Alban Berg's LULU (1935)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfdP4II20Cg
LULU: "an indisputable candidate for the greatest opera of the 20th century," if the entire opera was publicly unveiled catastrophically late (1979), left or taken for incomplete, even forbidden "as a decadent oddity—perverse, bizarre" (Philip Hensher). Ambiguous, richly expressive, and sensuous, it is a subtle lure, reaching for bidirectional culmination furthest within itself, to social critique.
"Lulu is the destroyer of all because she is destroyed from all sides." (Karl Kraus)
Wedekind's ERDGEIST (1895)
Prologue. N.B., the tiger (Dr. Schön/Jack the Ripper), serpent (Lulu), bear (both the Athlete and Schoolboy), camel (Painter/Negro), lizard (Medical Specialist/Banker/Professor), monkey (Prince/Manservant/Marquis), worm (Schigolch), crocodile (Geschwitz), and trainer himself (Athlete as Alwa, i.e., Alban).
ACT I.
1. A spacious but shabby painter's studio: Recitative I; Introduction, Canon, and Coda; Melodrama; Canzonetta; Recitative II; Duet; Arioso; and then INTERLUDE.
2. An elegant salon in the Painter's house: Duettino; Chamber Music I (Wind Nonet); SONATA -- EXPOSITION (Principal Theme, Bridge, Subordinate Theme: Gavotte and Musette, Closing Theme) and REPRISE (Principal Theme, Bridge, Subordinate Theme: Gavotte and Musette, Closing Theme); Monoritmica (Schrei der Lulu bei dem Maler); and then INTERLUDE (Closing Theme of REPRISE).
3. A theater dressing room: Ragtime; Andante [N.B., Berg's episches Theater]; English Waltz; Recitative; Chorale; Introduction, Sextet; and then SONATA -- DEVELOPMENT and RECAPITULATION (Principal Theme, Bridge, Subordinate Theme: Gavotte and Musette, Closing Theme).
ACT II.
1.
A large living room in Schön's house: Recitative; Arietta; Cavatina; Ensemble; and then FINALE TUMULTUOSO -- ALWA-LULU RONDO INTERROTO (Principal Theme, Bridge Theme, Subordinate Theme, Principal Theme, Transition, Concluding Theme, Codetta) [N.B., "Fleisch-und-Blut" WOZZECK quotation, "Ich liebe dich" on the Tristan chord]; Chorale (Theme, Variations I-II), Tumultuoso (Introduction, Dr. Schön's Aria strophes I-IV, LIED DER LULU, Dr. Schön's Aria strophe V), Grave, Transition, Arietta.
2. Silent drama: INTERLUDE (Ostinato) as Curtain Music I, Film Music I and II, and then Curtain Music II -- a palindrome, centered at
Wedekind's DIE BÜSCHE DER PANDORA (1904).
3. The same living room, one year later: Recitative; Largo; Chamber Music II (Chamber Orchestra); Melodrama; ALWA-LULU RONDO INTERROTO (Subordinate Theme within Lulu's Entrance Music (Recitative I of Act I, Scene 1), Contrasting Episode I, Contrasting Episode II as Variation I on Lulu's Entrance Music, Concluding Theme and Variation, Codetta); ALWA-LULU RONDO RECAP. (Principal Theme as Canon, Bridge Theme, Principal Theme, Concluding Theme, Coda as Variation II on Lulu's Entrance Music); Musette; and then ALWA'S HYMN [N.B., Karl Kraus quotation, Lyric Suite quotations], concluding on the couch where Dr. Schön died.
ACT III.
1.
Paris, a spacious salon, the center door at the rear opening into the gaming room and the side door leading into the dining room: Introduction (Orchestral Prelude); Ensemble I (Circus Music, Reprise, Contrasting Section, Recap. of Circus Music); Transition; Duet I as Concertato Chorale Variations; Variations I, II on English Waltz; EPISODE -- The Procurer's Song, Transition, Recap. of LIED DER LULU; Variations III-IV; Reprisal of English Waltz as Theme; Variations V-XII; Ensemble II (Circus Music, Contrasting Section, Recap. of Circus Music); Duet II; Cadenza-recitative for solo violin (Marquis) and piano (Athlete); Declamations; Ensemble III (Circus Music, Variation on Contrasting Section of Ensemble I, Variation on Contrasting Section of Ensemble II, Variation on Recap. of Ensemble I, Variation on Recap. of Ensemble II); Recitative; and then INTERLUDE (Variations I-IV on The Procurer's Song: Maesoto, Grazioso, Funebre, Affetuoso).
2.
London, a windowless attic in the East End: SCENA I -- Barrel Organ Music as Theme of The Procurer's Song, Transition, Recap. of Recitative II (Act I, Scene 1), Recap. I of Canzonetta; SCENA II (Medical Specialist as Professor) -- Barrel Organ Music as Theme of The Procurer's Song, Transition, Recap. II of Canzonetta, Transition, Quartet I, Quartet II (Recap. of Hymn), Recap. of Variation IV on the Procurer's Song; SCENA III (Painter as Negro) -- Recap. of Variation II on The Procurer's Song, Transition, Recap. of Monoritmica; and then SCENA IV (Dr. Schön as Jack the Ripper) -- Recap. of Variation III on The Procurer's Song, Transition, Lento desolato, Recap. of SONATA -- EXPOSITION and REPRISE, Recap. I of Cavatina, Recap. of Arietta, Recap. II of Cavatina, Recap. of Monoritmica and subsequent Interlude, Recap. of Recitative I (Act 1, Scene I) at descent, Nocturno (Berg's spelling), Molto lento (twelve-tone Todesschrei der Lulu), Grave.
Alban Berg documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCHEwV0BnJM
Directed by Barrie Gavin for the BBC.with Helene Berg, Pierre Boulez, Willi Reich, Alfred Kalmus, Jascha Horenstein, Jean-Rodolphe Kars, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Delme String Quartet.