TITLE: Chamber Concerto (1935)

COMPOSER: Alban Berg (1885-1935)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Alban Berg was born in Vienna on February 9, 1885. His entire family had a strong musical background. He composed music for fun as a child, and by the time he was fifteen he was encouraged by his family to be trained formally. Charles Berg, Alban's brother, read an advertisement in the local paper by Arnold Schoenberg, who was giving music lessons at the time. Charles, unknown to Alban, went to Schoenberg with Alban's compositions. Schoenberg was so thrilled with the compositions that he took Alban on as a student at no charge. Another student of Schoenberg's, at the time, was Anton von Webern. The three became lifelong friends. The Chamber Concerto was intended to be a present for Schoenberg's fiftieth birthday. However, Berg did not complete the work until Schoenberg was fifty-one. Berg first gained public attention with his opera, Wozzeck, in 1925. In 1930, he was named a member of the Prussian Academy of the Arts. In 1933, Hitler banned performances of Berg's works. Prior to Berg's death from a bee sting in 1935, he fought vigorously with the authorities of Germany to allow Schoenberg's, Webern's and his own music to be played in public.

MOVEMENTS: Three

1. Tema scherzoso con Variazioni - Piano and Winds
2. Adagio - Violin and Winds
3. Rondo ritmico con Introduzione - Piano, Violin and Winds with Cadenza

PERFORMANCE TIME: 29' 25"

INSTRUMENTATION: 15 Instruments (Originally 13)

• 2 Flutes, 1 Oboe, 1 English Horn, 1 Eb Clarinet, 1 Bb Clarinet, 1 Bass Clarinet, 1 Bassoons, 1 Contra-Bassoon, 1 Trumpet, 2 Horns, 1 Trombone, 1 Piano, 1 Violin

EDITIONS:

• Theodore Presser Company, Presser Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

COMPOSITION SKETCH AND MUSICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The following is a letter to Arnold Schoenberg explaining the Chamber Concerto. "Out of many plans the following has crystallized: a concerto for piano and violin with accompaniment of ten winds. The old idea of a piano concerto, (incidentally suggested by yourself) and then the idea of a double, triple and even quadruple concerto has kept me enthralled. When the idea of using wind instruments occurred to me, I tried to accommodate the idea of the piano concerto to it by combining the two. However, as you know, that didn't work."

The Chamber Concerto was written between 1923 and 1925. He uses near-serial thematic material, for his teacher, Arnold Schoenberg believed that serialism was something that evolved naturally in the course of a logical stylistic development. The first movement, a set of variations, is for piano and winds. While the work is much lighter in spirit than Berg's Violin Concerto, the middle Adagio movement is similar in regard to the use of rich and expressive melodic lines. The opening theme of this movement contains every note of the chromatic scale, and the movement is in ternary form. The final movement, a rondo, employs a rhythm as its primary theme instead of melody. The work is preceded by a motto using all of the musical letters in Berg's, Webern's and Schoenberg's name as the beginning letter of each word. The motto begins with the three words "Aller guten Dinge..." that is the beginning of a sentence that translates - "All good things come in threes."

SELECTED RECORDINGS:

RELATED WEBSITES:

Berg's Discography - http://www.eyeneer.com/CCM/Composers/Berg/

Berg Page - http://www.cc.emory.edu/MUSIC/ARNOLD/berg.html

Berg's Biography - http://www.austria-tourism.at/personen/wienerschule/index_berg.html