Anton Webern

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Lore & Background

Webern was born on 3 December 1883 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, the only surviving son of Carl von Webern, a decorated army veteran, high-ranking civil servant, and mining engineer who owned the Lamprechtsberg copper mine. He grew up mainly in Graz (1890–1894) and Klagenfurt (1894–1902), with one stay in Olomouc and more in Vienna for his father's work. He excelled only in the humanities and likely sang in choir at school. The children spent Easter holidays and summer vacations at the Preglhof, the extended family's country estate near Schwabegg in Carinthia, where they played in forests under the Koralpe and on a high meadow by the parish church. These experiences, and reading Peter Rosegger, shaped his distinct and lasting sense of Heimat. At the University of Vienna (1902–1906), he studied musicology under Guido Adler, earning a doctorate by editing the Choralis Constantinus II, and also studied art history and philosophy with Max Dvořák, Laurenz Müllner, and Franz Wickhoff. In 1904 he became a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg, meeting Alban Berg as another Schoenberg pupil, and they became lifelong friends following similar musical paths. Through Schoenberg, Webern met Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Max Oppenheimer, Egon Schiele, and Emil Stumpp. He married Wilhelmine "Minna" Mörtl in a 1911 civil ceremony in Danzig; she had become pregnant in 1910 and they were cousins, so the Catholic Church only solemnized their union in 1915, after three children. Webern conducted and coached singers and choirs mostly in operetta, musical theater, light music, and some opera in his early career. He rose as a choirmaster and conductor, championing Gustav Mahler's music in Red Vienna and abroad. Marginalized as a "cultural Bolshevist" in Fascist Austria and Nazi Germany, he opposed fascist cultural positions but always espoused pan-Germanism and helped Jewish friends emigrate and hide while repeatedly considering emigrating himself. A soldier accidentally killed Webern after World War II.

Reader's Guide

Webern's significance lies in his radical, concise atonal and twelve-tone compositions, which were among the most extreme of his era. He was likely the first and certainly the last of the three Second Viennese School composers to write music in an aphoristic and expressionist style, reflecting his instincts and the idiosyncrasy of his compositional process. Working from personal experience, he treated themes of love, nature, mysticism, and nostalgia. Following Schoenberg's guidance, Webern tried writing music of greater length during and after their World War I service, relying on the structural support of texts in many Lieder. With Schoenberg based in Berlin, Webern began writing music of increasing confidence, independence, and scale using twelve-tone technique. After his death, in a phenomenon known as post-Webernism, his music was celebrated by composers, musicians, and scholars. René Leibowitz, Pierre Boulez, Robert Craft, and Hans and Rosaleen Moldenhauer established it as an important part of modernism through performance, study, and advocacy. Igor Stravinsky assimilated it. To many, it represented a path to serialism. Broader understanding of Webern's expressive agenda, performance practice, and complex sociocultural and political context lagged. A historical edition of his music is currently underway.

Did You Know?

• Webern was the only surviving son of Carl von Webern, a decorated army veteran and mining engineer who owned the Lamprechtsberg copper mine.
• He earned his musicology doctorate by editing the Choralis Constantinus II under Guido Adler.
• Webern married his cousin Wilhelmine Mörtl; the Catholic Church only solemnized their union in 1915, after three children.
• He was marginalized as a 'cultural Bolshevist' in Fascist Austria and Nazi Germany.
• A soldier accidentally killed Webern after World War II.