Edited by Bryan R Simms

Pro Mundo - Pro Domo: The Writings of Alban Berg contains new English translations of the complete writings of the Viennese composer Alban Berg (1885-1935) and extensive commentaries tracing the history of each essay and its connection to musical culture of the early twentieth century. Berg is now recognized as a classic composer of the modern period, best known for his operas Wozzeck and Lulu. Berg, Anton Webern, and their teacher Arnold Schoenberg constitute the "Second Viennese School" which played a major role in the transformation of serious music as it entered the modern period.

Berg was an avid and skillful writer. His essays include analytic studies of compositions by Schoenberg, polemics on music and musicians of his day, and lectures and miscellaneous writings on a variety of topics. Throughout his considerable and diverse corpus of writings, Berg alternates between two perspectives: Pro Mundo - Pro Domo, meaning roughly "speaking for all - speaking for myself" commenting at one moment on the general state of culture and the world, and the next moment on his own works. In his early years he also tried his hand at fictional writing, using works by Ibsen and Strindberg as models. This new English edition contains 47 essays, many of which are little known and have not been previously available in English.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

THE SCHOENBERG GUIDES
Arnold Schoenberg, Gurrelieder: Guide
Arnold Schoenberg, Chamber Symphony, Op. 9: Thematic Analysis
Pelleas and Melisande (after the drama by Maurice Maeterlinck). Symphonic Poem for Orchestra, by Arnold Schoenberg, Op. 5: Thematic Analysis
Pelleas and Melisande (after the drama by Maurice Maeterlinck). Symphonic Poem for Orchestra, by Arnold Schoenberg, Op. 5: Brief Thematic Analysis
Commentary on the Schoenberg Guides

ESSAYS, LECTURES, AND ANALYSES
The Musical Impotence of Hans Pfitzner's Die neue Aesthetik
Vienna's Music Criticism: Two Feuilletons
The Musical Forms in My Opera Wozzeck
Why Is Schoenberg's Music So Difficult to Understand?
Alban Berg's Chamber Concerto: An Open Letter
Committed Response to a Noncommittal Survey
Two Analyses of the Lyric Suite
Composition with Twelve Tones
Nine Pages on the Lyric Suite
Introducing Ernst Krenek
The "Problem of Opera": Pro Mundo - Pro Domo
Voice in Opera
What Is Atonal? A Dialog
Lecture on Wozzeck: The "Atonal Opera"
Credo
A Few Remarks on Staging the Opera Wozzeck
Commemorative Address for Emil Hertzka
Commentary on Essays, Lectures, and Analyses

TRIBUTES
The Teacher
On Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra
On the Hundredth Anniversary of Franz Schubert's Death
For Adolf Loos: Double Acrostic Distich for the Tenth of December
On Winfried Zillig
To Karl Kraus
Handel and Bach
Faith, Hope, and Love: For Schoenberg's Sixtieth Birthday
Commentary on Tributes

INTERVIEWS
With the Composer of Wozzeck: A Conversation with Alban Berg, by Carl Marilaun
A Chat with Alban Berg, by Oskar Baum
Conversation with Alban Berg: Impressions from a Wozzeck Performance in Leningrad, by "Iron"
A Conversation with Alban Berg, by Oskar Jancke
Critique of the Critique: Conversation with Alban Berg and Clemens Krauss, by Otto König
"We spoke today with Alban Berg. . . "
Commentary on Interviews

FICTIONAL WORKS
Hanna
A Mining Drama
Night (Nocturne): Preliminary Plan, Notes for the Monodrama
Commentary on Fictional Works

MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS
An Appeal for Schoenberg
On Mahler's Ninth Symphony
Two Prospectuses for the Society for Private Musical Performances
Letter from Vienna
Questions About Jazz
Opera Theater
On Reopening the Vienna Volksoper
Should Wagner Stagings Be Modernized?
On Composition with Twelve-Tone Rows
Commentary on Miscellaneous Writings