Alban Maria Johannes Berg (February 9, 1885 – December 24, 1935) was an Austrian composer. Events 474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Year 1885 ( MDCCCLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by Earthquakes Year 1935 ( MCMXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique. The Second Viennese School is the term generally used in English -speaking countries to denote the group of Composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Anton Webern (December 3 1883 &ndash September 15 1945 was an Austrian Composer Romantic Music is a Musicological term referring to a particular period theory compositional practice and canon in European music history from about 1815 to 1910 Twelve-tone technique (also dodecaphony, especially in British usage twelve-note composition) is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold
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Life and work
Berg was born in Vienna, the third of four children of Johanna and Conrad Berg. Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria. His family lived comfortably until the death of his father in 1900. Year 1900 ( MCM) was an exceptional Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar
He was more interested in literature than music as a child and did not begin to compose until he was fifteen, when he started to teach himself music. Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. In late February or early March of 1902 he fathered a child with Marie Scheuchl, a servant girl in the Berg family household. His daughter, Albine, was born on December 4, 1902. "December 4th" redirects here For the song by Jay-Z, see December 4th (song. Year 1902 ( MCMII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting [1]
Berg had little formal music education before he became a student of Arnold Schoenberg in October 1904. Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with October events and holidays Children's Book Week ( England) - First Week of October National Day ( China People's Republic Year 1904 ( MCMIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting on With Schoenberg he studied counterpoint, music theory, and harmony. In Music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and Rhythm, and interdependent in Harmony Music theory is the field of study that deals with the Mechanics of music and how Music works In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously and chords actual or implied in Music. By 1906, he was studying music full-time; by 1907, he began composition lessons. Year 1906 ( MCMVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Year 1907 ( MCMVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Musical composition is an original piece of Music the structure of a musical piece the process of creating a new His student compositions included five drafts for piano sonatas. The Baroque keyboard sonata In the Baroque era the use of the term "sonata" generally referred to either the Sonata da chiesa ( Church sonata He also wrote songs, including his Seven Early Songs (Sieben Frühe Lieder), three of which were Berg's first publicly performed work in a concert that featured the music of Schoenberg's pupils in Vienna that year. The Seven Early Songs ( Sieben frühe Lieder) (c 1905 to 1908 are early compositions of Alban Berg, written while he was under the tutelage of Arnold The early sonata sketches eventually culminated in Berg's Piano Sonata (Op. 1) (1907–8); it is one of the most formidable "first" works ever written (Lauder, 1986). Alban Berg 's Piano sonata is his only piano work given an Opus number (Op Opus, from the Latin word opus meaning "work" is usually used in the sense of "a Work of art " Year 1908 ( MCMVIII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year
Berg studied with Schoenberg for six years until 1911. Berg admired him as a composer and mentor, and they remained close lifelong friends. Berg may have seen the older composer as a father figure, as Berg's father had died when he was only 15.
Among Schoenberg's teaching was the idea that the unity of a musical composition depends upon all its aspects being derived from a single basic idea; this idea was later known as developing variation. Berg passed this on to his students, one of whom, Theodor Adorno, stated: "The main principle he conveyed was that of variation: everything was supposed to develop out of something else and yet be intrinsically different". Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno ( September 11, 1903 &ndash August 6, 1969) was a German -born international sociologist The Piano Sonata is an example—the whole composition is derived from the work's opening quartal gesture and its opening phrase. In Music, quartal harmony is the building of chordal and melodic structures with a distinct preference for intervals of fourths
Berg was a part of Vienna's cultural elite during the heady fin de siècle period. Fin de siècle (fɑ̃ dɛ si'ɛːkl French for ‛end of the century‘ was a cultural movement between 1880 and the beginning of World War I. His circle included the musicians Alexander von Zemlinsky and Franz Schreker, the painter Gustav Klimt, the writer and satirist Karl Kraus, the architect Adolf Loos, and the poet Peter Altenberg. Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky ( October 14, 1871 – March 15, 1942) was an Austrian Composer Franz Schreker ( March 23, 1878 &ndash March 21, 1934) was an Austrian Composer and conductor. Gustav Klimt (July 14 1862 – February 6 1918 was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Art Nouveau For the theologian see Karl Christian Friedrich Krause. Karl Kraus ( April 28, 1874 - June 12, 1936) Adolf Loos (10 December 1870 &ndash 23 August 1933 was one of the most important and influential Austrian and Czechoslovak Architects of European Peter Altenberg ( March 9, 1859 - January 8, 1919) was a writer and poet from Vienna, Austria. In 1906, Berg met the singer Helene Nahowski, daughter of a wealthy family (said by some to be in fact the illegitimate daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria from his liaison with Anna Nahowski)[2]; despite the outward hostility of her family, the two were married on May 3, 1911. Franz Joseph I Karl (- German, in English Francis Joseph I Charles, see the name in other languages) (18 August 1830 &ndash 21 November
In 1913, two of Berg's Five Songs on Picture Postcard Texts by Peter Altenberg (1912) were premièred in Vienna, conducted by Schoenberg. Year 1913 ( MCMXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Conducting is the act of directing a Musical performance by way of visible gestures Settings of aphoristic utterances, the songs are accompanied by a very large orchestra. The performance caused a riot, and had to be halted; the work was not performed in full until 1952 (and its full score remained unpublished until 1966). Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
