"When, on December 23, 1935, Alban Berg died of blood poisoning at the age of 50 in a hospital in Vienna, few would have guessed that 50 years later he would be reckoned among the classics of the New Music... The international music world is deeply interested in both his work and his personality. This is no surprise, considering that nearly his entire oeuvre is autobiographically determined." --from the introduction [H]is letters are also deeply poetic declarations of love that are unexpectedly revealing in another way - Berg punctures the painfully formal protocols of his day with uninhibited outbursts, and the taut counterpoint between restraint and abandon is a familiar one from his music. [This book] throws intriguing light on the interior life of the composer. -Philip Clark, Gramophone "...I can"t recommend highly enough." -- Mr Norris Changes Trains, Blog, Gavin Plumley