Editing Anton Webern (section)

===1908–1918: Early adulthood in Austria-Hungary and German Empire===

====Marriage====
Webern married Wilhelmine "Minna" Mörtl in a 1911 [[civil ceremony]] in Danzig. She had become pregnant in 1910 and feared disapproval, as they were [[Cousin marriage|cousin]]s. Thus the [[Catholic Church]] only solemnized their lasting union in 1915, after three children.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=115–116, 138–139}}

They met in 1902,{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=48}} later [[hiking]] along the [[Kamp (river)|Kamp]] from [[Rosenburg-Mold]] to [[Allentsteig]] in 1905. He wooed her with [[John Ruskin]] essays (in German translation), dedicating his [[Langsamer Satz]] to her. Webern diaried about their time together "with obvious literary aspirations":

{{Blockquote|We wandered ... The forest symphony resounded. ... A walk in the moonlight on flowery meadows—Then the night—"what the night gave to me, will long make me tremble."—Two souls had wed.{{efn|Here Webern quoted [[Detlev von Liliencron]]'s {{lang|de|"Heimgang in der Frühe"|italics=no}}, which he set to music in 1903.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=63–64, 77–79, 277, 654n6}}}}}}

[[File:Anton webern.jpg|right|thumb|Photograph of Webern (1912)]]

====Early conducting career====
Webern conducted and coached singers and choirs mostly in [[operetta]], [[musical theatre|musical theater]], [[light music]], and some [[opera]] in his early career. Operetta was in its Viennese [[Operetta#Operetta in German|Silver Age]].{{sfn|Baranello|2021|loc=2}} Much of this music was regarded as low-{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=73, 141}} or [[middlebrow]]; Kraus, [[Theodor Adorno]], and [[Ernst Krenek]] found it "uppity" in its pretensions.{{sfn|Baranello|2021|loc=2–6, 10, 25}}{{efn|Still later, for [[Carl Dahlhaus]], it was "trivial".{{sfn|Baranello|2021|loc=3, 178}}}} In 1924 [[Ernst Décsey]] recalled he once found operetta, with its "old laziness and unbearable musical blandness", beneath him.{{sfn|Baranello|2021|loc=22, 183}} [[J. P. Hodin]] contextualized the opposition of the "youthful [[intelligentsia]]" to operetta with a quote from [[Hermann Bahr]]'s 1907 essay ''Wien'':{{sfn|Hodin|1966|loc=76–77, 223n35; cf. H. Bahr's ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20220619071226/https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-buch?apm=0&aid=68 Wien]''}}{{blockquote|everyone knows ... it is always Sunday in Vienna ... one lives in a world of half-poetry which is very dangerous for the real thing. They can recognize a few waltzes by [[Joseph Lanner|Lanner]] and Strauss ... a few Viennese songs ... It is a well-known fact that Vienna has the finest cakes ... and the most cheerful, friendly people. ... But those who are condemned to live here cannot understand all this.}}