From 1915 to 1918, Berg served in the Austrian Army and during a period of leave in 1917 he began work on his first opera, Wozzeck. Year 1915 ( MCMXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1917 ( MCMXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto Wozzeck is the first Opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. After the end of World War I, he settled again in Vienna where he taught private pupils. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All He also helped Schoenberg run his Society for Private Musical Performances, which sought to create the ideal environment for the exploration and appreciation of unfamiliar new music by means of open rehearsals, repeat performances, and the exclusion of professional critics. The Society for Private Musical Performances (in German the Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen) was an organisation founded in Vienna in the
Three excerpts from Wozzeck were performed in 1924, and this brought Berg his first public success. Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The opera, which Berg completed in 1922, was not performed in its entirety until December 14, 1925, when Erich Kleiber directed a performance in Berlin. Year 1922 ( MCMXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1287 - St Lucia's flood: The Zuider Zee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses killing over 50000 people Year 1925 ( MCMXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Erich Kleiber ( August 5, 1890 &ndash January 27, 1956) was an Austrian born conductor. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Today Wozzeck is seen as one of Berg's most important works. Berg completed only the first two acts of his later opera, the critically acclaimed Lulu, before he died. Lulu is an Opera by the Composer Alban Berg. The Libretto was adapted by Berg himself from Frank Wedekind 's plays
Berg's best-known piece is his elegiac Violin Concerto. Alban Berg 's Violin Concerto was written in 1935 (the score is dated August 11, 1935) Like much of his mature work, it employs a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve tone technique that enables the composer to combine frank atonality with passages that use more traditional tonal harmonies; additionally, Berg incorporates quotations from historical tonal music, including a Bach chorale and a Carinthian folk song. Twelve-tone technique (also dodecaphony, especially in British usage twelve-note composition) is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Atonality in its broadest sense describes Music that lacks a tonal center, or key. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section.2 This article is written in British English including maximised use of "-ise" Carinthia (Kärnten Koroška is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. The Violin Concerto was dedicated to Manon, the deceased daughter of architect Walter Gropius and Alma Schindler. Walter Adolph Georg Gropius ( May 18, 1883 &ndash July 5, 1969) was a German Architect and founder of Bauhaus Alma Maria Mahler-Werfel (born Schindler) (31 August 1879 &ndash 11 December 1964 was a Viennese-born socialite well known in her youth for her beauty and vivacity
Other well known Berg compositions include the Lyric Suite (seemingly a significant influence on the String Quartet No. This article is about the composition by Alban Berg "Lyric Suite" is also the title of Edvard Grieg 's composition (orchestration of four Lyric Pieces 3 of Béla Bartók), Three Pieces for Orchestra and the Chamber Concerto for violin, piano and 13 wind instruments. Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25 1881&ndashSeptember 26 1945 was a Hungarian Composer and Pianist, considered to be one of the greatest Chamber music is a form of Classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber The term Concerto (plural concertos or concerti) usually refers to a three part musical work in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an Orchestra The violin is a bowed String instrument with four strings usually tuned in Perfect fifths It is the smallest and highest-pitched member The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers Types of woodwind instruments See also List of woodwind instruments Single-reed instruments use a reed, which is a thin cut
Berg died in Vienna, on Christmas Eve 1935, apparently from blood poisoning caused by an insect bite. Sepsis is a serious medical condition characterized by a whole-body inflammatory state (called a Systemic inflammatory response syndrome or SIRS caused He was 50 years old.
Douglas Jarman writes in the New Grove: "As the 20th century closed, the 'backward-looking' Berg suddenly came as Perle remarked, to look like its most forward-looking composer. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an Encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians George Perle (born May 6, 1915 in Bayonne New Jersey) is a Composer and music theorist. "[3]
Major compositions
See also List of compositions by Alban Berg
Piano
- Piano Sonata, Op.1
- Kammerkonzert (1925) for piano, violin and 13 wind instruments
Chamber
- String Quartet, Op. 3
- Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. The following is a complete list of the compositions of Alban Berg. Alban Berg 's Piano sonata is his only piano work given an Opus number (Op The Kammerkonzert für Klavier und Geige mit 13 Bläsern (Chamber Concerto for Piano and Violin with 13 Wind Instruments is a piece of Chamber music composed by Austrian composer The String Quartet Op 3 by Alban Berg was composed in 1910 Along with the composer's piano sonata it received its premiere on 14 April 1911 5
- Lyric Suite
Orchestra
- Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. This article is about the composition by Alban Berg "Lyric Suite" is also the title of Edvard Grieg 's composition (orchestration of four Lyric Pieces 6
- Violin Concerto
Opera
Vocal
- Seven Early Songs
- Four Songs, Op. Alban Berg 's Violin Concerto was written in 1935 (the score is dated August 11, 1935) Wozzeck is the first Opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. Lulu is an Opera by the Composer Alban Berg. The Libretto was adapted by Berg himself from Frank Wedekind 's plays The Seven Early Songs ( Sieben frühe Lieder) (c 1905 to 1908 are early compositions of Alban Berg, written while he was under the tutelage of Arnold 2
- Five Orchestral Songs on Postcard Texts of Peter Altenberg, Op. 4
- Der Wein
- Schliesse mir die Augen beide
Bibliography
Analytical writings
- Adorno, Theodor W. Five Orchestral Songs is a composition by Alban Berg. Composed in 1911-1912 Funf Orchesterlieder op Schliesse mir die Augen beide is a poem by Theodor Storm, twice set to music by Alban Berg. Alban Berg: Master of the Smallest Link. Trans. Juliane Brand and Christopher Hailey. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
- Schmalfeldt, Janet. "Berg’s Path to Atonality: The Piano Sonata, Op. 1". Alban Berg: Historical and Analytical Perspectives. Eds. David Gable and Robert P. Morgan, pgg. 79-110. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
- Lauder, Robert Neil. Two Early Piano Works of Alban Berg: A Stylistic and Structural Analysis. Thesis. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1986.
