In anticipation of the hundredth anniversary of Gustav Mahler’s death next year, on 9 and 10 December the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) will present the programme Second Life which is dedicated to composers who in some way pay homage to Mahler. Willem Jeths, whom the RCO commissioned to write the Flügelhorn Concerto -al fondo per l'oscuro, has for this occasion composed Scale per orchestra sinfonica. It will be premiered at the concert of 9 December and be repeated the following day.

‘The second life of music does not only mean quoting that music, but also composing in the spirit of it; associations, which are so essential in my composition process, are often linked to existing pieces,’ says Jeths. ‘Therefore Scale per orchestra sinfonica fits the theme well: a quotation from Mahler’s Sixth and several quotations from his Tenth Symphony inspired me to write the work.’

Not only Jeths’ intimate knowledge of the Finale of the Tenth Symphony formed the basis of Scale per orchestra sinfonica, but also an extra-musical idea. The immediate incentive to compose the work was a crucial moment at the end of Mahler’s life Jeths read about in Oliver Hilme’s biography of Alma Mahler. As Gustav and Alma Mahler were sitting in their room in the New York Majestic Hotel on 16 February 1908 they heard noises in the street below. A year before their oldest daughter had died and by then Mahler knew that he himself did not have much longer to live. As it turned out the noise came from a gigantic funeral procession for a perished fireman, which stopped right under the Mahlers’ window. A speech was followed by a single beat on a muted drum and then silence. That simple gesture made a huge impression on the composer and his wife, who both burst out in tears, and it is used in exactly the same form in the Finale of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony, where it constitutes a symbol of mortality to the listener.