✝

20th century Austrian composer who created atonal and twelve-tone music. His most famous works are the operas "Vocek" and "Lulu".

Alban Berg was born in 1885. February 9 In Vienna, then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father Konrad owned an art and book store, his mother Johanna had an artistic nature. Alban had two older brothers, Herman, Karl, and a younger sister, Smaragda. He grew up in an artistic and wealthy environment. 1900 the death of his father greatly affected Alban, followed by financial uncertainty, failures at school, and emotional crises. in 1902 in December, A. Berg had an illegitimate daughter, Albinė, from a house servant in the family's villa in Carinthia. A. Berg suffered from depression and guilt, and probably tried to commit suicide. At the same time, A. Berg learned to play the piano, started writing songs that were performed in the family circle. in 1904 he became A. Šionberg's private student. in 1905 started running a rental business inherited from his mother. He studied with A. Šionberg until 1910, he became friends with other students, especially with A. Vėbern. A. Šionberg introduced discipline and methodicality, which lasted in A. Berg's life. Like A. Šionberg, A. Berg created atonal music.

in 1907 A. Berg met the budding opera soloist Helena Nahovski, whom he fell in love with and married in 1911. May 3 The couple settled in the Viennese suburb of Hytzing. Among his friends were the architect Adolfas Lozas and the painter and writer Oskars Kokoška. During this period, A. Berg created his first significant works: "Piano Sonata" (Op. No. 1), "String Quartet" (Op. No. 3). He did not know how to organize a public presentation of his works and attract the attention of critics. in 1913 March 31 A. Šionberg's students' concert in Vienna damaged A. Berg's reputation when the audience started protesting the modernity of the music during his performance. The police were called and the event was shut down.

At the beginning of the First World War, A. Berg was in a patriotic mood. He entered service in 1915. and served on the Hungarian border, his fascination with the life of a soldier faded, which was later reflected in the opera Vocekas. Due to his poor health, he was transferred to work at the Ministry of War in Vienna. After the war, A. Šionbergas appointed him the head of the idealistic Society of Private Musical Performances. The society promoted modern music and ceased operations in 1921. Since many of A. Berg's works were performed at the society's concerts, he began to attract the attention of the public with his talent as a composer. 1920 he became an editor and began writing about music in the magazine Musikblätter des Anbruch. in 1922 A. Berg finished his first and later most famous opera "Wozzeck", according to G. Biuchner's 1837. the play "Voicekas". He published it at his own expense and with the support of G. Mahler's widow Alma, but he could not expect its production in the near future.

in 1923 A. Berg signed a contract with Vienna's "Universal Edition" publishing house, which has since taken care of the publication of his works. A. Berg's reputation as a composer began to grow, his "String Quartet" was performed in Salzburg. Interested in the production of the opera "Voceks", which took place in 1925. December 14 in Berlin. The opera was a success, A. Berg became internationally famous. in 1925 at the beginning, he adopted A. Šionberg's method of twelve-tonal music composition, adapting it to his own, more eclectic style. in 1925 in May, Alma Maler introduced him to the married Hana Fuchs-Robetin. At that time, A. Berg was cold to his wife and Hana became his new muse, for example, for the opera "Lulu" based on F. Wedeking's plays. in 1932 A. Berg bought a villa to spend summers in the mountains of Carinthia. in 1933 Fascism took hold in Germany, which was incomparable to modernist music. A. Šionberg went to America, A. Berg's weak health worsened even more. in 1935 he began to suffer from recurrent abscesses. in 1935 December 17 he was hospitalized in Vienna and diagnosed with a blood infection. This was followed by several heart attacks, after which the composer died in 1935. December 24 next to his wife Helen.

After the 1950s, his opera "Vocek" was often performed in theaters, but the completion and staging of the opera "Lulu" was blocked by Helene Berg. After her death, the third act of the opera was completed by Austrian composer Frydrich Cercha, and the complete opera premiered in 1979. in Paris. A. Berg's last work is the "Violin Concerto", which was commissioned by the American violinist Louis Krasner in 1935, and which was dedicated to A. Mahler's daughter, Manon Gropius, who had just died. His most famous works: the opera "Vocekas" is written in atonal harmony, "Lulu" in twelve-tone.