A View of Berg's Lulu Through the Autograph SourcesAfter 50 years of analysis we are only beginning to understand the quality and complexity of Alban Berg's most important twelve-tone work, the opera Lulu. Patricia Hall's new book represents a primary contribution to that understanding--the first detailed analysis of the sketches for the opera as well as other related autograph material and previously inaccessible correspondence to Berg. In 1959, Berg's widow deposited the first of Berg's autograph manuscripts in the Austrian National Library. The complete collection of autographs for Lulu was made accessible to scholars in 1981, and a promising new phase in Lulu scholarship unfolded. Hall begins her study by examining the format and chronology of the sketches, and she demonstrates their unique potential to clarify aspects of Berg's compositional language. In each chapter Hall uses Berg's sketches to resolve a significant problem or controversy that has emerged in the study of Lulu. For example, Hall discusses the dramatic symbolism behind Berg's use of multiple roles and how these roles contribute to the large-scale structure of the opera. She also revises the commonly held view that Berg frequently invoked a free twelve-tone style. Hall's innovative work suggests important techniques for understanding not only the sketches and manuscripts of Berg but also those of other twentieth-century composers. After 50 years of analysis we are only beginning to understand the quality and complexity of Alban Berg's most important twelve-tone work, the opera Lulu. Patricia Hall's new book represents a primary contribution to that understanding--the first detailed analysis of the sketches for the opera as well as other related autograph material and previously inaccessible correspondence to Berg. In 1959, Berg's widow deposited the first of Berg's autograph manuscripts in the Austrian National Library. The complete collection of autographs for Lulu was made accessible to scholars in 1981, and a promising new phase in Lulu scholarship unfolded. Hall begins her study by examining the format and chronology of the sketches, and she demonstrates their unique potential to clarify aspects of Berg's compositional language. In each chapter Hall uses Berg's sketches to resolve a significant problem or controversy that has emerged in the study of Lulu. For example, Hall discusses the dramatic symbolism behind Berg's use of multiple roles and how these roles contribute to the large-scale structure of the opera. She also revises the commonly held view that Berg frequently invoked a free twelve-tone style. Hall's innovative work suggests important techniques for understanding not only the sketches and manuscripts of Berg but also those of other twentieth-century composers. |
Contents
Format and Compositional Process | 15 |
Chronology of the Autograph Sources | 28 |
The Interaction of Role and Form | 61 |
The Case of Dr Schön | 89 |
Why Is Bergs TwelveTone Music | 128 |
Concluding Remarks | 161 |
175 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Alban Berg Alwa Alwa's row analysis analytical annotations appears autograph sources Beethoven's beginning Berg 28/III Berg 28/XXIV Berg writes Berg-Schoenberg Correspondence Berg's letter Berg's row Berg's sketches Bild Harmonien Chapter characters chord chronology coda completed compositional sketches concept sketch Cornelius Cardew cyclic rows derived rows detailed discussion Douglas Jarman draft dramatic symbolism Duet Erdgeist Example F 21 Berg F sharp Figure finished score form sketch George Perle Geschwitz Goll Hailey ideas instance Kungu Poti large-scale letter to Schoenberg Lulu Lulu's melodic line multiple roles music of Lulu Musiksammlung F 21 Nationalbibliothek ÖNB Musiksammlung opera order numbers pairings palindromic Particell passage pitches represent retrograde Rodrigo Rondo row chart row derivation row forms row sketch scene Schigolch Schön Schön's row segments Sonata source row staves subsidiary rows theme tion tonal Trahütten Transcription of F transposition twelve-tone row twelve-tone technique unfolding variation Vienna vocal line Willi Reich