Editing Anton Webern (section)

====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.}}