Wozzeck

Chapter 5 offers a broad historical background for and analysis of the opera Wozzeck. Berg’s interest in adapting Georg Büchner’s play Wozzeck as an operatic text began in 1914 after seeing the work staged. Büchner’s life and works are surveyed. Berg used a version of the play reconstructed by Karl Emil Franzos, who freely added his own texts to his sources to provide the work with dramatic continuity and to heighten its pathos. Berg composed Wozzeck over a period of eight years, during which his attention was interrupted by his military service. The opera itself is examined, showing the main musical themes that connect the drama to the music. The composer’s decision to mix atonal harmony with traditional harmony and melody helped to project the contrasts in the dramatic action. Berg also composed a concert suite from the opera, the Wozzeck Fragments, whose three movements focus on music for the character Marie. Berg’s very specific ideas for staging Wozzeck are outlined.