View source for Alban Berg

{{short description|Austrian composer (1885–1935)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Alban Berg
| image         = Alban Berg (1885–1935) ~1930 © Max Fenichel (1885–1942).jpg
| alt           = 
| caption       = Berg {{circa|1930}}
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1885|2|9|df=y}}
| birth_place   = Vienna, Austria-Hungary
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1935|12|24|1885|2|9|df=y}}
| death_place   = Vienna, Austria
| nationality   = 
| other_names   = 
| spouse        = {{marriage|{{ill|Helene Nahowski|de|Helene Berg}}|1911}}
| children      = 
| education     = 
| occupation    = Composer
| works         = [[List of compositions by Alban Berg|List of compositions]]
}}

'''Alban Maria Johannes Berg''' ({{IPAc-en|b|ɛər|g}} {{respell|BAIRG}};<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/alban-berg?s=ts |title=Berg |website=[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]] |access-date=4 December 2019 |archive-date=25 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725013512/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/alban-berg?s=ts |url-status=dead }}</ref> {{IPA|de-AT|ˈalbaːn ˈbɛrg|lang}}; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian [[composer]] of the [[Second Viennese School]]. His compositional style combined [[Romantic music|Romantic]] lyricism with the [[twelve-tone technique]].{{sfn|Baron|2010}} Although he left a relatively [[List of compositions by Alban Berg|small ''oeuvre'']], he is remembered as one of the most important composers of the 20th century for his expressive style encompassing "entire worlds of emotion and structure".{{sfn|Headlam|2013}}

Berg was born and lived in Vienna. He began to compose at the age of fifteen. He studied counterpoint, music theory and harmony with [[Arnold Schoenberg]] between 1904 and 1911, and adopted his principles of ''developing variation'' and the twelve-tone technique. Berg's major works include the operas ''[[Wozzeck]]'' (1924) and ''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'' (1935, finished posthumously), the chamber pieces ''[[Lyric Suite (Berg)|Lyric Suite]]'' and [[Kammerkonzert (Berg)|Chamber Concerto]], as well as a [[Violin Concerto (Berg)|Violin Concerto]]. He also composed a number of songs (''[[lieder]]''). He is said to have brought more "human values" to the twelve-tone system; his works are seen as more "emotional" than those of Schoenberg.{{sfn|Ewen|1952|p=20}} His music had a surface glamour that won him admirers when Schoenberg himself had few.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Norwich|first=John Julius|author-link=John Julius Norwich|oclc=11814265|title=Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia|date=1985–1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|others=[[Harry Judge|Judge, Harry George]]., Toyne, Anthony.|isbn=978-0-19-869129-7|location=Oxford [England]|page=44}}</ref>

Berg died from [[sepsis]] in 1935.

