Alban Berg
Wozzeck
Short instrumentation: 3 3 3 3 - 4 3 3 1 - timp(2), perc(4), hp, cel, str; stage: "Heurigenmusik" - fiddle (2-4), cl, acc, guit, bass tuba; pno; chamber orch - 1 2 3 2 - 2 0 0 0 - str(1 1 1 1 1)
Duration: 90'
Übersetzer: Vida Harford, Eric Blackall
Text von: Georg Büchner
Libretto von: Alban Berg
Bearbeitet von: Erwin Stein
Choir: Soldaten und Burschen, Tenor I u. II, Bariton I u. II und Baß I u. II Mägde und Dirnen, Soprane und Alte (zweistimmig) Kinder (einstimmig)
Solos:
violin (+Kammerorchester)
violin (+Kammerorchester)
viola (+Kammerorchester)
violoncello (+Kammerorchester)
contrabass (+Kammerorchester)
Roles:
Wozzeck
Bariton und Sprechstimme Tambourmajor
Heldentenor Andres
lyrischer Tenor und Sprechstimme Hauptmann
Tenorbuffo Doktor
Baßbuffo 1. Handwerksbursch
tiefer Baß und Sprechstimme 2. Handwerksbursch
hoher Bariton Der Narr
hoher Tenor Marie
Sopran Margret
Alt Mariens Knabe
Singstimme ein Soldat
Tenor
Instrumentation details:
1st flute (+picc)
2nd flute (+picc)
3rd flute (+picc)
1st oboe
2nd oboe
3rd oboe (+c.a)
1st clarinet in Bb (+cl(A))
2nd clarinet in Bb (+cl(Bb))
3rd clarinet in Bb (+bass cl(Bb))
1st bassoon
2nd bassoon
3rd bassoon (+cbsn)
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
1st trombone
2nd trombone
3rd trombone
contrabass tuba
timpani (2 players)
percussion (4 players)
celesta
harp
violin I
violin II
viola
violoncello
contrabass
stage (Heurigenmusik): 1st fiddle
2nd fiddle
1st fiddle (transposed)
2nd fiddle (transposed)
clarinet in Bb
accordion
guitar
bass tuba
stage: piano out of tune
stage: (chamber orchestra): flute (+picc)
oboe
cor anglais
clarinet in Eb
clarinet in A
bass clarinet in B
bassoon
contrabassoon
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
1st solo-violin
2nd solo-violin
viola, violoncello
contrabass
Berg - Wozzeck
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