Alban Berg Livres

In 1972 Elias Canetti said: 'with Wozzeckm Buchner achieved the most complete revolution in the whole of literature'. The same can be said of Berg's opera, as revolutionary in the history of music in our century as in opera in particular. Mark DeVoto and Theo Hirsbrunner discuss why this infinitely complex and formal score perfectly suits the confused and disordered nature of the play. In his famous essay about the opera (written in 1968, but given here for the first time in English) Theador Adorno shows how what seems fragmentory in the text is actually complete, and how the music responds to the words; Kenneth Segar offers a new interpretation of the play in the light of the most recent Buchner research. Also for the first time, the complete edition of the play as Berg knew it is set out with a translation so that readers can see not only what he kept for his liberetto but also what he omitted. This unique source material is complemented by a series of critical reactions to the first London production in 1952 illustrating the controversy which has surrounded the opera since its 1925 Berlin premiere, and the extent to which our aesthetics have changed over the last forty years.

This edition features the first-ever publication of Alban Berg's Piano Sonata op. 1, transcribed specifically for guitar duo. The transcription is based on Berg's later revised version, skillfully prepared by Gangolf Hontheim, offering a fresh interpretation of this significant work.

In December 1945, Thomas Mann and Theodor Adorno engaged in a significant correspondence exploring the creative tension between literary tradition and modernism, particularly regarding Mann's novel Doctor Faustus. Their letters discuss Mann's admiration for Adorno's work and touch on personal themes, including postwar Germany. The volume includes extensive annotations for context.

Pro Mundo - Pro Domo: The Writings of Alban Berg contains new English translations of the complete writings of the Viennese composer Alban Berg (1885-1935) and extensive commentaries tracing the history of each essay and its connection to musical culture of the early twentieth century. Berg is now recognized as a classic composer of the modern period, best known for his operas Wozzeck and Lulu. Berg, Anton Webern, and their teacher Arnold Schoenberg constitute the "Second Viennese School" which played a major role in the transformation of serious music as it entered the modern period. Berg was an avid and skillful writer. His essays include analytic studies of compositions by Schoenberg, polemics on music and musicians of his day, and lectures and miscellaneous writings on a variety of topics. Throughout his considerable and diverse corpus of writings, Berg alternates between two perspectives: Pro Mundo - Pro Domo, meaning roughly "speaking for all - speaking for myself" commenting at one moment on the general state of culture and the world, and the next moment on his own works. In his early years he also tried his hand at fictional writing, using works by Ibsen and Strindberg as models. This new English edition contains 47 essays, many of which are little known and have not been previously available in English.

Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg's letters are published here. The editors have transcribed, translated and annotated more than 800 letters and have selected 370 that reflect the lives and times of these two composers.