"What benefit ... if all operettas ... were destroyed", Webern told Diez in 1908.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=103}} But in 1912, he told Berg that Zeller's ''[[Der Vogelhändler|Vogelhändler]]'' was "quite nice" and Schoenberg that J. Strauss II's ''[[Eine Nacht in Venedig|Nacht in Venedig]]'' was "such fine, delicate music. I now believe ... Strauss is a master."{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=162}} A summer 1908 engagement with [[Bad Ischl]]'s {{ill|Kurkonzert|lt=Kurorchester|de|Kurkonzert|display=1}} was "[[hell]]".{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=103}} Webern walked out on an engagement in [[Innsbruck]] (1909), writing in distress to Schoenberg:{{blockquote|a young good-for-nothing ... my 'superior!' ... what do I have to do with such a theatre? ... do I have to perform all this filth?{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=106}}{{efn|In 1926, he counseled his pupil Ludwig Zenk, then in an analogous situation, not to resign ("Do not allow yourself to be angered"), citing the examples of Mahler's conflicts with [[Felix von Kraus]] over tempi and "How Mahler had to suffer under [[Bernhard Pollini|[Bernhard] Pollini]] for so many years!"{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=106–107}}}}}} Webern wrote Zemlinsky seeking work at the Berlin or Vienna Volksoper instead.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=106, 110}}{{efn|Most references to a Volksoper in the Moldenhauers' ''Chronicle'' are to the famous one in Vienna, but Webern's father referred to one in Berlin.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=110}}}} He started at [[Teplice|Bad Teplitz]]'s Civic Theater in early 1910, where the local news reported his "sensitive, devoted guidance" as conductor of Fall's ''[[Die geschiedene Frau|Geschiedene Frau]]'', but he quit within months due to disagreements.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=111–113, 130–131}} His repertoire likely included Fall's ''[[Die Dollarprinzessin|Dollarprinzessin]]'', Lehár's ''[[Der Graf von Luxemburg|Graf von Luxemburg]]'', O. Straus's ''[[Ein Walzertraum|Walzertraum]]'', J. Strauss II's ''[[Die Fledermaus|Fledermaus]]'', and Schumann's ''[[Manfred (Schumann)|Manfred]]''.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=111–112}} There were only 22 musicians in the orchestra, too few to perform [[Puccini]]'s operas, he noted.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=111–112}}

Webern then summered at the Preglhof, composing his Op. 7 and planning an opera.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=130–132}} In September, he attended the [[Munich]] premiere of Mahler's ''[[Symphony of a Thousand]]'' and visited with his idol,{{efn|Webern was "effusive and ecstatic" in his veneration of Mahler.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=150–151}}}} who gave Webern a sketch of "{{lang|de|Lob der Kritik|italic=no}}".{{efn|This "Praise of Criticism" was an early version of "{{lang|de|Lob des hohen Verstandes|italic=no}}" ("Praise of Lofty Intellect") from ''[[Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Mahler)|Des Knaben Wunderhorn]]''.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=135–136, 144, 188, 657n1, 657n3}}}} Webern then worked with Jalowetz as assistant conductor in [[Danzig]] (1910–1911), where he first saw the "almost frightening" ocean.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=135–136}} He conducted [[Friedrich von Flotow|von Flotow]]'s ''Wintermärchen'', George's ''[[Die Försterchristl|Försterchristl]]'', Jones' ''[[The Geisha|Geisha]]'', Lehár's ''[[Die lustige Witwe|Lustige Witwe]]'', Lortzing's ''[[Der Waffenschmied|Waffenschmied]]'', Offenbach's ''[[La belle Hélène|Belle Hélène]]'', and J. Strauss II's ''[[Der Zigeunerbaron|Zigeunerbaron]]''.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=135–136, 141}} He particularly enjoyed Offenbach's ''[[Les contes d'Hoffmann|Contes d'Hoffmann]]'' and Rossini's ''[[Il barbiere di Siviglia|Barbiere di Siviglia]]'', but only Jalowetz was allowed to conduct this more established repertoire.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=141}}

Webern soon expressed homesickness to Berg; he could not bear the separation from Schoenberg and their world in Vienna.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=135–137}} He returned after resigning in spring 1911, and the three were [[pallbearer]]s at Mahler's funeral in May 1911.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=142–144}} Then in summer 1911, a neighbor's antisemitic abuse and aggression caused Schoenberg to quit work, abandon Vienna, and go with his family to stay with Zemlinsky on the {{lang|de|[[Starnbergersee]]|italics=no}}.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=146–147, 149}} Webern and others fundraised for Schoenberg's return, circulating more than one hundred leaflets with forty-eight signatories, including G. Adler, H. Bahr, Klimt, Kraus, and R. Strauss, among others.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=146–147}}{{efn|Other prominent signatories included [[Peter Altenberg]], [[Julius Bittner]], [[Artur Bodanzky]], [[Engelbert Humperdinck (composer)|Engelbert Humperdinck]], [[Wilhelm Kienzl]], [[Julius Korngold]], [[Adolf Loos]], [[Arthur Schnitzler]], [[Franz Schreker]], and [[Bruno Walter]].{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=147}}}} But Schoenberg was resolved to move to Berlin, and not for the first or last time, convinced of Vienna's fundamental hostility.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=73, 145, 147, 153}}

