In order to fill the concert
programs, the symphony has to be associated with other works. In
consequence it loses in effectiveness. So, taking hints from the Ninth
of Beethoven and the "Romeo" of Berlioz, Mahler boldly planned
symphonies that could stand alone and fill an evening. Beginning with
his Second, he increased the number of movements, dropping the
inevitable suite of allegro, andante, scherzo, rondo; prescribed
intermissions of a certain length; and added choruses and vocal solos to
give the necessary relief to the long orchestral passages. In the
Second, he placed between an allegretto and a scherzo a soprano setting
of one of the lyrics out of "Des Knaben Wunderhorn," and concluded the
work with a choral setting of one ode of Klopstock's. In the Third
Symphony, he preceded the orchestral finale with an alto solo composed
on "Das Trunkene Lied" of Nietzsche, and with a chorus employing the
words of another of the naive poems in the anthology of Arnim and
Brentano. The Eighth is simply a choral setting of the "Veni, Creator"
and the closing scene of Goethe's "Faust." And in the Fifth Symphony,
one of those in which he called for no vocal performers, he nevertheless
managed to vary and expand the conventional suite by preceding the first
allegro with a march, and separating and relieving the gargantuan
scherzo and rondo with an adagietto for strings alone.
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