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Lyric Suite





COMPOSITION AND ANALYSIS

According to Berg's friend and Schoenberg pupil Erwin Stein , "The work (Ist and VIth part, the main part of the IIIrd and the middle section of the Vth) has been mostly written strictly in accordance with Schoenberg 's technique of the 'Composition with 12 inwardly related tones.' A set of 12 different tones gives the rough material of the composition, and the portions which have been treated more freely still adhere more or less to the technique."

According to Rene Leibowitz (1947) it is "entirely written in the Twelve-tone Technique , {Link without Title} is a Sonata Movement without the Development . Thus the Recapitulation follows directly upon the Exposition ; but, because of the highly advanced twelve-tone technique of Variation , ''everything'' in this movement is developmental."

However, the first Analysis was undertaken by H.F. Redlich (1957), who notices that, "the first Movement of the ''Lyric Suite'' develops out of the disorder of Intervals in its first Bar , the Notes of which, strung out horizontally, present the complete Chromatic Scale , and from this in the second and following bars, grows the Basic Set in its Thematic shape."

Theodor Adorno called the quartet "a latent opera" (Sandberger, 1996). Redlich (ibid, p.142) described, "the concealed Vocal ity of the ''Lyric Suite''," despite having no knowledge of the setting of Baudelaire in the finale movement, deciphered by Douglass M. Green in 1976 from what George Perle calls "Berg's cryptic notations". Perle discovered a complete copy of the first edition annotated by Berg for his dedicatee, Hanna Fuchs-Robettin ( Franz Werfel 's sister, with whom Berg had an affair in the 1920s), later that year. (Perle, 1990).

Berg used the Motif , A-B-H-F, to combine Alban Berg (A.B.) and Hanna Fuchs-Robettin (H.F.) (AMG). This is most prominent in movement three. Berg also quotes a melody from Zemlinsky's ''Lyric Symphony'' in movement four which originally set the words "You are mine own". In the last movement, according to Berg's self-analysis, the, "entire material, the tonal element too...as well as the Tristan Motif " is developed "by strict adherence to the 12-note series."(Sandberger, 1996)

Despite assertions by Berg and others, ed'? If anything is to be designated as an '' Urform '' here, surely it is this perfect-5th cycle, given its Background role in relation to the Tone Row and other components of the movement."


RECORDINGS

The piece has been recorded and released on:


MOVEMENTS

# Allegretto gioviale
# Andante amoroso
# Allegro misterioso - Trio estatico
# Adagio appassionato
# Presto delirando - Tenebroso
# Largo desolato


TONE ROWS


Movement I


:according to George Perle, pitch classes. He also depicts it in the following way:


Movement III


:according to Wolfgang Stroh, pitch classes

:according to George Perle, pitches

Movement VI


:tone row 1

:tone row 2, derived from tone row 1

Constructive rhythm


:Stroh (Perle, 1990).


SOURCES

  • George Perle (1990). ''The Listening Composer''. California: University of California Press. ISBN 0520069919.

  • ---Perle, George (1977). "The Secret Program of the ''Lyric Suite''", ''International Alban Berg Newsletter 5 (June)''.

  • Stein, Erwin (). ''Lyric Suite'' score. Prefatory notes by Stein.

  • Leibowitz, Rene (1947). ''Schoenberg et son ecole'' (1947) and his School'', p.157 (1949) . Paris: Janin York: Philosophical Library . by Dika Newlin

  • Redlich, H.F. (1957). ''Alban Berg, the Man and His Music'', p.135f (1957). London: John Calder.

  • Douglass M. Green (1977). "Berg's De Profundis: The Finale of the ''Lyric Suite''", ''International Alban Berg Newsletter 5 (June)''.

  • Wolfgang Sandberger, liner notes (1996). ''Intimate Letters''. Sony Classical SK 66840. Translated by Stewart Spencer.

  • Wolfgang Martin Stroh (1968). "Alban Berg's 'Constructive Rhythm'", ''Perspectives of New Music'' VII/I (Fall-Winter): 26.

  • http://www.allclassical.com/cg/acg.dll?p=acg&sql=2:53893



EXTERNAL LINK

  • http://www.geocities.com/al6an6erg/lyric.html