Hanna Bertel:
Zwischen Avantgarde und Tradition. Helene Berg und Smaragda Eger-Berg  als kontrastierende Künstlerinnen der Wiener Moderne [Between Avant-garde and Tradition. Helene Berg and Smaragda Eger-Berg as contrasting artists of Viennese Modernism]

Two women – two artists – sisters-in-law: It was only recently that the creative work of Helene Berg and her sister-in-law Smaragda Eger-Berg started to attract closer attention, owing to special studies by Anna Ricke and Melanie Unseld, and it reveals how differently the lives of these two women developed. Helene Berg was an artist and talented singer before she abandoned her career as a musician shortly before she married Alban Berg. In contrast, Smaragda Eger-Berg continued as a professional pianist and accompanist despite her marriage, and she thrived in her homosexuality after the break-up of her marriage. Both women were musically active, but their lives took two entirely different paths. While Smaragda carved out her own way through life as a free spirit, Helene cherished her role as a composer’s wife and became integrated into her husband’s artistic milieu.

The aim of this lecture is to illustrate the relationship between the sisters-in-law on the one hand, while using individual examples to outline the different ways in which the two women lived. Besides the “musical liaison” between Paul Kammerer and Helene before she married Alban Berg, as well as the artistic friendship between Smaragda Eger-Berg and Arnold Schönberg, the intense correspondence exchanged between Peter Altenberg and the two women is also explored. Using numerous images, excerpts from letters, and other historical documents by and about Helene Berg and Smaragda Eger-Berg from the Alban Berg Foundation, the Music Department of the Austrian National Library and Vienna City Library, the lecture provides a greater insight into the lives of the two sisters-in-law and the time in which they were living, and makes this more tangible.

29 April 2024, 6 p.m., Österreichische Gesellschaft für Musik [Austrian Music Society], Hanuschgasse 3, 1010 Vienna

Photos: Smaragda Eger-Berg (left), Helene Berg (right) © Alban Berg Stiftung