| Violin Concerto | |
|---|---|
| byAlban Berg | |
 Sketch of the composer byEmil Stumpp | |
| Genre | Concerto |
| Composed | 1935 (1935) |
| Dedication | "To the memory of an angel"[1] |
| Movements | Two (in two sections each) |
| Scoring | Violin and orchestra |
| Premiere | |
| Date | 19 April 1936 (1936-04-19) |
| Location | Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona |
| Conductor | Hermann Scherchen |
| Performers | |
Alban Berg'sViolin Concerto was written in 1935. It is probably Berg's best-known and most frequently performed piece. In it, Berg sought to reconcilediatonicism anddodecaphony. The work was commissioned byLouis Krasner, and dedicated by Berg to "the memory of an angel". It was the last work he completed. Krasner performed the solo part in the premiere at thePalau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona, in April 1936, four months after the composer's death.
_und_Helene_Berg_(1885%25E2%2580%25931976)_mit_der_Partitur_des_Violinkonzerts_(1961)_OeNB_657332.png)
The piece stemmed from a commission from the violinistLouis Krasner. When he received the commission, Berg was working on his operaLulu, and did not begin work on the concerto for some months.
An event that spurred him to start the concerto was the death by polio of 18-year-oldManon Gropius, daughter ofWalter Gropius and Berg's friend andpatronAlma Mahler (Gustav Mahler's widow). Berg setLulu aside to write the concerto, which he dedicated "To the memory of an angel";[3] he identified the "angel" to Alma as Manon. Alma felt abandoned by the Bergs in her time of mourning, and Berg was eager to repair the breach. Berg sent Alma some part of the score, possibly the dedicatory page and opening, in 1935. It was her 56th birthday, to which the opening metronome marking (56 to a quarter note) likely referred.[1]
Berg worked on the piece very quickly, completing it in a few months; it is thought that his work on the concerto was largely responsible for his failing to completeLulu before his death on 24 December 1935. The concerto was the last work he completed. In a letter to Krasner dated 16 July 1935, Berg wrote: "Yesterday I finished the composition [without the orchestration] of our Violin Concerto. I am probably more surprised by it than you will be ... the work gave me more and more joy. I hope – no, I have the confident belief – that I have succeeded."[citation needed]
The manuscript score carries the date 11 August 1935.[citation needed]
The concerto is scored for 2flutes (both doubling aspiccolo), 2oboes (one doubling as acor anglais),alto saxophone (doubling as 3rd clarinet), 2clarinets,bass clarinet, 2bassoons,contrabassoon, 4horns, 2trumpets, 2trombones,tuba,timpani,percussion,harp andstrings.[3]
| External audio | |
|---|---|
| Performed byIsabelle Faust with theOrchestra Mozart underClaudio Abbado | |
 I. Andante – Allegretto | |
| II. Allegro – Adagio |
Berg described the structure of the concerto in a letter toArnold Schoenberg.[4] It is in two movements, each divided into two sections:
The work begins with anAndante in classicalsonata form, followed by theAllegretto, a dance-like section. The second movement starts with anAllegro largely based on a single recurringrhythmiccell; this section has been described ascadenza-like, with very difficult passages in the solo part. The orchestration becomes rather violent at its climax (marked in the score as "High point of the Allegro"); the fourth and final section, markedAdagio, is much calmer. The first two sections are meant to represent life, the last two death andtransfiguration.
Like many of Berg's works, the piece combines thetwelve-tone technique, typical ofserialist music learned from his teacherArnold Schoenberg, with passages written in a freer, more tonal style. The score integrates serialism and tonality in a remarkable fashion. Here is Berg's tone row:
Although this contains all twelve notes of thechromatic scale, there is a strong tonal undercurrent: the first three notes of the row make up aG minortriad; notes three to five are aD major triad; notes five to seven are anA minor triad; notes seven to nine are anE major triad;
and the last four notes (B, C♯, E♭, F) and the first (G) together make up part of awhole tone scale. The roots of the four triads correspond to theopen strings of the violin, which is highlighted in the opening passage of the piece.
The resulting triads are thus fifth-related and form acadence, which we hear directly before the row is played by the violin for the first time. Moreover, the four chords above contain the note sequence B (B♭) – A – C – H (B♮), theBACH motif, thus connecting the piece toJohann Sebastian Bach, whose music plays a crucial role in the piece.
The row's last four notes, ascending whole tones, are also the first four notes of thechorale melody "Es ist genug" ("It is enough"). Bach composed afour-part setting of the hymn byFranz Joachim Burmeister with a melody byJohann Rudolph Ahle to conclude his cantataO Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60 (O eternity, you thunderous word).[6] The first four measures are shown below.
Berg quotes this chorale in the last movement of the piece, where Bach's harmonization is heard in theclarinets.
In 1957,Ernst Krenek identified another quoted tonal passage in the work as aCarinthianfolk song.[7][a] Bryan Simms and Charlotte Erwin described it, "A Vögele af'n Zweschpm-bam",[b] as a "yodeling song with a saucy, ribald text".[8] It appears in the second section of the first movement and returns briefly before thecoda in the second movement. This is perhaps the only section that does not derive its materials from the row.[9]
Anthony Pople calls the concerto "less serial thanLulu", containing originally serial material later repeated or developed outside that framework, in addition to small adjustments throughout to avoid bare octaves.[10]
Berg did not have time to review the score or correct any errors. That was finally done in the 1990s by ProfessorDouglas Jarman, Principal Lecturer in Academic Studies at theRoyal Northern College of Music, Manchester.[14] The premiere of the revised version was given in Vienna in 1996, withDaniel Hope as soloist. Hope also made the first recording of this version, in 2004 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra underPaul Watkins.[15]
in a review of Redlich's book (MQ, xliii (1957), 404)
| Operas | |
|---|---|
| Orchestral works | |
| Chamber music | |
| Piano music | |
| Vocal music | |
| Related articles | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
![\new PianoStaff <<
\new Staff <<
\new Voice \relative c' {
\stemUp \clef treble \key f \major \time 4/4
\[ f2 g4 a
b2 \] r4 b
c4 g g bes!
a2.
}
\new Voice \relative c' {
\stemDown
c2 c4 bes8 a
e'2 s4 e
e4. f8 e d e c
f2.
}
>>
\new Staff <<
\new Voice \relative c' {
\stemUp \clef bass \key f \major \time 4/4
a2 g4 d'
d2 r4 gis,
a8 b c4 c c
c2.
}
\new Voice \relative c {
\stemDown
f2 e4 fis
gis2 s4 e
a8 g!16 f e8 d c bes! a g!
f2.
}
>>
>>](/image.pl?url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2f%2fupload.wikimedia.org%2fscore%2f8%2f3%2f833ctj78p61r0nisuerg7hiw19l273v%2f833ctj78.png&f=jpg&w=240)
