Editing Violin Concerto (Berg)

{{Short description|1935 musical work by Alban Berg}}
{{Infobox musical composition
| name                = Violin Concerto
| composer            = [[Alban Berg]]
| image               =WP Alban Berg.jpg
| caption             = Sketch of the composer by [[Emil Stumpp]]
| key                 = 
| dedication          = "To the memory of an angel"{{sfn|Simms and Erwin|2021|loc=382–390}}
| genre               = [[Concerto]]
| period              = 
| movements           = Two (in two sections each)
| scoring             = Violin and orchestra
| composed            = {{Start date|1935}}
| premiere_date       = {{Start date|1936|04|19|df=y}}
| premiere_location   = [[Palau de la Música Catalana]], Barcelona
| premiere_conductor  = [[Hermann Scherchen]]
| premiere_performers = {{plainlist|
* [[Louis Krasner]], violin
* [[Orquestra Pau Casals]]<ref>{{cite news |last=James |first=Jamie |date=20 March 1994 |title=A Model T Fuels a Masterpiece |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/20/arts/classical-music-a-model-t-fuels-a-masterpiece.html |work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=28 July 2020}}</ref>
}}
}}
[[Alban Berg]]'s '''Violin Concerto''' was written in 1935. It is probably Berg's best-known and most frequently performed piece. In it, Berg sought to reconcile [[diatonicism]] and [[dodecaphony]]. The work was commissioned by [[Louis Krasner]], and dedicated by Berg to "the memory of an angel". It was the last work he completed. Krasner performed the solo part in the premiere at the [[Palau de la Música Catalana]], Barcelona, in April 1936, four months after the composer's death.

== Conception and composition ==
[[File:Louis Krasner (1903–1995) und Helene Berg (1885–1976) mit der Partitur des Violinkonzerts (1961) OeNB 657332.png|thumb|left|[[Louis Krasner|Krasner]] and Berg's widow [[:de:Helene Berg|Helene]] with the score (1961)]]
The piece stemmed from a commission from the violinist [[Louis Krasner]]. When he received the commission, Berg was working on his opera ''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'', and did not begin work on the concerto for some months.

An event that spurred him to start the concerto was the death by polio of 18-year-old [[Manon Gropius]], daughter of [[Walter Gropius]] and Berg's friend and [[patron]] [[Alma Mahler]] ([[Gustav Mahler]]'s widow). Berg set ''Lulu'' aside to write the concerto, which he dedicated "To the memory of an angel";<ref name="Glass" /> he identified the "angel" to Alma as Manon. Alma felt abandoned by the Bergs in her time of mourning, and Berg was eager to repair the breach. Berg sent Alma some part of the score, possibly the dedicatory page and opening, in 1935. It was her 56th birthday, to which the opening metronome marking (56 to a quarter note) likely referred.{{sfn|Simms and Erwin|2021|loc=382–390}}

Berg worked on the piece very quickly, completing it in a few months; it is thought that his work on the concerto was largely responsible for his failing to complete ''Lulu'' before his death on 24 December 1935. The concerto was the last work he completed. In a letter to Krasner dated 16 July 1935, Berg wrote: "Yesterday I finished the composition [without the orchestration] of our Violin Concerto. I am probably more surprised by it than you will be ... the work gave me more and more joy. I hope – no, I have the confident belief – that I have succeeded."{{cn|date=April 2020|reason=Looked in ''Berg: Violin Concerto'' (1991) by Anthony Pople and Julian Rushton, but can't find it there.}}

The manuscript score carries the date 11 August 1935.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

== Scoring ==
The concerto is scored for 2 [[Western concert flute|flutes]] (both doubling as [[piccolo]]), 2 [[oboe]]s (one doubling as a [[cor anglais]]), [[alto saxophone]] (doubling as 3rd clarinet), 2 [[clarinet]]s, [[bass clarinet]], 2 [[bassoon]]s, [[contrabassoon]], 4 [[French horn|horns]], 2 [[trumpet]]s, 2 [[trombone]]s, [[tuba]], [[timpani]], [[percussion]], [[harp]] and [[string section|strings]].<ref name="Glass">{{cite news
 |last         = Glass
 |first        = Herbert
 |url          = https://www.laphil.com/philpedia/music/violin-concerto-alban-berg
 |title        = Violin Concerto – About the piece
 |publisher    = [[LA Phil]]
 |access-date   = 2 November 2017
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20171107012243/https://www.laphil.com/philpedia/music/violin-concerto-alban-berg
 |archive-date = 7 November 2017
 |url-status     = dead
 |df           = dmy-all
}}</ref>