Webern soon joined him (1910–1912), finishing no new music in his devoted work on Schoenberg's behalf, which entailed many editing and writing projects.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=149–154}} He gradually became tired, unhappy, and homesick.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=149–154}} He tried to persuade Schoenberg to return home to Vienna, continuing the fundraising campaign and lobbying for a position there for Schoenberg, but Schoenberg could not bear to return to the {{lang|de|[[Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst]]|italics=no}} due to his prior experiences in Vienna.{{sfnm|Auner|1999|1loc=8 first "as a {{lang|de|[[Privatdozent]]|italics=no}}", 23–24 quoting Schoenberg, cf. [[Erwin Stein]]'s ''Arnold Schoenberg Letters'' (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1987)|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=104, 114, 149–154}} At the same time, Webern began a cycle of repeatedly quitting and being taken back by Zemlinsky at the {{lang|de|[[State Opera (Prague)|Deutsches Landestheater Prague]]|italics=no}} (1911–1918).{{sfn|Moskovitz|2010|loc=136–140}}

He had a short-lived conducting post in [[Stettin]] (1912–1913), which, as all the others, kept him from composing and alienated him.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=99–100}} On the verge of a [[Mental disorder|breakdown]], he wrote Berg shortly after arriving (Jul. 1912):{{sfnm|Johnson|1999|1loc=99–100, quoting his own translation of Hanspeter Krellmann's ''Anton Webern in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten'' (Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1975; p. 29)|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=156–173}}{{blockquote|I find myself under the dregs of mankind ... with ... absurd music; I'm ... seriously ill. My nerves torture me ... . I want to be far away ... . In the mountains. There everything is clear, the water, the air, the earth. Here everything is dismal. I'm poisoned by drinking the water.}}

===="Old song" of "lost paradise"====
Webern's father sold the Preglhof in 1912, and Webern mourned it as a "lost [[paradise]]".{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=157–158, quoting Webern in a 1912 letter to Schoenberg}} He revisited it and the family grave in nearby Schwabegg his entire life, associating these places with the memory of his mother, whose 1906 loss profoundly affected him.{{sfnm|Johnson|1999|1loc=22, 38, 74–75, 79, 86, 94, 128|Street|2013|2loc=383–384}} In July 1912, he confided in Schoenberg: {{multiple image
| total_width       = 400
| image1            = Pregelhof (Oberdorf).JPG
| image2            = Webern-Familiengrab-Schwabegg.JPG
| footer            = {{plainlist|
* (left) {{lang|de|Schloss Preglhof|italics=no}}, Webern's childhood home, in [[Neuhaus, Carinthia|Oberdorf]]
* (right) Webern family grave at the cemetery in [[Neuhaus, Carinthia|Schwabegg]], on a meander spur of the [[Drava]]
}}
}}{{blockquote|I am overwhelmed with emotion when I imagine everything ... . My daily way to the grave of my mother. The infinite mildness of the entire countryside, all the thousand things there. Now everything is over. ... If only you could ... have seen ... . The seclusion, the quiet, the house, the forests, the garden, and the cemetery. About this time, I had always composed diligently.{{sfnm|Johnson|1999|1loc=82, 108|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=204}}}}

