Alban Berg, Wozzeck (1914). Music, it is said, provides the ultimate outlet for (sexual) sublimation of what cannot be experienced in real life or directly described. Perhaps that idea undergirds expressionism, and after Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg became a leading exponent of the dodecaphonic (twelve tone row) technique of atonal composition. This opera does not follow that technique very strictly, and sometimes sounds like good old romantic German opera. Wozzeck, the protagonist, is a soldier who must face the temptations of life and, as in many other operas such as Britten's, the risk of wrongdoing or of wrongful accusation. In the opening scene he is shaving The Captain, who will be his moral tormentor. The opera has a hint of Sweeney Todd here, perhaps. The soldier's beloved Marie will meet a tragic end, which may be the result of his own wrongdoing. At the end, the children play in a scene of utter desolation. The three acts of the opera are set up to explore various abstract musical forms. The Sonata-Allegro, for example, occurs in the first scene of Act II. There is a tremendous climax at the end on the note B. There is one scene with an out-of-tune piano and jazz, which sort of anticipates the musical juxtapositions of Everwood on TheWB. For details, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wozzeck I saw this opera at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1974.
above: Lulu, Liceu in Geneva, 2022 presentatio
Alban Berg, Lulu (1935) (based on "Pandora's Box") presents the sordid life of Lulu, the neglected wife of a doctor, who will move into prostitution, lesbianism (with a Countess), and various misadventures to lead to her tragic end (at the hand of Jack the Ripper). The opera follows twelve-tone technique more strictly, yet has a way of sounding lush and romantic, and super-chromatic. The form is symmetric, and in the middle there is a silent film "Interlude" that shows Lulu's arrest, trial and prison time. I do not see this film on imdb.com, but the whole opera, including the intended film, would make a terrific idea for an independent film project today. Is any producer game? I saw this on a live PBS Broadcast (I believe from the Met) in 1980. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulu_%28opera%29