==Life and career==

===Early life===
{{Quote box
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| quote = [... T]here are things that can't be measured by the yardstick of [[Nature]] – – things that have sprung ''solely'' from the [[soul|human spirit]], towering far above the [[Economic materialism|material]] world—things that are ''real'' only in our ''longing'' for them, 'when the [[Sublime (philosophy)|sublime]] and beautiful things, the good and wise things, that we long for, turn into reality—not a reality that can be picked and put in the mouth or that can be counted and put in one's pocket!' ({{ill|Otto Ernst (writer)|de|Otto Ernst (Schriftsteller)|lt=Otto Ernst}}).
<br>{{in5|5}}Music is like that – – – and quite a few literary works that are written from within a ''longing''-filled heart! – – : – –
<br>{{in5|5}}– I've now got to ''[[A Doll's House]]''. ...
----
Berg wrote in a typically freewheeling manner to share his reading of [[Henrik Ibsen|Ibsen]]'s ''A Doll's House'' with Watznauer on 18 October 1906,{{sfn|Hailey|2010a|loc=77}} here quoting from Ernst's [https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/ernst/strandlb/strandlb.html ''Meersymphonie'']{{sfn|Hailey|2010a|loc=89}} in relating music to [[dream]]s, [[Fantasy (psychology)|fantasies]], [[feeling]]s, and [[desire]]s, especially those of a [[Counterfactual thinking|counterfactual]] and [[Cultural universal|universal]] nature.{{efn|As Ernst continues, in fuller context: "Otherwise we would no longer have any longing, and that would be the end of us. It is a reality that one feels with sensuous certainty in one's brain and heart, eyes and ears, nose and tongue, hands and hair roots, blood and all the nerves and muscles of the body! ... An artist is a person who has heightened senses. ... And they see in words and sounds ... a happier world. And their eye can open a hundred thousand eyes ..." ("''Dann hättet ihr keine Sehnsucht mehr, und das wäre das Ende der Menschheit. Aber doch ist es eine Wirklichkeit, die ihr im Hirn und im Herzen, in Augen und Ohren, in Nase und Zunge, in Händen und Haarwurzeln, in Blut und allen Nerven und Muskeln eures Leibes mit sinnlicher Gewißheit fühlt! ... Ein Künstler ist ein Mensch, der selige Sinne hat. ... Und sie sehen in Worten und Tönen ... einer beglückteren Welt. Und sein Auge vermag hunderttausend Augen aufzutun ...''").}} Such themes predominate in Berg's often [[Autobiographical novel|quasi-autobiographical]] and [[Program music|programmatic]] ''œuvre'',<ref>{{harvnb|Bruhn|1998|loc=xv–xvi}}; {{harvnb|Johnson|2006|loc=211–213}}.</ref> not only [[Romance (love)|romantically]]{{efn|Alwa, a semi-autobiographical role in ''Lulu'', is defined above all by his infatuated idealization of Lulu, just as the ''Lyric Suite'' is defined by Berg's infatuation with the idea of [[Hanna Fuchs-Robettin]]; but unlike Berg, who did not consummate his affair with Hanna, Alwa "is unable to [[Sublimation (psychology)|sublimate]] his sinful [[Passions (philosophy)|passion]]"{{sfn|Perle|1985|loc=190}} for his [[Muses|muse]]. On at least one occasion (likely spring 1907), echoing a passage from [[Frank Wedekind]]'s ''[[Earth Spirit (play)|Erdgeist]]'', which he had seen in Vienna, Berg wrote to his wife {{ill|Helene Karoline Berg|de|lt=Helene}}: "Again and again I kiss that hand of yours, my most glorious Symphony in D minor";{{sfn|Breivik|1998|loc=113}} likewise Alwa sings, in a prominent episode full of kisses, a fanatical hymn comparing Lulu's features to music, with Wedekind's text modified to correspond roughly to music from the ''Lyric Suite'' (e.g., "these knees: a misterioso").{{sfn|Perle|1985|loc=59}}}} as in his ''[[Lyric Suite (Berg)|Lyric Suite]]'', but also [[social]]ly as in ''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'',{{sfn|Johnson|2006|loc=211–213}} [[Revolutions of 1917–1923|politically]] as in ''[[Wozzeck]]'',{{efn|At the very beginning as he [[Barber|shaves]] his ''[[Hauptmann]]'', Wozzeck sings, "[[Proletariat|Poor folks]] like us! ... [[Wage labor|Money]]! If one has [[Poverty|none]]! ... if I [[Optative mood|were]] a [[Relations of production|gentleman]] ... I'd be [[Virtue|virtuous]] ... it must be a fine thing to be ... But ... our [[Class struggle|kind]] is unlucky in this world and in the next".<ref>{{harvnb|Johnson|2006|loc=211–213}}; {{harvnb|Perle|1980|loc=45}}.</ref> Like Wozzeck, Berg was a soldier and saw in him "a bit of me ... since I have been spending these [[World War I|war]] years just as [[Lord–bondsman dialectic|dependent]] on people I hate, have been in [[Workers of the world, unite!|chains]], [[Public health#After the 18th century|sick]], [[History of Austria-Hungary during World War I#Theaters of operations|captive]], resigned, in fact [[Social defeat|humiliated]]" (letter to Helene, 7 August 1918).{{sfn|Perle|1980|loc=20}}}} and even [[Death|mortally]] as in his [[Violin Concerto (Berg)|Violin Concerto]]. By contrast, Webern, who also started studying with Schoenberg in 1904, took from an evening with Mahler in 1905 that: "Nature is for us the model ...."{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=40}}
}}
Berg was born in Vienna, the third of four children of Johanna and Konrad Berg. His father ran a successful export business, and the family owned several estates in Vienna and the countryside. The family's financial situation turned to the worse after the death of Konrad Berg in 1900, and it particularly affected young Berg, who had to repeat both his sixth and seventh grade to pass the exams.{{sfn|Jarman|2001}} One of his closest lifelong friends and earliest biographer (under the pseudonym Hermann Herrenried), architect Hermann Watznauer, became a father figure (partly at Konrad's request),{{sfn|Hailey|2010a|loc=33}} being ten years Berg's senior. Berg wrote him letters as long as thirty pages, often in florid, dramatic prose with idiosyncratic punctuation.{{sfn|Monson|1979|loc=6, 42, 346}}{{efn|These were habits that Berg sought to moderate in time, not only with maturity, but also especially under the increasing influence of Schoenberg.}} Berg was more interested in literature than music as a child and would consider a career as a writer several times, turning to music slowly and at times unconfidently{{efn|The duress of Schoenberg's criticisms provoked crises of confidence.}} until the success of ''[[Wozzeck]]''. He did not begin to compose until he was fifteen, when he started to teach himself music, although he did take piano lessons from his sister's governess.{{sfn|Perle|1980|loc=2}} With Marie Scheuchl, a maid in the family estate of Berghof in [[Carinthia]] and fifteen years his senior, he fathered a daughter, Albine, born 4 December 1902.{{sfn|Jarman|1990}}

