1885
Helene Karoline Nahowski is born in Vienna on 29 July. Her parents are Anna Nahowski (née Nowak, div. Heuduk, 1859–1931) and Franz Nahowski (1849–1925), her siblings are the painter Carola Heuduk (1877–1946) from her mother’s first marriage, Anna Lebert (née Nahowski, 1883–1973) and Franz Joseph Nahowski (1889–1942).
Lives in Maxingstraße 46, Vienna XIII (Hietzing); summer vacations in Trahütten, at the Berg family’s Berghof at Lake Ossiach, in Breitenstein with Alma Mahler.
1907
Singing lessons (opera) with Marianne Brandt in Vienna (her repertoire includes songs by Richard Strauss, Johannes Brahms, Edward Grieg, etc.)
As evidenced by a watercolour painted by her sister Carola Heuduk, Helene Berg plays the piano.
Alban Berg sees Helene Berg for the first time at the opera and is introduced to her on Good Friday, 19 April 1907.
1911
Marries Alban Berg, moves into the flat at Trauttmansdorffgasse 27 in Vienna’s 13th district (Hietzing). Helene Berg ends her vocal training/career and subsequently only sings in private settings.
1932
Purchases the “Waldhaus” [woodland cabin] in Auen near Velden (Carinthia).
1935–1976
Alban Berg dies during the night of 23-24 December in Vienna.
Helene Berg lives primarily in the Waldhaus – she turns the study in the Waldhaus and also in the flat on Trauttmansdorffgasse in Vienna into memorial sites; the house in Trahütten, the flat in Vienna and the Waldhaus are listed buildings. The house on Trauttmansdorffgasse and in Trahütten each receive memorial plaques.
Works on a biography on Alban Berg (unfinished, drafts have survived).
Helene Berg publishes the letters exchanged between herself and Alban Berg: Helene Berg (ed.): Alban Berg. Briefe an seine Frau, Munich/Vienna: Langen/Müller, 1965. Changes to the text and abridgements made by Helene Berg lead to arguments between her and Franz Willnauer, who is asked to edit the letters.
Helene Berg devotes her time to establishing a foundation in accordance with Alban Berg’s idea and will. The charter is registered with the authorities in 1969, and the Foundation still exists to this day: it awards scholarships, helps talented music students who are in need, and works to preserve the memory and works of Alban Berg.
The written documents left by Berg are given to the Austrian National Library in Vienna.
In her will, Helene Berg forbids any perusal of the composition sketches for the opera Lulu or its performance in three acts.
1976
Awarded the Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria on 10 January.
Helene Berg dies on 30 August in Vienna.
Bibliographical reference: Anna Ricke, article “Helene Berg”, in: MUGI. Musikvermittlung und Genderforschung: Lexikon und multimediale Präsentationen, eds. Beatrix Borchard and Nina Noeske, Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, 2003ff. As of 24.4.2018. URL: https://mugi.hfmt-hamburg.de/artikel/Helene_Berg.html (last accessed: 21.10.2019).