"" (The Wine) is a

concert aria A concert aria is normally an aria or operatic scene (''scena'') composed for singer and orchestra, written specifically for performance in concert rather than as part of an opera. Concert arias have often been composed for particular singers, the ...

for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

and orchestra, composed in 1929 by

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( ; ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

. The lyrics are from

Stefan George Stefan Anton George (; 12 July 18684 December 1933) was a German symbolist poet and a translator of Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Hesiod, and Charles Baudelaire. He is also known for his role as leader of the highly influential liter ...

's translation of three poems from

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

's ', as is the secret text of Berg's '' Lyric Suite'': Pople, Anthony (1991). ''Berg: Violin Concerto'', p. 21. . "Die Seele des Weines" (The Wine's Soul), "Der Wein der Liebenden" (The Wine of Lovers), and "Der Wein des Einsamen" (The Wine of the Lonely One). The aria was commissioned by and dedicated to Ruzena Herlinger. She and

Hermann Scherchen Hermann Scherchen (21 June 1891 – 12 June 1966) was a German conductor, who was principal conductor of the city orchestra of Winterthur from 1922 to 1950. He promoted contemporary music, beginning with Schoenberg's '' Pierrot Lunaire'', follow ...

premiered it in

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

on 4 June 1930. The piece includes a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of a

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

( bars 39, 181) and includes an

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

. The

tone row In music, a tone row or note row ( or '), also series or set, is a non-repetitive ordering of a set of pitch-classes, typically of the twelve notes in musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller sets are sometime ...

contains a complete ascending D

harmonic minor scale The harmonic minor scale (or Aeolian ♮7 scale) is a Scale (music), musical scale derived from the natural minor scale, with the minor seventh degree raised by one semitone to a major seventh, creating an augmented second between the sixth and ...

and the remaining five notes are ordered so that in the inverted form they arpeggiate a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

y added sixth chord with blue third (G, F, D, D, B). The central sonority of the work, as characteristic of Berg's later music, comprises triads separated by half an octave: F and B ( in German: H) superimposed over a low D. These two letter names, H and F, are presumably a reference to

Hanna Fuchs-Robettin Hanna Fuchs-Robettin (1896–1964) (née Werfel) was the sister of Franz Werfel, wife of Herbert Fuchs-Robettin, and mistress of Alban Berg. Berg secretly and cryptically dedicated his '' Lyric Suite'' to her. Early life Born in Prague (then part ...

, and the title may be a reference to her husband's wine cellar. The music of the central section of a ternary A–B–A structure "is a

palindrome A palindrome (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpæl.ɪn.droʊm/) is a word, palindromic number, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date "Twosday, 02/02/2020" and th ...

within itself," with the outer sections being

through-composed In the theory of musical form, through-composed music is a continuous, non- sectional, and non- repetitive piece of music. The term is typically used to describe songs, but can also apply to instrumental music. While most musical forms such as te ...

.Pople (1991), pp. 17–18. Bars 112 to 140 are then heard in

retrograde Retrograde may refer to: Film and television * Retrograde (2004 film), ''Retrograde'' (2004 film), a film by Christopher Kulikowski * Retrograde (2022 American film), ''Retrograde'' (2022 American film), a documentary film by Matthew Heineman * ...

as bars 140 to 170.

Sources

External links

* * * – Annelies Kupper,

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (, BRSO) is a German radio orchestra. Based in Munich, Germany, it is one of the city's four orchestras. The BRSO is one of two full-size symphony orchestras operated under the auspices of Bayerischer Rundf ...

, conducted by

(1957) (Scherchen also conducted the premiere) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wein, Der Twelve-tone compositions by Alban Berg Les Fleurs du mal in popular culture 1929 compositions Arias in German Soprano arias Music dedicated to ensembles or performers Music commissioned by ensembles or performers Musical settings of poems by Stefan George Musical settings of poems by Charles Baudelaire