Douglas Jarman

“The” Music of Alban Berg

By bringing together the most recent scholarship, this book sheds new light on Berg's life and music. The three main sections are each devoted to a particular genre. The first essay in each section surveys Berg's development within the genre concerned, whilst the subsequent chapters discuss particular works in more detail. An introductory section to the book sets Berg's music in the context of other artistic and musical developments of the period from 1890 to the 1930s.

Berg Companion

This book is a guide to Berg's second opera, Lulu, written in non-technical language and intended for those students and music lovers wishing to become familiar with one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century music. Jarman presents a clear and concise introduction to the musical language and to the intricate musical and dramatic structure of Berg's opera. The volume also examines the literary background, the genesis, composition, and tortuous posthumous career of the work. The final chapters survey the performance history and suggest a possible interpretation of this complex and challenging composition. An important feature of the book is the inclusion of source documents and critical responses to the opera. Illustrated with photographs from the premiere and from recent productions, the volume also includes a synopsis, bibliography, and discography.

Alban Berg: Lulu

Alban Berg's Wozzeck is one of the most significant operas of the twentieth century. Douglas Jarman's study provides a clear and accessible introduction to this work, placing it in the context of the radical developments in musical language during the early decades of the century and of the development of Berg's own musical style. The book covers all aspects of the work. Early chapters are devoted to the history and discovery of the Buchner play Woyzeck on which Berg based the libretto and to the background and composition of the opera. A detailed synopsis takes the reader through the events on stage in relation to the structured musical effects. Particular attention is given in the subsequent chapter to the unique dramatic and musical design of the opera. In offering a possible interpretation of the work Douglas Jarman considers this closely organized structure in relation to the expressionistic language of the music. A final chapter charts the performances of the opera, in particular early productions, which are illustrated with many hitherto unpublished photographs from Berg's own lifetime. An important feature of the book is the inclusion of many important and otherwise unobtainable contemporary documents concerned with the play and the opera, includine Karl Emil Franzos's description of the reconstruction of the fragmented Buchner play and three commentaries by Berg himself on the opera. This comprehensive guide will be invaluable to the student and opera-goer wishing to unravel the musical and dramatic complecities of this important work.

Alban Berg: Wozzeck

David Fanning

Shulamith Behr

The origins of expressionism and the notion of gesamtkunstwerk / Peter Vergo -- Concepts of expressionism in Scandinavia / Marit Werenskiold -- Expressionism in exile in Great Britain / J.M. Ritchie --Expressionism: a health warning / David Elliott -- 'The ascent to nature': some metaphors of 'Nature' in early expressionist art / Gill Perry -- Expressionist sculpture c. 1910-30 and the significance of its dual architectural/ideological frame / Erich Ranfft --Expressionist architecture today / Dennis Sharp -- Expressionism and film: the testament of Dr. Caligari / Werner Sudendorf -- Musical expressionism: the search for autonomy / Christopher Hailey -- 'Wilde Musik': composers, critics and expressionism / Peter Franklin -- Defining musical expressionism: Schoenberg and others / Stephen Hinton -- The body and the dance: Kirchner's Swiss work as expressionism / Colin Rhodes -- Expressionism and dance: a literary perspective / Manfred Kuxdorf -- The religious element in expressionism theatre / Raymond Furness -- Deciphering Wassily Kandinsky's Violet: activist expressionism and the Russian Slavonic mileau / Shulamith Behr --Lothar Schreyer's theatre works and the use of masks / Brian Keith-Smith --Culture and anarchy in expressionist drama / Rhys Williams.

Expressionism Reassessed

A clear and accessible introduction to one of the most significant operas of the twentieth century.

Douglas Jarman

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