In 1906 Berg met the singer {{ill|Helene Nahowski|de|Helene Berg}} (1885–1976), daughter of a wealthy family (rumoured to be in fact the illegitimate daughter of Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph I]] from his liaison with [[Anna Nahowski]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Markus|first=Georg|author-link=:de:Georg Markus|title=Der Kaiser Franz Joseph I.: Bilder und Dokumente|language=de|publisher=Amalthea|year=1985|isbn=9783850022057|page={{page needed|date=October 2023}}}}; {{cite book|author=[[Anna Nahowski]]|editor=Friedrich Saathen|title=Anna Nahowski und Kaiser Franz Joseph|language=de|publisher=Böhlau|year=1986|page={{page needed|date=October 2023}}|isbn=978-3205050377}}</ref> Despite the outward hostility of her family, the couple married on 3 May 1911, although "her father insisted on a Protestant ceremony to facilitate the divorce he foresaw as inevitable."{{sfn|Pople|1997|p=260}}

===Early works (1907–1914)===
With little prior music education, Berg began studying [[counterpoint]], [[music theory]], and [[harmony]] under [[Arnold Schoenberg]] in October 1904.<ref>Schoenberg, Arnold. Trans. Joe Monzo.{{cite web|url=http://www.sonic-arts.org/monzo/schoenberg/harm/monzo-intro.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030927035727/http://sonic-arts.org/monzo/schoenberg/harm/monzo-intro.htm|archive-date=27 September 2003|title=Schoenberg's Harmonielehre|url-status=dead|access-date=1 July 2016}}</ref> By 1906 he was studying music full-time; by 1907 he began [[musical composition|composition]] lessons. His student compositions included five drafts for [[piano sonata]]s. He also wrote songs, including his ''[[Seven Early Songs (Berg)|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.{{sfn|Pople|1997|p=56}}

The early sketches eventually culminated in the [[Piano Sonata (Berg)|Piano Sonata, Op. 1]], published in 1910 and likely composed 1908{{ndash}}1909;{{sfn|Jarman|1990|p=43}} it has been described as one of the most formidable "first" works ever written.{{sfn|Lauder|1986}} Berg studied with Schoenberg for six years until 1911. Among Schoenberg's teachings 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 W. Adorno]], stated: "The main principle he conveyed was that of variation: everything was supposed to [[development (music)|develop]] out of something else and yet be intrinsically different".{{sfn|Adorno|Berg|2005|p=33}} The Piano Sonata is an example—the whole composition is derived from the work's opening [[quartal and quintal harmony|quartal]] gesture and its opening phrase.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mariinsky-theatre.com/company/other/composer/Alban_Berg/|title=Alban Berg – Composer|website=www.mariinsky-theatre.com|access-date=2 October 2018|archive-date=3 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203040945/https://www.mariinsky-theatre.com/company/other/composer/Alban_Berg/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Berg was a part of Vienna's cultural elite during the heady ''[[fin de siècle]]'' period. His circle included the musicians [[Alexander von Zemlinsky]] and [[Franz Schreker]], the painter [[Gustav Klimt]], the writer and satirist [[Karl Kraus (writer)|Karl Kraus]], the architect [[Adolf Loos]], and the poet [[Peter Altenberg]].

