Editing Anton Webern (section)

====Besieged milieu and political uncertainty====
Webern's milieu comprised increasingly vast differences.{{sfn|Krasner and Seibert|1987|loc=338}} Like most Austrians, he and his family were [[Religion in Austria|Catholic]], though not church regulars; Webern was perhaps devout if unorthodox.{{sfnm|Bailey Puffett and Schingnitz|2020|1loc=18|Brown|2014|2loc=36, 41|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|3loc=33, 139, 199, 214, 355}} They became politically divided.{{efn|Webern's only son Peter was an avid [[Austrian National Socialist]]. His eldest daughter Amalie married businessman Gunter Waller, who joined the Nazi Party as a business formality. His youngest daughter Christine married {{lang|de|[[Kreisleiter]]|italic=no}} and {{lang|de|[[Schutzstaffel]]|italic=no}} member Benno Mattl, "little liked by the family", in Jun. 1938.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=497}} His middle daughter Maria Halbich almost emigrated with a man "of Jewish origin". She and Webern's wife Wilhelmine "Minna" Mörtl were wary of Hitler and the Nazis. Webern avoided politics at home.{{sfnm|Bailey Puffett|1998|1loc=86, 166-172|Krones|2007|2loc=Biographie, 1933–1939|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|3loc=13, 497-498, 522}}}} His friends (e.g., then [[Zionism|Zionist]] Schoenberg,{{efn|Webern told Krasner, "Schoenberg, had he not been a Jew, would have been quite different!"{{sfn|Krasner and Seibert|1987|loc=338}} For Bailey Puffett, this likely referred to Schoenberg's politics,{{sfn|Bailey Puffett|1998|loc=171}} which were vaguely conservative and German nationalist before becoming [[Zionist]]. See also "My Attitude towards Politics" in Schoenberg's ''Style and Idea''.}} [[Left-wing politics|left-leaning]] Berg{{efn|Adorno wrote that "Berg was little concerned with politics, although he saw himself implicitly a socialist."{{sfn|Simms and Erwin|2021|loc=375}} Following the 1918 ''[[Austro-Hungarian strike of January 1918|Jännerstreik]]'' and 1919 [[Spartacist uprising]], Berg wrote to [[Erwin Schulhoff]], who was sympathetic, "What names does the [[Allies of World War I|Entente]] have (outside of [[Russian Revolution|Russia]]) that ring of idealism as [Rosa] [[Rosa Luxemburg|Luxemburg]] and [Karl] [[Karl Liebknecht|Liebknecht]] do?"{{sfn|Perle|1980|loc=19–24}} In weary [[opposition to World War I]], Berg had been adapting ''[[Junges Deutschland]]'' playwright [[Georg Büchner]]'s [[Naturalism (theatre)|proto-Naturalist]] ''[[Woyzeck]]'', with its ''[[Vormärz]]'' theme of [[Marxist humanism#Alienation|alienation]],{{sfnm|Botstein|2010|1loc=330|Schwartz|2017|2loc=85–91}} in his opera ''[[Wozzeck]]''. Büchner's revolutionary 1834 call in ''[[The Hessian Courier]]'' for "Peace to the [[Gemeindebau#History|huts]]! War on the palaces!" (''Friede den Hütten! Krieg den Palästen!''){{sfn|Perle|1980|loc=19–24}} had endured. It was paraphrased by [[August Bebel]] (1871, during the [[Paris Commune]]){{sfn|Broué|1971|loc=13–14}} and [[Vladimir Lenin]] (1916, "Peace Without Annexations and the Independence of Poland as Slogans of the Day in Russia", and 1917, "Appeal to the Soldiers of All the Belligerent Countries", both amid the [[revolutions of 1917–1923]] ending World War I, of which the [[February Revolution]] was first).}}) were of a mostly Jewish milieu from [[Vienna#Austrian Empire and the early 20th century|late Imperial]] to "[[Red#In politics|red]]" (Social Democratic) Vienna.{{sfnm|Bailey Puffett|1998|1loc=174|Johnson|2006b|2loc=199|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|3loc=530|Simms and Erwin|2021|4loc=375}}  [[Alma Mahler]], Krenek, {{ill|Willi Reich|de}}, and Stein preferred or supported the "[[Lesser of two evils principle|lesser evil]]"{{efn|This was Stein's phrase about "what we have [in Vienna]" in a 1934 letter to Schoenberg.{{sfn|Simms and Erwin|2021|loc=376}}}} of the [[Austrofascist]]s (or aligned [[Italian fascism|Italian fascists]]) {{lang|fr|vis-à-vis}} the Nazis.{{sfn|Simms and Erwin|2021|loc=375–377}} Presuming power would moderate Hitler, Webern mediated among friends with an optimistic or self-soothing complacency, exasperating those who were at risk.{{sfnm|Kapp|1999|1loc=128|Krones|2007|2loc=Biographie, 1933–1939|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|3loc=473–474, 530–532, 680n28}}

