The ''Lyric Suite'' is a six- movement work for

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

written 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 ...

between 1925 and 1926 using methods derived from

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

twelve-tone technique The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition. The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale ...

. Though publicly dedicated to

Alexander von Zemlinsky Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky (14 October 1871 – 15 March 1942) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher. Biography Early life Zemlinsky was born in Vienna to a highly diverse family. Zemlinsky's grandfather, Anton ...

(from whose ''

Lyric Symphony The ''Lyric Symphony'' (), Op. 18, is a musical work for soprano and baritone soloists and large orchestra composed between 1922 and 1923 by Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky. Composition and performance history The work was begun in April ...

'' it quotes), the work has been shown to possess a "secret dedication" and to outline a "secret programme". Berg arranged three of the "pieces" (movements) for string orchestra in 1928.

Composition and analysis

The string quartet has six movements: As Berg's friend and fellow Schoenberg pupil

Erwin Stein Erwin Stein (7 November 188519 July 1958) was an Austrian musician and writer, prominent as a pupil and friend of Arnold Schoenberg, with whom he studied between 1906 and 1910.e work (Ist and VIth part, the main part of the IIIrd and the middle section of the Vth) has been mostly written strictly in accordance with Schoenberg's technique of the ' Composition with 12 inwardly related tones'. A set of 12 different tones gives the rough material of the composition, and the portions which have been treated more freely still adhere more or less to the technique".

George Perle George Perle (6 May 1915 – 23 January 2009) was an American composer and music theory, music theorist. As a composer, his music was largely atonality, atonal, using methods similar to the twelve-tone technique of the Second Viennese School. Th ...

points out that the first movement is not strictly twelve-tone, with the opening four chords being derived not from the series but from the interval-7 cycle. The first analysis was undertaken by H. F. Redlich, who notices that "the first movement of the ''Lyric Suite'' develops out of the disorder of intervals in its first bar, the notes of which, strung out horizontally, present the complete

chromatic scale The chromatic scale (or twelve-tone scale) is a set of twelve pitches (more completely, pitch classes) used in tonal music, with notes separated by the interval of a semitone. Chromatic instruments, such as the piano, are made to produce the ...

, and from this in the second and following bars, grows the Basic Set in its thematic shape".

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( ; ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, musicologist, and social theorist. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has com ...

called the quartet "a latent opera". Redlich described "the concealed vocality of the ''Lyric Suite''" despite having no knowledge of the setting of

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, an ...

's ''De profundis clamavi'' in the finale movement, deciphered by Douglass M. Green from what Perle calls "Berg's cryptic notations". Perle discovered a complete copy of the first edition annotated by Berg for his dedicatee, Hanna Fuchs-Robettin (

Franz Werfel Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of '' The Forty ...

's sister, with whom Berg had an affair in the 1920s), later that year. Berg used the

signature A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, Handwriting, handwritt ...

motif, A- B- H- F (in German notation, B means B, while H means B), to combine Alban Berg (A. B.) and Hanna Fuchs-Robettin (H. F.). This is most prominent in the third movement. Berg also quotes a melody from Zemlinsky's ''

'' in movement four which originally set the words "You are mine own". In the last movement, according to Berg's self-analysis, the "entire material, the tonal element too... as well as the

Tristan motif The original Tristan chord is heard in the opening phrase of Richard Wagner's opera ''Tristan und Isolde'' as part of the leitmotif relating to Tristan. It is made up of the notes F, B, D, and G: : More generally, the term refers to any chord ...

" is developed "by strict adherence to the 12-note series".

I. Allegretto giovale

According to

René Leibowitz René Leibowitz (; ; 17 February 1913 – 29 August 1972) was a Polish and French composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher. He was historically significant in promoting the music of the Second Viennese School in Paris after the Second Wo ...

, the first movement is "entirely written in the

, tis a sonata movement without the

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

. Thus the recapitulation follows directly upon the

exposition Exposition (also the French for exhibition) may refer to: *Universal exposition or World's Fair *Expository writing *Exposition (narrative), background information in a story * Exposition (music) *Trade fair * ''Exposition'' (album), the debut alb ...