[[File:Watschenkonzert Karikatur in Die Zeit vom 6. April 1913.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|{{lang|de|Watschenkonzert}} [slapping concert], caricature in ''{{ill|Die Zeit (Vienna)|de|Die Zeit (Wien)|lt=Die Zeit}}'' (Vienna), 6 April 1913<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newsv2.orf.at/stories/2175106/2175105/|title=Konzertsaal als Kampfarena|language=de|trans-title=Concert hall as fight arena|author=Armin Sattler|newspaper=News.orf.at |date=5 April 2012|publisher=[[ORF (broadcaster)|ORF]]|access-date=4 October 2023}}</ref>]]

In 1913 two of Berg's ''[[Altenberg Lieder]]'' (1912) premiered in Vienna, conducted by Schoenberg in the infamous ''[[Skandalkonzert]]''. Settings of aphoristic poetic utterances, the songs are accompanied by a very large orchestra. The performance caused a riot, and had to be halted. Berg effectively withdrew the work, and it was not performed in full until 1952. The full score remained unpublished until 1966.{{sfn|Taruskin|2010}}

Berg had a particular interest in the number 23, using it to structure several works. Various suggestions have been made as to the reason for this interest: that he took it from the [[biorhythms]] theory of [[Wilhelm Fliess]], in which a 23-day cycle is considered significant,{{sfn|Jarman|1983|pages=218–223}} or because he first suffered an asthma attack on the 23rd of the month.{{sfn|Jarman|1985|page=228–230}}

===''Wozzeck'' (1917–1924) and ''Lulu'' (1928–1929)===
From 1915 to 1918 Berg served in the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]]. During a period of leave in 1917 he accelerated work on his first opera, ''[[Wozzeck]]''. After the end of World War I, he settled again in Vienna, where he taught private pupils. 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.

In 1924 three excerpts from ''Wozzeck'' were performed, which brought Berg his first public success. The opera, which Berg completed in 1922, was first performed on 14 December 1925, when [[Erich Kleiber]] conducted the first performance in Berlin. Today, ''Wozzeck'' is seen as one of the century's most important works. Berg made a start on his second opera, the three-act ''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'', in 1928 but interrupted the work in 1929 for the concert aria ''Der Wein'' which he completed that summer. ''Der Wein'' presaged ''Lulu'' in a number of ways, including vocal style, orchestration, design and text.{{sfn|Antokoletz|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qrkTAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55 55]}}

Other well-known Berg compositions include the ''[[Lyric Suite (Berg)|Lyric Suite]]'' (1926), which was later shown to employ elaborate cyphers to document a secret love affair; the post-Mahlerian [[Three Pieces for Orchestra (Berg)|Three Pieces for Orchestra]] (completed in 1915 but not performed until after ''Wozzeck''); and the [[Kammerkonzert (Berg)|Chamber Concerto]] (''Kammerkonzert'', 1923–25) for violin, piano, and 13 wind instruments: this latter is written so conscientiously that [[Pierre Boulez]] has called it "Berg's strictest composition" and it, too, is permeated by cyphers and posthumously disclosed hidden programs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://musopen.org/fr/education/instrument/piano/great-composers/20th-century-composers/alban-berg/|title=Alban Berg|website=musopen.org|language=fr|access-date=23 August 2018|archive-date=24 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180824002422/https://musopen.org/fr/education/instrument/piano/great-composers/20th-century-composers/alban-berg/|url-status=live}}</ref> It was at this time he began exhibiting [[tone cluster]]s in his works after meeting with American avant-garde composer [[Henry Cowell]], with whom he would eventually form a lifelong friendship.<ref>Sachs, Joel (2012). ''Henry Cowell: A Man Made of Music'', pp. 191–192. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-510895-8}}</ref>