Shortly after the anniversary of his mother's death, he wrote Schoenberg in September 1912:{{sfnm|Johnson|1999|1loc=82, 108|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=204}}{{blockquote|When I read letters from my mother, I could die of longing for the places where all these things have occurred. How far back and ... beautiful. ... Often a ... soft ... radiance, a supernatural warmth falls upon me— ... from my mother.{{sfnm|Johnson|1999|1loc=82, 108|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=204}}}}

For [[Christmas]] in 1912, Webern gifted Schoenberg Rosegger's ''{{ill|Waldheimat|de|display=1|preserve=1}}'' (''Forest Homeland''{{sfn|Miller|2020|loc=66}}), from which [[Julian Johnson (academic)|Julian Johnson]] highlighted:{{blockquote|Childhood days and childhood home!<br>It is that old song of Paradise. There are people for whom ... Paradise is never lost ... in them God's kingdom ... rises ... more ... in ... memory than ... ever ... in reality; ... children are poets and retrace their steps.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=80–81}}}} Rosegger's account of his mother's death at the book's end ("An meine Mutter") resonated with Webern, who connected it to his Op. 6 orchestral pieces.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=85}} In a January 1913 letter to Schoenberg, Webern revealed that these pieces were a kind of [[program music]], each reflecting details and emotions tied to his mother's death.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=85}} He had written Berg in July 1912, "my compositions ... relate to the death of my mother", specifying in addition the "Passacaglia, [String] Quartet, most [early] songs, ... second Quartet, ... second [orchestral pieces, Op. 10] (with some exceptions)".{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=84}}{{efn|By then Webern had written several early works for string quartet.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=Appendix I}} He did not specify which ones he meant.}} 

Johnson contended that Webern understood his cultural origins with a maternal view of nature and {{lang|de|Heimat}}, which became central themes in his music and thought.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=20–23, 79–86}} He noted that Webern's deeply personal idea of a maternal homeland—built from memories of pilgrimages to his mother's grave, the "mild", "lost paradise" of home, and the "warmth" of her memory—reflected his sense of loss and his yearning for return.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=82}} Drawing loosely on [[V. Kofi Agawu]]'s semiotic approach to classical music, specifically his idea of [[Music semiology|musical topics]], Johnson held that all of Webern's music, though rarely directly [[Representation (arts)|representational]], was enriched by its associative references and more specific musical and extra-musical meanings.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=4–11, 264 cf. [[V. Kofi Agawu]]'s ''Playing with Signs: A Semiotic Interpretation of Classical Music'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991) and ''Music as Discourse: Semiotic Adventures in Romantic Music'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)}} In this he claimed to echo Craft, Jalowetz, Krenek, the Moldenhauers, and Webern himself.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=4–11}}

[[File:1908 Mürzzuschlag.png|right|thumb|[[Mürzzuschlag]], 1908 postcard photograph]]

In particular, Webern associated nature with his personal (often youthful and spiritual) experiences, forming a topical nexus that recurred in his diaries, letters, and music, sometimes explicitly in sketches and set texts. He frequented the surrounding mountains, summering in [[resort towns]] like [[Mürzzuschlag]] and [[Backpacking (hiking)|backpacking]] (sometimes [[summit]]ing) the [[Gaisstein]], [[Grossglockner]], [[Hochschober]], [[Hochschwab]], and [[Schneealpe]] (among others) throughout his life. The [[alpine climate]] and [[alpine föhn|föhn]], glaciers, [[pine tree]]s, and [[Spring (hydrology)|springs]] "crystal clear down to the bottom" fascinated him. He treasured this time "up there, in the heights", where "one should stay".{{sfnm|Johnson|1999|1loc=20–23, 57, 80, 99, 102|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=17, 77–78, 107, 126–127, 175, 200–203, 231, 234, 255, 265, 283, 285, 294, 302, 348, 365–366, 399, 423, 431, 438, 467–468, 472, 546–547}}

