webern 2

Popular summer resort of emperor Franz Joseph I and the composers Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Johann Strauß Son (1825-1899), Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), Emmerich Kálmán (1882-1953), Franz Lehár (1870-1948).

Sights:

Lehár villa
Haenel-Pancera museum
"Ischl operetta weeks" from July to September
Imperial villa with landscape garden
Ischler Salzberg (680m) with show salt-mine near Perneck
Municipal theater (built in 1827, today the building houses a cinema)
Kurhaus (built from 1873 to 1875, rebuilt in 1965/66 after a fire)

In summer 1908, Anton von Webern started in Bad Ischl his first engagement as conductor. He assumed the functions of a coach, choir director, assistant conductor and second conductor of the spa orchestra.

Graz

Styria. Capital city of the Province Styria.

Sights:

Cathedral (first documentary mention in 1174)
Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II (important edifice of the mannerism)
Leechkirche (built on the tombs of the urn field culture of the 9th/8th century B.C.)
Municipal parish church with Baroque facade and Baroque gable tower (commencement of construction around 1440)
Herz-Jesu-Kirche (1881-1891, most monumental neo-Gothic edifice of Styria)
Calvary and church (way of the Cross 1654, church 1668-1723)
Landhaus (1494, knight's hall of 1630; most important Renaissance building of Styria)
Landeszeughaus (1642-1644, today most important historic arsenal of the world with approx. 29,000 weapons and armors)
Castle (built in 1428-1453 under Emperor Friedrich III)
Old university (1609)
Schloßberg with clock tower

Anton von Webern's father was transferred to Graz in 1890, the family lived in the capital city of Styria till 1894.
Webern visited Graz also later, in April 1901 he attended for instance aperformance of Wagner's „Tristan and Isolde" during the Easter week.
In World War I, the headquarters of his unit were in Graz. He had to go there for medical examinations of his myopia.

Klagenfurt

Capital city of the Province Carinthia. First mention in a document as market in 1193 and as city in 1279. From 1534 to 1594, extension of the town into fortress (in 1809, the French razed the fortifications, rests of them are still preserved).

Sights:

Parish church St. Peter and Paul
Main municipal parish church St. Egyd
Country house (1574-1594)
Old town hall (around 1600)
Lindworm fountain
Provincial museum
Ingeborg Bachmann and Robert Musil museum

The Webern family lived from 1894 to 1902 in Klagenfurt. Webern was concerned with music already in his school days at the classical secondary school. Fourteen-year-old he played the cello in the concert society orchestra of Klagenfurt. After the final examination in July 1902, he followed his parents to Vienna, where they lived since Easter in the 9th district.

The different apartments of the family from 1894 to 1902:
Südbahnstraße 9 (from 1894 to 1896)
Bahnhofstraße 4 (from 1896 to 1898)
Hasnerstraße 5 (from 1898 to 1902)

Schiffgasse 14
Carl von Webern, Anton von Webern's father, lived in this villa after his retirement till his death in 1919.

Krumpen

Krumpen is in the Styrian Krumpen valley near Hafning, next to Vordernberg.

Krumpen no. 3

Anton von Webern spent the summer 1927 here with his famaily. He had rented three rooms and a kitchen in an old farm.

Leoben

Styria. Old center of the iron industry, first documentary mention as „Liubina" in 982.

Sights:

Municipal parish church (since 1811, former Jesuit church, built in 1660-65)
Pilaster church with particularly beautiful pulpit (around 1665-70)
City museum (in the east wing of the former Jesuit college)
Old town hall (with tower of 1568)
At the main place bourgeois houses, in the core Gothic or of the Renaissance
Engelsbrunnen (1794)
Angel fountain (1794)
Finds of the Bronze Age
Grave field of the Hallstadt culture period

Maria-Enzersdorf am Gebirge

Lower Austria. Market town near Mödling, formerly wine-growing town and place of pilgrimage.

Sights:

Parish (Franciscan) church (built in 1632)
Franciscan monastery (built after 1600)
„Schlößchen auf (or: von) der Weide" (1714-16) with ceiling frescos by J. G. Schmidt (1730). It houses the Austrian Olympic and sports museum.
In the surroundings: Liechtenstein castle

Im Auholz 8

On September 5th 1932, Anton von Webern moved with his family in the house Im Auholz 8. The Webern family lived at the second floor and the attic of the villa till spring 1945.
A commemorative tablet on the house reminds of that (unveiling on March 15th 1972 during the International Anton Webern festival).

Mittersill

Salzburg. Market town, planned foundation of the town in the 13th century.

Sights:

Baroque parish church (1747-1749) with glass paintings (1840)
Baroque church St. Anna (1751) with ceiling paintings by C. A. Mayr (1753)
Castle (first documentary mention in 1180, in 1938 reconstruction after a fire, late Gothic chapel with winged altar-piece of the 15th century)

Markt 101 (Anton-Webern-Gasse 2)

Anton von Webern spent the last months of his life in Mittersill. The Webern couple lived there with the daughter Christine Maria Halbich in the house Burk 31.

