Lyric Suite, IAB 6

The six-movement LYRIC SUITE for string quartet is among the first of Alban Berg's (1885-1935) works to utilize the 12-tone system developed by his mentor Arnold Schoenberg. Written between 1925 and 1926, the work is dedicated to conductor and composer Alexander Zemlinsky, who composed a work titled LYRIC SYMPHONY, which Berg quotes. And the work gained great popularity for two generations with only that program to reference until a chance discovery in 1977 revealed a much deeper intention. During Berg's trip to see Zemlinsky in 1925, he stayed at the home of a Herbert Fuchs-Robettin and his wife Hanna. Berg developed an intense infatuation and love affair with Hanna, and his LYRIC SUITE is a documentation of that relationship, evident in the mood of each movement, his spelling of both of their initials together in the music, and the inclusion of Wagner's Tristan chord in the final movement as a clear reference to an illicit love. Reprint edition.