Webern found himself surrounded mostly by one side as Schoenberg [[Emigration of Jews from Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe|immigrated]] to the US (1933), [[Rudolf Ploderer]] died by suicide (1933),{{efn|The Moldenhauers described Ploderer as "a victim of ... despair ... because of ... political developments."{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=400, 435}}}} Berg died (1935), and DJ Bach, among others (e.g., Greissle, Jalowetz, Krenek, Reich, Steuermann, Wellesz), fled or worse.{{sfnm|Kapp|1999|1loc=121–128|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=495–496, 517–518}} Webern immediately considered following Schoenberg to the US, which Schoenberg discouraged despite seeking opportunities there for Webern.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=408–413, 499–500}} Schoenberg knew that Webern was deeply attached to home, and he told Webern that conditions in the US were poor, mentioning the ongoing [[Great Depression]].{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=412–413, 499–500}}

Webern's views of [[National Socialism]] have been variously described.{{efn|Nazism itself was variously outlined, often emphasizing mutually reinforcing [[anticommunism]], [[expansionist]] [[nationalism]] (''[[Lebensraum]]''), and [[racialized]] antisemitism ([[Judeo-Bolshevism]]); but historians also noted multipartisan [[syncretic]] appeals of a nostalgic, [[populist]] nature, with some anti-[[modernism]] and [[irrationalism]], [[Social exclusion|socially exclusive]] [[communitarianism]] (''[[Volksgemeinschaft]]''), and [[criticism of capitalism]].{{sfnm|Fulbrook|2011|1loc=45–47|Mayer|1988|2loc=xiii, 90–109}}}} His published items{{efn|Composers' correspondence was conducted with some regard to the possibility of later publication, especially after the nineteenth century.{{sfn|Brand and Hailey|1987|loc=xix-xxi}} Accounts were often self-admittedly [[perspectival]].}} reflected his audience or context.{{sfnm|Bailey Puffett|1998|1loc=166–174|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=529–530}} Secondary literature reflected limited evidence or ideological orientations{{efn|Tito M. Tonietti observed of Schoenberg's reception history: "The many aspects of his complex life and artistic personality have ... been drastically simplified and isolated from their context. There has been a tendency to prefer only one, the most in line with the thesis that the writer wished to demonstrate. ... Schönberg has unfortunately not been understood ... [but] used ... for ... controversy ..., for ... purpose ... ."{{sfn|Tonietti|2003|loc=236–237}}}} and admitted uncertainty.{{sfnm|Kapp|1999|1loc=121|Powell|2013|2loc=3}} Julie Brown noted hesitancy to approach the topic and echoed the Moldenhauers, considering the issue "vexed" and Webern a "political enigma".{{sfnm|Brown|1998|1loc=149–150|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=530}} Bailey Puffett considered Webern's politics "somewhat vague" and his situation "complex", noting that he seemed to avoid definitive political association as a practical strategy.{{sfn|Bailey Puffett|1998|loc=166–174}} Webern's apparent sympathies with some of the Nazis' program later became a sensation in his reception, but the matter was often oversimplified or decontextualized and rested on limited evidence (mostly letters), Johnson wrote, sometimes with the larger aim of politicizing Webern's music and his musical language.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=219–220 {{lang|lt|et passim}} 221–225}}

Krasner and the Moldenhauers surmised Webern's [[cognitive dissonance]], finding him "idealistic and rather naive".{{sfnm|Krasner and Seibert|1987|1loc=337–338|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=532}} In 1943 Kurt List described Webern as "utterly ignorant" and "perpetual[ly] confus[ed]" about politics, "a ready prey to the personal influence of family and friends".{{efn|List ventured that "[n]ationalist ideas may have saved [Webern] from the concentration camp".{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=554–555}} Dissent was punishable under the ''[[Heimtückegesetz]]''.{{sfnm|Bukey|2019|1loc=70–72|Russell|2019|2loc=45–46}}}} Johnson described him as "personally shy, a man of private feeling and essentially [[apolitical]]",{{sfn|Johnson|2006b|loc=197}} and as "prone to [[Political identity|identify]] with Nazi politics as ... other ... Austrians".{{sfn|Johnson|2006b|loc=219–225}} Webern may have believed that the Nazis shared his own ideals, Johnson wrote, explaining that "it is possible that ... naiveté, ... ignorance and ... adherence to his own beliefs allowed Webern to see in Nazi ideology only ... elements ... he wanted to find".{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=220}}