ALBAN BERG
By
Willi Reich, student and friend of Alban Berg and music critic, gives a new form to his former assessment (1937) of the composer here, according to the publishers. He devotes the first section of his book to Berg's life: childhood, the study with Schoenberg, marriage, the first World War with duty that served to vitalize Wozzeck, the composition of Wozzeck and its reception, later years spent under the shadow of Nazism when he found he was not ""indigenous."" He includes such primary source items as Schoenberg's testimonial to his student, Berg on Wozzeck and publisher Emil Hertzka. The second section of the book turns to analysis of the works from his earliest through the Violin Concerto. A final section presents three articles by Berg, ""Why is Schoenberg's Music so Difficult to Understand?"" among them. The whole is product of satisfying competence.