(County) Duchy of Berg (Grafschaft) Herzogtum Berg (de) (Graafschap) Hertogdom Berg (nl)
State of the Holy Roman Empire (until 1806)
← 1101–1815 →
Coat of arms
Map of the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle around 1560, Duchy of Berg highlighted in red
Capital	Düsseldorf
Language(s)	German
Government	Absolute monarchy
Historical era	Middle Ages
- Emergence from Lotharingia	1101
- Split with County of Mark	1160
- United with County of Cleves	1368
- United with Jülich and Cleves	→ 1521
- United with Palatinate-Neuburg and Electoral Palatinate	1609 and 1690
- Disestablished	9 June 1815

Berg was a state – originally a county, later a duchy – in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed from the early 12th to the 19th centuries.

History[link]

Ascent[link]

The Counts of Berg emerged in 1101 as a junior line of the dynasty of the Ezzonen, which traced its roots back to the 9th-century Kingdom of Lotharingia, and in the 11th century became the most powerful dynasty in the region of the lower Rhine. In 1160 the territory split into two portions, one of them later becoming the County of the Mark, which returned to the possession of the family line in the 16th century. In 1280 the counts moved their court from Schloss Burg on the Wupper river to the town of Düsseldorf. The most powerful of the early rulers of Berg, Engelbert II of Berg died in an assassination on November 7, 1225. Count Adolf VIII of Berg fought on the winning side in the Battle of Worringen against Guelders in 1288.

The power of Berg grew further in the 14th century. The County of Jülich united with the County of Berg in 1348, and in 1380 the Emperor Wenceslaus elevated the counts of Berg to the rank of dukes, thus originating the Duchy of Jülich-Berg.

Problems of succession[link]

Map of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg around 1540

In 1509, John III, Duke of Cleves, made a strategic marriage to Maria von Geldern, daughter of William IV, Duke of Jülich-Berg, who became heiress to her father's estates: Jülich, Berg and the County of Ravensberg, which under the Salic laws of the Holy Roman Empire caused the properties to pass to the husband of the female heir (women could not hold property except through a husband or a guardian). With the death of her father in 1521 the Dukes of Jülich-Berg became extinct, and the estate thus came under the rule of John III, Duke of Cleves — along with his personal territories, the County of the Mark and the Duchy of Cleves (Kleve) in a personal union. As a result of this union the dukes of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg controlled much of present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, with the exception of the clerical states of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the Bishop of Münster.

However, the new ducal dynasty also became extinct in 1609, when the last duke died insane. This led to a lengthy dispute over succession to the various territories before the partition of 1614: the Count Palatine of Neuburg, who had converted to Catholicism, annexed Jülich and Berg; while Cleves and Mark fell to John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, who subsequently also became Duke of Prussia. Upon the extinction of the senior dynasty ruling the Palatinate in 1685, the Neuburg line inherited the Electorate and generally made Düsseldorf its capital until the Elector Palatine also inherited the Electorate of Bavaria in 1777.

French revolution, Grand Duchy of Berg[link]

The ducal palace at Düsseldorf, 1798 copper engraving by Laurenz Janscha. The palace burnt down in 1872.

The French occupation (1794–1801) and annexation (1801) of Jülich (French: Juliers) during the French revolutionary wars separated the two duchies of Jülich and Berg, and in 1803 Berg separated from the other Bavarian territories and came under the rule of a junior branch of the Wittelsbachs. In 1806, in the reorganization of the German lands occasioned by the end of the Holy Roman Empire, Berg became the Grand Duchy of Berg, under the rule of Napoleon's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat. Murat's arms combined the red lion of Berg with the arms of the duchy of Cleves. The anchor and the batons came to the party due to Murat's positions as Grand Admiral and as Marshal of the Empire. As the husband of Napoleon's sister Caroline Bonaparte, Murat also had the right to use the imperial eagle.

In 1809, one year after Murat's promotion from Grand Duke of Berg to King of Naples, Napoleon's young nephew, Prince Napoleon Louis Bonaparte (1804–1831, elder son of Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland) became the Grand Duke of Berg; French bureaucrats administered the territory in the name of the child. The Grand Duchy's short existence came to an end with Napoleon's defeat in 1813 and the peace settlements that followed.

Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg[link]

In 1815, after the Congress of Vienna, Berg became part of a province of the Kingdom of Prussia: the Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. In 1822 this province united with the Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine to form the Rhine Province.