===Final years (1930–1935)===
[[File:WP Alban Berg.jpg|thumb|Sketch of Berg by [[Emil Stumpp]]]]

Life for the musical world was becoming increasingly difficult in the 1930s both in Vienna and Germany due to the rising tide of [[antisemitism]] and the [[Nazi]] cultural ideology that denounced [[modernity]]. Even to have an association with someone who was Jewish could lead to denunciation, and Berg's "crime" was to have studied with the Jewish composer [[Arnold Schoenberg]]. Berg found that opportunities for his work to be performed in Germany were becoming rare, and eventually his music was [[proscribed]] and placed on the list of [[degenerate music]].{{sfn|Notley|2010}}

In 1932 Berg and his wife acquired an isolated lodge, the ''Waldhaus'' on the southern shore of the [[Wörthersee]], near [[Schiefling am See]] in [[Carinthia]], where he was able to work in seclusion, mainly on ''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'' and the [[Violin Concerto (Berg)|Violin Concerto]].{{sfn|Hailey|2010a}} At the end of 1934, Berg became involved in the political intrigues around finding a replacement for [[Clemens Krauss]] as director of the [[Vienna State Opera]].

As more of the performances of his work in Germany were cancelled by the [[Nazis]], who had come to power in early 1933, he needed to ensure the new director would be an advocate for modernist music. Originally, the premiere of ''Lulu'' had been planned for the [[Berlin State Opera]], where [[Erich Kleiber]] continued to champion his music and had conducted the premiere of ''Wozzeck'' in 1925, but now this was looking increasingly uncertain, and ''Lulu'' was rejected by the Berlin authorities in the spring of 1934. Kleiber's production of the ''Lulu'' symphonic suite on 30 November 1934 in Berlin was also the occasion of his resignation in protest at the extent of conflation of culture with politics. Even in Vienna, the opportunities for the Vienna School of musicians were dwindling.{{sfn|Notley|2010}}

Berg had interrupted the orchestration of ''Lulu'' because of an unexpected (and financially much-needed) commission from the Russian-American violinist [[Louis Krasner]] for a [[Violin Concerto (Berg)|Violin Concerto]] (1935). This profoundly elegiac work, composed at unaccustomed speed and posthumously premiered, has become one of Berg's frequently performed compositions. Like much of his mature work, it employs an idiosyncratic adaptation of Schoenberg's "dodecaphonic" or [[twelve-tone technique]], that enables the composer to produce passages openly evoking tonality, including quotations from historical tonal music, such as a [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] chorale and a Carinthian folk song. The Violin Concerto was dedicated "to the memory of an Angel", [[Manon Gropius]], the deceased daughter of architect [[Walter Gropius]] and [[Alma Mahler]].{{sfn|Pople|1991|page=28}}

===Death===
Berg died aged 50 in Vienna, on Christmas Eve 1935, from [[blood poisoning]] apparently caused by a [[furuncle]] on his back, induced by an insect sting that occurred in November.<ref>[[Michael Steinberg (music critic)|Steinberg, Michael]] (1998). ''The Concerto: A Listener's Guide''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 95</ref> He was buried at the [[Hietzing Cemetery]] in Vienna.

Before he died, Berg had completed the orchestration of only the first two of the three acts of ''Lulu''. The completed acts were successfully premièred in Zürich in 1937. For personal reasons Helene Berg subsequently imposed a ban on any attempt to "complete" the final act, which Berg had in fact completed in [[short score]].{{sfn|Jarman|1991|p=46}} An orchestration was therefore commissioned in secret from [[Friedrich Cerha]] and premièred in Paris (under [[Pierre Boulez]]) only in 1979, soon after Helene Berg's own death.

