The Purgatorio movement (originally entitled Purgatorio oder Inferno (Purgatory or Hell)) but the word \u201cInferno\u201d was struck out, is a brief vignette presenting a struggle between alternately bleak and carefree melodies with a perpetuum mobile accompaniment, that are soon subverted by a diabolical undercurrent of more cynical music.
The short movement fails to end in limbo though, as after a brief recapitulation a sudden harp arpeggio and gong stroke pull the rug out from under it; it is consigned to perdition by a final grim utterance from the double basses.
\u201cPurgatorio oder Inferno\u201c.\xa0
On the title page of the short score. The title page was cut in two with scissors or a razor blade. The word \u201cPergatorio\u201d might have been suggested to Mahler by the identical title of a set of poems by Siegfried Lipiner (1856-1911). Because Alma had always disliked him she would have destroyed Mahler\u2019s reference to him. However, the word \u201cPurgatorio\u201d was very appropriate, considering Mahler\u2019s present ordeal.
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A listening guide of Symphony No. 10 - 3rd Movement with Lew Smoley