; but, because of the highly advanced twelve-tone technique of variation, ''everything'' in this movement is developmental". 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 ...

of the first movement is : Lyric Suite Movement I tone row

: Pople adds a bar line to group the first and the last six pitches. He also depicts it as: : : Whenever a given row-form is immediately repeated, a reversed coupling of the hexachords is employed to produce a

secondary set 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 set theory (music), musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller ...

. Berg had used the row previously, in 1925, in his first twelve-tone work, his second setting of " Schliesse mir die Augen beide".

III. Allegro misterioso – Trio estatico

In the third movement, the outer sections of the ''Allegro misterioso'' present the same music forwards and then backwards, while the ''Trio estatico'', the B section of the ABA, is

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 ...

. Berg generates a characteristic rhythmic cell through partitioning the series into a seven-note chromatic segment and a complementary five-note motive from the remaining notes. According to Wolfgang Martin Stroh, the tone row of the third movement is : which can be partitioned into a rising chromatic segment and remaining pitches: : George Perle, gives : Despite assertions by Berg and others, George Perle, however, "had not yet been informed, as Leibowitz and Redlich were by the time they came to write their respective books, that everything in the 'strictly' dodecaphonic first movement had to be derived from a single serial ordering of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale." Rather, he, "recognized that the first three chords unfold

tetrachord In music theory, a tetrachord (; ) is a series of four notes separated by three interval (music), intervals. In traditional music theory, a tetrachord always spanned the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency proportion (approx. 498 cent (m ...

al segments of a single statement of the cycle of fifths ( C7), and that at the bottom of the same page, in bars 7–9, the cello presents a linear statement of the same cycle." The second violin unfolds "the initial tetrachordal segmentation of the perfect-5th cycle," again at the beginning of the recapitulation. He asks: "How could one hinkof the initial bar as 'disordered'? If anything is to be designated as an ''Urform'' here, surely it is this perfect-5th cycle, given its background role in relation to the tone row and other components of the movement."

VI. Largo desolato

In the sixth movement, tone row 1 is : : while tone row 2, derived from tone row 1, is : :

Version for string orchestra

In 1928, Berg arranged the second, third and fourth movements of the ''Lyric Suite'' for string orchestra. According to Adorno:

Recordings

The piece has been recorded by and released on: * Galimir Quartet (ca. 1935). ''Alban Berg, Suite Lyrique pour quatuor à cordes''. 4-disc, 78-rpm set. Polydor 595.135 (disc 1); Polydor 595.136 (disc 2); Polydor 595.137 (disc 3); Polydor 595.138 (disc 4). Reissued Chicago, 1937: Brunswick Polydor BP-2 (95006, 95007, 95008, 95009). Reissued 1991 as part of a compilation, ''Récital du Quatuor Galimir'', with Maurice Ravel, String Quartet in F major; Darius Milhaud, String Quartets No. 7, op. 87. Cassette tape recording. 15. This compilation reissued 1999 as ''The Galimir Quartet of Vienna: The Polydor Recordings, 1934–35''. CD recording. New York, NY: Rockport Records, RR5007. ''Lyric Suite'' reissued in 1991 in another compilation, ''Webern conducts Berg'', with Berg's Violin Concerto (Louis Krasner, violin, BBC Symphony Orchestra, cond. Anton Webern). ondon Continuum, SBT 1004. * Galimir Quartet (1983). ''Alban Berg Lyric Suite 1926; String Quartet, op. 3''. LP recording. Vanguard VA-25017. Cassette recording. Vanguard CVA-25017. *

Pro Arte Quartet The Pro Arte String Quartet is a string quartet founded in Belgium, which became affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1941. History Origins 1912-1941 The Pro Arte String Quartet was founded by Alphonse Onnou in Brussels in 1912 ...

