Alban Berg
Wozzeck
Short instrumentation: 4 4 5 4 - 4 4 4 1 - timp(2), perc(4), cel, hp, str, stage: "Heurigenmusik" - fiddle (2-4), cl, acc, guit, bass tuba, military band - 3 2 2 2 - 2 2 3 1 - perc, pno, chamber orch - 1 2 3 2 - 2 0 0 0 - str(1 1 1 1 1)
Duration: 90'
Übersetzer: Vida Harford, Eric Blackall
Dichter der Textvorlage: Georg Büchner
Libretto von: Alban Berg
Dedication: Alma Maria Mahler zugeeignet
Choir: Soldiers and Apprentices: tenor I and II, baritone I and II and bass I and II
Maids and Dirnen, sopranos and altos (in 2 voices)
Children (unisono)
Solos:
baritone, speaker
Roles:
Wozzeck
baritone and Sprechstimme
Tambourmajor
heroic tenor
Andres
lyric tenor and Sprechstimme
Hauptmann
tenore buffo
Doktor
basso buffo
1. Handwerksbursch
low bass and Sprechstimme
2. Handwerksbursch
high baritone
Der Narr
high tenor
Marie
soprano
Margret
alto
Mariens Knabe
voice
ein Soldat
tenor
Instrumentation details:
1st flute (+picc)
2nd flute (+picc)
3rd flute (+picc)
4th flute (+picc)
1st oboe
2nd oboe
3rd oboe
4th oboe (+c.a)
1st clarinet in Bb (+cl(A))
2nd clarinet in Bb
3rd clarinet in Bb (+cl(Eb))
4th clarinet in Bb (+cl(Eb))
bass clarinet in Bb
1st bassoon
2nd bassoon
3rd bassoon
contrabassoon
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
3rd horn in F
4th horn in F
1st trumpte in F
2nd trumpte in F
3rd trumpte in F
4th trumpte in F
1st alto trombone
2nd tenor trombone
3rd tenor trombone
4th bass trombone
contrabass tuba
timpani (2 players)
percussion (4 players)
celesta
harp
violin I
violin II
viola
violoncello
contrabass
stage (military band): piccolo
1st flute
2nd flute
1st oboe
2nd oboe
1st clarinet in Eb
2nd clarinet in Eb
1st bassoon
2nd bassoon
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
1st trumpte in F
2nd trumpte in F
1st trombone
2nd trombone
3rd bass trombone
contrabass tuba
percussion
stage (Heurigenmusik): 1st fiddle
2nd fiddle
1st fiddle (transposed)
2nd fiddle (transposed)
clarinet in Bb or C
accordion
guitar
bass tuba
piano out of tune (on the stage)
stage (chamber orchestra): flute (+picc)
oboe
cor anglais
clarinet in Eb
clarinet in A
bass clarinet in Bb
bassoon
contrabassoon
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
violin I(1)
violin II(1)
viola(1)
violoncello(1)
contrabass(1)
Berg - Wozzeck
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Alban Berg
Berg: Wozzeck - op. 7
Available digitally
Type: Studienpartitur
Language: Deutsch | Englisch
Sample pages
Audio preview
Work introduction
Remarks by Alban Berg
“Give unto the theatre what is the theatre’s …“
I did not dream of wishing to reform the art form of opera by composing Wozzeck, nor was that my intention as I began to compose it; nor did I ever consider, assume or expect that the result would be an object lesson in what should be exemplary in creating another opera – either of my own or by another composer.
Apart from the desire to make good music, to musically realise the psychological matter in Büchner’s immortal drama, to translate his poetic language into a musical one, at the moment when I decided to write an opera I had no other notion (not even in terms of compositional technique) than to give unto the theatre what is the theatre’s. That is, designing the music so that it was conscious at every moment of its duty to serve the drama – indeed, to go further; making the music so that everything the drama needs to translate into the reality of the stage comes from the music alone, the composer thus arrogating all the essential tasks of an ideal director – and all that notwithstanding such music’s other absolute (purely musical) right to exist, notwithstanding its own life, unimpaired by anything extra-musical.
Alban Berg, in Musikblätter des Anbruch, Vol. XII, No. 2, January 1930