Style and Idea in the Lyric Suite of Alban Berg

In Alban Berg's annotated score to his second string quartet, the Lyric Suite, he asserts that every note was written as a small monument to a great love. As composer and Kinkeldy Award-winner George Perle discovered, and described in his 1977 article The Secret Program of Berg's Lyric Suite, the person to whom Berg dedicated this work was not his wife, Helene (nor was it Alexander Zemlinsky, the official dedicatee), but Hanna Fuchs-Robettin, a family friend. This revelation had a revolutionary impact on universally accepted views of Berg's life and character. A renowned Berg scholar, Perle's interest in the Lyric Suite began in 1937, and has continued throughout his life. His detailed analyses of the piece have appeared in numerous publications. The Pendragon edition brings this wealth of writings together for the first time, and includes new material on the quartet's history and theory, its textual notes, the annotated score, and text and context within the piece.