Berg's LULU
oO~ kafai
I'm not familiar with this and even with Berg!
Maybe I would like to know what kind and style of music it is...
Exciting? Boring? Interesting? Fresh? Classical? Innovative?
Is it good to start Berg with LULU?
And which recordings are worth buying?
thankx in advance,
email or post welcome!
oO~ kafai.
--
Department of Computer Science,
@ @ The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
O O
=.= )~ Email: ka...@cuhk.hk
James Michael Steffen
: Would you tell me something about Berg's LULU?
: I'm not familiar with this and even with Berg!
: Maybe I would like to know what kind and style of music it is...
: Exciting? Boring? Interesting? Fresh? Classical? Innovative?
: Is it good to start Berg with LULU?
: And which recordings are worth buying?
Alban Berg, IMHO, is the most accessible of the Viennese
twelve-tone composers. He's also my favorite. Lulu is based on
two plays by Frank Wedekind, *Earth Spirit* and *Pandora's Box*,
about a natural, unrepressed woman who comes into conflict with
Bourgeois society, and is eventually killed by Jack the Ripper. It
also has theater's first (maybe opera's first) lesbian, the
Countess Geschwitz , who sacrifices herself out of love for Lulu.
I think LULU is really a great opera, but I would recommend starting
with other works by Berg, such as the Lyric Suite, the Violin
Concerto (one of the most beautiful pieces of 20th cent. music) and
the opera Wozzeck. Enjoy!
James Steffen
Dept. of Film Studies
Emory University
Chris Brewster
Would you tell me something about Berg's LULU?
I'm not familiar with this and even with Berg!
[Apologia to experts: I'm not an expert but I thought I'd try to
summarize this.]
You may be aware that Berg was Schoenberg's star pupil, along with
Webern. (Strangely, though, Berg seems to have had very little musical
training before starting with S. as a young adult.) Apparently taking
cues from Schoenberg (but with great creativity and independence), Berg
had a very-late-romantic phase, an atonal-but-not-12-tone phase
(Wozzeck), and a 12-tone phase (Lulu). But being younger, he did less
in the earlier phases than did S. Berg fits pretty neatly into the
category of Weimar-era German expressionism. Both of his operatic
subjects depict the seamy side of life and emphasize passions and the
inner emotional life. "Wozzeck" is about a wretched, cuckolded soldier.
"Lulu" is about an amoral beauty whose many admirers have a way of
ending up prematurely dead. (Also see the great silent film of Lulu,
with Louise Brooks.)
Maybe I would like to know what kind and style of music it is...
Exciting? Boring? Interesting? Fresh? Classical? Innovative?
All of those except boring, even classical. Some people find Berg a
tough nut, though. But his use of musical forms is fascinating and
beautifully related to the other goings on. George Perle wrote the
definitive books about both operas.
Is it good to start Berg with LULU?
Maybe hear the violin concerto first. This is about as gentle an
introduction as you can get.
And which recordings are worth buying?
Unfortunately there's only one complete recording of Lulu, because
Berg's wife suppressed the third act until the late 70s (apparently out
of pique toward Berg's own Lulu, a woman with whom he carried on an
affair from 1925 onward). That recording is Boulez's. An incomplete
recording that deserves to be heard is Dohnanyi's; it was a great loss
that these people didn't wait just a little and do the complete version.
There's also a video version WHICH ISN'T AVAILABLE :-( . I fault the
Met for suppressing this (for apparently trivial reasons). Bootleg
copies of this are around. Anyway the video version is also Boulez but
not the same performance.
For Wozzeck, get Bohm's recording. I haven't seen a video of Wozzeck
(but again, there's a non-opera film called Woyzeck; quite good). Is
anyone aware of a Wozzeck video?
--
Chris Brewster Cray Research, Inc.
Steven Chung
Chris Brewster <c...@cray.com> wrote:
# Is it good to start Berg with LULU?
#
# Maybe hear the violin concerto first. This is about as gentle an
# introduction as you can get.
Or perhaps the Lulu suite, to see what you're getting into...
# And which recordings are worth buying?
#
# Unfortunately there's only one complete recording of Lulu, because
# Berg's wife suppressed the third act until the late 70s (apparently out
# of pique toward Berg's own Lulu, a woman with whom he carried on an
# affair from 1925 onward). That recording is Boulez's.
Not true; EMI released Tate's complete recording a few years back (starring
Patricia Wise). Hopefully, Abbado will record the piece sometime soon.