Rulers of Berg[link]

Map of the Duchy of Berg by French cartographer Nicolas Sanson in 1696

The Grand Duchy of Berg (1806–1813), shown within the Confederation of the Rhine

Arms of the Grand Duchy of Berg

House of Ezzonen[link]

• Hermann I "Pusillus", Count Palatine of Lotharingia
• Adolf I of Lotharingia, Vogt of Deutz
• Adolf II of Lotharingia, Vogt of Deutz

House of Berge[link]

• 1077–1082 Adolf I of Berg, 1st Count of Berg
• 1082–1093 Adolf II of Berg-Hövel (Huvili), Count of Berg
• 1093–1132 Adolf III, Count of Berg
• 1132–1160 Adolf IV, Count of Berg
• 1160–1189 Engelbert I, Count of Berg
• 1189–1218 Adolf VI, Count of Berg
• 1218–1225 Engelbert II of Berg, Archbishop of Cologne, Regent of Berg
• 1218–1248 Irmgard, heiress of Berg

House of Limburg[link]

• 1218–1247 Henry IV Duke of Limburg, Count of Berg
• 1247–1259 Adolf VII Count of Limburg, Count of Berg
• 1259–1296 Adolf VIII
• 1296–1308 William I
• 1308–1348 Adolf IX

House of Jülich(-Heimbach), Counts[link]

– in union with Ravensberg –

• 1348–1360 Gerhard
• 1360–1380 Wilhelm II.; became duke in 1380

House of Jülich(-Heimbach), Dukes[link]

– in union with Ravensberg (except 1404–1437) and after 1423 in union with the duchy of Jülich –

• 1380–1408 William I
• 1408–1437 Adolf
• 1437–1475 Gerhard
• 1475–1511 Wilhelm II

[edit] House of La Marck, Dukes

– from 1521 a part of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg–

• 1511–1539 Johann
• 1539–1592 William III
• 1592–1609 Johann Wilhelm I

House of Wittelsbach, Dukes[link]

– in union with Jülich und Palatinate-Neuburg, from 1690 also with the Electoral Palatinate, from 1777 also with Bavaria–

• 1614–1653 Wolfgang Wilhelm
• 1653–1679 Phillip Wilhelm
• 1679–1716 Johann Wilhelm II
• 1716–1742 Karl Phillip
• 1742–1799 Karl Theodor
• 1799–1806 Maximilian Josef
  • 1803–1806 William of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen, Duke in Bavaria (administrator)

French Grand Dukes[link]

• 1806–1808 Joachim Murat
• 1808–1809 Napoléon Bonaparte
• 1809–1813 Napoleon Louis Bonaparte (under the regency of Napoléon Bonaparte)

Coat of arms[link]

The historic coat of arms of Berg shows a red lion with a double tail and blue crown, tongue, and claws – blazoned as: Argent a lion rampant gules, queue fourchée crossed in saltire, armed, langued, and crowned azure. This lion originates from the Netherlands, from the arms of the Duke of Limburg as the Berg title in the 13th century fell to the Limburg line.

See also[link]

• Bergisches Land
• List of consorts of Berg

External links[link]

Media related to Duchy of Berg at Wikimedia Commons Media related to Bergischer Löwe at Wikimedia Commons

• Edicts of Jülich, Cleves, Berg, Grand Duchy Berg, 1475–1815 (Coll. Scotti) online
• Historical Map of Northrhine-Westphalia 1789

v t e Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle (1500–1806) of the Holy Roman Empire Ecclesiastical Cambrai (until 1678) Corvey1 Liège Minden2 Münster Stavelot–Malmedy1 Osnabrück Paderborn Utrecht (until 1548) Verden (until 1648) The Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle (color) within the Holy Roman Empire (white) Prelates Corvey2 Essen Herford Kornelimünster Stavelot–Malmedy2 Thorn Werden Secular Cleves with Mark East Frisia1 Jülich–Berg Guelders (until 1548) Minden1 Moers1 Nassau-Dillenburg1 Verden1 Counts and lords from 1500 Bentheim Bronkhorst (until 1719) Diepholz East Frisia (until 1667) Horne3 (until 1614) Hoya Lingen3 Lippe Manderscheid (until 1546) Moers (until 1541) Nassau (Diez Hadamar Dillenburg (until 1664)) Oldenburg (until 1777) Pyrmont Ravensberg3 Reichenstein Rietberg Salm-Reifferscheid Sayn Schaumburg Tecklenburg Virneburg Wied Winneburg and Beilstein Zimerauff? from 1792 Anholt Blankenheim and Gerolstein Gemen Gimborn Gronsfeld Hallermund Holzappel Kerpen-Lommersum Myllendonk Reckheim Schleiden Wickrath Wittem status uncertain Delmenhorst Fagnolle Schaumburg (Hesse Lippe) Spiegelberg Steinfurt Cities Aachen Cologne Dortmund Duisburg? Herford? Verden (until 1648) Warburg? 1 from 1792 2 until 1792 3 without Reichstag seat ? status uncertain.

