Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. Composed between 1914 and 1922, it premiered in 1925. It is based on the drama Woyzeck, which German playwright Georg Büchner left incomplete at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's play on 5 May 1914, and knew at once that he wanted to base an opera on it. From the fragments of unordered scenes left by Büchner, Berg selected 15 to form a compact structure of three acts with five scenes each. He adapted the libretto himself, retaining "the essential character of the play, with its many short scenes, its abrupt and sometimes brutal language, and its stark, if haunted, realism..."
1974 poster of Oldenburgisches Staatstheater
Georg Büchner, illustration in a French edition of his complete works (1879).
Johann Christian Woyzeck, on whom the play is based
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively small oeuvre, he is remembered as one of the most important composers of the 20th century for his expressive style encompassing "entire worlds of emotion and structure".
Berg c. 1930
Watschenkonzert [slapping concert], caricature in Die Zeit [de] (Vienna), 6 April 1913
Sketch of Berg by Emil Stumpp
Bust of Berg at Schiefling am See, Carinthia, Austria