The Guitar in Mahler’s Seventh Symphony

As Constantin Floros notes in his book, Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies, about the inclusion of a guitar in the fourth movement of the Seventh Symphony, “… in the Andante amoroso he [Arnold Schoenberg] said that it was not chosen for a single effect; rather the entire movement was dependent upon this sound.”

From Floros’s passage, Schoenberg’s view seems a bit unclear. Did Schoenberg mean that the movement was dependent upon the unique sound of the guitar? Or did he mean that the guitar was a key element of the overall tone “atmosphere” Mahler sought to achieve? When considering that the guitar is absent for long stretches in the movement, and is paired with mandolin, though for only brief periods do they play together, it becomes clear that Mahler’s intent for the guitar (and mandolin) was not for it to be a centerpiece of the Nachtmusik II but for it to serve as a tonal enhancer.

Curious about a sole guitar being scored to a sole movement within a sole Mahler symphony, Mahler synonymous with massive orchestral forces and abrupt changes in dynamics, especially with his so-called “Symphony of a Thousand” directly following the Seventh, I wanted to see for myself what Mahler composed for my chosen instrument.

Throughout the fourth movement Mahler scores the guitar rather sparingly. Three-note triads or two-note intervals comprise the entire chordal gamut, with minimal straying from simple F major or C7th chord forms. At times, there are also successive one-note passages, usually eighth notes, which give a flowing or settling down-like effect. Indeed, a very brief series of repeated eighth notes (three) is the only solo passage for guitar in the movement, which acts as a short-lived divide between two energetic passages.

As for the mandolin, just as the guitar is silent for much of the movement so also is its 8-string counterpart. Not until the 46th measure does the mandolin enter, and thereafter it largely plays a restrained series of solitary notes. In fact, the mandolin plays no chords or intervals at all. And rarely do both instruments play simultaneously. The most notable passage where the two are “in concert” begins at the guitar solo, where both play off each other as the mandolin strikes a solo quarter note at the conclusion of each series of guitar eighth notes.

With spare chord forms throughout, only towards the very end of the movement does Mahler indicate arpeggios. Here, he notches f and c up an octave from the guitar’s lowest register to again form a simple F major triad, followed by a C7th. Then, touchingly, in the final two bars, Mahler returns to the predominant F major triad, which, with the mandolin silent, the guitar’s spare three-note arpeggios softly nuance dying wind and horns.

Overall, there’s nothing difficult in this movement for even a beginner guitarist (except for a change to bass clef for two played measures, which, for any guitarist, presents itself as a head-scratcher). But, as Schoenberg seemed to grasp, Mahler’s intent was not the parameters or capabilities of the instrument itself. Mahler’s intent was to enhance the serenade-like quality of the movement by adding in the guitar’s unique timbre.

February 27, 2023