The Violin Concerto was the last work to be completed by the Austrian expressionist composer Alban Berg (1885–1935). It was commissioned by the American Louis Krasner, who commissioned a violin concerto from Berg’s teacher Arnold Schoenberg at the same time (another case of the “victorious pupil” and the “vanquished teacher”).
Berg’s Concerto is one of the most inspired and poetic works of the 20th century. Having taken a step backwards – towards tradition – Berg balanced on the border between twelve-tone and tonal music and did not shun pure intervals and harmonious accords, the rhythms of a Ländler and a Viennese waltz, while in the second part of the Concerto he introduced Bach’s chorale Es ist genug. All of this imbued the music with vivid imagery: the avant-garde composer made sure to “throw up a bridge” from new music to a discouraged public.
The Concerto is dedicated “To the Memory of an Angel” – while Berg was working on it, the eighteen-year-old daughter of Alma Mahler and Walter Gropius died. But, at times, in it one can see a “double requiem”, which draws us to the conclusion that Berg was also visited by thoughts of his own impending death.
Anna Bulycheva
The composer Richard Strauss once told his friend the French writer Romain Rolland that he saw no reason why he should not write a work about himself, and that he considered himself to be no less a man than Napoleon or Alexander of Macedonia. Richard Strauss brought his intention to fruition in his final and, arguably, most grandiose symphonic poem Ein Heldenleben. The premiere of the poem Ein Heldenleben was conducted by the composer on 3 March 1899 in Frankfurt; some of the audience left the auditorium in protest, but the majority expressed their delighted approval. The narrative of the poem tells us how the hero finds his beloved, struggles with critics and ill-wishers and, at last, comes to rest and departs this world. In the poem Ein Heldenleben there are six sections: “The Hero”, “The Hero’s Adversaries”, “The Hero’s Companion”, “The Hero at Battle”, “The Hero’s Works of Peace” and “The Hero’s Retirement from this World and Consummation”. The principal tonality in E Flat clearly indicates a link to Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphony Die Heroische, the most supreme image of heroic pathos. In the two final sections of the poem, Strauss quotes from his own works, and he depicts his critical enemies through the quasi naturalistic cackling of a flock of geese. The “leit-timbre” of the critics is provided by the woodwind instruments, while the hero’s beloved is embodied by the timbre of the violin solo. The poem Ein Heldenleben was intended for a grandiose orchestra including eight French horns, five tubas and a quadruple size woodwind section, and is one of the most complex works in the orchestral repertoire.
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