Gustav Mahler’s second symphony, also known as the Resurrection Symphony, was created with grand ambitions. The art starts with a pretty mood, dominated by grumpy lower strings. The composer’s captivating creativity lies in how he changes character on every page (Mahler, 2011). The song scored high with significant emotional and physical effects on the audience. Similarly, Poulenc’s (2014) Gloria is a philharmonic orchestra dominated by a soprano solo at the beginning, followed by mixed choruses and instrumentations made of flutes, piccolos, clarinets, trumpets, strings, and other tonal enhancements. This essay describes a comparative analysis of Poulenc’s Gloria and Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, considering the melody, texture, rhythm, timbre, harmony, form, and weight.
The Resurrection Symphony opens with a succession of single tones and pitches, making up low strings that gradually grow into significant motions. Moreover, the melody is composed of high and low pitches, which take intense intervals and a narrow range substantiated by unified voices and instruments (Mahler, 2011). The dominant instrument, the trumpet, supports a sober mood in the symphony. As the song reaches the climax, the composer portrays lyrical passages accompanied by countermelodies and flat cadences. Its movement is firmly focused, and it takes the form of a sonata. The song’s texture is characterized by obsessive thrust, associated with intimations of its vocal themes, death, and resurrection.
Moreover, the Resurrection Symphony is characterized by a linear and clear texture. The composer achieves this texture by incorporating more notes, more instruments, and soft tones of the soprano solo. He enriches his song with a contrapuntal clarity, without hazy or fuzzy rhetoric sounds (Mahler, 2011). The rhythm lacks loud beats, but it has longer and louder accents of soprano than bass. Moreover, the rhythm is enriched by captivating syncopation and andante moderato, and largo tempo. This part introduces grace-like themes which appear in turns. The composer intentionally arranged graceful phrases to occur repeatedly. Mahler’s item portrays a conventional dominant harmony of vocal soloists, timpani, and harps.
Mahler’s art is less peaceful in the third movement, although he intended to introduce a gentle flowing motion. Ferocious and classic timpani, apart from torrents of booming winds and strings, enrich the texture. The form in this section is composed of interruptions of gentler passages. Singers have raised their tones and harmonized them with trumpets and violin sounds. Mahler (2011) uses identical pitches and identical volumes to produce distinct timbres in the song’s climax. The song’s setting in soft and prayerful passion. It is emotional and alto soloists that transition to hymn-like trumpets, spark the audience’s emotions. With time, the solo violins interrupt, raising the tone texture alongside the singer’s voice.
As the final movement opens, high drama composed of strong strings and timpani rolls enriches the song’s tone, melody, and timbre. In this section, the singers play trumpets both off-stage and on stage. The sense of distance created in this movement enhances musical texture. The composer used a (Mahler, 2011) tense and anxious mood to strengthen the tone. As the chorus begins a tempo, calmness strikes the venue, then, soprano solo passages appear followed by alto tones. This section introduces more propulsive energy that closes with a chorus of glory and rapture, suited to the song’s theme, resurrection.
On the other hand, Poulenc’s Gloria starts with a tremendous chordal motif, which, unlike in Mahler’s symphony, originates from brass instruments. The opening movement is characterized by low tones, followed by a chorus sung in an eloquent and accented manner. Moreover, the notes in this song sound at the same time. These features harmonize the singer’s voices and instrumentation. Still, in the beginning, G-major chords enhance the song’s texture, and they modulate G-minor keynotes. This introductory part strikes with a catchy and smoother rhythm, followed by a subtle but quite feminine chorus. This part resembles Mahler’s (2011) symphony, which is filled with a captivating soprano solo. It recedes to a warmer and richly harmonized section, with probing chords and a feeling of penetrating quest. The chorus is as unique as that of Mahler due to the affirmative figure, which rises over swirling strings. As the chorus subsides, it enters a double-dotted rhythm of brass fanfare. The composer used B minor triads to provide harmony regardless of their orientation in the song.
The bass in Gloria is enhanced by pedal G, juxtaposed by B minor triads, returning throughout the song. This feature changes harmonies and transits chord tones to non-cord tones. Although Mahler (2011) used them in his Resurrection Symphony, they are not as apparent as they appear in Poulenc’s Gloria. The second movement in Gloria opens with a strange quick brass introduction. It is jocund, and a light tune repeats throughout this section, apart from a regularly changing tone. Unlike in Mahler’s second movement, Poulenc’s (2014) song depicts a rich use of the C-major key, which is accompanied by a few diversions throughout the piece. The key changes to E, which appears flat with a bass figure. These accentuations enhance the song’s rhythm, inducing emotional feelings in the listener.
As the song reaches the climax, it is characterized by a dazzling soprano solo as it appears in Mahler’s symphony. The movement recedes to a harmonic device, Picardy cadence, which creates a catchy melody that the audience will keep recalling throughout the song (Poulenc, 2014). Afterward, a short section follows, and it is composed of high-toned orchestral phrases. It also comprises accentuated features of the introductory movement of the song. It is enriched with melodic phrases, often pentatonic, and enhances tone quality. Poulenc (2014) presented the song with a quick tempo, increasing the rhythm and giving a soft-raised texture. The listener experiences a dancing and whirling impression, grounded by a continuous return of the theme.
Further, the song’s texture and tonality are enhanced with woodwinds made up of wit-fully organized flutes, clarinets, saxophone, and bassoon. Soprano soloists harmonize the instrumentation to give the song a lasting melody. Performers augment the fourth and fifth melodic lines to give the piece a flat chord (Poulenc, 2014). The balanced tone also provides an easy and mysterious feeling to the end of the song. Lastly, the song culminates with an alternating acapella-like chorus. It is enriched with smooth interjections, which herald a soprano solo ‘amen.’ The refrain extends to repeat the theme, mixing G major and B minor chords. The mixture raises the tone and subsides to a flat bass.
Conclusively, this essay described the compositional features of Poulenc’s Gloria and Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. The two songs instill remarkable emotions in the listener because they are characterized by teasing impudence and pervasive reverence. Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony consists of three movements with varying tonalities, melodies, and textures. The orchestral form is developed by repeating phrases as they do in Poulenc’s Gloria. Both end with lushly harmonized rhythms, keeping the listener wanting to hear more.
References
Mahler, G. (2011). Concertgebouw – symphony No. 2 [Video]. YouTube.
Poulenc. (2014). Gloria [Video]. YouTube.