He collected and organized "mysterious" alpine herbs and cemetery flowers in [[Flower preservation#Pressed|pressed]] albums, and he tended gardens at his father's home in Klagenfurt and later at his own homes in the [[Mödling District]] (first in [[Mödling]], then in [[Maria Enzersdorf]]).{{sfnm|Johnson|1999|1loc=20–23, 57, 80, 99, 102|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=17, 77–78, 107, 126–127, 200–203, 231, 234, 255, 265, 283, 285, 302, 348, 365–366, 399, 423, 431, 438, 467–468, 472, 546–547}} [[Karl Amadeus Hartmann]] remembered that Webern gardened "as a devotion" to Goethe's ''[[Metamorphosis of Plants]]'', and Johnson drew a parallel between Webern's gardening and composing, emphasizing his connection to nature and his structured, methodical approach in both pursuits.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=36–37, citing [[Dieter Rexroth]]'s ''Opus Anton Webern'' (Berlin: Quadriga Verlag, 1983)}} Johnson noted that gardens and cemeteries are alike in being cultivated, closed spaces of rebirth and quiet reflection.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=36–37}}

These habits and preoccupations endured in Webern's life and {{lang|fr|œuvre}}.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=20–23, 79–86}} In 1933, Joseph Hueber recalled Webern stopped in a fragrant [[Montane ecosystems#Subalpine zone|meadow]], dug his hands into the soil, and breathed in the flowers and grass before rising to ask: "Do you sense 'Him' ... as strongly as I, 'Him, [[Pan (god)|Pan]]'?"{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=399}} In 1934, Webern's lyricist and collaborator [[Hildegard Jone]] described his work as "filled ... with the endless love and delicacy of the memory of ... childhood". Webern told her, "through my work, all that is past becomes like a childhood".{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=84–85}}

====Psychotherapy====
In 1912–1913, Webern had a breakdown and saw [[Alfred Adler]], who noted his idealism and perfectionism.{{sfnm|Johnson|2006b|1loc=212|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=178–182}} There were many factors involved.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|loc=100}} Webern had little time (mostly summers) to compose.{{sfnm|Johnson|1999|1loc=100|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=112, 162–163, 165}} There were conflicts at work (e.g., he emphasized that a director called him a ''"little man"'').{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=112, 162–163, 165}} His ambivalence toward sales-oriented popular music theater contributed ("I ... stir the sauce", he wrote).{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=112, 162–163, 165}} "It appears ... improbable that I should remain with the theatre. It is ... terrible. ... I can hardly ... adjust to being away from home", he had written Schoenberg in 1910.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=110–111}} Miserably ill and alienated, he first had sought medical advice and taken rest at a [[sanatorium]] in {{ill|Kurhaus Semmering|lt=Semmering|de}}.{{sfnm|Johnson|1999|1loc=100|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=135–174}} Adler later evaluated his symptoms as [[Psychogenic disease|psychogenic]] responses to unmet expectations.{{sfnm|Johnson|2006b|1loc=212|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=178–182}} Webern wrote Schoenberg that Adler's [[psychoanalysis]] was helpful and insightful.{{sfnm|Johnson|2006b|1loc=212|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=178–182}}

====World War I====
As [[World War I]] broke out and nationalist fervor swept Europe, Webern found it "inconceivable", he wrote Schoenberg in August 1914, "that the German Reich, and we along with it, should perish."{{sfnm|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|1loc=209|Shreffler|1999|2loc=276}} Yielding in his distrust of [[Protestant]] Germany, he compared Catholic France to "cannibals" and expressed [[pan-German]] patriotism amid wartime propaganda.{{sfnm|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|1loc=209|Shreffler|1999|2loc=276–277}} He cited his "faith in the German spirit" as having "created, almost exclusively, the culture of mankind".{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=209}} Despite his high regard of French classical music, especially Debussy's, Webern revered the tradition as centered on counterpoint and form, and as mainly German since Bach.{{sfn|Shreffler|1999|loc=277}}

