Alban Berg (1885-1935) - photo 1

Alban Berg (1885-1935)

Lot 130
08.11.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 13 860
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1053244
Lot 130 | Alban Berg (1885-1935)
Estimate value
£ 8 000 – 12 000
Alban Berg (1885-1935)
Autograph musical quotation from Lulu inscribed to his publisher Dr Alfred Kalmus, signed ('Alban Berg'), February 1935
Lulu's dramatic declaration of fidelity after shooting Alwa's father: 'Ich bin noch jung! Ich will Dir treu sein mein Leben lang!'.

An imposing quotation of nine bars in short score, on two systems of four staves, one page, 287 x 208mm, inscribed in full 'Dr. Alfred Kalmus / "dem lieben Menschen" / mit einer (unverbindlichen) Beteuerung an den Verleger' [to Dr Alfred Kalmus, "the beloved person", with a (non-binding) assurance to the publisher'].

Provenance:
(1) Alfred Kalmus (music publisher, 1889-1972).

(2) Hans Redlich (musicologist, 1903-1968).

(3) George Perle (composer and Berg scholar, 1915-2009).

(4) Sotheby's, 7 December 2015, lot 144 (information on two preceding owners according to the catalogue note).

(5) Schøyen Collection, MS 5561.

Lulu was Berg's second opera, after Wozzeck (1924), and is one of his small oeuvre of major works. Composition was begun in 1929, but orchestration of the third act was still incomplete at Berg's death from sepsis on Christmas Eve 1935. Its radical societal and gender politics and structural complexity – the work is structured around a series of repeated motifs which can be read in its entirety as a palindrome – are a remarkable response to the challenges of the period of its composition, which saw performances of Berg's works more and more restricted because of antisemitism (prompted by Berg's close association with Arnold Schoenberg) and Nazi cultural ideology. The first two acts were first performed on 2 June 1937; but after Schoenberg refused to complete the orchestration, it was to be more than 40 years before the first full production took place at the Opera Garnier on 24 February 1979, using a score prepared by Friedrich Cerha. The recipient of the present quotation, Alfred Kalmus, was joint-director of the Berg's publishers Universal Edition: the text of Lulu's declaration in the quotation, which translates as 'I am still young! I will be faithful to you my whole life long! I will belong to you alone!', undoubted reflects Berg's strong sense of indebtedness to Kalmus, who continued to promote Berg's music and that of his Second Viennese School contemporaries even after his forced emigration to England in 1936. George Perle, a later owner of the leaf, was an important scholar of Berg's work, and was one of the first to establish that Act 3 of Lulu was substantially complete, rather than, as previously thought, an unfinished sketch.
Artist:Alban Berg (1885 - 1935)
Place of origin:Austria
Auction house category:Letters, documents and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
02.11.2023 09:00 – 17:00
03.11.2023 09:00 – 17:00
04.11.2023 12:00 – 17:00
05.11.2023 12:00 – 17:00
06.11.2023 09:00 – 17:00
07.11.2023 09:00 – 17:00
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>