Berg, Alban

(1885–1935)

   Along with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern (1883–1945), Berg was a central figure in the socalled Second Vienna School of composition, in which music was constructed in series of tonal rows made up of the 12 half steps of the chromatic scale. He studied with Schoenberg between 1904 and 1910, and the two men became lifelong friends. A perfectionist, Berg did not leave behind a large body of work. Nevertheless, much of what he did was important. His opera Wozzeck (1925) and his violin concerto (1935) have secure places in the modern musical repertory. Berg never broke quite as sharply with classical harmonic patterns as did his mentor. Twelve-tone technique and surging Romanticism are prominent features of both Wozzek and the violin concerto. His other major opera, Lulu, a gritty series of tableaux depicting the range of erotic depravity, is more relentlessly atonal. Unfinished at his death, the third act of the work was realized by the modern Austrian composer Friedrich Cerha (1926–). The first performance of this version of the piece was in 1979. Berg also produced some poetry and was a notable essayist on musical topics.