Born in Vienna on February 7, 1885, Berg became Schoenberg's student; the disciple became a friend, and the friendship was then extended to include Anton Webern. Berg wrote music for the poetry he carried in himself. His art is not just a development based on a certain technical facility and virtuosity in composition, as in Hindemith's case. His literary sense is always perceptible in his works. It is apparent in his choice of texts for his Lieder and in the mastery he displays in adapting the texts of his operas. He was intuitive, but forced himself to follow a pitiless discipline-a result of meeting Schoenberg. In consequence, the number of his works is restricted. He produced slowly, except his last completed composition, the Violin Concerto, which he composed in six weeks. Never did he accept the easiest solution; he sought the exact solution, the most difficult to achieve. As well and clearly as did Proust, he recognized his indebtedness to Baudelaire. For him the secret of form was heavier than the secret of death, and the concert aria Der Wein, composed on three poems from the Fleurs du Mal, is not only a prologue to his unfinished opera Lulu but also the most striking evidence of an elective affinity.