Thank you for your understanding.
Cast
Christiane Karg — Soprano
Elisabeth Kulman — Alto
Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno
Petr Fiala — Chorus master
Budapest Festival Orchestra
Iván Fischer — Conductor
Program notes
What is a symphony? For Mahler, to compose such a work was to “create a universe with all the means at my disposal.” His Second Symphony, known as the “Resurrection” Symphony, is indeed a universe unto itself, encompassing the cosmic duality of so many of his works: the alternation of light and dark, the overlap between grotesque and mischievous, and the coexistence of comic and tragic. It is also the first of his symphonies that makes use of the human voice. “The original aim of this work,” he wrote in December 1895, “was never to describe an event in detail; rather it concerns a feeling. Its spiritual message is clearly expressed in the words of the final chorus.” The final movement’s text is composed of eight lines from Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock’s Die Auferstehung (The Resurrection), expanded by Mahler himself.
Movement 5
Chorus and soprano
Rise again, yea, you shall rise again,
My dust, after a short rest!
Immortal life! Immortal life
He who called you will grant you.
To bloom anew were you sown!
The Lord of the Harvest goes
And gathers in, like sheaves,
Us together who died.
Alto
Oh believe, my heart, oh believe:
Nothing is lost to you!
What you have desired is yours,
What you have loved for, what you have fought for!
Soprano
Oh believe, you were not born in vain!
Have not lived in vain, suffered in vain!
Chorus
What has come into being must perish,
What has perished must rise again.
Chorus and alto
Tremble no more!
Prepare yourself to live!
Soprano and alto
Oh pain, you piercer of all things,
From you have I been wrested!
Oh death, you conqueror of all things,
Now you are conquered!
With the wings I have won,
In love's fierce striving,
I shall soar upwards
To the light no eye has penetrated.
Choir
With the wings I have won,
I shall soar upwards
I shall die, to live!
Rise again, yea, you shall rise again,
My heart, in the twinkling of an eye!
What you have fought for
Shall lead you to God!
