Alban Berg

Donald Macleod surveys the life, loves and music of Alban Berg.


As a youngster, Berg loved the music of Brahms, Mahler and
Richard Strauss and composed 34 songs as a teenager. Maybe this
would have been the end of it, but his brother Charly secretly
took some of these songs to show a music professor in the city -
Arnold Schoenberg. This week’s episode begins with a look at
their stimulating but often turbulent relationship. Donald tells
the story of Berg’s long marriage to Viennese beauty Helene
Nahowski, and the secrets beneath the surface, including Berg’s
love affair with Hanna Fuchs-Robettin which permeated his
compositions. We hear about how his time in army training led to
physical collapse, from which he emerged to write a brutal opera
– Wozzeck. Finally, Berg’s premature death from an infected
insect sting, and how his wife Helene set up a shrine to his
memory, forbidding the completion of Lulu, the unfinished opera
he left behind.


Music featured: Über den Bergen – Over the Mountains Lied de Lulu
from Lulu Suite Still is where the graves are (Schattenleben)
Where the Laburnum Grows Passacaglia (arr. Von Borries) Piano
Sonata, Op 1 String Quartet, Op 3 Vielgeliebte schone Frau Seven
Early Songs Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op 5 Five
Altenberg Lieder Chamber Concerto for piano, violin and 13 wind
instruments (Rondo) Ferne Lieder – Distant Songs Wozzeck: Act 3,
Tanzt Alle Wozzeck: Act 3, Scenes 4 and 5 Three Pieces for
Orchestra Wein, Weib und Gesang (Waltz Op 333 by Johann Strauss
II, trans. Berg) Chamber Concerto for piano, violin and 13 wind
instruments (Adagio) Lyric Suite Der Wein Schliesse mir die Augen
beide (1907) Schliesse mir die Augen beide (1925) Lulu Suite:
Variationen Violin Concerto


Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Rosie Boulton for BBC
Wales


For full tracklistings, including artist and recording details,
and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after
broadcast) head to the series page for Alban Berg
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00047vv


And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve
featured on Composer of the Week here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z