Editing Anton Webern (section)

===1918–1933: Rise in {{lang|de|Rotes Wien}} (Interwar Vienna)===

====Society for Private Musical Performances====
Webern stayed in Vienna and worked with Berg, Schoenberg, and [[Erwin Stein]] at the [[Society for Private Musical Performances]] (1918–1921), promoting [[Neue Musik|new music]] through performances and contests. Music included that of [[Bartók]], Berg, [[Busoni]], [[Debussy]],{{efn|Debussy, who died in 1918, once wished for a "'Society of Musical Esotericism'".{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=241}}}} [[Korngold]], Mahler, [[Vítězslav Novák|Novák]], [[Ravel]], [[Max Reger|Reger]], [[Satie]], Strauss, [[Stravinsky]], and Webern himself. Webern wrote Berg about Stravinsky's "indescribably touching" ''[[Berceuses du chat]]'' and "glorious" ''[[Pribaoutki]]'', which Schoenberg conducted at a sold-out 1919 Society concert.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=229}} There was perhaps some shared influence among Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Webern at this time.{{sfnm|Shreffler|1994|1loc=68–69|Simms|2006|2loc=463–464, 467}} The Society dissolved amid hyperinflation in 1921, having boasted some 320 members and sponsored more than a hundred concerts.{{sfn|Bailey Puffett|1998|loc=37}}

====Mature conducting career====
[[File:Anton Webern (1883–1945) 1927 © Georg Fayer (1891–1950) OeNB 10450290.png|upright|thumb|Webern, 1927, portrait by [[Georg Fayer]]]]

Webern obtained work as [[music director]] of the {{lang|de|[[Wiener Schubertbund]]|italic=no}} 1921, having made an excellent impression as the vocal coach Schoenberg recommended for their 1920 performance of ''[[Gurre-Lieder]]''.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=242–243}} They nearly abandoned this project before Webern stepped in.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=242–243}} He led them in performances of Brahms, Mahler, Reger, and Schumann, among others.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=242–243}} But low salary, mandatory touring, and challenges to Webern's thorough rehearsals prompted him to resign in 1922.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=242–243}} He was also chorusmaster of the Mödling {{lang|de|Männergesangverein|italic=no}}{{efn|Men's Singing Society}} (1922–1926) until he resigned in controversy over hiring a Jewish soprano, Greta Wilheim, as a stand-in soloist for Schubert's ''[[Song of the Sea|Mirjams Siegesgesang]]''.{{sfnm|Bailey Puffett|1998|1loc=121|Krones|2007|2loc=Biographie, 1914–1933|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|3loc=292, 450}}

From 1922, Webern led the mixed-voice amateur {{lang|de|Singverein der Sozialdemokratischen Kunstelle|italic=no}}{{efn|Singing Society of the Social Democratic Arts Council}} and {{lang|de|Arbeiter-Sinfonie-Konzerte|italic=no}}{{efn|Workers' Symphony Concerts}} through [[David Josef Bach]], Director of the {{lang|de|Sozialdemokratische Kunststelle|italic=no}}.{{sfnm|Johnson|2006b|1loc=197|Krenek|1998|2loc=787–788|Krones|2007|3loc=Biographie, 1914–1933}}{{efn|Social Democratic Arts Council}} Webern won DJ Bach's confidence with a 1922 performance of Mahler's [[Symphony No. 3 (Mahler)|Symphony No. 3]] that established his reputation, prompting Berg to praise him as "the greatest conductor since Mahler himself".{{sfnm|Bailey Puffett|1998|1loc=112|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=245–249}}{{efn|[[Berthold Goldschmidt]] cautioned that the [[Second Viennese School]] were a "mutual admiration society".{{sfn|Foreman|1991|loc=8}}}} Webern's Mahler interpretations continued to be widely celebrated.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=front flap}}{{efn|Since 1902, Webern idolized Mahler as a leading musician, studying his conducting and viewing him as a "serious" and "introspective" if sometimes sentimental composer—perhaps his favorite alongside Beethoven and Schoenberg.{{sfnm|Bailey Puffett|1998|1loc=9, 14–15, 26, 30, 32, 36, 44–45|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=39–41, 56–57, 71, 74–76, 136, 144, 150–156, 168, 175, 465}} Mahler's music resonated with Webern as confiding "inner experiences", from an early "worship of nature" to a more abstract spirituality later.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=114}} In 1911, Webern aimed to convince his father of his conducting aspirations by taking him to back-to-back performances of Mahler's ''Symphony of a Thousand''.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=156}} In 1912, he wrote Berg that he "must conduct ... must perform Schoenberg and Mahler and everything that is sacred".{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=155}}}} From 1927, [[ORF (broadcaster)|RAVAG]] aired twenty-two of Webern's performances.{{sfn|Bailey Puffett|1998|loc=122}}

