Mahler's Seraphic Fire: Requiem

For this paper I attended two events, one large scale and one small-scale. For the large-scale event I attended Mahler’s Symphony no. 6 in A minor and for the small-scale event I attended Seraphic Fire- Mozart: Requiem. I attended Mahler’s Symphony no. 6 in A minor first. For this event there were not any issues with this venue. The only drawbacks to this event were that the tickets were pretty pricy and for this reason I had to attend this event alone. For me to get a pair of seats together the venue wanted at least $140- a ticket for seats in the back of the venue compared to $50- for one seat three rows back from the stage. Parking was also expensive and like a maze beep beneath Lincoln Center, which made it extremely difficult for me to …show more content…
During this performance there were not any direct interactions between the conductor and the audience. But while it seemed that the conductor was not interacting with the audience you could still tell that he was in control of both the orchestra as well as the audience as he brought us through a musical journey. I enjoyed this sense of power the conductor had over us since this added to the complexity and seriousness of this piece. At the end the symphony, everyone applauded releasing the unspoken hold over us. As for the Seraphic Fire event there were numerous interactions between the conductor and the audience such as at the beginning of the event he introduced all the singers, told us where each one was from and mentioned that they meet up nine times a year to practice and tour. Additionally, before each song the conductor would tell us the meaning and background of each song and during the intermission he mingled and spoke with the …show more content…
6 there were four pieces that were performed. Part one was called Allegro energico, ma non troppo, part two: Scherzo: Wuchtig (Weighty), part three: Andante and part four the finale: Allegro moderato – Allegro energico. The first movement (Allegro energico) to me had characteristics of a march and had a duple meter. This movement also has a melody that they call the “Alma theme” and is the happiest part of this symphony. In the second movement the scherzo is a slower movement and had a tranquil element while also emitting a darker mood. The third movement (Andante) I feel has some major and minor scales and sounded colder, which gave me a feeling of the composers distraught. As for the fourth movement (Allegro moderato) it had sudden, dramatic changes in its mood, melody and tempo and portrayed to me a profound anguish within the composer. Seraphic Fire performed six songs, the first was called Immortal Bach, the second: Selig Sind die Toten, the third: Richte Mich, Gott, the fourth: Hymnodic Delays, the fifth: I Am, and the sixth: Requiem Mass in D minor, K. 626. Throughout this performance the majority of the songs were Gregorian chant and performed in minor scales that presented a somber