v t e Client states of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815) French client republics Balkans Illyria Germany Cisrhenia Danzig Mainz Ireland Connaught Italy Bologna Cisalpinia Cispadania Italian Republic Liguria Lucca Parthenopea Rome Transpadania Netherlands Batavia Bouillon Switzerland Helvetia Lemania Rauracia Rhodania Swiss Confederation Europe at the height of Napoleon's Empire Other Napoleonic creations Germany Confederation of the Rhine Berg Frankfurt Leyen Westphalia Würzburg Italy Etruria Lucca and Piombino Kingdom of Italy Naples Netherlands Kingdom of Holland Poland Duchy of Warsaw Spain Kingdom of Spain

v t e States of the Confederation of the Rhine (1806–13) Rank elevated by Napoleon Kingdoms Bavaria Saxony Württemberg Grand Duchies Baden Hesse States created Kingdoms Westphalia Grand Duchies Berg Frankfurt1 Würzburg Principalities Aschaffenburg2 Leyen Regensburg2 Pre-existing states Duchies Anhalt (Bernburg Dessau Köthen) Arenberg Mecklenburg-Schwerin Mecklenburg-Strelitz Nassau Oldenburg Saxony Coburg-Saalfeld Gotha-Altenburg Hildburghausen Meiningen Weimar3 Eisenach3 Weimar-Eisenach4 Principalities Hohenzollern Hechingen Sigmaringen Isenburg-Birstein Liechtenstein Lippe-Detmold Reuss Ebersdorf Greiz Lobenstein Schleiz Salm5 Schaumburg-Lippe Schwarzburg Rudolstadt Sondershausen Waldeck 1 from 1810 2 until 1810 3 until 1809 4 from 1809 5 until 1811

Coordinates: 51°12′26″N 6°48′45″E / 51.20722°N 6.8125°E / 51.20722; 6.8125

Alban Berg

Alban Maria Johannes Berg (February 9, 1885 – December 24, 1935) was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Berg was born in Vienna, the third of four children of Johanna and Conrad Berg. His family lived comfortably until the death of his father in 1900.

Education[link]

He was more interested in literature than music as a child and did not begin to compose until he was fifteen, when he started to teach himself music. In late February or early March 1902 he fathered a child with Marie Scheuchl, a servant girl in the Berg family household. His daughter, Albine, was born on December 4, 1902.

Berg had little formal music education before he became a student of Arnold Schoenberg in October 1904. With Schoenberg he studied counterpoint, music theory, and harmony.^[1] By 1906, he was studying music full-time; by 1907, he began composition lessons. His student compositions included five drafts for piano sonatas. He also wrote songs, including his Seven Early Songs (Sieben Frühe Lieder), three of which were Berg's first publicly performed work in a concert that featured the music of Schoenberg's pupils in Vienna that year. The early sonata sketches eventually culminated in Berg's Piano Sonata, Op. 1 (1907–1908); it is one of the most formidable "first" works ever written.^[2]

Berg studied with Schoenberg for six years until 1911. Berg admired him as a composer and mentor, and they remained close lifelong friends.

Among Schoenberg's teaching was the idea that the unity of a musical composition depends upon all its aspects being derived from a single basic idea; this idea was later known as developing variation. Berg passed this on to his students, one of whom, Theodor Adorno, stated: "The main principle he conveyed was that of variation: everything was supposed to develop out of something else and yet be intrinsically different".^[3] The Piano Sonata is an example—the whole composition is derived from the work's opening quartal gesture and its opening phrase.

