Abstract
Early in 1925, the Viennese periodical Pult und Taktstock printed the ‘Open Letter’ in which Berg unveiled the dedication of his newly completed Chamber Concerto for piano, violin, and 13 wind instruments.1 According to this letter, the concerto was intended first and foremost as a tribute, albeit belated, for Schoenberg’s 50th birthday, celebrated on 13 September 1924. Both the holograph fair copy2—which Berg eventually presented to Schoenberg—and the published score bear the dedication ‘Arnold Schönberg zum fünfzigsten Geburtstag’. Second, the completion of the concerto marked the occasion of Berg’s own 40th birthday, 9 February 1925.3 Third, the work commemorated the 20-year friendship enjoyed by the three central figures of the Second Viennese School: Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Alban Berg.4
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Alban Berg, ‘Alban Bergs Kammerkonzert für Geige und Klavier mit Begleitung von dreizehn Bläsern’, Pult und Taktstock, vol. 2 (February–March 1925), pp. 23–8.
The ‘Open Letter’ is reprinted in Willi Reich, Alban Berg: mit Bergs eigenen Schriften und Beiträgen von Theodor Wiesengrund-Adorno und Ernst Krenek (Vienna: Herbert Reichner Verlag, 1937), pp. 86–91; rev. and abridged as Alban Berg (Zurich: Atlantis Verlag, 1963), pp. 135–40; trans. Cornelius Cardew (London: Thames and Hudson, 1965), pp. 143–8.
It is also translated in Juliane Brand, Christopher Hailey, and Donald Harris, eds and trans., The Berg-Schoenberg Correspondence: Selected Utters (New York: W. W. Norton, 1987), pp. 334–7.
In fact only the short score would have been finished by 9 February 1925; the orchestration dragged on until the following summer. The draft of the full score (preserved in the Stadtbibliothek, Winterthur, Switzerland) is dated 23 July 1925. In 1935, ten years after completing the Chamber Concerto, Berg arranged the Adagio for violin, clarinet, and piano. This trio arrangement was performed at the celebration given by his publisher, Universal Edition, in honour of his 50th birthday. For more on the trio arrangement, see David Congdon, ‘Kammerkonzert: Evolution of the Adagio and the Trio Transcription’, Alban Berg Symposion Wien 1980: Tagungsbericht, ed. Rudolf Klein, Alban Berg Studien, vol. 2 (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1981), pp. 145–60.
ÖNB Musiksammlung, F21 Berg 74/II, fol. 2. See Rosemary Hilmar, Katalog der Musikhandschriften, Schriften und Studien Alban Bergs im Fond Alban Berg und der weiteren handschriftlichen Quellen im Besitz der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Alban Berg Studien, vol. 1 (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1980), pp. 53–7. I wish to thank Dr Günter Brosche for permission to study the sketches and Dr Rosemary (Hilmar) Moravec for her kind assistance during my many visits to the library. The type of paper used for the programmatic outline is the same as that of the draft of the ‘Open Letter’ (F21 Berg 74/I, fols 9–18v), which is dated 7 February 1925. The notation ‘Bezugl. 3er Zahl siehe Altes Entwurf’ (‘With respect to the number 3, see old sketch’) in the lower right-hand corner of F21 Berg 74/II, fol. 2 may be a cross-reference to the list on F21 Berg 74/III, fol. 5, which does not seem to have been compiled until at least the first two movements of the concerto had been completed. The contents of F21 Berg 74/II, fol. iv (which belongs to the same leaf as fol. 2), headed ‘Rhythmische Möglichkeiten’, pertain to the discussion of rhythm included in the ‘Open Letter’. Furthermore, Berg does not refer to the finale as a ‘Rondo rhythmico’ until the later stages of its composition. ‘Rondo rhythmico’ is used as the title of the finale in the first edition of the Chamber Concerto; in subsequent editions, however, the movement is entitled ‘Rondo ritmico’.
Steuermann studied with Schoenberg 1912–14, Kolisch 1919–22, Polnauer 1909–11, and Stein 1906–10. Polnauer also studied with Berg 1911–13. Steuermann, Kolisch, Polnauer, and Stein, like Berg and Webern, were active in Schoenberg’s Society for Private Musical Performances, which was in existence 1918–21. Webern, Berg, Steuermann, and later Stein served as rehearsal directors; Polnauer was the archivist. Stein also served as president when Schoenberg went to Holland in 1921. Steuermann and Kolisch frequently performed in the Society’s concerts. For further information about Schoenberg’s activities as a teacher and the Society for Private Musical Performances, see Joan Allen Smith, Schoenberg and His Circle: a Viennese Portrait (New York: Schirmer Books, 1986).