==Legacy==
[[File:Alban Berg Bueste Schiefling 01.jpg|thumb|Bust of Berg at [[Schiefling am See]], Carinthia, Austria]]

Berg is remembered as one of the most important composers of the 20th century and the most widely performed opera composer among the Second Viennese School.{{sfn|Jarman|2001}} He is said to have brought more "human values" to the [[Twelve-tone technique|twelve-tone system]], his works seen as more "emotional" than Schoenberg's.{{sfn|Ewen|1952|p=20}} Critically, he is seen as having preserved the Viennese tradition in his music.{{sfn|Jarman|2001}}

Berg scholar Douglas Jarman writes in ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'' that "[as] the 20th century closed, the 'backward-looking' Berg suddenly came as [George] [[George Perle|Perle]] remarked, to look like its most forward-looking composer."{{sfn|Jarman|2001}}

The [[Alban Berg Foundation]], founded by the composer's widow in 1969, cultivates the memory and works of the composer, and awards scholarships.<ref>[https://absw.at/stiftung-geschichte "Geschichte der Alban Berg Stiftung"] Alban Berg Stiftung. Retrieved 11 July 2023.</ref> The [[Alban Berg Monument, Vienna|Alban Berg Monument]], situated next to the [[Vienna State Opera]] and unveiled in 2016, was funded by the Foundation.<ref>[http://www.absw.at/stiftung-denkmal "Das Alban Berg Denkmal vor der Wiener Staatsoper"] Alban Berg Stiftung. Retrieved 11 July 2023.</ref>

The [[Alban Berg Quartett]] was a [[string quartet]] named after him, active from 1971 until 2008.

The asteroid [[4528 Berg]] is named after him (1983).<ref>{{cite book|last=Schmadel|first=Lutz|author-link=Lutz D. Schmadel|title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VoJ5nUyIzCsC|year=2003|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3-540-00238-3|page=390|access-date=4 December 2019|archive-date=14 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114030533/https://books.google.com/books?id=VoJ5nUyIzCsC|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Major compositions==
{{See also|List of compositions by Alban Berg}}

'''Piano'''
:[[Piano Sonata (Berg)|Piano Sonata]], Op. 1

'''{{visible anchor|Chamber}}'''
:[[String Quartet (Berg)|String Quartet]], Op. 3
:''[[Lyric Suite (Berg)|Lyric Suite]]'', string quartet
:''[[Kammerkonzert (Berg)|Chamber Concerto]]'' (1925) for piano, violin and 13 wind instruments

'''Orchestral'''
:[[Three Pieces for Orchestra (Berg)|Three Pieces for Orchestra]], Op. 6
:[[Violin Concerto (Berg)|Violin Concerto]]

'''Vocal'''
:[[Seven Early Songs (Berg)|Seven Early Songs]]
:''Vier Lieder'' (''Four Songs''), Op. 2
:[[Altenberg Lieder|''Five Orchestral Songs on Postcard Texts of Peter Altenberg'']], Op. 4
:''[[Der Wein]]''
:''[[Schließe mir die Augen beide]]''

'''Operas'''
:''[[Wozzeck]]'', Op. 7 (1925)
:''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'' (1937)

== See also ==

* [[List of Austrians in music]]