He premiered Berg's [[Kammerkonzert (Berg)|Chamber Concerto]] with soloists [[Rudolf Kolisch]] and [[Eduard Steuermann]] in 1927{{sfn|Hayes|1995|loc=161}} and led Stravinsky's ''[[Les Noces]]'' with [[Erich Leinsdorf]] among the pianists in 1933.{{sfnm|Antokoletz|2014|1loc=75, 225|Moldenhauer|1961|2loc=327}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/12/obituaries/erich-leinsdorf-81-a-conductor-of-intelligence-and-utility-is-dead.html |title=Erich Leinsdorf, 81, a Conductor of Intelligence and Utility, Is Dead |newspaper=The New York Times |date=12 September 1993 |last1=Holland |first1=Bernard |archive-date=21 October 2022 |access-date=21 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221021062234/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/12/obituaries/erich-leinsdorf-81-a-conductor-of-intelligence-and-utility-is-dead.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{efn|Leinsdorf considered the experience of "utmost value to my musical and critical development".{{sfnm|Leinsdorf|1997|1loc=13|Stewart|1991|2loc=187}} The ''[[Renard (Stravinsky)#Score and music sample|popevki]]''-like [[List of set classes|3-7A]] [[Cell (music)|cell]] and [[List of set classes|4–10]] variant{{sfnm|Peyser|2008|1loc=80–81|Sills|2022|2loc=48–49, 84, 119–123|Toorn and McGinness|2012|3loc=43–52, 67–75, 124–126}} of ''Les Noces'' are not altogether unlike the rhythmized trichords of Webern's later [[Concerto for Nine Instruments (Webern)|Op. 24]]{{sfnm|Leeuw|2005|1loc=56–58|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=431–439|Puffett|1996|3loc=63}} or the tetrachords of Op. 30{{sfn|Leeuw|2005|loc=161}} (which Stravinsky later admired),{{sfn|Sills|2022|loc=48–49, 119–126, 284–285}} apart from Stravinsky's tendency to [[Anhemitonic scale|anhemitony]]{{sfnm|Maes|2002|1loc=284–285|Taruskin|1996b|2loc=383–413}} in marked contrast to Webern's hemitonicism.{{sfnm|Ewell|2013|1loc=219–223, 242|Hába|1934|2loc=15–17}}}} [[Armand Machabey]] noted Webern's regional reputation as a conductor of {{lang|fr|"haute valeur"}}{{efn|"high value"}} for his meticulous approach to then contemporary music, comparing him to [[Willem Mengelberg]] in ''[[Le Ménestrel]]'' (1930).{{sfn|Machabey|1930|loc=477}} Some on the left, notably {{ill|Oscar Pollak|de}} in ''[[Der Kampf (magazine)|Der Kampf]]'' (1929), criticized Webern's programming as more ambitious and [[bourgeois]] than popular and [[proletarian]].{{sfn|Johnson|2006a|loc=217}} And Webern seemed uneasy in his dependence on the Social Democrats for conducting work, perhaps on religious grounds, Krenek speculated.{{sfn|Krenek|1998|loc=787–788}} But [[Walter Kolneder]] wrote that "Artistic work for and with workers was [from] a ... Christian standpoint which Webern took very seriously".{{sfn|Kolneder|1968|loc=183, citing [[Roberto Gerhard]] and [[Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt]]}}

====Relative success in a destabilizing society====
Webern's finances were often precarious, even in his years of relative success. Relief came from family, friends, patrons, and prizes.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=110, 120, 150, 157, 182, 211, 221, 223, 247, 257–285, 285–286, 301, 304–305, 319–320, 348, 361, 363–364, 373, 441, 446, 448, 488, 525, 533, 544, 564, 592, 675n2}} He twice received the {{ill|Preis der Stadt Wien für Musik|de}}.{{efn|The first 1924 prize, juried by [[Julius Bittner]], [[Joseph Marx]], and Richard Strauss, was shared by several, including Berg, {{ill|Carl Prohaska|de}}, [[Franz Schmidt (composer)|Franz Schmidt]], [[Max Springer]], and [[Karl Weigl]]; the note was signed by [[Karl Seitz]], who asked Webern at a concert two weeks prior, "Are you a professional musician?"{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=258}} Berg and Webern later served as jurists.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=301, 347}} Only Webern received the prize in 1931.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=361, 365}}}} To compose more, he sought income while trying not to overcommit himself as a conductor.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=295, 301, 363–364, 415}} He contracted with [[Universal Edition]] only after 1919, reaching better terms in 1927,{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=120, 295}} and he was not very ambitious or astute in business.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=234, 365, 416, 440–441, 682}} Even with a doctorate and Guido Adler's respect, he never secured a remunerative university position, whereas in 1925 Schoenberg was invited to the [[Prussian Academy of Arts]], ending their seven years together in Mödling.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=285–287}}