# For Wozzeck, get Bohm's recording. I haven't seen a video of Wozzeck
# (but again, there's a non-opera film called Woyzeck; quite good). Is
# anyone aware of a Wozzeck video?
As I mentioned in the other thread, Abbado exists on CD, video, and LD.
--
s...@nwu.edu
William Smithers
Sender: William Smithers (bill...@netcoom.com)
Followup-To:
Distribution: world
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Keywords:
Cc:
>For Wozzeck, get Bohm's recording. I haven't seen a video of Wozzeck
>(but again, there's a non-opera film called Woyzeck; quite good). Is
>anyone aware of a Wozzeck video?
>--
>
>Chris Brewster Cray Research, Inc.
===========================================================================
WOYZECK, is, of course, the early nineteenth century play by the
phenomenal Georg Buechner, who died at age 23, having written DANTON'S
DEATH, LEONCE AND LENA, as well as the above, on which Berg's opera is
based.
Carl Richard Mueller, in GEORG BUECHNER: COMPLETE PLAYS AND PROSE,
writes: "Woyzeck ... is the first *wholly* successful tragic
representation of the common man on the stage ..."
I have a memory of having read that, in Buechner's manuscipt, the "y"
was misinterpreted as a "z"; thus Berg's title. Apocryphal? I don't know.
-- Bill Smithers
===========================================================================
Rob Hudson
play ŇWoyzeckÓ:
>
> I have a memory of having read that, in Buechner's manuscipt, the "y"
> was misinterpreted as a "z"; thus Berg's title. Apocryphal? I don't know.
>
------------------------
From *Literature of the Western World, Volume 2* by Wilkie and Hurt...
Ň...the manuscripts he [Beuchner] left are far from clear as to his
final version (though it is incomplete. Three other manuscripts
contain numerous scenes, out of order, some of which may have been
discarded, others of which seem to have been intended for insertion
into the final version. Scholars, in attempting to work out
BeuchnerŐs
intentions, have arrived at radically different conclusions. The
first
editor, in 1879..., misread the protagonistŐs name as ŇWozzeckÓ and
made many mistakes in transcription. (Alban BergŐs 1925 opera is
based
on this edition and thus is entitled ŇWozzeckÓ.)Ó
I strongly recommend reading BeuchnerŐs play, really just a series of short
scenes of varying length. It is a fascinating study of a very simple man
unable to control the internal demons that torment him, even as the world
around him dehumanizes him. BergŐs treatment of the story is superb.
--
Robert C. Hudson....................................rhudson@uta.edu
-- Shostakovich Enthusiast
_______/| -- Bass Trombonist
(__@|___\|____ -- English Major
,_|_|_____) -- Counselor, Interlochen Arts Camp
ŇDirected by the will of a master, the trombones can chant like
a choir of priests, threaten, utter gloomy sighs, a mournful
lament, or a bright hymn of glory.Ó -- Hector Berlioz
Chris Brewster
# Unfortunately there's only one complete recording of Lulu, because
# Berg's wife suppressed the third act until the late 70s (apparently out
# of pique toward Berg's own Lulu, a woman with whom he carried on an
# affair from 1925 onward). That recording is Boulez's.
Not true; EMI released Tate's complete recording a few years back (starring
Patricia Wise).
I was unaware of this one (well, obviously). Is it good?
Steven Chung
# Not true; EMI released Tate's complete recording a few years back (starring
# Patricia Wise).
#
# I was unaware of this one (well, obviously). Is it good?
I'd like to know myself. The reviews were very confusing; Gramophone
praised the performances but called it unrecommendable because of the
sound. Huh? Perhaps one of the net opera experts has heard this set.
--
s...@nwu.edu
Robert W. Fink
>Steven Chung writes:
Well, yes and no. I vastly prefer Wise to Stratas--Wise can actually
sing the part beautifully, and thus allow Berg's point--that Lulu's
voice is as exotic and seductive as her body--to be made. Wise makes
the coloratura sound like a brilliant piece of characterization, and
not a compositional mistake.
The accompaniment (live, isn't it?) is a little pallid, though. Wish'
I could have Boulez's orchestra with Tate's cast. Ah well.
hope this helps.
robert fink
eastman school