A member of the Second Viennese School, a follower of Schoenberg, and one of the best known exponents of dodecaphonism, Austrian composer Anton Webern lived an extremely modest life and died an unfortunate death.
And while his influence and stature are now widely recognized, he left almost no followers, nor did he add many works to the standard repertoire.
Born in Vienna in 1883, he met Schoenberg at the beginning of the new century and worked with him for six years. Around that time he also became intimate with Alban Berg, who would be his great friend and atonalist colleague for many years. To earn a living after finishing his traditional studies, he began a career as a conductor in various and varied Austrian theaters, an activity that would be interrupted throughout the First War.
Interwar
In 1918 he took up the baton again, dedicating himself also to teaching while composing music that was never performed. In 1923 he took over the direction of a choral ensemble of Viennese workers, which lasted until 1934 when the association was banned by the Nazi authorities.
Black years begin for the composer who, married and with children, must work as a proofreader for music publishers.
World War II is on the horizon.
The fatality
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| Anton Webern (1883 - 1945) |
At the age of sixty, he was mobilized. But he saved his life... until the war ended.
On September 15, 1945, at the home of one of his daughters, near Salzburg, he went out to smoke a cigarette, half an hour before curfew began. An American soldier shot and killed him by mistake.
Variations for piano op. 27
A considerable part of his work is devoted to voice and choirs, but he also wrote music for various instrumental groups or solo instruments. A work of special importance is his Variations for piano op. 27, composed in 1935-36, where his predilection for short forms is evident.
The work, constructed strictly according to twelve-tone procedures, consists of three minimal movements (just six minutes in total) in which, moreover, Webern dispensed completely with crescendos and diminuendos, marking the dynamic contrasts with frank and rough oppositions of forte and piano, the hallmark of almost all his work.
The rendition is by maestro Maurizio Pollini.