== Notes and references ==
===Notes===
{{Notelist|30em}}

===References===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* {{cite book|last1=Adorno|first1=Theodor W.|author-link1=Theodor W. Adorno|last2=Berg|first2=Alban|editor-last=Lonitz|editor-first=Henri|title=Briefwechsel 1925–1935|trans-title=Correspondence 1925–1935|date=2005|orig-year=1997|publisher=Polity|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-7456-9496-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uh4-BQAAQBAJ|others=Hoban, Wieland – translator, originally published by Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-date=29 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429073551/https://books.google.com/books?id=uh4-BQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|last=Antokoletz|first=Elliott|title=A History of Twentieth-Century Music in a Theoretic-Analytical Context|date=2014|publisher=Taylor & Francis|location=Hoboken|isbn=978-1-135-03730-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qrkTAwAAQBAJ|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-date=29 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429073613/https://books.google.com/books?id=qrkTAwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|last=Baron|first=John H.|title=Chamber Music: A Research and Information Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dWKRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA301|year=2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-84828-6|pages=301ff|access-date=29 October 2016|archive-date=16 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216103647/https://books.google.com/books?id=dWKRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA301|url-status=live}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Breivik|1998}}|reference=Breivik, Magnar. 1998. "The Representation of Sleep and Death in Berg's ''Piano Songs'', op.2". In ''Encrypted Messages in Alban Berg’s Music'', ed. Siglind Bruhn, 109–136. Border Crossings Series. London: Taylor & Francis. {{ISBN|978-1-136-52287-1}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Bruhn|1998}}|reference=Bruhn, Siglind. 1998. "Editor's Introduction". In ''Encrypted Messages in Alban Berg’s Music'', ed. Siglind Bruhn, xv–xvi. Border Crossings Series. London: Taylor & Francis. {{ISBN|978-1-136-52287-1}}.}}
* {{cite book|last=Ewen|first=David|title=The Complete Book of 20th Century Music|edition=revised|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hPA5vQEACAAJ|year=1952|publisher=Prentice-Hall|access-date=4 December 2019|archive-date=25 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725015710/https://books.google.com/books?id=hPA5vQEACAAJ|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Hailey|editor-first=Christopher|title=Alban Berg and His World|date=2010|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|isbn=978-1-4008-3647-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DO04-IuTw1oC|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-date=29 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429073510/https://books.google.com/books?id=DO04-IuTw1oC|url-status=live}}
* {{harvc|last=Hailey|first=Christopher|chapter=Berg's Worlds|anchor-year=2010a|year=2010|pages=3–32|in=Hailey}}
* {{cite book|last=Headlam|first=Dave|editor-first=Murray|editor-last=Steib|title=Reader's Guide to Music: History, Theory and Criticism|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sg1EAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA78|chapter=Berg, Alban 1885–1935|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-94262-5|page=78ff|access-date=2 December 2019|archive-date=25 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725015620/https://books.google.com/books?id=Sg1EAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA78|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal |last=Jarman |first=Douglas |title=Alban Berg, Wilhelm Fliess and the Secret Programme of the Violin Concerto |journal=[[The Musical Times]]|volume=124 |issue=1682 |date= April 1983|pages=218–223 |jstor=962034 |doi=10.2307/962034 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Jarman|first1=Douglas|title=The Music of Alban Berg|date=1985|orig-year=1979|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-04954-3|edition=Revised|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-84UtteI-F0C|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-date=29 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429073708/https://books.google.com/books?id=-84UtteI-F0C|url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book|last=Jarman|first=Douglas|title=The Berg Companion|date=1990|publisher=Northeastern University Press|isbn=978-1-55553-068-6|location=Boston|oclc=19739582}}
* {{cite book|last1=Jarman|first1=Douglas|title=Alban Berg: Lulu|date=1991|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-28480-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NGY4AAAAIAAJ|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-date=29 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429073621/https://books.google.com/books?id=NGY4AAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}
* {{cite Grove|last=Jarman|first=Douglas|title=Berg, Alban (Maria Johannes)|id=02767|year=2001}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Johnson|1999}}|reference=Johnson, Julian. 1999. ''Webern and the Transformation of Nature''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-66149-2}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Johnson|2006}}|reference=Johnson, Julius. 2006. "Anton Webern, the Social Democratic Kunstelle and Musical Modernism." ''Austrian Studies'' 14(1):197–213.}}
* {{cite thesis|last=Lauder|first=Robert Neil|title=Two Early Piano Works of Alban Berg: A Stylistic and Structural Analysis|type=thesis|location=Chapel Hill|publisher=University of North Carolina|year=1986}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Monson|1979}}|reference=Monson, Karen. 1979. ''Alban Berg: A Biography.'' Reprinted, London: Macdonald and Jane's. 1980. {{ISBN|978-0-354-04464-6}}.}}
* {{harvc|last=Notley|first=Margaret|chapter=1934, Alban Berg, and the shadow of politics: documents of a troubled year|year=2010|pages=223–268|in=Hailey}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Perle|1980}}|reference=Perle, George. 1980. ''The Operas of Alban Berg, Vol. I: Wozzeck.'' Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-06617-5}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Perle|1985}}|reference=Perle, George. 1985. ''The Operas of Alban Berg, Vol. II: Lulu.'' Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-06616-8}}.}}
* {{Cite book|last=Pople|first=Anthony|title=Berg: Violin Concerto|date=1991|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39976-0|location=Cambridge|page=28|oclc=22314162}}
* {{cite book |last1=Pople |first1=Anthony |title=The Cambridge Companion To Berg |date=1997 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |ol=OL1000795M}}
* {{Cite book|last=Taruskin|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Taruskin|title=Music in the Early Twentieth Century|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-538484-0|location=New York|pages=196|oclc=261177783}}
{{div col end}}

