Volume 1 from the series »Listening Lab«.
Listening Lab is a new series that offers practical and inspiring
approaches for children, young people and adults. The present volume
considers the Violin Concerto by Alban Berg and aims to help facilitate
these journeys. In the subsequent concert, listeners themselves may
realize that this is music »from another world« while coming to
understand much more – based on their new insights into Alban Berg's
Violin Concerto.
Various contextual issues in this work combine to play a part in its
unique success and these are examined in the workbook. »To the Memory of
an Angel« focuses on Manon Gropius, the work's dedicatee who died very
young, while prompting listeners to consider their own thoughts on
life's transience. Berg develops the opening of his concerto from the
violin's own characteristic – tuning in fifths. The chapter »Tuning Up«
continues with this subject and invites workshop participants to find
fifths using their own voices. In the chapter »Musical Portraits«,
participants use Berg's musical depiction of Manon Gropius as
inspiration to create their own twelve-tone row as a self-portrait. They
then use these rows to improvise. A feature of the Violin Concerto is
its inclusion of two quotes that seem like »foreign objects«: the Bach
chorale »Es ist genug« (It is Enough) and the Carinthian folksong »A Bird
Sat in a Plum Tree«. The chapter »Foreign Objects« explores this theme
and presents a range of possibilities, from group chorale to folksong
singing. »Alban Berg in Vienna Around 1900« focuses on Berg's special
position in the 2nd Viennese School. Historical facts and discussions
about the arts of the day provide a springboard to the exploration of
individual attitudes and the discovery of connections between the
present and the past. Finally, the Violin Concerto once again becomes
the centre of attention. »A Concerto for Violin and Orchestra« uses the
voice and various improvisational approaches to look at the relationship
between the soloist and the group.
Languages: German/English
Universal Edition UE26315.