HIGH TENSION COMPOSING
The best place to look to observe Mahler’s response to it is the moment that traditionally carried the highest charge in a symphonic first movement: the “retransition” to the recapitulation, where sufficient “dominant tension” had to be generated to motivate a “double return” commensurate in strength to the length and range of the preceding development. Beethoven had already solved this problem in maximalistic fashion in the first movement of the Eroica, with the “premature” horn entry with the opening theme in the tonic against an unbearably prolonged dominant pedal in the violins. Mahler’s retransition, which begins five bars before 20 with the arrival of the dominant pedal in the bass, builds on Beethoven’s precedent, drawing as well on a related precedent in the Ninth.
- Citation (MLA):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 1 Reaching (for) Limits." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2022. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume4/actrade-9780195384840-div1-001006.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 1 Reaching (for) Limits. In Oxford University Press, Music in the Early Twentieth Century. New York, USA. Retrieved 5 Dec. 2022, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume4/actrade-9780195384840-div1-001006.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 1 Reaching (for) Limits." In Music in the Early Twentieth Century, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 5 Dec. 2022, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume4/actrade-9780195384840-div1-001006.xml
