Alban Berg's Five Orchestral Songs after Postcards by Peter Altenberg (German: Fünf Orchesterlieder nach Ansichtskarten von Peter Altenberg), Op. 4, were composed in 1911 and 1912 for medium voice, or mezzo-soprano. They are considered a true song cycle, unlike his previous two groups of songs, the Sieben frühe Lieder of 1908 and the Vier Gesänge, Op. 2, of 1910, and they are his first work for orchestra. The postcard texts by contemporary Viennese poet Altenberg recount the stormy but beautiful condition of the soul and the palpable sensations of love and longing. The highly imaginative music responds with many displaced ostinati and a conflicted, lyrical passion. When two of the songs (Numbers 2 and 3) were performed for the first time – on 31 March 1913 under the baton of Berg's teacher
Schönberg in Vienna's Musikverein – members of the audience were sufficiently taken aback as to erupt in a famous riot, wounding the composer's feelings so deeply that he never again sought a performance for them.
The work is scored for medium voice (mezzo-soprano) and a large orchestra consisting of:
