that the "m" should be hummed.) : { \new ChoralStaff > } Halfway through the movement, the alto soloist's plea for redemption sets off a sinister interlude, punctuated by tam-tam crashes and pealing bells, both choirs keeping up with their bell imitations. The menace quickly fades, however, and the movement ends just as cheerfully as it began.
VI. Langsam-Ruhevoll-Empfunden (What Love Tells Me) Of the finale,
Bruno Walter wrote, In the last movement, words are stilled—for what language can utter heavenly love more powerfully and forcefully than music itself? The Adagio, with its broad, solemn melodic line, is, as a whole—and despite passages of burning pain—eloquent of comfort and grace. It is a single sound of heartfelt and exalted feelings, in which the whole giant structure finds its culmination.(p. 103 Gustav Mahler, A Study by Bruno Walter: published Hamish Hamilton, London 1958) The movement begins very softly with a broad D-major melody in the strings, and after a failed climax, the music falls into near silence. Lonely flute and piccolo phrases backed by
pianississimo tremolos in the strings rise up from the stillness, leading to a hushed chorale in the brass, namely on the trumpets and trombones. This slowly builds into a loud and majestic conclusion culminating in repeated D major chords with bold statements in the brass and timpani. This movement in particular was a triumphant critical success. The Swiss critic William Ritter, in his review of the premiere given in 1902, said of the last movement: "Perhaps the greatest Adagio written since Beethoven". Another anonymous critic writing in the
Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung wrote about the Adagio: "It rises to heights which situate this movement among the most sublime in all symphonic literature". Mahler was called back to the podium 12 times, and the local newspaper reported that "the thunderous ovation lasted no less than fifteen minutes". : \relative c' { \clef treble \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \key d \major \partial 4*1 a4\pp( | d2 cis4 b) | a( b cis d) | e2( fis4 e) | e2( d4) } == Instrumentation ==