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Alban Berg was an Austrian composer who wrote atonal and 12-tone compositions that remained true to late 19th-century Romanticism. He composed orchestral music (including Five Orchestral Songs, 1912), chamber music, songs, and two groundbreaking operas, Wozzeck (1925) and Lulu (1937).
Berg would soon become famous for putting his own personal twist to the twelve-tone technique with works like the Lyric Suite and the Violin Concerto. Before that, Berg was known for his work on operas, particularly Wozzeck.
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. [16] He is said to have brought more "human values" to the twelve-tone system, his works seen as more "emotional" than Schoenberg's. [4]
Feb 9, 2024 · With the world premiere of his opera “Wozzeck” in 1922, Berg transformed our perception of opera and rose to prominence as a major advocate of the avant-garde in music. Berg’s compositions were branded as “degenerate” during the Nazi takeover; he was unable to finish his opera “Lulu” and passed away.
Berg was largely self-taught as a composer until he began studying with Schoenberg in 1904. He was part of fin de siècle Vienna’s cultural elite, and included among his circle the composers Mahler, Schreker and Zemlinsky, the painter Klimt and the poet Peter Altenberg (whose texts he set).
- Vienna
- December 24, 1935
- February 9, 1885
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.
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1904 Berg begins private composition instruction with Arnold Schoenberg, the preeminent avant-garde composer of the day and an instrumental figure in the development of a post-tonal musical system.
