Berg’s ‘Lyric Suite’ analysis

December 2006

THE Lyric Suite by Alban Berg is a triumph in 12-tone serial composition. In this work, Berg not only succeeded in bringing near-perfect unity to his piece, but also makes advances in illustrating how Schoenberg’s serial method can be utilized. Lyric Suite is full of secret messages. Although dedicated to the composer Zemlinsky, it has more recently been discovered that the music documents the course of Berg’s extramarital affair with Hanna Fuchs-Robettin. The tempo directions of the movements describe (serially) a rather familiar emotional sequence: jovial through amorous and ecstatic to gloomy and desolate.

Lyric Suite: Movements

1. Allegretto gioviale
2. Andante amoroso
3. Allegro misterioso. Trio estatico
4. Adagio appassionato
5. Presto delirando. Tenebroso
6. Largo desolato

Simultaneously, we can observe Berg’s desire for unity in the palindromic form of the work through these titles. The 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th movements show a gradual increase in tempo (Allegretto – Allegro – Presto) while the interspersed 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th movements show a decrease in tempo (Andante – Adagio – Largo). Further evidence of the work’s true message is Berg’s use of the motif, A-B-H-F, to combine Alban Berg (A.B.) and Hanna Fuchs-Robettin (H.F.), most prominently employed in the third movement. In the fourth movement, Berg quotes a melody from Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony which originally set the words “You are mine own”. A reference to illicit love can be understood from Berg’s use of the “Tristan motif” in the final movement.¹

Figure 1: Tone row (P0) for Lyric Suite (I) with retrograde (R0), inversion (I0) and retrograde inversion (RI0).

This article will focus on the 1^st movement (Allegro gioviale) of the Lyric Suite. This is a short, perky piece. H.F. Redlich (1957) described this movement as developing “out of the disorder of intervals in its first bar, the notes of which, strung out horizontally, present the complete chromatic scale, and from this in the second and following bars, grows the Basic Set in its thematic shape” ². Upon inspection of P0 (Figure 1), we can see that Berg has devised a row which not only uses all twelve chromatic notes but also uses all possible pitch intervals. On a more superficial level, we can see that the row divides evenly into (according to keyboard terminology) white notes and black notes (apart from B-natural), six notes in each group. This gives Berg potential to explore possible tonal implications from the use of specific parts of the row, an ambiguity he liked to work into his music.

The overall structure of the first movement is like that of sonata form but with the development section omitted, i.e. an exposition, recapitulation and coda. The principal voice of the first subject is given in Figure 2.This melody uses all the notes in the row. Berg uses the rhythm and melodic shape given in the second bar as a motif later. Bars 5 to 6 consist of an answering line passed from violin 1 to cello supported by a secondary line which crosses from cello to violin 2. Berg uses canon starting at bar 7 with entries of the first subject main theme, this time Berg begins the row at E-flat of P0 and follows through the series (restarting at F after B-natural).

Figure 2: 1st subject principal voice (hauptstimme), Lyric Suite (I), b. 3-5.

The three repeated double stops on the viola in bar 12 herald the end of the first subject section and the transition section starts in the following bar marked ‘a tempo’. From bar 11 to 12 there seems to be an aural shift from a C pitch centrality to E-flat. In the transition section it is the secondary voice which becomes more aurally prominent, due to the pizzicato markings over the hauptstimme section in violin 1. At bar 21, there is a closing gesture using the first subject main theme, this time instead of the violin line resolving upwards to C (as in Fig. 2), it resolves downwards to B-flat.

The second subject section begins at bar 23. Berg used the numbers 23 and 10 rather like characters in the Lyric Suite. 23 represented Berg while 10 represented Hanna Fuchs-Robettin³. The principal voice of the 2^nd subject (Figure 3) uses the 8^th - 12^th notes of the row for its first five pitches. Berg uses sequence from bars 23-24, causing the principal voice (violin 2) to first land on C, then on E-flat, like a summary of the music so far. The second subject contrasts with the first in terms of tempo, mood and timbre of the instruments. The three instruments all enter playing in their lower registers.

Figure 3: 2nd subject principal voice, Lyric Suite (I), b. 23-24.

Meanwhile, the cello plays the entire row P0 between the F in bar 22 to the B ending bar 24. The note C is given prominence in bar 28 when the first violin leaps onto it playing fortissimo. The next two bars are like a miniature cadenza for the first violin. The rising scale idea introduced on the cello at bar 33 (23+10) is used as a coda theme by Berg, it occurs again at the end of the piece. Interestingly, each six note figure played by the cello (b. 33/34) is formed by the notes from either half of P0, played serially in pitch rather than in row order.

EXPOSITION

• 1st subject: Tempo I (1)
• Transition: a tempo I (13)
• 2nd subject: Tempo II (23)
• Codetta: poco accel. (33)

RECAPITULATION

• 1st subject: Tempo I (36)
• Transition: a tempo I (49)
• 2nd subject: Tempo II (53)
• Codetta: Tempo I (62)

CODA: Crotchet upbeat into Bar 65

The recapitulation begins at bar 36 with the now familiar motif from the 1^st subject main theme. Once again, the instruments are scored in their higher registers. However, in some ways this recapitulation is more like a variation of the themes introduced so far. The intervals are changed here and the hauptstimme lands on G in bar 37. The answering figure in the cello (b. 38) this time rises but the same phrase is heard in the viola (b. 30) as was heard in the cello in the exposition (b.6). The transition section here uses more of the black notes of the second half of P0 than before, the secondary voice played by violin 2 this time. Berg’s use of the two semiquaver followed by crotchet in this section gives coherency to the music. The transition section begins at bar 49, introduced once again by the double stopped figure on the second violin this time (instead of viola) in bar 48. The transition section time leads us to a different register area this time for the second subject (bar 53) with all instruments playing in their upper registers. The transition section has also been shortened to four bars.

The second subject in the recapitulation has an altogether different sound to the same passage in the exposition. The cadenza-like passage scored for violin 1 in the exposition is now given to the cello (bars 58-61). The beginning of the recapitulation codetta is begun by the first violin playing the ascending scale figure (scored for cello in the exposition) at bar 62. This is imitated by the second violin and viola in bars 64 and 65 overlapping with the formal beginning of the movement’s coda at the hauptstimme marking in violin 1 at bar 64. Here Berg again uses first subject material, at least the principal rhythmic motif (hauptrhythm) which by now is familiar to the listener. In the coda, Berg employs a process similar to ‘liquidation’ (used in earlier atonal motivic music) to close off the first movement. He uses material from the first subject (mentioned above), the transition (pizzicato figures in violin 2 and cello bar 68) and the codetta (ascending six-note scale figure in bars 66-69 in multiple parts). There is also canon between the second violin and cello parts in bar 66. To end the movement, Berg uses a modification of the opening figure of the movement followed by a now familiar rhythmic motif (semiquaver-semiquaver-quaver) played by all four instruments.

Rene Leibowitz justifies the omission of a formal development section from this movement by arguing that “because of the highly advanced twelve-tone technique of variation, everything in this movement is developmental” ⁴. The movement does not seem to lose any coherence due to its omission, the ‘development’ offered by serial composition providing ample room for musical exploration. It is clear that Berg achieves his aim of musical and formal unity in this movement by careful use of rhythmic motives and formal structures. He exploits the registral characteristics of each instrument to its full potential to create a desired emotional effect, and all this he does within the serial twelve-note compositional system. Thus, this movement from the Lyric Suite serves as a perfect example of the potential of serial composition.