Berg, Alban

Berg, Alban (äl`bän bĕrk), 1885–1935, Austrian composer. In his youth he taught himself music but in 1904 he became the pupil and close friend of Arnold Schoenberg. Later Berg himself taught privately in Vienna. He adopted atonality and later the twelve-tone technique of Schoenberg, although he tempered it with the lyric and dramatic qualities of the Viennese romantic tradition. His masterpiece, the opera Wozzeck (based on the play Woyzeck by Georg Büchner; Berlin, 1925), written in a free atonal style (see atonality) with occasional intrusions of tonality, aroused strenuous protest, but it has since been acclaimed as a major work of the 20th-century musical stage. His Chamber Concerto (1927) marked a turn to twelve-tone composition, but it is in his Lyric Suite (1927) for string quartet and his opera Lulu (based on two plays by Wedekind; Zürich, 1937) that the mature twelve-tone style is manifested with great technical intricacy yet richly expressionistic. Though Lulu was left incomplete in its orchestration, it was completed by Friedrich Cerha. His Violin Concerto (Barcelona, 1936), his last completed work, written as an elegy on the death of Alma Mahler's 18-year old daughter, combines eloquent lyricism with the rigors the twelve-tone technique and of the classical form. He also wrote songs and chamber music.

Bibliography

See his letters to his wife, ed. and tr. by B. Grun (1971); G. Perle, The Operas of Alban Berg (2 vol., 1980–85); biographical studies by W. Reich (tr. 1965) and D. Jarman (1979).

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Berg, Alban (Maria Johannes)

(born Feb. 9, 1885, Vienna, Austria-Hungary—died Dec. 24, 1935, Vienna, Austria) Austrian composer. He was largely self-taught musically until he met Arnold Schoenberg at age 19. This would prove to be the decisive event in his life, and Schoenberg would remain his teacher for eight years. Under his influence, Berg's early late-Romantic tonal works gave way to increasing atonality and finally (1925) to 12-tone composition. His Expressionist opera Wozzeck (1922) would become the most universally acclaimed post-Romantic opera. His second opera, Lulu, on which he worked for six years, remained unfinished at his death. Berg's other works include two string quartets, including the Lyric Suite (1926); Three Pieces for Orchestra (1915); and a violin concerto (1935).

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Berg, Alban 

Born Feb. 9,1885, in Vienna; died there on Dec. 24, 1935. Austrian composer. One of the most prominent representatives of expressionism in music.

Berg studied composition under A. Schönberg, who was an important influence in the formation of Berg’s creative principles. Berg’s first works were written in the early 1900’s, but he became widely known for his opera Wozzeck (based on G. Büchner’s play; composed, 1917–21; produced in 1925 in Berlin and in Leningrad in 1927). This opera partly reflected the composer’s personal experiences in the army during World War I (1914–18). Social criticism and antimilitaristic tendencies are expressed in Wozzeck. The opera’s music is distinguished by its great dramatic force and depth. At the same time, Wozzeck is marked by a mystical, fatalistic concept of the world that is characteristic of expressionism.

Other very important works by Berg include a chamber concerto (1923–25), a lyric suite for string quartet (1925–26), and a concerto for violin and orchestra (1935). The opera Lulu (based on F. Wedekind’s plays The Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box) was not completed by Berg (but it was staged in 1937).

REFERENCES

Votstsek A. Berga: Sb. statei. Leningrad, 1927.
Keldysh, Iu. ”Votstsek i muzykal’nyi ekspressionism.” Sovetskaia muzyka, 1965, no. 3.
Kremlev, Iu. “Etika i estetika opery ’Votstsek.’ “ In the collection Voprosy teorii i estetiki muzyki, vol. 5. Leningrad, 1967.
Reich, W.Alban Berg. Vienna, 1937. (Supplement contains articles by Berg.)
Reich, W. A. Berg: Leben und Werk. Zürich, 1963.
Redlich, H. F. Alban Berg. New York, 1957.