Berg, Alban

including annotations by Berg to the music in heavy black pencil and in black ink, together with editorial markings, translations and alterations in lighter pencil, to the title and music, with the editorial dating at the end ("Wien, 1908")

11 pages, folio (34 x 26.7cm), Berg's stamp to reverse of title ("Alban Berg Wien XIII/I, Trauttmansdorffgasse 27..."), [Vienna, c.1925], overall browning, chipping to edges and some splitting (to the first leaf), leaves mostly detached, small tear to inner margin of last two leaves

Nick Chadwick, review of Alban Berg, Sonate für Klavier op. 1 UE33070. Ed. by Klaus Lippe, in Music & Letters, lxxxix (2008), pp. 302-303

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

THIS SOURCE REPRESENTS AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY, REPRESENTING BERG'S FINAL THOUGHTS ON THIS SONATA. It is not recorded or described in the 2006 Urtext edition.

The creation and publishing history of the sonata is complex.  Berg composed his op.1 in 1908 or the first half of 1909, although the marking at the end of this copy suggests the former year.  First issued in 1910 by the Schlesinger'sche Buch und Musikhandlung (Robert & Wilhelm Lienau) in Berlin, it was re-published by Lienau in 1920. Another 'new, revised edition', the third, was evidently published in 1925, and contains even more corrections than the previous edition. The present source would appear to be an unknown annotated copy of the second edition, used for the preparation of the third. The only known manuscript of the complete work is a fair copy, probably not in Berg's hand, in the Austrian National Library in Vienna, where there are also preserved copies of the first three editions with some annotations by the composer. The exact relationship of the present source to these others remains to be determined.

We gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance of Ullrich Scheideler in our cataloguing of this lot.