Wozzeck is a tragic opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg (see Berg, Alban ). Each of the opera’s three acts consists of a sequence of short scenes. The composer himself wrote the libretto (text) in German. The opera was based on the German play Woyzeck, which was written in the 1830’s by Georg Buchner and published in 1879. The opera was first performed in Berlin on Dec. 14, 1925.
The opera is set in a small garrison town in Austria about 1820. Wozzeck is a common soldier in the Austrian army. His superiors abuse and ridicule him. One abuser in particular is his Captain, who despises him. Even worse, Marie, his mistress, deceives him with a military Drum-Major. Driven almost insane by jealousy, Wozzeck stabs and kills Marie. Later, he throws the knife into a pond. Finally, he drowns while searching for the knife. The child of Marie and Wozzeck is playing with his hobbyhorse. He does not understand when the other children tell him that his mother is dead.
Much of the text for Wozzeck is set in an intensely emotional vocal style midway between spoken dialogue and singing. This style is known by the German term Sprechstimme (speaking voice). The music is mainly atonal, meaning that it is not written in the traditional keys of Western music. Although Wozzeck is demanding to sing and play, it has been performed in many countries. For audiences, the music can be hard to understand but many feel that it effectively expresses the nightmarish emotions and violence of the opera.
