Editing Violin Concerto (Berg) (section)

== Music ==
{{external media
| topic  = Performed by [[Isabelle Faust]] with the [[Orchestra Mozart]] under [[Claudio Abbado]]
| audio1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqL-6uCl13s I. Andante – Allegretto]
| audio2 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huZjbMQkW6I II. Allegro – Adagio]
}}
Berg described the structure of the concerto in a letter to [[Arnold Schoenberg]].<ref>Brand et al. (eds.), ''The Berg-Schoenberg Correspondence'', p. 466. quoted in {{harvnb|Pople|1991|p=47}}</ref> It is in two movements, each divided into two sections:
<poem>
I.a. Andante (Prelude)
I.b. Allegretto (Scherzo)
II.a. Allegro (Cadenza)
II.b. Adagio (Chorale Variations)
</poem>
The work begins with an [[tempo|Andante]] in classical [[sonata form]], followed by the [[tempo|Allegretto]], a dance-like section. The second movement starts with an [[tempo|Allegro]] largely based on a single recurring [[rhythm]]ic [[cell (music)|cell]]; this section has been described as [[cadenza]]-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, marked [[tempo|Adagio]], is much calmer. The first two sections are meant to represent life, the last two death and [[Transfiguration (religion)|transfiguration]].

[[File:Berg - Violin Concerto lament melody.png|thumb|upright=2|"Lament" melody and its construction from the pitches of RI-5 and P-8<ref>[[Arnold Whittall|Whittall, Arnold]]. 2008. ''The Cambridge Introduction to Serialism. Cambridge Introductions to Music'', p. 84. New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-68200-8}} (pbk).</ref>[[File:Berg - Violin Concerto lament melody.mid]]]]

Like many of Berg's works, the piece combines the [[twelve-tone technique]], typical of [[Serialism|serialist music]] learned from his teacher [[Arnold 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:
:<score sound="1"> \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" \remove "Bar_engraver" } \relative c' { \clef treble \override Stem #'transparent = ##t g4 bes d fis a c e gis b cis ees f } </score>
Although this contains all twelve notes of the [[chromatic scale]], there is a strong tonal undercurrent: the first three notes of the row make up a [[G minor]] [[Triad (music)|triad]]; notes three to five are a [[D major]] triad; notes five to seven are an [[A minor]] triad; notes seven to nine are an [[E major]] triad;
:<score sound="1"> { \new PianoStaff << \new Staff \relative c' { \clef treble \time 2/4 r8 <d bes>4( <d bes>8~ | <d bes> <d a>4 <d a>8~ | <d a>) <c a>4( <c a>8~ | <c a> <b e,>4 <b e,>8) } \new Staff \relative c { \clef bass \time 2/4 g,2( | fis' | e' | gis, } >> } </score>
and the last four notes (B, C{{music|#}}, E{{music|b}}, F) and the first (G) together make up part of a [[whole tone scale]]. The roots of the four triads correspond to the [[Open string (music)|open strings]] of the violin, which is highlighted in the opening passage of the piece.
:<score sound="1"> \relative c' { \clef treble \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 g8(\pp d' a' e') e( a, d, g,~ | g1) } </score>
The resulting triads are thus fifth-related and form a [[cadence]], 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{{music|flat}}) – A – C – H (B{{music|natural}}), the [[BACH motif]], thus connecting the piece to [[Johann 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 the [[chorale]] melody "[[Es ist genug]]" ("It is enough"). Bach composed a [[SATB|four-part]] setting of the hymn by [[Franz Joachim Burmeister]] with a melody by [[Johann Rudolph Ahle]] to conclude his cantata [[O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60|''O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort'', BWV 60]] (''O eternity, you thunderous word'').<ref>[http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0060_5.htm BWV 60.5] bach-chorales.com</ref> The first four measures are shown below.
:<score sound="1">
   \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.
             }
         >>
    >>
</score>

Berg quotes this chorale in the last movement of the piece, where Bach's harmonization is heard in the [[clarinet]]s.

In 1957, [[Ernst Krenek]] identified another quoted tonal passage in the work as a [[Carinthia (state)|Carinthian]] [[folk song]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Berg's Violin Concerto | first =I. D. |last=Waldie | journal =The Musical Times | volume =124 | issue =1689 | date = November 1983 |page=665 |quote= in a review of Redlich's book (MQ, xliii (1957), 404) | doi=10.2307/961414| jstor=961414}}</ref>{{efn|{{ill|Herwig Knaus|de}} later did the same, without reference to Krenek, in {{lang|de|"Die Kärtner Volkweise aus Alban Bergs Violinkonzert"}}. [[Mosco Carner]] translated Knaus's work on this, including the text of the song, into English.{{cn|date=March 2024}}}} Bryan Simms and Charlotte Erwin described it, "A Vögele af'n Zweschpm-bam",{{efn|"A birdie on the plum tree"}} as a "[[yodel]]ing song with a saucy, ribald text".{{sfn|Simms and Erwin|2021|loc=380}} It appears in the second section of the first movement and returns briefly before the [[Coda (music)|coda]] in the second movement. This is perhaps the only section that does not derive its materials from the row.{{sfn|Perle|1985|loc=244–247, 255–257}}
:<score sound="1"> \relative c' { \clef treble \key g \major \time 3/4 \partial 4*1 << { d4 | b'8. b16 d4 g8 b | b,4 d g | fis4. e8 e4 | c2. | c'4. fis,8 d4 | c' fis, d8 c' | b2 g8 b | d,2 } \\ { d,4 | g8. g16 b4 d | g, b e | d4. c8 c4 | fis,2. | fis'4. d8 c4 | fis d c8 fis | g2 d8 d | b2 } >> } </score>

[[Anthony Pople]] calls the concerto "less serial than ''Lulu''", containing originally serial material later repeated or developed outside that framework, in addition to small adjustments throughout to avoid bare octaves.{{sfn|Pople|1991|pp=39–40}}