Alban Berg : Music As Autobiography- Translated by Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch

For Alban Berg, personal experience was the indispensable condition of the creative process. His instrumental works are thus lived music, and most of his vocal compositions, too, are in a larger sense autobiographic: the Four Songs op. 2, the Altenberg Songs op. 4, Wozzeck and the concert aria Der Wein (Wine).The central point of this book is the realization that the creative work of Alban Berg, which in recent years has moved to the forefront of scholarly interest, is largely rooted in autobiography, so that therefore one can gain access to the music by studying the inner biography of its creator. Accordingly, the first of the three parts of this volume outlines a character portrait of this great composer. Part two considers the conditions relevant to a deeper understanding of Berg and of the Second Viennese School generally. In part three, then, Berg’s key works will be analyzed and semantically deciphered in terms of his inner biography. The study is based not only on the sources in print but also on the rich unpublished material. Alban Berg was incapable of composing without a program. He needed an extra-musical stimulus. With him, personal experience was the indispensable condition of the creative process: the autobiographic reference was all-important for composing Cover 1 Table of Contents 7 Foreword 11 1 Part One: Personality Aspects 13 1.1 Principles 13 1.2 Creativity 15 1.3 Asthma 20 1.4 The “Godforsaken” City 27 1.5 Composing in the Country 34 1.6 The Insidiousness of Success 37 1.7 Humanity 39 1.8 Longing for Happiness or Deliverance through Art 42 1.9 Fidelity 45 1.10 From Goethe to Wedekind 47 1.11 Irony and Skepticism 55 1.12 Image of Woman 58 1.13 Love of Nature 61 1.14 Religiosity 65 1.15 Faith, Love and Hope 68 1.16 Commitment to Radical Modernism and German Music 71 2 Part Two: Theoretical Presuppositions 75 2.1 Questions Regarding the Psychology of Creation 75 2.1.1 Inspiration as Gift from On High 75 2.1.2 Experience as Condition of Creation 77 2.2 Inward and Outward Nature 79 2.3 From Overt to Covert Program Music 82 2.3.1 Schönberg and Program Music 82 2.3.2 Berg and Program Music 86 2.4 Fate and Superstition 88 2.5 Numerology 91 2.5.1 Preliminaries 91 2.5.2 Schönberg’s Number: The Ominous 13 92 2.5.3 Berg’s Number: The Fateful 23 94 2.5.4 Berg and Numbers 96 2.6 Tone Ciphers 98 2.7 Magic Music 103 2.7.1 Doctor Faustus as Point of Departure 103 2.7.2 Mirror Magic 104 2.7.3 Magic Squares 108 2.8 Symmetry and Palindrome 110 2.8.1 The Idea of the Retrograde in Schönberg 110 2.8.2 Parallelisms and Mirror-Symmetric Structures in Berg 112 2.9 Tonality, Atonality and Dodecaphony: Transvaluation of All Values 116 2.9.1 The Atonal Cosmos as Counter-Universe 116 2.9.2 Embracing Complexity 118 2.9.3 Berg’s Specialty: Tonal Elements in Dodecaphony 120 2.9.4 Transvaluation of the Tritone 122 2.9.5 The Tonal as Symbolizing the Abnormal and Trivial 124 3 Part Three: Life and Work 127 3.1 Helene and Alban: “The Story of a Great Love” 127 3.2 The String Quartet for Helene 137 3.2.1 The Autobiographical Background 137 3.2.2 Genesis of the Work: From Tonality to Free Atonality 139 3.2.3 Tectonics 143 3.2.4 Semantics: Echoes of Schönberg’s George Lieder and Wagnerian Motifs 148 3.3 March of an Asthmatic: The Third of the Orchesterstücke op. 6 152 3.3.1 Genesis and Autobiographic Occasion 152 3.3.2 Musico-Semantic Hints 155 3.4 Wozzeck as a Message for Humanity 161 3.4.1 An “Opera of Social Compassion”? 