Webern served intermittently for nearly two years.{{sfn|Shreffler|1999|loc=273}} The war cost him professional opportunities, much of his social life, and the necessary leisure time to compose (he completed only nine {{lang|de|Lieder}}).{{sfn|Shreffler|1999|loc=273}} Moving frequently and tiring,{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=209–222}} he began to despair, explaining to Schoenberg in November 1916 that the reality of war was "[[Old Testament]]" and "'[[Eye for an eye|Eye for eye]]'", "as if [[Christ]] had never existed".{{sfnm|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|1loc=218|Shreffler|1999|2loc=276–279}} Webern was discharged in December 1916 for myopia, which had disqualified him from frontline service.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=217–218}}

His 1917 {{lang|de|Lieder}} show that he reflected on his patriotism and processed his sorrow.{{sfn|Shreffler|1999|loc=278–279}} He treated the loss of life and, with the 1916 death of [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]], the end of an era.{{sfn|Shreffler|1999|loc=277–278}} In "Fahr hin, o Seel'", he selected a lament sung at a funeral in a Rosegger novel.{{sfn|Shreffler|1999|loc=277–278}} In "Wiese im Park", he selected a text from Kraus recognizing that the day was "dead", {{lang|de|"und alles ... so alt"}}{{sfn|Shreffler|1999|loc=277–278}} ("and everything ... so old"). Webern also set several disturbing poems of [[Georg Trakl]], not all of which he could finish.{{sfn|Shreffler|1999|loc=278}} With uninterrupted contrapuntal density, by turns muscular and murmured, he [[Word painting|word painted]] Trakl's "great cities" and "dying peoples", "leafless trees", "violent alarm", and "falling stars" in "Abendland III".{{sfn|Shreffler|1999|loc=278–279}}

====Austrian defeat and socioeconomic strain====
During and after the end of the war, Webern, like other Austrians, contended with food shortages, insufficient heating, socioeconomic volatility, and geopolitical disaster in defeat.{{sfn|Shreffler|1999|loc=279}} He had considered retreating to the countryside and purchasing a farm since 1917, specifically as an asset better than [[war bonds]] at shielding his family's wealth from inflation.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=221–226}} (In the end, he lost all that remained of his family's wealth to [[Hyperinflation#Austria|hyperinflation]] by 1924.){{sfn|Shreffler|1999|loc=279}} He proposed to Schoenberg that they might be [[smallholder]]s together.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=221–226}}

Despite Schoenberg's and his father's advice that he not quit conducting, Webern followed to Schoenberg to Mödling in early 1918, hoping to be reunited with his mentor and to compose more.{{sfnm|Bailey Puffett|1998|1loc=90–91|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=221–226|Moskovitz|2010|3loc=139–140}} But Webern's finances were so poor that he soon explored a "voluntary exile" to Prague again.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=221–226}} Nonetheless, he continued to raise funds, including his own, for Schoenberg,{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=221–226}} with whom he spent every day.{{sfn|Bailey Puffett|1998|loc=91}}

