Berg: (Composers Across Cultures)

Alban Berg (1885-1935), a student of Arnold Schoenberg and one of the most prominent composers of the Second Viennese School, is counted among the pioneers of twelve-tone serialism. His circle included not only the musicians of the Wiener modern but also prominent literary and artistic figures from Vienna's brilliant fin-de-siècle. In his short lifetime he composed two ground-breaking operas, Wozzeck and Lulu, as well as chamber works, songs, and symphonic compositions. His final completed work, the deeply moving and elegiac Violin Concerto, is performed by leading soloists across the world. This new life-and-works study from authors Bryan R. Simms and Charlotte Erwin delivers a fresh perspective formed from comprehensive study of primary sources that reveal the forces that shaped Berg's personality, career, and artistic outlook. One such force was Berg's wife, Helene Nahowski Berg, and the book provides a unique assessment of her role in the composer's life and work, as well as her later quest to shape his artistic legacy in the forty-one years of her widowhood. The authors present insightful analysis of all of Berg's major works, bringing into play Berg's own analyses of the music, many of which have not been considered in existing scholarship. Berg is an accessible and all-encompassing resource for all readers who wish to learn about the life and music of this composer, one of the great figures in modern music.

Table of Contents:
Preface Abbreviations Introduction: Music in the Twilight of the Habsburg Empire Chapter 1. Two Viennese Families: The Bergs and Nahowskis Berg's Early Life The Specter of Ill Health The Marie Scheuchl Affair The Nahowski Family Helene Nahowski and Paul Kammerer Berg's Courtship of Helene Nahowski Chapter 2. Berg's Musical Apprenticeship, 1899-1911 Studies with Schoenberg Berg's Early Songs Seven Early Songs (1907) Four Songs, Op. 2 Music for Piano Piano Sonata, Op. 1 String Quartet, Op. 3 Chapter 3. A Struggle for Recognition, 1911-15 Before the War Berg's Work for Schoenberg The Scandal Concert Berg as Writer Five Orchestral Songs to Picture Postcard Texts by Peter Altenberg, Op. 4 Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 5 Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 Chapter 4. The War and Its Aftermath, 1915-22 Patriotic Enthusiasm Berg's Conscription Superstition and Pseudo-Science Postwar Burdens A Change of Profession Chapter 5. Wozzeck Operatic Plans and Uncertainties From Play to Libretto A Wozzeck Chronology The Music of "Wozzeck" "Wozzeck" on Stage Chapter 6. International Acclaim, 1923-5 Wozzeck Triumphant The Continuing Quest for Health New Directions in Post-War Music: Neoclassicism and Dodecaphony Chamber Concerto Chapter 7. Secret Programs with Twelve Tones, 1925-7 The Hanna Fuchs Affair A Return to Composing Lyric Suite for String Quartet Chapter 8. The Celebrated Composer, 1928-34 Summer Retreats and Family Entanglements Flight from Reality Berg's Music and the Nazi Threat A Musical Digression: Der Wein Chapter 9. Lulu The Search for Lulu Wedekind's Lulu Plays Berg's Libretto for Lulu A Chronology of Composition The Music of Lulu Prospects for Staging Symphonic Pieces from the Opera "Lulu" Chapter 10. Berg's Final Year, 1935 Berg's Financial Crisis Political Turmoil and Austrofascism The Violin Concerto Berg's Final Illness Chapter 11. Helene Berg and the Management of Berg's Legacy, 1936-76 The Completion of Lulu Bereavement, Grief, and Helene Berg's "Eternal Marriage" Helene Berg's Life Under the Nazis, 1938-45 Berg's Musical Manuscripts and Letters Toward a Berg Biography The Alban Berg Foundation Helene Berg's Last Years Epilogue: Berg the Outsider Appendix Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Bryan R. Simms is Professor Emeritus of Musicology at the University of Southern California. He was formerly editor of the Journal of Music Theory and Music Theory Spectrum and has served on the Council of the American Musicological Society and Executive Board of the Society for Music Theory. He specializes in music and musical theory of the 20th century, and he is the editor and translator of Pro Mundo - Pro Domo: The Writings of Alban Berg (2014), an English edition of the complete writings of this composer. Charlotte Erwin retired in 2015 from the California Institute of Technology where she was head of archives and special collections. After earning her doctorate from Yale, she taught musicology at the University of Southern California, UCLA, and Occidental College and has published on Richard Strauss, Ernst Toch, and other German and Austrian émigré composers.

Review :
This is one of the most important resources on late classical European music to have emerged in recent years.