Editing Alban Berg (section)

===Early works (1907–1914)===
With little prior music education, Berg began studying [[counterpoint]], [[music theory]], and [[harmony]] under [[Arnold Schoenberg]] in October 1904.<ref>Schoenberg, Arnold. Trans. Joe Monzo.{{cite web|url=http://www.sonic-arts.org/monzo/schoenberg/harm/monzo-intro.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030927035727/http://sonic-arts.org/monzo/schoenberg/harm/monzo-intro.htm|archive-date=27 September 2003|title=Schoenberg's Harmonielehre|url-status=dead|access-date=1 July 2016}}</ref> By 1906 he was studying music full-time; by 1907 he began [[musical composition|composition]] lessons. His student compositions included five drafts for [[piano sonata]]s. He also wrote songs, including his ''[[Seven Early Songs (Berg)|Seven Early Songs]]'' (''Sieben frühe Lieder''), three of which were Berg's first publicly performed work in a concert that featured the music of Schoenberg's pupils in Vienna that year.{{sfn|Pople|1997|p=56}}

The early sketches eventually culminated in the [[Piano Sonata (Berg)|Piano Sonata, Op. 1]], published in 1910 and likely composed 1908{{ndash}}1909;{{sfn|Jarman|1990|p=43}} it has been described as one of the most formidable "first" works ever written.{{sfn|Lauder|1986}} Berg studied with Schoenberg for six years until 1911. Among Schoenberg's teachings was the idea that the unity of a musical composition depends upon all its aspects being derived from a single basic idea; this idea was later known as ''developing variation''. Berg passed this on to his students, one of whom, [[Theodor W. Adorno]], stated: "The main principle he conveyed was that of variation: everything was supposed to [[development (music)|develop]] out of something else and yet be intrinsically different".{{sfn|Adorno|Berg|2005|p=33}} The Piano Sonata is an example—the whole composition is derived from the work's opening [[quartal and quintal harmony|quartal]] gesture and its opening phrase.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mariinsky-theatre.com/company/other/composer/Alban_Berg/|title=Alban Berg – Composer|website=www.mariinsky-theatre.com|access-date=2 October 2018|archive-date=3 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203040945/https://www.mariinsky-theatre.com/company/other/composer/Alban_Berg/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Berg was a part of Vienna's cultural elite during the heady ''[[fin de siècle]]'' period. His circle included the musicians [[Alexander von Zemlinsky]] and [[Franz Schreker]], the painter [[Gustav Klimt]], the writer and satirist [[Karl Kraus (writer)|Karl Kraus]], the architect [[Adolf Loos]], and the poet [[Peter Altenberg]].

[[File:Watschenkonzert Karikatur in Die Zeit vom 6. April 1913.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|{{lang|de|Watschenkonzert}} [slapping concert], caricature in ''{{ill|Die Zeit (Vienna)|de|Die Zeit (Wien)|lt=Die Zeit}}'' (Vienna), 6 April 1913<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newsv2.orf.at/stories/2175106/2175105/|title=Konzertsaal als Kampfarena|language=de|trans-title=Concert hall as fight arena|author=Armin Sattler|newspaper=News.orf.at |date=5 April 2012|publisher=[[ORF (broadcaster)|ORF]]|access-date=4 October 2023}}</ref>]]

In 1913 two of Berg's ''[[Altenberg Lieder]]'' (1912) premiered in Vienna, conducted by Schoenberg in the infamous ''[[Skandalkonzert]]''. Settings of aphoristic poetic utterances, the songs are accompanied by a very large orchestra. The performance caused a riot, and had to be halted. Berg effectively withdrew the work, and it was not performed in full until 1952. The full score remained unpublished until 1966.{{sfn|Taruskin|2010}}

Berg had a particular interest in the number 23, using it to structure several works. Various suggestions have been made as to the reason for this interest: that he took it from the [[biorhythms]] theory of [[Wilhelm Fliess]], in which a 23-day cycle is considered significant,{{sfn|Jarman|1983|pages=218–223}} or because he first suffered an asthma attack on the 23rd of the month.{{sfn|Jarman|1985|page=228–230}}