Alban Berg (1885-1935) was an Austrian composer of the Viennese School and became known in particular for his operas “Wozzeck” and “Lulu”. Helene Berg (1885-1976), born Nahowski, appeared as a soprano up until her marriage to Alban Berg in 1911. After her husband's death, she dedicated herself to preserving and promoting his music for over 40 years, and founded the Alban Berg Foundation in Vienna in 1968.

Most of the collection originated during Alban Berg’s lifetime (1885–1935). Many of the documents are annotated with extensive handwritten comments and other markings that were added while reading. They serve as evidence that he was taking a close interest in their contents – also in connection with the genesis of his works. Innumerable inserts such as bookmarks, pictures and newspaper clippings indicate that the books were used extremely frequently and create additional contexts and interconnections.

A broad interest in classics is documented by music scores from Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Wagner, as well as contemporaries such as Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Hans Pfitzner, Arnold Schönberg and Ernst Krenek. The literary volumes also bear witness to interest in an unusually varied range of authors, such as Henrik Ibsen, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky and August Strindberg.

Particularly revealing are the editions of works by Peter Altenberg, Georg Büchner, Gerhart Hauptmann and Frank Wedekind, which Berg used or intended to use as texts for compositions. On the other hand, well-thumbed editions of reference works such as Alfred Einstein’s music encyclopaedia and Joseph Meyer’s “Konversationslexikon” (encyclopaedia for conversation), with a remarkably large number of traces left by their use, are especially insightful.

Together with the composer’s original Bösendorfer grand piano and the desk in his study, the library is therefore the heart of this collection, which to date is barely known to researchers and the general public. In addition, this room contains a number of items and objects that are significant for Berg’s artistic œuvre and are also characteristic of everyday life in the early 20th century.

Among other items, these include a golden fountain pen, an ocarina (a type of vessel flute) used for work on an opera planned for a text by Gerhart Hauptmann (Und Pippa tanzt!), various writing utensils and address stamps, briefcase, lucky charms, and collectors’ items such as coins and mineral specimens. Two items of memorabilia are a pair of glasses and a briefcase previously owned by Gustav Mahler.

Alban Berg was the subject of artist representations on several occasions during his lifetime. A bust by Josef Humplik (1928) and a life mask made by Anna Mahler (1935) are two examples here.