Yet soon after he arrived, Webern broke his friendship with Schoenberg.{{sfnm|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|1loc=221–226|Muxeneder|2019|2loc=169–170, quoting Berg|Shreffler|1999|3loc=279–280}}{{efn|Berg himself experienced breaks in his friendship with Schoenberg,{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=224}} who could be overbearing.{{sfn|Bailey Puffett|1998|loc=37}} When Webern broke his friendship with Berg (1915–1916), he cited Schoenberg's influence in the matter.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=219, quoting Webern}}}} The break was multifactorial{{sfn|Muxeneder|2019|loc=169–170, quoting Berg}} but involved Webern's dissatisfaction with his career{{sfn|Shreffler|1999|loc=279–280}} and financial turmoil.{{sfn|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|loc=224–225}} Berg learned of the Weberns' ill temperaments and "latent antisemitism" from Schoenberg,{{sfnm|Bailey Puffett|1998|1loc=94|Muxeneder|2019|2loc=169–170, quoting Berg}}{{efn|Schoenberg's son-in-law {{ill|Felix Greissle|de}} also recalled Webern's labile antisemitism, contextualizing it as part of Webern's vacillating resentment and respect toward Schoenberg{{sfn|Muxeneder|2019|loc=169–170, quoting Greissle}} while also noting that Schoenberg had [[Internalization (sociology)|internalized]] some antisemitism ("mildly" antisemitic jokes were common in Schoenberg's home, Greissle's son George recalled, which Julie Brown contextualized as "unexceptional").{{sfn|Brown|2014|loc=42, 56–90, 174, 186–187, 209n34}} Schoenberg was self-conscious of his Jewish and [[Social class|class background]], having confronted antisemitism in reading [[Otto Weininger]].{{sfn|Brown|2014|loc=42, 56–90, 104–105, 174, 186–187, 209n34}} He repeatedly engaged with [[controversies surrounding Richard Wagner]], who he also read and whose possible Jewish lineage interested him.{{sfn|Brown|2014|loc=42, 56–90, 104–105, 174, 186–187, 209n34}} He contended with Wagnerian charges as to Jewish artists' creative inabilities.{{sfn|Brown|2014|loc=42, 56–90, 104–105, 174, 186–187, 209n34}} While working on ''[[Die Jakobsleiter]]'' on family holiday at [[Mattsee]] in summer 1921, Schoenberg was given notice that all Jews should leave the town, angering him and sparking his return from Protestantism to [[Judaism]].{{sfnm|Brown|2014|1loc=42, 56–90, 174, 186–187, 209n34|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=238–239}} In response, [[Wassily Kandinsky]] wrote to him from the [[Bauhaus]] in 1923, "I reject you as a Jew. ... Better to be a human being".{{sfn|Brown|2014|loc=42, 56–90, 174, 186–187, 209n34}} Schoenberg responded, "what is anti-Semitism to lead to if not to acts of violence?"{{sfn|Brown|2014|loc=42, 56–90, 174, 186–187, 209n34}}}} and noted that Schoenberg "wouldn't explain" further than "'Webern wants to go to Prague again'".{{sfn|Bailey Puffett|1998|loc=91}} Bailey Puffett argued that Webern's actions in and after the 1930s suggested that he was not antisemitic, at least in his maturity.{{sfn|Bailey Puffett|1998|loc=28, 173–174}} She noted that Webern later wrote Schoenberg that he felt "a sense of the most vehement aversion" against German-speaking people who were.{{sfn|Bailey Puffett|1998|loc=153}}

After meeting with Webern, Berg saw "the matter in a different light", considering Webern "by and large innocent" in light of what Webern said was Schoenberg's "kick in the teeth": after laying plans for a New Music society, Schoenberg angrily called Webern "secretive and deceitful" upon learning that Webern was instead considering Prague again.{{sfnm|Bailey Puffett|1998|1loc=92|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|2loc=221–226}} They reconciled in October 1918, not long before Webern's father died in 1919.{{sfnm|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|1loc=225|Muxeneder|2019|2loc=169–170|Shreffler|1999|3loc=279–280}} Webern was changed by these events; he slowly began to grow more independent of Schoenberg, who was like a father to him.{{sfnm|Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer|1978|1loc=163, 225, 343|Shreffler|1999|2loc=279–280}} For his part, Schoenberg was not infrequently dubious of Webern, who he still considered his closest friend.{{sfn|Brown|2014|loc=104–106}}{{efn|In and after the 1930s, Schoenberg worried that adherents to [[Aryanism]] would deny his standing as the originator of twelve-tone technique, writing that Webern might "someday use his chance ... of the Aryan against the Jew" and that "[[Josef Matthias Hauer|[Josef Matthias] Hauer]] ... does the same".{{sfn|Brown|2014|loc=104–106}}}}