Pro Mundo - Pro Domo: The Writings of Alban Berg contains new English translations of the complete writings of the Viennese composer Alban Berg (1885-1935) and extensive commentaries tracing the history of each essay and its connection to musical culture of the early twentieth century. Berg is now recognized as a classic composer of the modern period, best known for his operas Wozzeck and Lulu. Berg, Anton Webern, and their teacher Arnold Schoenberg constitute the "Second Viennese School" which played a major role in the transformation of serious music as it entered the modern period. Berg was an avid and skillful writer. His essays include analytic studies of compositions by Schoenberg, polemics on music and musicians of his day, and lectures and miscellaneous writings on a variety of topics. Throughout his considerable and diverse corpus of writings, Berg alternates between two perspectives: Pro Mundo - Pro Domo, meaning roughly "speaking for all - speaking for myself" commenting at one moment on the general state of culture and the world, and the next moment on his own works. In his early years he also tried his hand at fictional writing, using works by Ibsen and Strindberg as models. This new English edition contains 47 essays, many of which are little known and have not been previously available in English.
According to Elias Canetti, "e;with Wozzeck, Buechner achieved the most complete revolution in the whole of literature"e;. The same can be said of Berg's opera, as revolutionary in the history of music. Mark DeVoto and Theo Hirsrunner discuss why this complex score suits the chaotic nature of the play. In his famous essay about the opera, Theodor Adorno shows how what seems fragmentary in the text is actually complete. Kenneth Segar offers a new interpretation of the play in the light of the most recent Buechner research. The play as Berg knew it is set out with a translation, and this unique source material is complemented by a series of critical reactions to the first London production in 1952.Contents: 'Wozzeck' in Context, Mark DeVoto; Georg Buechner's 'Woyzeck': an Interpretation, Kenneth; The Musico-Dramatic Structure of 'Wozzeck'; Musical Form and Dramatic Expression in 'Wozzeck', Theo Hirsbrunner; On the Characteristics of 'Wozzeck', Theodor W. Adorno; 'Wozzeck' at Covent Garden, 1952, John Amis, Eric Walter White, Arthur Jacobs, William Mann, Joan Chissell, Geoffrey Bush, Deryck Cooke, Robert L. Jacobs; Wozzeck: Libretto by Georg Buechner, edited by Franzos and Landau, 1909; Wozzeck: Performing translation by Vida Harford and Eric Blackall; Additional material fiom Buechner translated by Stewart Spencer
In December 1945 Thomas Mann wrote a famous letter to Adorno in which he formulated the principle of montage adopted in his novel Doctor Faustus. The writer expressly invited the philosopher to 'consider, with me, how such a work - and I mean Leverkuhn's work - could more or less be practically realized'. Their close collaboration on questions concerning the character of the fictional composer's putatively late works (Adorno produced specific sketches which are included as an appendix to the present volume) effectively laid the basis for a further exchange of letters. The ensuing correspondence between the two men documents a rare encounter of creative tension between literary tradition and aesthetic modernism which would be sustained right up until the novelist's death in 1955. In the letters, Thomas Mann openly acknowledged his 'fascinated reading' of Adorno's Minima Moralia and commented in detail on the 'Essay on Wagner', which he was as eager to read as 'the one in the Book of Revelation consumes a book which tastes "as sweet as honey"'. Adorno in turn offered detailed observations upon and frequently enthusiastic commendations of Mann's later writings, such as The Holy Sinner, The Betrayed One and The Confessions of Felix Krull. Their correspondence also touches upon issues of great personal significance, notably the sensitive discussion of the problems of returning from exile to postwar Germany. The letters are extensively annotated and offer the reader detailed notes concerning the writings, events and personalities referred or alluded to in the correspondence.
La " fortune " d'Alban Berg aura été étrange : aimé et honoré de son vivant, occupant toute sa place historique dans l'Ecole de Vienne, il faudra attendre les dernières années, en France, pour que le sentiment de se trouver devant un des principaux artisans de notre modernité soir partagé sans réserves. Le compositeur a écrit. Des textes de nature très diverse : esthétique, polémique, historique, analytique. Certains étaient connus des mélomanes français, mais étaient devenus introuvables. La présente publication constitue la première édition générale des Ecrits, avec de nombreux inédits en français. Nul doute que cet ensemble ne conduise à une meilleure connaissance du compositeur de Wozzeck et de Lulu, désormais indispensable à notre culture musicale et humaine.
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