What is Alban Berg?
[[File:Alban Berg Bueste Schiefling 01.jpg|thumbnail|150px|A statue of Alban Berg.]] '''Alban Berg''' (born [[Vienna]], 9 February 1885; died Vienna 24 December 1935) was an [[Austria]]n [[composer]]. Alban Berg and [[Anton Webern]] were both [[student|pupils]] of [[Arnold Schoenberg]]. All three composers in their own way changed the style of musical [[Composition (music)|composition]] in the early [[20th century]]. They grew up at a time when most composers were still writing [[Romantic music|Romantic]] music, but Schoenberg and his pupils started to write [[atonal]] music (music which is not in any [[tonality|key]]) and then [[twelve-tone music]] in which all 12 notes in an [[octave]] are of the same importance. Although Berg wrote a lot of twelve-tone music he still managed to make it sound quite Romantic at times, more so than Schoenberg or Webern. His most important works are his two operas ''[[Wozzeck]]'' and ''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'' and his ''[[Violin Concerto (Berg)|Violin Concerto]]''. == Life == === Early years === Berg was brought up in the centre of Vienna. His family had plenty of money, but when Berg’s father died in 1900 life became much harder for them. He did not do very well at [[school]]. He also had a love [[wikt:affair|affair]] with a kitchenmaid, with whom he had a daughter. He was interested in music, played the piano and had started to compose, but he had not done well enough in his school [[exam]]s to get into the [[music conservatory]]. He was not interested in [[business]] like his father had been. He got an unpaid job. Then, in 1904, he started to study with Schoenberg. This was the first time he had been given proper music lessons. Two years later, his mother [[inheritance|inherited]] some money, and Berg was then able to give up his unpaid job and concentrate on music. Schoenberg taught him [[harmony]], [[counterpoint]] and [[music theory]], all the things one needs to know to compose well. Berg had lessons from him from 1904 until 1911. His first proper pieces include a [[Piano