Alban Berg und der Blaue Vogel. Eine Auto-Biographie, published by the Alban Berg Stiftung at Böhlau Verlag, ISBN 978-3-205-21129-7, 195 pages, numerous illustrations, EUR 35
The huge success of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck, premiered in Berlin in 1925, allowed the composer – a technology enthusiast – to acquire an automobile in 1930.
A large number of letters, photos and documents demonstrate the joys and challenges of a car owner in the early 1930s, who had no problem with taking his “little cart” (his “Wagerl”, as he called it) on arduous mountain tours or long distances.
After the composer’s untimely death, the car was stored in a garage. It was later carefully woken from its deep slumber and made available to Vienna’s Technical Museum on permanent loan.