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Alban Berg and the Bbc ALBAN BERG AND THE BBC NICHOLAS CHADWICK EDWARD CLARK (1888-1962), who was a programme planner with the BBC from 1927 to 1936, had been introduced to Arnold Schoenberg after a performance of the latter's symphonic poem Pelleas und Melisande in Berlin in 1910.-^ He was thereafter an ardent champion of the music of Schoenberg (whose pupil he became in 1911) and also of that of Alban Berg and Anton von Webern. During his time with the BBC Clark was instrumental in arranging for both Schoenberg and Webern to make several visits to England to conduct their own and, in Webern's case, other composers' works. Berg's case was rather different, since, apart from rehearsing the chorus for the premiere of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder in Vienna in 1913, he had never conducted and was insistent that he was a composer, not a conductor. However, Clark ensured that most of Berg's major works were heard in England through the auspices of the BBC: the Lyric Suite; the Wozzeck fragments; the Chamber Concerto; Der Wein; Wozzeck complete in concert performance; the Symphonic Pieces from Lulu; and, posthumously, the Violin Concerto. Berg's first great success as a composer had come when his String Quartet Op. 3 was performed at the first festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music at Salzburg in 1923. Virtually overnight he had found himself, to his considerable surprise, a composer of international standing. After the successful premiere of Wozzeck at the Berlin Staatsoper in December 1925, his reputation was such that it was only to be expected that he would be asked to serve on the jury of the very Society that had origin- ally brought him before the public. In March 1928 Berg attended a jury meeting in Zurich to select the works to be performed in September of that year in Siena. In 1931 Clark's inspiration brought the ISCM Festival to Oxford and London. The festival itself took place in July, but the jury, of which Berg was again a member, met from 12 to 14 January in Cambridge in the house of the President of the ISCM, Edward Dent.^ Adrian Boult, at that time Director of Music for the BBC, was present to advise on matters of performance. Berg was intending to travel to England via Brunswick, where he was to be present at a performance of Wozzeck at the Landestheater on 9 January, the same day as Schoenberg would be in London conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the British premiere of Erxpartung. He wrote to Edward Clark from Vienna to tell him of his plans. 46 WienXIII/i 20./12.30 Trauttmansdorffgasse 27 Dear Mr. Clark, als Juror der Internationalen Gesellschaft fur neue Musik komme ich Anfangs Januar nach England (zum erstenmal!). Es ist klar, daJ3 ich nicht dort gewesen sein will, ohne Sie gesehen zu haben. Wtrd das moglich sein? Ich werde namlich 4 bis 5 Tage in Cam- bridge zubringen, wo die Jury-Sitzungen ab 12. Januar stattfinden. Ankommen werde ich am Sonntag den 11. Januar 8 Uhr 38 friih in London Liverpol-Station [sic] und ich kann dann entweder um 9 Uhr 25 frlih weiterfahren nach Cambridge (wo ich Sonntag erwartet werde), oder erst um 3 Uhr 25 nachmittag. Wenn es sich zufallig ergabe, dafi Sie gerade am Sonntag vormittag frei sind und Zeit haben, wiirde ich erst nachmittag nach Cambridge fahren und ein paar Stunden mit Ihnen zubringen. Ich mache diesen Vorschlag, weil ich ja nicht weiB, ob ich in den folgenden Tagen Zeit habe, von Cambridge aus nach London zu fahren. AUerdings habe ich vor, nach Absolvierung der Arbeiten in Cambridge — also etwa 15. oder 16. oder 17. January [sic] — auf der Heimreise: in London, das ich ja gar nicht kenne, ein oder zwei Tage zu bleiben, so daB sich sicherlicb Gelegenheit iinden wird, auch wenn Sie am 11. nicht Zeit haben, dal3 wir uns im Lauf dieser Woche votn 12. bis 17. einmal sehen werden. Jedenfalls freue ich mich sehr darauf und bitte Sie heute schon, mir darliber ein Wort zu schreiben! Auf Wiedersehen und merry Christmas! Ihr ergebener Alban Berg [Dear Mr Clark, As a member of the jury of the International Society for Contemporary Music I am coming to England (for the first time!) at the beginning of January. Clearly I do not want to have been there without having seen you. Will that be possible? In fact I shall be spending 4 to 5 days in Cambridge, where the jury meeting takes place on 12 January. I shall arrive on Sunday 11 January at 8.38 a.m. at London's Liverpool Street Station and I can then continue to Cambridge (where I shall be expected on Sunday) either at 9.25 a.m. or not until 3.25 p.m. If it should by chance happen that you