161 3.4.2 The Characterization of Three Figures in the Opera: the Captain, the Doctor, and Wozzeck 163 3.4.3 The “Epilogue” to the Opera as “Author’s Confession” 164 3.4.4 Excursus: The Epilogue as “Invention on a Key” 168 3.4.5 Wozzeck as a Parable 169 3.4.6 Some Thoughts about Music between the Two World Wars 171 3.5 Berg, Schönberg and Webern: Profiles of a Friendship 173 3.6 The Chamber Concerto: Homage to Schönberg, Mathilde and the Schönberg Circle 177 3.6.1 Genesis of the Work 178 3.6.2 Three’s a Charm 180 3.6.3 Tectonics and Number Symbolism:The Numbers Three and Five 181 3.6.4 Thema scherzoso con variationi: “Freundschaft.” – The Schönberg Circle 184 3.6.5 Adagio – Mathilde 187 3.6.6 Introduzione: “Thunderstorm” – Grief at Mathilde’s Death 196 3.6.7 Rondo Ritmico: the World as a Kaleidoscope 199 3.7 From Helene to Hanna: The Two Versionsof the Storm Lied Schließe mir die Augen beide 205 3.7.1 Genesis 205 3.7.2 Dodekaphonics: Fritz Heinrich Klein’s All-Interval Row and the Mutterakkord 208 3.7.3 Comparison of the Two Versions 212 3.8 String Quartet for Hanna: the Lyric Suite 214 3.8.1 The State of Reseach 214 3.8.2 Autobiographic Background: Sources and Documents 216 3.8.3 Genesis and Overall Conception 219 3.8.4 Berg’s Analysis of the Lyric Suite 224 3.8.5 Allegro gioviale (giocoso): “Clinking of Cups” 228 3.8.6 Andante amoroso: Hanna with her Children and with Alban 232 3.8.7 Allegro misterioso: The Confession 237 3.8.8 Adagio appassionato: Ardor, Passion, Explosion and Transfiguration 247 3.8.9 Presto delirando: Terror and Torment after the Parting 252 3.9 Largo desolato: Sleep and Death – Liebestod 261 3.10 Aspects of Lulu 271 3.10.1 Berg’s Reading of Wedekind’s Lulu Tragedy 271 3.10.2 Lulu’s Rise and Fall 275 3.10.3 Characterization of Persons, Passions and Ideas 279 3.10.4 Musical Shaping 283 3.10.5 Parallel Situations and their Musical Treatment 288 3.10.6 Lulu’s Bond with Dr. Schön 291 3.10.7 The Catastrophe Rhythm and the Fatal Five 294 3.10.8 Persecution Mania 296 3.10.9 Alwa = Alban? 298 3.10.10 Music in Slow Motion 300 3.10.11 From the Spoken to the Sung Word 302 3.11 The Violin Concerto: Requiem for Manon and Berg’s “Farewell” to the World 304 3.11.1 The Biographical Background: Manon Gropius and Alma Mahler 304 3.11.2 A “Birthday Homage” for Alma: Willi Reich’s Hermeneutic “Paraphrase” 306 3.11.3 In Berg’s Workshop 309 3.11.4 Reconciliation of Opposites: Dodecaphony and Tonal Thinking 314 3.11.5 Andante and Allegretto: Visions of a Winsome Girl 317 3.11.6 Allegro and Adagio: Death and Transcendence 328 Afterword: Berg – a Janus Face 339 4 Appendix 340 4.1 Unpublished Aphorisms of the Young Berg 340 4.2 Abbreviations 343 4.3 Notes 343 4.4 Selected Bibliography 373 4.5 Index of names 393 Content: Cover Table of Contents Foreword 1 Part One: Personality Aspects 1.1 Principles 1.2 Creativity 1.3 Asthma 1.4 The "Godforsaken" City 1.5 Composing in the Country 1.6 The Insidiousness of Success 1.7 Humanity 1.8 Longing for Happiness or Deliverance through Art 1.9 Fidelity 1.10 From Goethe to Wedekind 1.11 Irony and Skepticism 1.12 Image of Woman 1.13 Love of Nature 1.14 Religiosity 1.15 Faith, Love and Hope 1.16 Commitment to Radical Modernism and German Music 2 Part Two: Theoretical Presuppositions 2.1 Questions Regarding the Psychology of Creation. 