Editing Anton Webern (section)

===="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
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| image1            = Pregelhof (Oberdorf).JPG
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* (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}}