Hans Ferdinand Redlich, Alban Berg: the Man and his Music (London: John Calder, 1957), p. 113. Redlich’s discussion of the meaning of the palindrome in Berg’s music is abridged from that presented in the German edition of his book, Versuch einer Würdigung (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1957), pp. 156–7. In summarizing Redlich’s views in this essay, I have relied on the German edition.
Theodor Adorno, Alban Berg: Der Meister des kleinsten Übergangs (Vienna: Elisabeth Lafite Verlag, 1968), p.21.
Douglas Jarman, The Music of Alban Berg (London: Faber and Faber, 1979), p. 241. For further discussion of the significance of symmetrical designs in Berg’s music, see Jarman’s chapters ‘Formal Structures’, pp. 175–222 and ‘Conclusions’, pp. 223–41.
George Perle, The Operas of Alban Berg, vol. 2: Lulu (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985), p. 150. Perle points out that ‘Berg’s intentions as shown in his fair copy of the full score are correctly represented in the published score of the Lulu Suite, only partially represented in the published score of the opera, and entirely misrepresented in the piano reduction.’
H. H. Stuckenschmidt, Schoenberg: his Life, World and Work, trans. Humphrey Searle (New York: Schirmer Books, 1978), p. 291.
Death certificate for Mathilde Schoenberg, Los Angeles, Schoenberg Institute. See also Heinz Schöny, ‘Schönberg genealogisch betrachtet’, Arnold Schoenberg Gedenkausstellung 1974, ed. Ernst Hilmar (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1974), p. 19. Felix Greissle reports that during Mathilde’s final illness the Schoenberg family stayed with a friend who had a large house near the sanatorium. After Mathilde’s death Schoenberg in gratitude presented the friend with the manuscript of his String Quartet no. 2, which he had dedicated to his wife: see Smith, Schoenberg and His Circle, pp. 180–81.
The weeks following Mathilde’s death were extremely difficult for Schoenberg. For further information regarding his general irritability, his unpredictable and frequently violent changes of mood, his various addictions, and his strained relations with family and friends, see Schoenberg to Alma Mahler, 11 November 1923, Arnold Schoenberg Letters, sel. and ed. Erwin Stein, trans. Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1965), pp. 102–3; Alban Berg to Helene Berg, 22, 25, 26, 28 November 1923, Alban Berg: Letters to his Wife, ed., trans., and annot. Bernard Grun (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1971), pp. 330, 332, 333, 334–5; Eberhart Freitag, Arnold Schönberg in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten (Reinbeck bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 1973), p. 115; Felix Greissle’s interview with Hans Keller, cited in Smith, op. cit., p. 175.
Salka Viertel, The Kindness of Strangers (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969), p. 57.
Maurice Maeterlinck, Pelléas et Mélisande and Other Plays, trans. Richard Hovey (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1913), pp. 34–40.
Alban Berg, ‘Thementafel zu Arnold Schönbergs Pelleas und Melisande’, Pelleas und Melisande (nach dem Drama von Maurice Maeterlinck) symphonische Dichtung für Orchester von Arnold Schönberg, Op. 5: Kurze Thematische Analyse (Vienna: Universal Edition, n.d.). Berg received the commission to produce a guide to Schoenberg’s Pelleas und Melisande from Universal Edition in December 1919. It was completed in late February or early March 1920. See Rosemary Hilmar, Alban Berg: Leben und Wirken in Wien bis zu seinen ersten Erfolgen als Komponist (Vienna: Verlag Hermann Böhlaus Nachf., 1979), pp. 152–3; Berg to his mother, 28 December 1919, Berg to Helene Berg, 20 February 1920, Alban Berg: Briefe an seine Frau (Munich and Vienna: Albert Langen and Georg Müller, 1965), pp. 414, 449.
Understandably, Schoenberg remained sensitive about matters related to Gerstl long after Mathilde’s death. In a short essay, written on 11 February 1938, Schoenberg categorically denied Gerstl’s having had any influence on his painting style: Arnold Schoenberg, ‘Painting Influences’, Journal of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute, vol. 2 (June 1978), p. 238.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 1989 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dalen, B. (1989). ‘Freundschaft, Liebe, und Welt’: The Secret Programme of the Chamber Concerto. In: Jarman, D. (eds) The Berg Companion. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09056-3_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09056-3_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-09058-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-09056-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)