(ca. 1960). ''Alban Berg: Lyric Suite''. 12-inch LP recording. Dial 5. * LaSalle Quartet (1958). Issued in 1996 on CD2 of 12-CD set, ''75 Jahre Donaueschinger Musiktage 1921–1996''. Col Legno WWE 12CD 31899. * LaSalle Quartet (1972). ''Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Anton Webern: Die Streichquartette''. 5-LP set. Deutsche Grammophon 2720 029 (2561 050 – 2561 054). Single-disc reissue as ''Alban Berg: Lyrische Suite für Streichquartett; Streichquartett, op. 3''. 12-inch LP recording. Deutsche Grammophon 2530 283. * LaSalle Quartet (1987) ''Neue Wiener Schule: Schoenberg, Berg, Webern Streichquartette''. 4-CD set. Deutsche Grammophon 419 994-2 (419 995-2; 419 996-2; 419 997-2; 419 998-2). *

Arditti Quartet The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974 and led by the British violinist Irvine Arditti. The quartet is a globally recognized promoter of contemporary classical music and has a reputation for having a very wide repertoire. They ...

(1989 recording, 1994 release, 2000 reissue) ''Arditti Quartet Edition, Volume 1: Alban Berg''. Naïve Montaigne MO 782119 *

Juilliard String Quartet The Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ) is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York by William Schuman and Robert Mann. Since its inception, it has been the quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School. ...

(1950). ''Alban Berg: Lyric Suite''. 10-inch LP. Columbia ML 2148. Reissued as part of ''Arnold Schoenberg, Complete string Quartets'', with Alban Berg, ''Lyric Suite''; Anton Webern, ''Fünf Sätze für Streichquartett'', op. 5. 3-CD set. rance? United Archives * Ramor Quartet (1961). ''Alban Berg. Lyric Suite; Arnold Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht''. With Edith Lorincz (viola) and Zsolt Deaky (violoncello) in the Schoenberg. Music of Five Centuries. 12-inch LP recording. Vox DL 530. ''Lyric Suite'' reissued 1965 as part of: ''Alban Berg: Lyric Suite and String Quartet, op. 3'', with the Kohon Quartet in op. 3. 12-inch LP recording. Turnabout TV 34021S. * Juilliard String Quartet (1961). ''Alban Berg: Lyric Suite; Anton Webern: Fünf Sätze''. 12-inch LP recording. RCA Victor LM 2531 (mono); LSC 2531 (stereo). ''Lyric Suite'' reissued in 2005 (together with Elliott Carter, Quartet No. 2, and William Schuman, Quartet No. 3) on CD as: ''Juilliard String Quartet plays Berg, Carter, Schuman''. Testament SBT 1374. * Juilliard String Quartet (1970). ''Ludwig van Beethoven, Quartetto op. 135; Alban Berg, Suite lirica''. Recorded by Radiotelevisione della Svizzera Italiana, Ascona, Switzerland on 24 August 1970. Issued on CD in 1995, Ermitage ERM 160–2. Reissued on Aura Music AUR 167–2. * Juilliard String Quartet (1996). ''Intimate Letters''. Sony Classical SK 66840 * Alban Berg Quartett (1974). ''Alban Berg. Streichquartett, op. 3 (1910); Lyrische Suite: (1925/26)''. 12-inch LP recording. Telefunken 6.41301; Telefunken SAT 22 549. * (1990). Karl Weigl: Streichquartett A-Dur, Op. 4; Alban Berg: Lyrische Suite. CD recording. Orfeo C 216 901 A * Ludwig Quartet (1991). Alban Berg: Suite lyrique; Henri Dutilleux: Ainsi la nuit; Anton Webern: Langsamer Satz. CD recording. Timpani 1C1005. *

Vogler Quartet The Vogler Quartet is a German string quartet based in Berlin. It was founded in 1985 and has been playing together with an unchanged line-up since 1986. History Together with the Petersen Quartet, also based in East Berlin, it was one of the ...

(1991). Alban Berg: Lyric Suite; Giuseppe Verdi: String Quartet in E minor. CD recording. RCA Victor Red Seal 09026-60855-2. *

Pražák Quartet The Pražák Quartet (in Czech: Pražákovo kvarteto) is a Czech string quartet established in 1974. It is one of the Czech Republic's premiere chamber ensembles. It was founded while its members were still students at Prague Conservatory (1974� ...

and Vanda Tabery (1993). ''Arnold Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, op. 7; Alban Berg: Lyric Suite''. Praga PR 250 034. ''Lyric Suite'' reissued 2000, as part of ''Alban Berg: Quartet Op. 3, Lyric Suite...''. Prajac Digital. * Duke Quartet (1997). ''Alban Berg: Lyric Suite; Arnold Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht''. With Helen Kamminga (viola) and Sophie Harris (cello) in the Schoenberg. Collins Classics 15062. * Leipzig String Quartet (2000). ''Alban Berg, Anton Webern: Complete String Quartets''. Andreas Seidel, Tilman Büning (violins), Ivo Bauer (viola), Matthias Moosdorf (violoncello), Christiane Oelze (soprano). CD recording. MDG 307 0996-2. *

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical musi ...

