Berg, Alban. ...

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Berg, Alban. Autograph letter signed, 2 pages (8.37 x 5.25 in.; 213 x 133 mm.), Vienna, 6 November 1925, on the composer's violet stamped stationery, to Meine lieben, verehete Freunde; light browning, minor paper loss at all four corner margins. Accompanied by an image of Berg. Berg informs his friends as to when his first opera, Wozzeck will premiere. The Austrian composer writes in full: My dear revered friends, Today at last I can give you the date of the Berlin Wozzeck-Premiere: It is December l4. Will you come? Needless to say how important it would be for me and--what luck and happiness to know your presence and to see you again at this occasion. Apart from the said news we have not heard from you for such a long time-I don't even know whether you've planned an Autumn trip or if it was realized. And are you both well and first of all, what are the dear children doing? From us here, there is not much good news to report. I'm down as far as health is concerned. I have lost over 10 kilograms in less than half a year. The heart is not quite intact. More than this I am worried that I depress my wife. She herself is not well and needs a warm climate. She has in me and my works (after the completion of the "concert" I began a string quartette) endured two months, September and October in the mountains with snow and ice. Now we are in Vienna again. In about eight days I might go for a few days to Berlin for preparatory rehearsals and then I can come to Vienna and wait. But now please tell me also about you and first of all whether you will be in Berlin December 14. Love from both of us, yours ever sincerely devoted. Alban Berg Three excerpts from Wozzeck were performed in 1924, and this brought Berg his first public success. The opera, which Berg completed in 1922, was first performed on 14 December 1925, when Erich Kleiber directed the first performance in Berlin. Today Wozzeck is seen as one of the century's most important works.