Berg's Descriptive Series

History

• Issued by S.M. Berg in 1918 the seven publications in this series were all registered for copyright protection in the U.S. on June 30th of that year. Since the firm S.M. Berg was acquired by (or perhaps merged into) Belwin, Inc. by late 1918 it is possible that the series was prematurely ended by the firm's demise. The works were intended for the use of theater orchestras. Berg had begun issuing short orchestral works in 1916 as part of Berg's Incidental Series intended for use by theater orchestras as accompaniment for silent movies. Typically, the works were scored for an orchestra consisting of the following: flute, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 cornets, trombone, timpani, percussion, piano, and strings. Through the use of cross cueing the works could also be performed by a reduced-sized orchestra typically consisting of the following: flute, clarinet, 2 cornets, trombone, timpani, percussion, piano, and strings. Belwin re-engraved the piano parts and issued them as solo arrangements in its series PianOrgan Film Books of Incidental Music in the 1920s.
• The complete parts (piano and large orchestra) for all seven items in this series are on IMSLP.

Template

• {{BergDS|switch|No.|Plate (if exists)}}

Contents

• The numbers in the series were assigned by Belwin when the piano solo parts/scores were re-engraved and issued in the 1920s.