Symphony No. 6 (Mahler) - Instrumentation

Instrumentation

The symphony is written for a large orchestra comprising:

• woodwinds: piccolo, 4 flutes (fl. 3, 4 doubling piccolos 1, 2), 4 oboes (ob. 3, 4 doubling English horns 1, 2), English horn, 3 clarinets in B-flat and A, clarinet in E-flat and D (doubling cl. 4 in A for one short passage in the finale), bass clarinet in B-flat and A, 4 bassoons, contrabassoon
• brass: 8 horns in F, 6 trumpets in B-flat, C, and F, 4 trombones, tuba
• percussion: timpani (4 for one player, 2 for the other), bass drum and rute, snare drum, cymbals, tam-tam, triangle, glockenspiel, xylophone, 2 or more deep bells of indeterminate pitch (placed off-stage), cowbells (placed both on- and off-stage), hammer1
• keyboards: celesta
• strings: 2 harps, violins i, ii, violas, cellos, double basses

As in many other of his compositions, Mahler indicates in several places that extra instruments should be added, including two or more celestas "if possible," "several" triangles at the end of the first movement, doubled snare drum (side drum) in certain passages, and in one place in the fourth movement "several" cymbals. While at the beginning of each movement Mahler calls for 2 harps, at one point in the Andante he calls for "several," and at one point in the Scherzo he writes "4 harps." Often he does not specify a set number, especially in the last movement, simply writing "harps."

While the first version of the score (currently available from Dover Publications) included slapstick and tambourine, these were removed over the course of Mahler's extensive revisions.