Der Tamboursg’sell

Gustav Mahler

Subtitle: From Des Knaben Wunderhorn

N.B. This work is originally in D minor, but also exists in E minor or C minor.

General Info

Year: 1901
Duration: c. 5:15
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra or piano and voice
Publisher: Kalmus
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $50.00 | Score Only (print) - $15.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Solo Voice
Oboe I-II (doubling English Horn I-II)
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
B-flat Bass Clarinet
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani (2 players)
Percussion (3 players), including:

Bass Drum
Crash Cymbals
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbal
Tam-Tam

Cello

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

On the evening of February 24, 1901, Mahler awoke, his bed sheets soaked in blood from a burst hemorrhage. Mahler later commented to Strauss that he lost two and a half liters of blood. This episode undoubtedly left an impression on Mahler, an experience that is certainly linked to the composition of Der Tamboursg’sell and Um Mitternacht in the summer following this midnight episode. “Hovering on the border between life and death, I wondered whether it would not be better to have done with it at once, since everything must come to that in the end. Beside, the prospect of dying did not frighten me in the least ... and to return to life seemed almost a nuisance. I thought my last hour had come.”

Um Mitternacht, from the Rückert-Lieder, was composed in the summer of 1901 and is one of the gems of wind ensemble music from the romantic period. Der Tamboursg’sell (The Drummer Boy) was composed just weeks before as a final song in Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Of the Boy's Wonder Horn), a set of folk poetry that served as an inspiration for Mahler’s songs and symphonies for over a decade. Although Der Tamboursg’sell is often viewed as a song that belongs to Mahler’s earlier period, it was composed much later than the others in the set, and is more closely linked to Mahler’s middle and late compositions, including the RückertLieder, Kindertotenlieder, and the Fifth Symphony.

- Program Note by Jared Chase

Media

Audio: Indiana University of Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra (David Martynuik., conductor; Joseph Baunoch, Bass)
Audio CD: San Francisco Symphony (Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; Thomas Hampson, baritone) - 2010

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Nazareth College (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Symphony (Jared Chase, conductor;Kate Hannigan, mezzo-soprano) – 8 March 2018 (CBDNA 2018 Eastern Conference, New Haven, Conn.)

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adagietto (arr. Hautvast) (1902/2002)
Adagietto from "Symphony No 5" (arr. Shishikura) (1902/2015)
Blumine (tr. Dohmen) (1884/2020)
Chorale, March and Coda from "Symphony No 2" (1894/)
Der Tamboursg’sell (1901)
Finale from Symphony No. 1 (arr. Mertens) (1888/1996)
Finale from Symphony No. 1 in D "Titan" (arr. Schneider) (1888/2015)
Finale from the 3rd Symphony (arr. Mertens) (1894-1896/1985)
Finale to "Symphony No 3" (arr. Saucedo) (1894-1896/2002)
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (arr. Bowlin) (1884/1892/1896/)
Rückert-Lieder (tr. Andrew J. Putnam) (1901-1902/)
Movement Four from "Symphony No 4" (arr. Hiller) (1901/2013?)
Musings on Mahler (arr. Bough) (2018)
Resurrection Chorale (tr. Austin) (1894/2021)
Rondo Burleske (arr. Gorb) (1909-1910/2011)
Sinfonie Nr 7 Rondo Finale (arr. Ishizuya) (1904-1905/2007)
Symphony No. 1 Finale. See: Finale from Symphony No. 1 in D "Titan"
Symphony No. 3 (arr. Shaefer, Patterson, Reynolds) (1894-1896/1906/)
Symphony No 3 Finale (Excerpts) (arr. Reynolds) (1894-96/1971)
Three Angels Were Singing a Sweet Song (arr. Roach) (1896/2008)
Um Mitternacht (1901)
Urlicht (arr. Vertommen) (1894/2008)
Urlicht (arr. Hanna) (1894/2002)

Resources

"Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Mahler, Gustav)." IMSLP. Web, Accessed 17 February 2023
Das Knaben Wunderhorn (Mahler), Wikipedia Accessed 8 March 2018
Perusal Score