== 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}}

== Premieres ==
* World premiere: 19 April 1936, [[Palau de la Música Catalana]], [[Barcelona]], at the [[XIV International Society for Contemporary Music Festival|XIV ISCM Festival]]. [[Louis Krasner]] played the solo part, and [[Pablo Casals|Pau Casals Orchestra]] was conducted by [[Hermann Scherchen]].<ref name="Glass" />
*: [[Anton Webern]] was intended to be the conductor. Reports vary as to whether he was ill or was emotionally unable to cope with the subject matter of the music. In any case, Scherchen happened to be there for the Festival, and he was drafted at the literal 11th hour: the first time he ever saw the score was at 11 pm the night before the premiere, and the next morning there was time for only half an hour rehearsal.<ref name=kras>[http://www.schoenberg.at/library/index.php/attachments/single/1535 Louis Krasner, ''Some Memories of Anton Webern, the Berg Concerto and Vienna in the 1930s'']</ref>
* British private premiere: 1 May 1936, [[London]], at an invitation-only concert. Krasner was again the soloist (at the invitation of the BBC producer [[Edward Clark (conductor)|Edward Clark]], who had attended the world premiere in Barcelona), and Webern conducted the [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]]. This performance was recorded on acetate discs, which survived in Krasner's collection. The performance was broadcast on the BBC on Berg's centenary, 9 February 1985<ref name=kras/> and later released on CD.{{sfn|Layton|1991}}
* Austrian and European premiere: 25 October 1936, [[Vienna]], Krasner with the [[Vienna Philharmonic]] under [[Otto Klemperer]]. The violinist [[Arnold Rosé]] came out of retirement to lead the string section. This performance was also recorded.<ref name=kras/>
* British public premiere: 9 December 1936, London, at the [[Queen's Hall]] in a BBC concert. Krasner was again the soloist, and [[Henry Wood|Sir Henry Wood]] conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra.{{sfn|Kennedy|1989|p=178}}

=== Revised version ===
Berg did not have time to review the score or correct any errors. That was finally done in the 1990s by Professor [[Alban Berg#Douglas Jarman|Douglas Jarman]], Principal Lecturer in Academic Studies at the [[Royal Northern College of Music]], Manchester.<ref>[http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/berg-companion-douglas-jarman/?K=9780333427187 Palgrave MacMillan]. Retrieved 1 November 2014</ref> The premiere of the revised version was given in Vienna in 1996, with [[Daniel Hope (violinist)|Daniel Hope]] as soloist. Hope also made the first recording of this version, in 2004 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under [[Paul Watkins (musician)|Paul Watkins]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.danielhope.com/listento/berg-britten-violin-concertos/|title=BERG & BRITTEN VIOLIN CONCERTOS (2004)|website=Daniel Hope.com|access-date=1 November 2014}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Kennedy (music critic)|title=Adrian Boult|publisher=Papermac (Macmillan)|year=1989|edition=reprint|isbn=0-333-48752-4}}
* {{cite magazine|last=Layton|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Layton (musicologist)|title=Review|magazine=[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]|date=June 1991}}
* {{cite book|last=Pople|first=Anthony|title=Berg: Violin Concerto|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=31 March 1991|isbn=0-521-39976-9}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Perle|1985}}|reference=Perle, George. 1985. ''The Operas of Alban Berg, Vol. II: Lulu.'' Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-06616-8}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Simms and Erwin|2021}}|reference=Simms, Bryan R. and Charlotte Erwin. 2021. ''Berg.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-093144-5}} (hbk).}}

== External links ==
* {{IMSLP|work=Violin Concerto (Berg, Alban)}}

{{Alban Berg}}
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[[Category:Concertos by Alban Berg]]
[[Category:Violin concertos|Berg]]
[[Category:Twelve-tone compositions by Alban Berg]]
[[Category:1935 compositions]]
[[Category:Funerary and memorial compositions]]
[[Category:Music dedicated to family or friends]]
[[Category:Classical musical works published posthumously|Berg]]