Quiz #24 – Delayed Gratification Edition

September 28, 2008 • Weekly Quiz • 0 • Previous | Next

Ok folks, a spare 15 minutes has been sorted and Miss Mussel can now tell you that the mystery piece from Quiz #24 is none other than Mahler’s 10th symphony. Third movment, to be precise. Click on the album image to head to the disc to your collection via Archiv.

In the first batch of clues, a bonus point was given for the person who could name the author of this über-dense quote: “as paradoxically inimical to the cultural category of art it nevertheless contributed to, relied upon and heightened in so significant a manner.” When Miss Mussel has to get her dictionary out at word number three, her mind goes instantly to two possible choices. Edward Said and Theodor Adorno. Since Mahler doesn’t have much to do with orientalism and the like, that leaves our pal Teddy.

The date of composition for this piece was a trick question because Mahler died before it was completed. He left orchestrated parts for the first and third movements and sketches of the others. Several people have had a crack at completing the score but the version by Deryck Cooke is the most commonly performed.

While Mahler was writing his final symphony, he was overcome with the grief of losing his beloved wife Alma to young architect Walter Gropius. Tragic notes in the margin illustrate Mahlers internal turmoil and correspond with specific events in the score:

The Devil dances it with me / Madness take me, cursed one! / Destroy me, that I forget that I am! / that I cease to be, that I de… [das ich ver... ]‘, at the end: ‘You alone know what it means! … Ah! Farewell my lyre!’).

Someone else is wearing the Yellow Jersey this week, meaning they are in top spot after 3 weeks of Quiz play. There are seven remaining weeks until the prizes are awarded, so still plenty of time to have a go.