Dawn Upshaw Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960) is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contempo ...

(2003). ''Berg: Lyric Suite''. Nonesuch 79696-2. * Schoenberg Quartet (2001). ''Alban Berg: Chamber Music, Complete''. Chandos Records CHAN 9999. *

Oslo String Quartet Oslo String Quartet was formed in 1991 by Geir Inge Lotsberg and (violins), Are Sandbakken (viola), and Øystein Sonstad (cello). It was among the 1994 prize winners of the ''London International String Competition'', which is among the most prest ...

(2003). ''Oslo String Quartet Plays Jean Sibelius, Hugo Wolf, Alban Berg''. Geir Inge Lotsberg, Per Kristian Skalstad (violins), Are Sandbakken (viola), Øystein Sonstad (violoncello). CD recording. CPO 999 977-2. *

New Zealand String Quartet The New Zealand String Quartet (established 1987) is New Zealand's only full-time string quartet. The New Zealand String Quartet are resident artists at the biennial Adam Chamber Music Festival in Nelson, New Zealand, and have been the quartet ...

(2007). ''Alban Berg, String Quartet, op. 3, Lyric Suite; Hugo Wolf: Italienische Serenade''. CD recording. Naxos 8.557374. * Diotima Quartet (2010). Schoenberg, Webern, Berg. Arnold Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2 in F-sharp Minor, op. 10, with soprano. Anton Webern: 6 bagatelles, op. 9, including an unpublished bagatelle Langsam: "Schmerz immer, Blick nach oben". Alban Berg: Lyric Suite, including Largo desolato: "De profundis clamavi" with voice, from a score annotated by Berg. With Sandrine Piau (soprano) and Marie-Nicole Lemieux (contralto). CD recording. Naïve V 5240. * Tetzlaff Quartet (2014). ''Mendelssohn Quartet Op. 13 – Berg Lyric Suite''.

Christian Tetzlaff Christian Tetzlaff (born 29 April 1966) is a German violinist who has performed internationally, with a focus on chamber music. Biography Tetzlaff was born in Hamburg. His parents were amateur musicians and met in a church choir. He began playi ...

, Elisabeth Kufferath (violins), Hanna Weinmeister (viola), Tanja Tetzlaff (cello). CD recording. CAvi-music AVI8553266. * Gerhard Quartet (2017). ''Schumann – Berg – Kurtág''. Lluís Castán, Judit Bardolet Vilaró (violins), Miquel Jordà Saún (viola), Jesús Miralles Roger (cello). CD recording. Harmonia Mundi 916108DI.

References

Sources * * * * * * * * (cloth); (pbk). * * * *

External links

* * Schiff, David (September 21, 2003)
"The Secret Love Affair Behind the ''Lyric Suite''"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.
''Lyric Suite''
D1f.com.
''Lyric Suite''
for string orchestra, 3 pieces (Nr. 1, 5, 6) arr.

Theo Verbey Theo Verbey (5 July 1959 – 13 October 2019) was a Dutch people, Dutch composer. His style could be considered to be associated with Postmodern music. Verbey was also orchestrated Alban Berg's Piano Sonata (Berg), Piano Sonata, Op. 1 in 1984 w ...

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is an Austrian classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, it originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market. The firm soon expanded to become one of t ...

. {{authority control Chamber music by Alban Berg Compositions for string quartet Compositions for string orchestra Twelve-tone compositions by Alban Berg Suites (music) 1926 compositions Orchestral suites Chamber music compositions with vocals Musical settings of poems by Charles Baudelaire Composer tributes (classical music) Music dedicated to family or friends