The research focuses on the draft score, or Partiturentwurf, of the third movement of Gustav Mahler's Fourth Symphony, which came to light in the late 1990s following the acquisition of the Moldenhauer Collection by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. This, which remained inaccessible for a long time, contains many manuscripts crucial to the study of Mahler's creative process, including the draft scores of the first three movements of the Fourth Symphony. However, in the most important and extensive studies on the genesis of this symphony, both conducted by James Zychowicz, these sources were not investigated because they were not available at the time; not even the most recent literature contains contributions devoted to these materials. My thesis research, therefore, sought at least in part to fill this gap. The research is divided into three chapters. In the initial part of the first, an overview of Mahler's creative process is offered. One of his peculiarities is that, due to his employment as a conductor in various European cities and, in the final years of his career, in New York, Mahler could only devote the summer months to composition. This earned him the nickname ‘Sommerkomponist’, or ‘summer composer’. Next, the issues surrounding the study of his creative process are analysed. Any research dedicated to the genesis of a Mahler work must come to terms with the fact that many of his preparatory materials have been destroyed or there is no information about their current whereabouts. Even the surviving materials, however, are scattered in libraries around the world and often not accessible because they are in private collections. Finally, a large part of the first chapter is devoted to the terminology used in studies of Mahler's creative process. This is a particularly problematic aspect, as each scholar has advanced singular proposals over time, which compare neither with other studies in the field of Mahler nor with terminological proposals made in studies on the creative process of other composers. Instead, the second chapter is devoted entirely to a detailed description of the stages of the creative process. This is a central phase of the research, as it brings together information from the systematic comparison of many studies on the genesis of Mahlerian works, which are too often concentrated on a single symphony. Finally, the third and final chapter represents the actual core of the research, as it is dedicated to the genetic study of the draft score of the third movement. This chapter is also divided into several parts. The first is an introduction to the Fourth Symphony in general and to the third movement specifically, with information regarding its compositional chronology and Mahler's statements about it. It then moves on to a formal analysis of the third movement, and finally to the genetic study. Here the complete diplomatic-interpretive transcription of the score sketch and its micro-chronological reconstruction is offered. Finally, in the appendix, digital reproductions of some of the Mahler manuscripts relevant to the discussion of the stages of the creative process and the genetic study are offered.
La ricerca si concentra sull’abbozzo in partitura, o Partiturentwurf, del terzo movimento della Quarta Sinfonia di Gustav Mahler, venuto alla luce alla fine degli anni Novanta in seguito all’acquisizione del Fondo Moldenhauer da parte della Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Questo, rimasto per lungo tempo inaccessibile, contiene molti manoscritti fondamentali per lo studio del processo creativo mahleriano, tra cui gli abbozzi in partitura dei primi tre movimenti della Quarta Sinfonia. Tuttavia, nei più importanti e ampi studi sulla genesi di questa sinfonia, condotti entrambi da James Zychowicz, tali testimoni non sono stati analizzati perché in quel momento non ancora disponibili; nemmeno nella letteratura più recente si trovano contributi dedicati a questi materiali. La mia ricerca di tesi, dunque, ha cercato almeno in parte di colmare tale lacuna. La ricerca è articolata in tre capitoli. Nella parte iniziale del primo viene offerta una panoramica sul processo creativo mahleriano che parte delle testimonianze dirette del compositore. Una sua caratteristica peculiare è che, a causa del suo impiego come direttore d’orchestra in varie città europee e, negli anni finali della sua carriera, a New York, Mahler poteva dedicare alla composizione solo i mesi estivi. Ciò gli è valso l’appellativo di ‘Sommerkomponist’, ovvero ‘compositore estivo’. In seguito, vengono analizzate le problematiche riguardanti lo studio del suo processo creativo. Ogni ricerca dedicata alla genesi di un’opera mahleriana deve fare i conti con il fatto che molti dei suoi materiali preparatori sono andati distrutti o non si hanno informazioni sulla loro collocazione attuale. Anche i materiali superstiti, tuttavia, sono sparsi per le biblioteche di tutto il mondo e spesso non accessibili perché in collezioni