==Further reading==
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* [[Theodor W. Adorno|Adorno, Theodor W.]] ''Alban Berg: Master of the Smallest Link''. Trans. Juliane Brand and Christopher Hailey. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
* Brand, Juliane, Christopher Hailey and Donald Harris, eds. ''The Berg-Schoenberg Correspondence: Selected Letters''. New York: Norton, 1987.
* [[Mosco Carner|Carner, Mosco]]. ''Alban Berg: The Man and the Work''. London: Duckworth, 1975.
* dos Santos, Silvio J. ''Narratives of Identity in Alban Berg's 'Lulu'''. Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press, 2014.
* [[Constantin Floros|Floros, Constantin]]. Trans. by Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch. [http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1037_3025_3071&products_id=57669 ''Alban Berg and Hanna Fuchs''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080304153225/http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1037_3025_3071&products_id=57669 |date=4 March 2008 }}. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007.
* [[Bernard Grun|Grun, Bernard]], ed. ''Alban Berg: Letters to his Wife''. London: Faber and Faber, 1971.
* Headlam, Dave. ''The Music of Alban Berg.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.
*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''". ''[[The Musical Quarterly]]'' 56/3 (July 1970).
*Jarman, Douglas. "''Lulu'': The Sketches". ''International Alban Berg Society Newsletter'', 6 (June 1978).
*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).
* {{cite book|last1=Jarman|first1=Douglas|title=Alban Berg, Wozzeck|date=1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-28481-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xGm2lGZh3wsC|ref=none|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-date=29 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429073652/https://books.google.com/books?id=xGm2lGZh3wsC|url-status=live}}
* Leibowitz, René. ''Schoenberg and his school; the contemporary stage of the language of music''. Trans. [[Dika Newlin]]. New York: Philosophical Library, 1949.
* [[Hans Redlich|Redlich, Hans Ferdinand]]. ''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.
* 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, pp.&nbsp;79–110. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
* Schweizer, Klaus. ''Die Sonatensatzform im Schaffen Alban Bergs''. Stuttgart: Satz und Druck, 1970.
* {{cite book|last=Simms|first=Bryan R.|title=Alban Berg|date=2013|orig-year=1996|publisher=Taylor & Francis|location=Hoboken|isbn=978-1-135-84674-9|edition=2nd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vWJlcWfpebMC|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-date=29 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429073701/https://books.google.com/books?id=vWJlcWfpebMC|url-status=live|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Simms|first1=Bryan|last2=Erwin|first2=Charlotte|title=Berg|series=Master Musicians| publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2021| isbn=978-0-19-093144-5|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Walton|first=Chris|title=Lies and Epiphanies: Composers and Their Inspiration from Wagner to Berg|date=2014|publisher=University of Rochester Press|location=Rochester, New York|isbn=978-1-58046-477-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0QlBQAAQBAJ|ref=none|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-date=29 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429073704/https://books.google.com/books?id=m0QlBQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}
* Wilkey, Jay Weldon. ''Certain Aspects of Form in the Vocal Music of Alban Berg''. Ph.D. thesis. Ann Arbor: Indiana University, 1965.
{{div col end}}

==External links==
{{Archival records|title=Willi Reich Collection on Alban Berg, 1912–1950|location=Music Division, [[Library of Congress]]|description_URL=http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu021011}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* [http://www.universaledition.com/Alban-Berg/composers-and-works/composer/51 Alban Berg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122144331/https://www.universaledition.com/Alban-Berg/composers-and-works/composer/51 |date=22 November 2022 }} biography and works on the UE website (publisher)
* [http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_settings.html?ComposerId=3386 Vocal texts used by Alban Berg with translations to various languages], LiederNet Archive
* {{IMSLP|Berg, Alban}}
* [http://www.pytheasmusic.org/berg.html Alban Berg at Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music]
* [http://albanberg.resampled.de albanberg.resampled.de] The most comprehensive acoustic representation of Alban Bergs Works in digital realisations.
* {{BrahmsOnline|IRCAM-name=alban-berg|title=Alban Berg}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230929110046/http://www.schoenberg.at/scans/Clippings/C19351224_b.pdf Alban Berg's obituary in the 24 Dec. 1935 issue of ''The New York Times'']

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