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The piece is scored for a large orchestra made up of four flutes (two doubling piccolo), three oboes (one doubling cor anglais), three clarinets (one doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons (one doubling double bassoon); six French horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tubaThe tuba is the largest of the low- brass instruments and is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid- 19th century, when it largely replaced the ophicleide. There is usually only one tuba in an orchest; four timpaniTimpani or kettledrums are percussion musical instruments. A type of drum, they consist of a skin, called a head stretched over a large hemispherical bowl generally made of copper. Unlike most drums, they have a definite pitch when struck. Timpani is an I, cymbals, bass drumdrum kit A bass drum is a large, heavy drum that produces a "thump" of low but indefinite pitch. It is used in orchestral music, marching music, and throughout 20th century popular music as a component of the drum set. In popular music, the bass drum is u, side drum, triangleThe triangle is an idiophonic musical instrument of the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, most usually steel in modern instruments, bent into a triangle shape. One of the angles is left open, with the ends of the bar not quite touching this causes, glockenspielThe glockenspiel German "play of bells", also known as orchestra bells and, in its portable form, lyra is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It is similar to the xylophone, in that it has tuned bars laid out in a fashion resembling a piano key, tamtam, wood clapper, harp and strings.
The piece is generally regarded as Mahler's most conventional symphony up to that point, but from such an unconventional composer it still had many peculiarities. It almost has a four movement structure, as the first two can easily be viewed as essentially a whole. The symphony also ends with a Rondo, in the classical style. Some peculiarities are the funeral march that opens the piece, and the Adagietto for harp and strings that interrupts the booming score.
The work is in five movements:
The first two movements constitute Part I of the symphony (as designated by Mahler in the score), the long Scherzo constitutes Part II, and the last two movements constitute Part III.
The adagietto is sometimes heard alone. It was used liberally in Luchino Visconti's film, Death in Venice.