The First Movement of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony and the “Burden” of Romantic Form

Abstract

AbstractStudies of post-Classical form must inevitably contend with the issue of how eighteenth-century practices retain relevance in later repertory. This article offers a framework for considering musical form and historical distance around the beginning of the twentieth century. Following historian Hayden White, I analyze the first movement of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony as an example of formal troping. Mahler’s movement is shown to enact a conflict between metaphor and metonymy in its treatment of Adagio practice and sonata form. In portraying Mahler’s form tropologically, this article emphasizes the role of historical distance within Mahler’s formal imagination.