Mahler Symphony No. 6 in A minor 4th Movment

Symphony No. 6 in A minor by Mahler is a symphony in four movements, composed in 1903.It is sometimes referred to by the nickname ‘’Tragic Symphony’’. This time we focus on the IV movement , the movement is punctuated by hammer blows.

There were three mighty blows in the movement , that representing the fate befallen by the hero.

The three hammer blow:

13:45 First hammer blow

18:35 Second hammer blow

29:25 Third (last) hammer blow

The sound of the hammer, which features in the last movement, was stipulated by Mahler to be "brief and mighty, but dull in resonance and with a non-metallic character (like the fall of an axe)." The sound achieved in the premiere did not quite carry far enough from the stage, and indeed the problem of achieving the proper volume while still remaining dull in resonance remains a challenge to the modern orchestra. Various methods of producing the sound have involved a wooden mallet striking a wooden surface, a sledgehammer striking a wooden box, or a particularly large bass drum, or sometimes simultaneous use of more than one of these methods.