Berger, Roman (EN)

Berger Roman, *9 August 1930 Cieszyn, †22 December 2020 Bratislava, Polish composer, theorist, and philosopher. Raised in a patriotic tradition, he was the son of an Evangelical pastor in Český Těšín, where he obtained his high school diploma at the Polish Gymnasium; in 1949, he began studying with J. Gawlas at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice. In 1952, as a result of Stalinist repression, he was displaced with his family to Bratislava. In 1956, he graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts (Vysoká Škola Múzických Umení) in Bratislava (piano under F. Kafenda and Š. Németh-Šamorinský), where in 1965 he received a diploma with distinction in the composition class of D. Kardoš and from 1969 lectured in the theory department. From 1967, he was secretary of the Slovak Composers’ Union, from which he was expelled in 1971. In his theoretical writings, he criticized communist ideology. Considered a dissident, he was deprived of his right to work for nine years and was subjected to repression by the Slovak security services. In 1967, Berger received the J.L. Bella Award and the Czech-Slovak Critics’ Award for Transformations, in 1974 he received an award at the Bourges competition for Epitaph for Nicolaus Copernicus, in 1980, he received the Pieszczany City Award and the Herder Award from the University of Vienna, and in 1990, he received an award from Czech and Slovak critics for Adagio no. 2 “Atonement.” In November 1989, he returned to public life and was invited to join the ministerial commission for education and culture. Together with M. Kopelent and A. Piňos, he reactivated the Czech-Slovak section of the International Society for Contemporary Music. He refused to accept the award of the new union of Slovak composers for Exodus, and in 1990 he left the union. In Poland, Berger’s theoretical texts were better known than his compositions. In 1988, his work was presented at a symposium of the Polish Composers’ Union (“Muzyka źle obecna”) in Warsaw. Since then, Berger’s works were performed at the Warsaw Autumn Festival (1988, 1989, 1996) and in Katowice; in 1995, his compositional concert took place as part of the 7th editions of Days of Music by Krakow Composers. In 1997, Berger was granted membership in the Polish Composers’ Union.

Berger’s work, an integral part of the Polish school of composition, derives from the European tradition. This is evidenced by the cycle of three Convergences, based on the consequences of Bach’s form and Bartók’s texture of instrumentation. A further attempt to go beyond the limits of the instrument’s capabilities in terms of sound and tempo is carried out by means of electroacoustic techniques (Transgressus – a variation on Konvergencie I). A kind of polemic with the expressionism of the Second Viennese School is represented by symphonic works (Transformácie, Memento), for which Lutosławski’s technical experience is not without significance. The expression of Berger’s music points to references to native sources, the legacy of K. Szymanowski (Violin Sonata, Litany to the Trees). In Berg’s works, we observe a strong formal evolutionism, from a sound cell to an extensively developed sectional form. Dense, chromaticized harmony, sometimes based on twelve-tone techniques and partial tonal polarization, gives melody a leading role; the atomized melodic material coalesces into long-span phrases with a poignant, lyrical expression, recalling Mahler and Messiaen (e.g., both Adagios for violin and piano). The meditative organ cycle Exodus presents a refined sound and an expressive, individual form of expression (based on the chorale and linked to the idea of the Old Testament). The sense of the tragedy of existence is most fully expressed in De profundis, in which simple and vivid means create an original work with a new expression and a new relationship to the word.

Berger belongs to the type of composers whose long creative process is strongly linked to the philosophical and ethical meaning of the work. Berger complements his compositional activity with his philosophically based theory of music. His concepts draw on the achievements of contemporary sciences (mathematical logic, cybernetics, physics, information theory, sociology, psychology) and, in the context of the Prague School of Semiotics, create a new form of theoretical musicology.

Literature: R. Gabryś Refleksje na okoliczność katowickiego wykonania „Transformacji” R. Bergera, Katowice 1986; B. Pociej Roman Berger – między słowem, pojęciem a muzyką, in: Muzyka źle obecna I, Warsaw 1989; E. Kohlaas Die Philosophie der Musik. Der Komponist, Pianist und Philosoph Roman Berger, “Neue Musikzeitung”, October-November 1991; K. Tarnawska-Kaczorowska Totalitarizmus a hudba, čiže utrepnie a umenie – so skicami k trom portrétom v pozadi: R. Palestra, W. Lutosławskiego, R. Bergera, Bratislava 1995; D. Gojowy Musik ist auch ein Politikum. Der Komponist R. Berger, “Das Orchester” 1996 no. 3; K. Tarnawska-Kaczorowska “Memento” R. Bergera w Filharmonii Narodowej, “Dysonanse” 1998 no. 2.