In the evening of September 15th 1945, the couple was staying with the other son-in-law Benno Mattel in the house Markt 101. The American occupying power suspected Mattel of being a black-market operator and set a trap for him that evening. Sentries were posted around the house. When Webern left the house to smoke a cigarette, an American soldier shot him by mistake.
Twenty years after his death, a bronze commemorative plaque was fixed on the entrance door.

Cemetery

Anton and Minna Webern's tomb

Mödling

Lower Austria. Town south of Vienna. First documentary mention in 903.

Sights:

Mediaeval center with Renaissance houses
Late Gothic parish church
Renaissance town hall (1548)
Castle (renovated in 1812, today ruin)
Amphitheater (1810), ruin of the Romantic era
Beethoven memorial place
Arnold Schönberg memorial place

Neusiedlerstraße 53

Anton von Webern lived from 1918 to early February 1932 here, not far away from the house of his teacher Arnold Schönberg.
From 1921 to 1926, Webern was choirmaster of the male-voice choral society of Mödling. After having been criticized for engaging a Jewish female singer, he resigned.

Church St. Othmar

Webern conducted masses in this church.

Mürzzuschlag

Styria. City (1924), main town of the Mürz valley. First documentary mention in 1227.

Sights:

Parish church
Protestant Savior church (1900)
Brahms house (middle of the 16th century)
Gewerkenhaus (1792) (house of a shareholder of a mining company)
Former Franciscan church (1648-1657, secularized in 1798, today art house)

Wienerstraße 104

Webern spent the summer 1913 partly in the house of his aunt Leopoldine Schmid. Because he needed calm for his work, he rented an attic room in a villa on the mountain slope. The Webern family left Mürzzuschlag on July 25th 1913 and went to Vienna.

Preglhof

Farm near Bleiberg in Carinthia, property of the Webern family. Anton von Webern spent here many summer holidays.
His father sold the farm after his retirement and lived then in a villa in Klagenfurt.

Vienna

Wien 1., Lothringerstraße 20, Konzerthaus

The Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft (Viennese concert house society) was founded in 1908. The great concert house building, designed by Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, was raised in 1912/13. It housed also the national music academy (formerly conservatory of the society of music lovers, today Academy of music and interpretative arts).

Many premières and Austrian first performances (Schönberg, Strauss, Zemlinsky, Hindemith, Bartók, Britten, Strawinsky etc.) were performed at the three concert halls of the house (Schubertsaal, Mozartsaal, Großer Saal).
Between 1913 and 1934, long series of „worker symphony concerts" were performed at the great hall. At the small hall (today Schubertsaal) the weekly concerts of the Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen (society of private music performances) were performed from 1919 to 1921.

In 1922, Anton von Webern became director of the worker symphony concerts.

Wien 1., Karlsplatz 6 / Bösendorferstraße 12, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of music lovers)

The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde moved into the Musikverein building of today in the year 1870. It was raised in two and a half years and inaugurated by emperor Franz Joseph I on January 5th 1870. At that time it housed the concert activities, the archives and the conservatory. Since then innumerable great musicians appeared in the two concert halls of the house, the Goldene Saal (golden hall) belongs to the most famous and best concert halls of the world.

On November 4th 1908, the first concert of Arnold Schönberg's students was performed here. Anton von Webern conducted his „Passacaglia" op 1.On March 30th 1913, Arnold Schönberg conducted the legendary scandal concert, where Webern's „Six pieces for orchestra" were performed among other compositions.

Wien 1., Wallnerstraße 9

Schwarzwald'sche Schulanstalten (does not exist anymore)
On November 23rd 1918, the general meeting for the foundation of the Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen (society of private music performances) was held here.

Wien 3., Löwengasse 53

Anton von Webern's birthplace (commemorative tablet). The Webern family lived in this house till 1890, when the father was transferred to Graz.

Wien 9., Ferstelgasse 6

In 1902, the father received a post in a ministry in Vienna and the family moved in the Ferstelgasse 6.

Wien 12., Ruckergasse 12

Apartment of Webern's parents-in-law. Anton von Webern lived here with his family in autumn 1911.

Wien 13., Kremsergasse 1

Webern lived in an apartment at the second floor from late August 1913 to (probably) 1918, except from February 1915 to December 1916, when he was stationed as soldier in Styria. Then he moved to Mödling at Neusiedlerstraße 53.

Wien 13., Penzingerstraße 82

Webern lived at the second floor of the three-storied house from January 5th to early in August 1932. Because the street noise was disturbing him when he worked, the family moved to Maria-Enzersdorf in summer 1932.

Wien 13., parish church of Ober-St.-Veit

Church wedding of Anton Webern and his cousin Wilhelmine Mörtl on December 26th 1915. The couple had married before a civil magistrate already on February 22nd 1911 in Danzig, but a papal dispensation was necessary because of the close degree of relationship.

Wien 19., Hohe Warte 32

Former Israelite intitute for the blind.
The building was raised in 1871-72 and housed a boarding-school for blind Jewish children, who came partly from Poland, Hungary and other countries to Vienna to attend their education at the institute. Today the building houses the police station of Döbling.
From September 1925 to December 1931, Webern conducted the choir of the institute for the blind.