private. Infine, gran parte del primo capitolo è dedicato alla terminologia impiegata negli studi sul processo creativo mahleriano. Questo è un aspetto particolarmente problematico, in quanto ogni studioso ha avanzato nel tempo delle proposte singolari, le quali non si confrontavano né con gli altri studi in ambito mahleriano, né con le proposte terminologiche avanzate negli studi sul processo creativo di altri compositori. Il secondo capitolo è invece dedicato interamente alla descrizione dettagliata delle fasi del processo creativo. Questa è una fase centrale della ricerca, in quanto mette insieme informazioni tratte dal confronto sistematico di molte ricerche sulla genesi delle opere mahleriane, le quali sono troppo spesso concentrate su una singola sinfonia. Il terzo e ultimo capitolo, infine, rappresenta il nucleo vero e proprio della ricerca di tesi, in quanto è dedicato allo studio genetico dell’abbozzo in partitura del terzo movimento. Anche questo capitolo è suddiviso in varie parti. La prima è un’introduzione alla Quarta Sinfonia in generale e al terzo movimento nello specifico, con informazioni riguardanti la sua cronologia compositiva e le dichiarazioni di Mahler a riguardo. Si passa poi a un’analisi formale del terzo movimento, per arrivare, infine, allo studio genetico. Qui viene offerta la trascrizione diplomatico-interpretativa completa dell’abbozzo in partitura e la sua ricostruzione micro-cronologica. In appendice, infine, vengono offerte delle riproduzioni digitali di alcuni manoscritti mahleriani rilevanti nella discussione sulle fasi del processo creativo e nello studio genetico.
Edizione e studio genetico dell'abbozzo in partitura della Quarta Sinfonia (terzo movimento) di Gustav Mahler
GIUSTOZZI, LORENZO
2023/2024
Abstract
The research focuses on the draft score, or Partiturentwurf, of the third movement of Gustav Mahler's Fourth Symphony, which came to light in the late 1990s following the acquisition of the Moldenhauer Collection by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. This, which remained inaccessible for a long time, contains many manuscripts crucial to the study of Mahler's creative process, including the draft scores of the first three movements of the Fourth Symphony. However, in the most important and extensive studies on the genesis of this symphony, both conducted by James Zychowicz, these sources were not investigated because they were not available at the time; not even the most recent literature contains contributions devoted to these materials. My thesis research, therefore, sought at least in part to fill this gap. The research is divided into three chapters. In the initial part of the first, an overview of Mahler's creative process is offered. One of his peculiarities is that, due to his employment as a conductor in various European cities and, in the final years of his career, in New York, Mahler could only devote the summer months to composition. This earned him the nickname ‘Sommerkomponist’, or ‘summer composer’. Next, the issues surrounding the study of his creative process are analysed. Any research dedicated to the genesis of a Mahler work must come to terms with the fact that many of his preparatory materials have been destroyed or there is no information about their current whereabouts. Even the surviving materials, however, are scattered in libraries around the world and often not accessible because they are in private collections. Finally, a large part of the first chapter is devoted to the terminology used in studies of Mahler's creative process. This is a particularly problematic aspect, as each scholar has advanced singular proposals over time, which compare neither with other studies in the field of Mahler nor with terminological proposals made in studies on the creative process of other composers. Instead, the second chapter is devoted entirely to a detailed description of the stages of the creative process. This is a central phase of the research, as it brings together information from the systematic comparison of many studies on the genesis of Mahlerian works, which are too often concentrated on a single symphony. Finally, the third and final chapter represents the actual core of the research, as it is dedicated to the genetic study of the draft score of the third movement. This chapter is also divided into several parts. The first is an introduction to the Fourth Symphony in general and to the third movement specifically, with information regarding its compositional chronology and Mahler's statements about it. It then moves on to a formal analysis of the third movement, and finally to the genetic study. Here the complete diplomatic-interpretive transcription of the score sketch and its micro-chronological reconstruction is offered. Finally, in the appendix, digital reproductions of some of the Mahler manuscripts relevant to the discussion of the stages of the creative process and the genetic study are offered.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/33230