Beschreibung:

Berg (Alban, 1885-1935). Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. Autograph Letter Signed, ‘Berg’, Vienna, 5 October 1912, to his pupil Paul Königer, Berg informs his pupil when he will be available to meet him and comments on their mutual friend and teacher Arnold Schoenberg reporting on the latter’s successes and the performance of Pelleas and Melisande in various European cities, giving news of Schoenberg and his planned performances of ‘Die Melodramen’ [Pierrot Lunaire] and further mentioning Gustav Mahler, ‘…Ich bekomme heute lange Brief von Schoenberg; er Scheint Sehr Zufrieden …(Pelleas In Haag Amsterdam, Petersburg, Wien [Specht!]…auch der Mahler vertrag halt (Akad. Verband) dirigiert auch In Lemburg Dresden, Stettin, Breslau, Wien (2/Xi) Die Melodramen… ’, with Berg’s personal stamp [Alban Berg Wien xiii/i Trauttmansdorffgasse 27] neatly applied to the top of the second page, both sides of a postcard (Quantity: 1) This letter which mentions both Schoenberg and Mahler by name, was written 2 days after Schoenberg had written to Berg from Berlin, informing the latter of the rehearsals of Pierrot Lunaire, performances of Pelleas und Melisande and a lecture he was to give about Gustav Mahler around the same time as the Berlin premiere of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, the performance of which took place on 18 October, (see The Berg-Schoenberg Correspondence, Macmillan, pp. 117/118). Berg effectively repeats a lot of this letter’s practical contents to Königer but significantly mentions Schoenberg’s Pelleas und Melisande as well as Gustav Mahler. Paul Königer (1882-1943) was a student of Schoenberg during 1911 and then a student of Berg at the time the present letter was written. Of his student Königer, Berg wrote in a letter to Schoenberg (the day after this letter was written): ‘Above all Königer, who plans to resign from the office in two months and wants to devote himself entirely to music [which he did not]. Since his most recent things, especially the songs he did over the summer, are quite good and definitely show great progress, I’m very pleased with his decision and now we’ll be able to do a lot of work together on counterpoint and composition.’ The works by Schoenberg mentioned here are the Symphonic Poem Pelleas and Melisande Op.5 and Pierrot Lunaire Op. 21 which had its premiere on the 16th October 1912. The reference to Gustav Mahler relates to the planned lecture Schoenberg gave about the great composer and a related contract (‘vertrag’). This lecture took place on 13 October in Berlin’s Harmonium Hall and was organised by the impresario Emil Gutmann (1877-1920).