# Berg: What is This Man's Secret?



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Referring to an earlier query on another thread, no, I don't think Berg was schizophrenic, but Schoenberg didn't approve of the way he dressed or some of the people he was around. I also suspect that he dabbled in morphine or a similar opiate, judging by the ill look out of his eyes; then again, maybe he was ill in some other way.

Also, he set some poetry by Peter Altenberg (the _Altenberg Lieder_ or _Five Orchestral Songs Op. 4_) and if you've ever seen any of Altenberg's inscribed postcard collection, it makes you wonder what other debauchery Berg might have been dabbling in. Just my opinion.

Read these WIK links; they pretty much say it all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Loos

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Altenberg


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Well, he had an idealized affair with a woman (like him, married) that he put into the fabric of the Lyric Suite. He was the most obsessed of the big three with systems and patterns, and especially with palindromes (see especially Lulu).

As for decadence, in addition to having connections to Loos and Altenberg (who was in an asylum when the songs in question were premiered), his opera Lulu was based on two plays by Wedekind, banned for their sexually explicit nature. Anything personal beyond that is speculation (although I seem to remember something about a fling with a family servant when he was younger).

Schoenberg, in addition to not approving of these subjects, didn't like Berg's association with Adorno, whom he gave lessons in composition to.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

What would an obsession with patterns indicate? Schizophrenia?

Also, Berg's violin concerto, supposedly spurred by the death by polio of 18-year-old Manon Gropius, the daughter of Alma Mahler & Walter Gropius, dedicated "To the memory of an angel"...Hmmm...."Angel's" name is unspecified...I wonder if there's more to it than that...assuaging some past indiscretion, perhaps? Or unrepentant, relishing an old memory? Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men....

And what about Adorno? Why didn't Schoenberg like him? What were Adorno's quirks?


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

millionrainbows said:


> And what about Adorno? Why didn't Schoenberg like him? What were Adorno's quirks?


Well, Adorno was just insufferable as a person in general. He had a bit of talent in composition, but no originality. Schoenberg was also miffed when Adorno was the musical adviser for Thomas Mann's _Doctor Faustus_.



millionrainbows said:


> What would an obsession with patterns indicate? Schizophrenia?


Monomania, perhaps? Anyway, this obsession manifested in theoretical games like the palindromes of his later works as well as a fixation on numbers, especially bar numbers. He considered himself as well as the woman he was in love with to have a characteristic number.



millionrainbows said:


> Also, Berg's violin concerto, supposedly spurred by the death by polio of 18-year-old Manon Gropius, the daughter of Alma Mahler & Walter Gropius, dedicated "To the memory of an angel"...Hmmm...."Angel's" name is unspecified...I wonder if there's more to it than that...


Well, Berg's and Hanna's numbers apparently play a role, and the lyrics to the song he quotes for the second theme of the first movement are somewhat suggestive (don't know whether Berg knew them or not). That said, the Bach chorale he quotes in the finale seems perfectly in line with the normal interpretation of the piece as a requiem.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

millionrainbows said:


> What would an obsession with patterns indicate? Schizophrenia?


No! Whatever it indicates, it's not that! Schizophrenia is something completely different...


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Mahlerian said:


> Well, Adorno was just insufferable as a person in general. He had a bit of talent in composition, but no originality. Schoenberg was also miffed when Adorno was the


Yes? It seems like part of this post got cut off here, please continue...


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

tdc said:


> Yes? It seems like part of this post got cut off here, please continue...


Whoops! Fixed.


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