Innovation[link]

Berg was a part of Vienna's cultural elite during the heady fin de siècle period. His circle included the musicians Alexander von Zemlinsky and Franz Schreker, the painter Gustav Klimt, the writer and satirist Karl Kraus, the architect Adolf Loos, and the poet Peter Altenberg. In 1906, Berg met the singer Helene Nahowski, daughter of a wealthy family (said by some to be in fact the illegitimate daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria from his liaison with Anna Nahowski);^[4] despite the outward hostility of her family, the two were married on May 3, 1911.

In 1913, two of Berg's Five Songs on Picture Postcard Texts by Peter Altenberg (1912) were premièred in Vienna, conducted by Schoenberg. Settings of aphoristic poetic utterances, the songs are accompanied by a very large orchestra. The performance caused a riot, and had to be halted. This was a crippling blow to Berg's self-confidence: he effectively withdrew the work, which is surely one of the most extraordinarily innovative and assured first orchestral compositions in the literature, and it was not performed in full until 1952. The full score remained unpublished until 1966.

From 1915 to 1918, Berg served in the Austrian Army and during a period of leave in 1917 he accelerated work on his first opera, Wozzeck. After the end of World War I, he settled again in Vienna where he taught private pupils. He also helped Schoenberg run his Society for Private Musical Performances, which sought to create the ideal environment for the exploration and appreciation of unfamiliar new music by means of open rehearsals, repeat performances, and the exclusion of professional critics.

[edit] Success of Wozzeck

Three excerpts from Wozzeck were performed in 1924, and this brought Berg his first public success. The opera, which Berg completed in 1922, was first performed on December 14, 1925, when Erich Kleiber directed the first performance in Berlin. Today Wozzeck is seen as one of the century's most important works. Berg completed the orchestration of only the first two acts of his later three-act opera Lulu, before he died. The first two acts were successfully premièred in Zürich in 1937, but for personal reasons Helene Berg subsequently imposed a ban on any attempt to "complete" the final act, which Berg had in fact completed in particell format. An orchestration was therefore commissioned in secret from Friedrich Cerha and premièred in Paris (under Pierre Boulez) only in 1979, soon after Helene Berg's own death. The complete opera has rapidly entered the repertoire as one of the landmarks of contemporary music and, like Wozzeck, remains a consistent audience draw.

Berg had interrupted the orchestration of Lulu because of an unexpected (and financially much-needed) commission from the Russian-American violinist Louis Krasner for a Violin Concerto (1935). This profoundly elegiac work, composed at unaccustomed speed and posthumously premièred, has become Berg's best-known and beloved composition. Like much of his mature work, it employs an idiosyncratic adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique that enables the composer to produce passages openly evoking tonality, including quotations from historical tonal music, such as a Bach chorale and a Carinthian folk song. The Violin Concerto was dedicated "to the memory of an Angel", Manon Gropius, the deceased daughter of architect Walter Gropius and Alma Mahler.

Other well-known Berg compositions include the Lyric Suite (1926), which was later shown to employ elaborate cyphers to document a secret love affair; the extraordinarily elaborate post-Mahlerian Three Pieces for Orchestra (completed in 1915 but not performed until after Wozzeck); and the Chamber Concerto (Kammerkonzert, 1923–25) for violin, piano and 13 wind instruments: this latter is written so conscientiously that Pierre Boulez has called it "Berg's strictest composition" and it, too, is permeated by cyphers and posthumously disclosed hidden programs.

Death[link]

Berg died in Vienna, on Christmas Eve 1935, from blood poisoning apparently caused by an insect-sting-induced carbuncle on his back. He had been reduced to near-poverty and it is said that to save money his wife carried out an ill-advised operation using a pair of scissors. Later he was taken to hospital, although too late to prevent the onset of blood poisoning. He was 50 years old.

Legacy[link]

Berg is remembered as one of the most important composers of the 20th century and to date is the most widely performed opera composer among the Second Viennese School.^[5] He is considered to have brought more human values to the twelve-tone system, his works seen as more emotional than Schoenberg's.^[6] Critically he is seen to have preserved the Viennese tradition in his music.^{[7][verification needed]} His popularity has been more easily secured than many other Modernists since he plausibly combined both Romantic and Expressionist idioms. Though Berg's Romanticism at one time seemed a drawback for some more modernist composers,^{[weasel words]} the Berg scholar Douglas Jarman writes in the New Grove: "As the 20th century closed, the 'backward-looking' Berg suddenly came as [George] Perle remarked, to look like its most forward-looking composer."^[8]

Major compositions[link]

Notes[link]