Volume : 11, Issue : 8, AUG 2025

UNDERSTANDING STRUCTURE AND EXPRESSION IN BERG’S WOZZECK

ÖZLEM ONUK NATONSKI

Abstract

Alban Berg’s Wozzeck is considered a turning point in twentieth-century opera, combining strict formal structures, radical atonality, and socio-political critique. This study examines the opera’s formal architecture, expressive orchestration, and historical significance in shaping the discourse of modernist music. Through detailed analysis of the opera’s fifteen scenes and their corresponding classical forms such as fugue, passacaglia, and rondo the research explores how Berg integrates psychological expression with structural discipline. Positioned within the framework of the Second Viennese School and German Expressionism, Wozzeck is highlighted as a depiction of individual fragmentation in a crisis-ridden society. The opera is regarded not only as a musical innovation but also as an artistic critique of social oppression and existential alienation.

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