Lulu

Berg died in 1935 leaving the third act of Lulu incomplete, with only short-score drafts for much of it. The Austrian composer Friedrich Cerha completed the orchestration of Act III in the 1970s, and the full three-act version was premiered at the Paris Opéra in 1979 under Pierre Boulez.

The Lulu chord is a specific five-note vertical sonority derived from Berg's twelve-tone row, serving as the harmonic foundation that represents Lulu herself throughout the opera. Every time Lulu is on stage, this chord appears in some form, functioning as a musical identity tag unique in the history of atonal opera.

Between Acts II and III, Berg composed music to accompany a silent film projection depicting events including Lulu's arrest, trial, conviction, and escape from prison. This is one of the most unusual staging devices in opera, requiring live cinema projection synchronized with the orchestra.

In the final scene, Lulu is murdered by Jack the Ripper in a London garret, and her companion Countess Geschwitz dies beside her after being stabbed as well. This ending mirrors the fate of Lulu's earlier victims, each of whom met violent deaths connected to her.