Alban Berg. “Diary” of a trip to Leningrad (based on the composer’s notebooks)
Abstract
The article is based on previously unpublished archival materials from the Alban Berg Foundation of the Austrian National Library. These are, namely, the composer’s notebooks with his account of the trip to Leningrad to the premiere of the opera Wozzeck in June 1927. The article features facsimiles, transcriptions, and translations of some materials as well as their general description.
The jewel of the collection is the notebook that Berg took with him on his trip to Leningrad. It resembles a diary with a detailed account of the trip to Leningrad and back. Inter alia, it describes what Berg did on each of the five days of his stay in Russia and provides a record of cash payments in several currencies. Besides, the new materials reveal that Berg visited a rehearsal and two performances at MALEGOT (now know as the Mikhailovsky Theatre), a performance at the Moscow Art Theater, and one dress rehearsal of Wozzeck. The notebook contains information about the meetings with stage directors N. Smolich and J. Lapitsky, conductor N. Malko, and members of the ASM Leningrad (Association for Contemporary Music). The records also feature numerous addresses of Moscow musicians. The new materials complement the available information on the plans for the production of Wozzeck in other cities and theaters, primarily in the Bolshoi. They also provide a broader context for interpreting the little that is available about Berg’s trip in his letters and interviews. Another notebook, used by Berg on his return from Leningrad, documents the beginning of correspondence with Russian counterparts, much of which is poorly-preserved. It also provides information about translation of Russian reviews through Universal Edition and sheet music sent to Russian musicians.
The documents featured in the article shed light and provide important details of Berg’s visit to Leningrad; they contribute to our understanding of relations between Russia and Austria of that time and open up new vistas for archival research.
Keywords: Alban Berg, the second Viennese school, Wozzeck in Leningrad, GATOB opera house, MALEGOT theatre, archival sources
For citation: Veksler Y. S. Alban Berg. “Diary” of a Trip to Leningrad (Based on the Composer’s Notebooks) [Electronic source]. In: Sovremennye problemy muzykoznaniya / Contemporary Musicology, 2019, No. 1, pp. 86–141. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.56620/2587-9731-2019-1-086-141
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ARCHIVAL SOURCES
Reduction: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. Musiksammlung
[Austrian National Library. Music Library] = ÖNB MS
Alban Berg. Notizbuch [Notebook] 1927. ÖNB MS F 21 Berg 479/41.
Alban Berg. Notizbuch [Notebook] 1927. ÖNB MS F 21 Berg 479/50.
Alban Berg. Notizen zur Russlandsreise [Notes on the trip to Russia]. ÖNB MS F 21 Berg 477/198a-d.
Alban Berg. Telegramm an Ivan Exkussowitsch [Telegram to Ivan Exkussovich]. 31.5.1927. ÖNB MS F 21 Berg 702/1.
Alban Berg. Notizen zur Russlandsreise [Notes on the trip to Russia]. ÖNB MS F 21 Berg 480/233.
EHrnst Kshenek. Pryzhok cherez ten'. Malyj opernyj teatr. Programma spektaklya [Ernst Kshenek. Jump over the shadow. Small Opera House. The program of the performance]. F 21 Berg 3158/37.
Alban Berg. Notizen zur Russlandsreise. Briefentwürfe an Leningrader Opernorchester, Sergei Radlow, Wladimir Dranischnikoff [Notes on the trip to Russia. Letter designs to Leningrad Opera Orchestra, Sergei Radlov, Vladimir Dranischnikoff]. F 21 Berg 480/88 f.1-1v.
Brief von der Universal Edition an Alban Berg [Letter from Universal Edition to Alban Berg]. 30.6.1927. Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Handschriftensammlung [Vienna Library in the town hall, manuscript collection].
Aleksej Tolstoj. «Car' Fedor Ioannovich». MHAT I. Programmka spektakly [Alexey Tolstoy. “Tsar Fedor Ioannovich”. Moscow Art Theater I. Program performance.]. ÖNB MS F 21 Berg 3158/ 38–41.
Alban Berg. ÖNB MS F 21 Berg 3363/1.
Alban Berg. Reviews. ÖNB MS F 21 Berg 2545.
Alban Berg. Articles Dranishnikova. ÖNB MS F 21 Berg 3123/177.
Alban Berg. Letter to Dzimitrovsky Berg. ÖNB MS F 21 Berg 1473/ 112.
Alban Berg. Letter UE to Berg from 25.7.1927 (ÖNB MS F 21 Berg 1473/113).
Alban Berg. Vereinigter Musiker-Kalender [United Musician Calendar] ÖNB MS F 21 Berg 432/18-32.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2019-1-086-141
Copyright (c) 2019 Yulia S. Veksler
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