The View From Within

I am often amazed at the deep insights of composers as they discuss their music and their lives. I love to read about what was going on in the composer's life while he was writing a particular piece, what he had to say about it, and what he had to say about music in general. It always increases my understanding and appreciation of a piece, even if I don't particularly care for the music itself.

Such is the case with Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony, written between 1888 and 1894. The entire symphony is meant to illustrate man's struggle with the idea of death bringing either salvation or destruction - we don't know which. As I was recently studying the background of this work I came across the following commentary by Mahler describing the third movement:

"What is expressed in the Scherzo can only be illustrated like this: if you watch a dance from a distance through a window, without hearing the music, the gyrations of the couples seem strange and senseless because the key element, the rhythm, is lacking. That is how you have to imagine someone who is destitute and unlucky: To such a person the world appears as in a concave mirror, distorted and mad. The Scherzo ends with the terrible outcry of such a martyred soul."

Later he wrote to a friend on the same subject:

"When you finally wake up from this melancholy dream and again have to face this confused life, then this endlessly moving, never resting, never-to-be-understood hustle and bustle of life may seem dreadful to you, like the surging of dancing figures in a bright and illuminated ballroom into which you look from the dark night outside - from so far away that you can not hear the music that goes with it! Senseless is how life seems to you then, a cruel nightmare from which you might jump up with a cry of disgust!"

While it is sad to even think of feeling this way, reading Mahler's comments reminded me of the great privilege it is to enjoy the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. As members of Christ's church, we are the ones inside the ballroom dancing and blissfully enjoying the blessings we have. To the rest of the world we look strange doing the things we do. But we can hear the music. We know that death will bring joyous salvation to all who remain faithful. We know exactly why we do the things we do, and we are happy because of it. Perhaps we should look out the window more often to lend a hand to those helpless souls outside, crying in anguish because they need so desperately what we have.


(quotes taken from MUSC 312-Music in Modern Western Culture course packet, Dr. Alan Houtchens, Texas A&M University, Spring 2008.)