are free on that particular Sunday morning and have time, I shall go to Cambridge in the afternoon and spend a few hours with you. I make this proposal because I do not know whether I shall have time in the days following to travel down from Cambridge to London. To be sure, I mean to spend one or two days in London, which I do not know at all, on my way home after the completion of the proceedings in Cambridge—about 15 or 16 or 17 January—so that even if you do not have time on the nth, there is sure to be an opportunity for us to see each other sometime in the course of the week from the 12th to the 17th. At all events I am looking forward to it very much and am asking you today to send me a line about it! Auf Wiedersehen and Merry Christmas! Yours respectfully Alban Berg]* In the event, an attack of influenza prevented Berg from attending the performance in Brunswick. Instead he travelled direct from Vienna to London via Ostend. On 5 January Clark received a letter^ from Berg's pupil Julius Schloss dated three days earlier, which explained that Berg would now be arriving at Victoria Station at 4.42 p.m. on the nth and 47 would be departing for Cambridge from Kings Cross at 6.50 p.m., arriving in Cambridge at 9.01. Berg gave a full and sometimes amusing account of his visit to England in letters to his wife,^ a discussion of which lies outside the scope of this article. Suffice it to mention that on 11 January he was able as he had hoped to spend the time between arrival at Victoria and departure from Kings Cross in the company of Clark. As a letter to his wife reveals, he travelled from Cambridge to London on the 15th and was due to be given a guided tour of London by Clark on the i6th and to leave for Vienna on the 17th. In the years following Berg's visit to England several of his works were performed through the auspices of the BBC. The Wozzeck fragments received their first performance in the United Kingdom on 13 May 1932 in a studio concert conducted by Sir Henry Wood that also included works by Kfenek and Webern. They were performed again under the same conductor in a Queen's Hall concert on 8 March 1933. On 21 April 1933, Berg's arrangement for string orchestra of three movements from the Lyric Suite received its first performance in the United Kingdom in a studio concert conducted by Webern; the other works were Kfenek's orchestral song-cycle Durch die Nacht and Berg's Chamber Concerto, with Rudolf Kolisch and Eduard Steuermann as the violin and piano soloists respectively. Berg wrote a grateful letter to Clark, which also contained the first of several requests on behalf of fellow musicians who, either because of their Jewish blood or because of their links with progressive musical tendencies, were finding their opportunities increasingly restricted owing to the worsening political situation in Germany and Austria. As this letter shows. Berg was now experiencing similar difficulties. WienXIII/i Trauttmansdorffgasse 27 (Austria) I3-/5-33 Dank und Bitte ist der Zweck meines Briefes, nnein lieber Herr Clark! Dank fur Ihre Werktatigkeit, die das scbone und fur mich so erfreuliche Berg-(Kfenek) Konzert ermoglicht und zustande gebracht hat, und dann folgende Bitte\ Der mir sehr befreundete u. von mir sehr geschatzte Pianist Stefan Askenase (Bruxelles Rue des Erables 15) soil, wie ich bore, in der nachsten Saison in einem der Promenade Konzerte Sir Henry Woods mitwirken (Beeth[oven] I. Klavierkonzert od. Mozart). Ich mochte es dem lieben feinen Menschen vom Herzen wunschen, daB es zustande kommt und bitte Sie daher, Sich der Sache mit Ihrer, fiir alle guten Sacben so oft beriihrten, Wdrme anzunehmen. Vielleicht sagen Sie mir gelegentlich ein Wort liber die Chancen Askenase's. Amsonsten — bin ich, wie ich eben aus einem Brief des Allgem[einen] deutschen Musikvereins (dessen MusikausschuB icb seit Jahren angehore) entnehme, wenn auch nicht Jude und Kommunist, so docb 'der Exponent einer kiinstlerischen Richtung, die von der deutschnationalen Bewegung aufs scharfste bekampft wird' u. werde daher gebeten auszutreten. Allerherzlichst gruBt Sie Ihr alter Berg [Saying 'Thank you' and 'please' is the purpose of my letter, my dear Mr Clark! Thank you for your good offices which made possible and brought to fruition the beautiful Berg-(Kfenek) concert that gave me so much pleasure. Now the following 'please": I hear that the pianist Stefan Askenase (Bruxelles Rue des Arables 15), who is on very friendly terms with me and whom I value most highly, is to take part next season in one of the Sir Henry Wood Promenade Concerts (Beethoven ist Piano Concerto or Mozart).
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