- Bruhn, Siglind, ed. Encrypted Messages in Alban Berg’s Music. New York: Garland Publishing, 1998.
- Schweizer, Klaus. Die Sonatensatzform im Schaffen Alban Bergs. Stuttgart: Satz und Druck, 1970.
- Wilkey, Jay Weldon. Certain Aspects of Form in the Vocal Music of Alban Berg. Ph. D. thesis. Ann Arbor: Indiana University, 1965.
- Perle, George. The operas of Alban Berg. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.
- Jarman, Douglas. Dr. Schon's Five-Strophe Aria: Some Notes on Tonality and Pitch Association in Berg's Lulu. Perspectives of New Music 8/2 (Spring/Summer 1970).
- Jarman, Douglas. Some Rhythmic and Metric Techniques in Alban Berg's Lulu. Musical Quarterly 56/3 (July 1970).
- Jarman, Douglas. Lulu: The Sketches. International Alban Berg Society Newsletter, 6 (June 1978).
- Jarman, Dougas. The Music of Alban Berg. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.
- Jarman, Douglas. Countess Geschwitz's Series: A Controversy Resolved?. Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association 107 (1980/81).
- Jarman, Douglas. Some Observations on Rhythm, Meter and Tempo in Lulu. In Alban Berg Studien. Ed. Rudolf Klein. Vienna: Universal Edition, 1981.
- Jarman, Douglas. Lulu: The Musical and Dramatic Structure. Royal Opera House Covent Garden program notes, 1981.
- Jarman, Douglas. The 'Lost' Score of the 'Symphonic Pieces from Lulu'. International Alban Berg Society Newsletter 12 (Fall/Winter 1982).
Biographical writings
- Brand, Juliane, Christopher Hailey and Donald Harris, eds. The Berg-Schoenberg Correspondence: Selected Letters. New York: Norton, 1987.
- Grun, Bernard, ed. Alban Berg: Letters to his Wife. London: Faber and Faber, 1971.
- Floros, Contantin. Trans. by Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch. Alban Berg and Hanna Fuchs. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007.
- Redlich, H. F. Alban Berg, the Man and His Music. London: John Calder, 1957.
- Reich, Willi. The life and work of Alban Berg. Trans. Cornelius Cardew. New York : Da Capo Press, 1982.
- Monson, Karen. Alban Berg: a biography. London: Macdonald and Jane's, 1979.
- Carner, Mosco. Alban Berg: the man and the work. London: Duckworth, 1975.
- Redlich, Hans Ferdinand. Alban Berg, the man and his music. London: J. Calder, 1957.
- Leibowitz, René. Schoenberg and his school; the contemporary stage of the language of music. Trans. Dika Newlin. Dika Newlin ( November 22, 1923 — July 22, 2006) was a pianist professor composer and Punk rock singer New York: Philosophical Library, 1949.
References
- Douglas Jarman: "Alban Berg", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed April 9, 2007), (subscription access)
- The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, by John Warrack and Ewan West (1992), 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5
See also
Notes
- ^ Alban Berg Biography. This is a list of Austrian composers singers and conductors A Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, composer and music theorist August The following list is a selection of famous Austrians. For full lists of all famous Austrians please view the sublists Retrieved on 2007-12-22. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1790 - The Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies
- ^ Georg Markus, Der Kaiser Franz Joseph I. : Bilder und Dokumente; Anna Nahowski and Friedrich Saathen, Anna Nahowski und Kaiser Franz Joseph : Aufzeichnungen / erstmalig herausgegeben und kommentiert von Friedrich Saathen, Böhlau, 1986.
- ^ Jarman, Grove
External links
- Alban Berg was listed in the International Music Score Library Project
- Alban Berg at Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Berg, Alban |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Berg, Alban Maria Johannes |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 9, 1885 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna, Austria |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 24, 1935 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Vienna, Austria |
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