# Berg's Opus 1 - Requesting biography



## Reebs (Aug 29, 2013)

Hello, friends

I'm here to ask for your help in a research i'm making. I'm doing an psychoanalytical analysis on the mentioned work. But, although i have some good books about Berg, none seems to talk specifically about the sonata or about his earlier compositions. So, i would like to know if you have knowledge of any biography about the Opus 1 or any related work that you think would help clarify the work's technical issues, as the variation of the initial theme, for example.

Thanks in advance
Reebs.


----------



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

You might also know Berg's Seven Early Songs, later arranged for voice and orchestra. Those seven are merely the best out of numerous songs he wrote before and during his tutelage with Schoenberg. According to his teacher, Berg was "unable to write an instrumental piece" when he first began lessons, because "even his accompaniments were song-like". The Opus 1 Sonata was not the first attempt at this new territory, but it was the first completed attempt. Any instrumental pieces that preceded it remained fragments, with the important exception of a portion of a sonata in D minor, which made its way into his opera Wozzeck in the Act III interlude.

The biggest influences on the technique of the Sonata, Opus 1, are Schoenberg (of course), Mahler, and Strauss. The harmony uses quartal chords in addition to triads, and the whole piece is based, more or less, on the single initial thematic idea stated at the beginning. This shows an absorption of his teacher's own predilection for monothematicism. From Mahler he takes his long-breathed lyricism and from Strauss (Salome was particularly influential) the handling of melody in a chromatic environment.


----------



## Reebs (Aug 29, 2013)

Thanks for the reply, Mahlerian. But have you any biography with all that info you gave? - you see, as i'm writing a document, i need to quote the origin of the information, and i wouldn't be able to quote you here. Scientific bureaucracy, you know. So, i would be grateful if you got any good books on those details.

there is a doctor's thesis on berg's early compositions in the NY library - but it is inaccessible for me, as i'm quite far away from NY.


----------



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

My best source on Berg, life and music, has been the Cambridge Companion to Alban Berg. I don't know if it will specifically have this particular information, but it's a good start if you're looking for sources.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

If you can find Douglas Jarman's The Music of Alban Berg, the piece is discussed on pages 176 as to formal structure and page 31-32 on motivic relations.


----------



## Reebs (Aug 29, 2013)

Thank you all. Douglas' work seems to be a very good one. i have some works by Pole too, but they give much more emphasis (righteously) on berg's operas and concertos than in the early works. I'll check the book.


----------

