Berg's Wozzeck
- Author: Hall, Patricia
this study of the Wozzeck sketches will be an invaluable research resource for many years to come and should be on the shelves of every self-respecting university music library and in the library...
Berg's Wozzeck
- Author: Hall, Patricia
Purchase product
this study of the Wozzeck sketches will be an invaluable research resource for many years to come and should be on the shelves of every self-respecting university music library and in the library...
About
Although Berg decided immediately after seeing Büchner's play Woyzeck in May 1914 to set it to music, he did not complete his opera until 1922, with the Berlin premiere taking place in 1925. Berg's Wozzeck traces the composer's slow but determined progress. Using compositional sketches, diaries, notebooks and other archival material, author Patricia Hall reveals the challenges Berg faced--from his induction as a soldier in World War I, to the hyper-inflation of the twenties. In addition to the precise chronology of the opera, the sketches show how Berg derived large-scale form from the Büchner text, and how his compositional style evolved during the nine years in which he composed the opera. A comprehensive visual database on the book's companion website of the extant sketches from seven archives in the United States, Germany and Austria allows the reader to examine, for the first time, Berg's sketches in high resolution color scans.
Contents
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Path to Wozzeck
- Chapter 2 The Inception of Wozzeck: 1914-18
- Chapter 3 Wir arme Leut': 1919-1922
- Chapter 4 The Critical Years: 1923-25
- Chapter 5 Berg's Buchner Text and the Genesis of Form
- Chapter 6 Master of the Smallest Link: The Sketches for Large-Scale Form
- Chapter 7 Berg war Analysen freundlich gesinnt: Analysis of Pitch Structure in the Sketches for Wozzeck
- Conclusion
- Catalogue of sketches for Wozzeck
- Bibliography
Awards and reviews
Music and Letters
this study of the Wozzeck sketches will be an invaluable research resource for many years to come and should be on the shelves of every self-respecting university music library and in the library of every scholar interested in Bergs opera