[[Social Democratic Party of Austria|Social Democrat]]–[[Christian Social Party (Austria)|Christian Social]] relations [[Political polarization|polarized]] and [[radicalized]] amid the {{ill|Schattendorfer Urteil|de}}.{{sfnm|Simms and Erwin|2021|1loc=375–377|Wasserman|2014|2loc=1–2}} Webern and others{{efn|Among these were [[Alfred Adler]], [[Karl Bühler]], {{ill|Leo Delitz|de}}, [[Josef Dobrowsky]], [[Sigmund Freud]], [[Ernst Lichtblau]], {{ill|Fannina Borisovna Halle|lt=Fanina Halle|lt|Fannina Borisovna Halle|display=1}}, [[Hans Kelsen]], [[Alma Mahler]], suffragist Daisy Minor, [[Robert Musil]], [[Egon Wellesz]], and [[Franz Werfel]].{{sfn|Wasserman|2014|loc=47}}}} signed an "Announcement of Intellectual Vienna"{{efn|"Die Kundgebung des geistigen Wien," April 20, 1927; it read in part, with emphasis in original: "The essence of Spirit [''[[Geist]]''] is above all <em>Freedom, which is now endangered and we feel obligated to protect it</em>. The struggle for a higher humanity and the battle against indolence [{{lang|de|Trägheit}}] and sclerosis [{{lang|de|Verödung}}] will always find us ready. Today, it also finds us prepared for battle."{{sfn|Wasserman|2014|loc=47}}}} published on the front page of the Social Democrats' [[Newspaper#Daily|daily]] ''[[Arbeiter-Zeitung (Vienna)|Arbeiter-Zeitung]]''{{efn|''Workers' Times''}} days before the [[1927 Austrian legislative election]].{{sfn|Wasserman|2014|loc=47}} On Election Day in ''{{ill|Reichspost (Zeitung)|lt=Die Reichspost|de|Reichspost (Zeitung)|display=1}}'', [[Ignaz Seipel]] of the {{ill|Einheitsliste (Österreich)|lt=Einheitsliste|de|Einheitsliste (Österreich)|display=1}} officially applied the term "[[Red Vienna]]" pejoratively, attacking Vienna's educational and cultural institutions.{{sfn|Wasserman|2014|loc=1–2}} [[Social unrest]] escalated to the [[July Revolt of 1927]] and beyond.{{sfn|Wasserman|2014|loc=1–2}} Webern's nostalgia for [[social order]] intensified with increasing [[civil disorder]].{{sfn|Krasner and Seibert|1987|loc=337–338}} In 1928 friends fundraised for him, partly to fund a [[rest cure]] at the {{lang|de|Kurhaus Semmering|italic=no}} for his exhaustion and (possibly [[Psychosomatic medicine|psychosomatic]]) gastrointestinal complaints.{{efn|Supporters included DJ Bach, [[Ruzena Herlinger]], [[Werner Reinhart]], [[Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge]], [[Paul Stefan]], and the {{ill|IGNM-Sektion Österreich|de}}.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=302–305}}}}

In 1928, Berg celebrated the "lasting works" and successes of composers "whose point of departure was ... late Mahler, Reger, and Debussy and whose temporary end point is in ... Schoenberg" in their rise from "pitiful 'cliques'" to a large, diverse, international, and "irresistible movement".{{sfn|Berg|2014|loc=214–215, 288–290}} But they were soon [[Social exclusion|marginalized]] and [[Ostracism|ostracized]] in Central Europe with few exceptions,{{sfnm|Adamson|2003|1loc=412|Morgan|1993|2loc=75}}{{efn|Before his suicide in 1942, [[Stefan Zweig]] wrote, "the short decade between 1924 and 1933, from the end of German inflation to Hitler's seizure of power, represents—in spite of all—an intermission in the catastrophic sequence of events whose witnesses and victims our generation has been since 1914."{{sfn|Perle|1980|loc=201}}}} and in 1929 Webern wrote Schoenberg that "it is getting worse and worse here".{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=333}} He declined a RAVAG executive role, citing time constraints and fearing further affiliation with the Social Democrats.{{sfnm|Krones|2007|1loc=Biographie, 1914–1933|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=333}}{{efn|In 1920, Webern warned his cousin Heinrich Diez (Ernst's brother) not to accept a [[Hofburg]] apartment because the [[Habsburg monarchy]] would be restored.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=282}}}}

Webern's music was performed and publicized more widely starting in the latter half of the 1920s.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=293–295, 346–347, 362–365, 445}} Yet he found no great success as Berg enjoyed with ''[[Wozzeck]]''{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=365}} nor as Schoenberg did, to a lesser extent, with ''[[Pierrot lunaire]]'' or in time with ''[[Verklärte Nacht]]''. His [[Symphony (Webern)|Symphony, Op. 21]], was performed as a chamber piece in New York by the [[League of Composers]] (1929) and separately in London at the [[1931 International Society for Contemporary Music Festival|1931 International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) Festival]]. [[Louis Krasner]] sensed some resentment, noting that Webern had "very little".{{sfn|Krasner and Seibert|1987|loc=340–341}} Krenek's impression was that Webern resented his financial hardships and lack of wider recognition.{{sfn|Krenek|1998|loc=787–788}}