2.1.1 Inspiration as Gift from On High2.1.2 Experience as Condition of Creation 2.2 Inward and Outward Nature 2.3 From Overt to Covert Program Music 2.3.1 Schönberg and Program Music 2.3.2 Berg and Program Music 2.4 Fate and Superstition 2.5 Numerology 2.5.1 Preliminaries 2.5.2 Schönberg's Number: The Ominous 13 2.5.3 Berg's Number: The Fateful 23 2.5.4 Berg and Numbers 2.6 Tone Ciphers 2.7 Magic Music 2.7.1 Doctor Faustus as Point of Departure 2.7.2 Mirror Magic 2.7.3 Magic Squares 2.8 Symmetry and Palindrome 2.8.1 The Idea of the Retrograde in Schönberg. 2.8.2 Parallelisms and Mirror-Symmetric Structures in Berg2.9 Tonality, Atonality and Dodecaphony: Transvaluation of All Values 2.9.1 The Atonal Cosmos as Counter-Universe 2.9.2 Embracing Complexity 2.9.3 Berg's Specialty: Tonal Elements in Dodecaphony 2.9.4 Transvaluation of the Tritone 2.9.5 The Tonal as Symbolizing the Abnormal and Trivial 3 Part Three: Life and Work 3.1 Helene and Alban: "The Story of a Great Love" 3.2 The String Quartet for Helene 3.2.1 The Autobiographical Background 3.2.2 Genesis of the Work: From Tonality to Free Atonality 3.2.3 Tectonics. 3.2.4 Semantics: Echoes of Schönberg's George Lieder and Wagnerian Motifs3.3 March of an Asthmatic: The Third of the Orchesterstücke op. 6 3.3.1 Genesis and Autobiographic Occasion 3.3.2 Musico-Semantic Hints 3.4 Wozzeck as a Message for Humanity 3.4.1 An "Opera of Social Compassion"? 3.4.2 The Characterization of Three Figures in the Opera: the Captain, the Doctor, and Wozzeck 3.4.3 The "Epilogue" to the Opera as "Author's Confession" 3.4.4 Excursus: The Epilogue as "Invention on a Key" 3.4.5 Wozzeck as a Parable 3.4.6 Some Thoughts about Music between the Two World Wars. 3.5 Berg, Schönberg and Webern: Profiles of a Friendship3.6 The Chamber Concerto: Homage to Schönberg, Mathilde and the Schönberg Circle 3.6.1 Genesis of the Work 3.6.2 Three's a Charm 3.6.3 Tectonics and Number Symbolism:The Numbers Three and Five 3.6.4 Thema scherzoso con variationi: "Freundschaft." -- The Schönberg Circle 3.6.5 Adagio -- Mathilde 3.6.6 Introduzione: "Thunderstorm" -- Grief at Mathilde's Death 3.6.7 Rondo Ritmico: the World as a Kaleidoscope 3.7 From Helene to Hanna: The Two Versionsof the Storm Lied Schließe mir die Augen beide 3.7.1 Genesis. The central point of this book is the realization that the creative work of Alban Berg, which in recent years has moved to the forefront of scholarly interest, is largely rooted in autobiography, so that therefore one can gain access to the music by studying the inner biography of its creator. Accordingly, the first of the three parts of this volume outlines a character portrait of this great composer. Part two considers the conditions relevant to a deeper understanding of Berg and of the Second Viennese School generally. In part three, then, Berg’s key works will be analyzed and semantically deciphered in terms of his inner biography. The study is based not only on the sources in print but also on the rich unpublished material. Alban Berg was incapable of composing without a program. He needed an extra-musical stimulus. With him, personal experience was the indispensable condition of the creative process: the autobiographic reference was all-important for composing.