Anton Webern was born on the third of December 1883 in Vienna. He was a late bloomer who found music through a cello during public school. His father did not accept his son’s musical fate, but after much pressure and persuasion Webern studied music at the University of Vienna. He graduated with a Ph.D. at the age of 23. Webern was a pioneer in the serial or twelve-tone method of composition and is considered a musical genius, although he was reported very distraught most of his life.
For most of his existence Webern was a conductor in various concert halls for different orchestras around Europe. He wrote of his urge to refrain from conducting orchestras, claiming it was depressing and it was not the music he wanted to present as his. He spent his free time composing, creating masterpieces such as “In Gottes Namen aufstehn” and “Fahr hin, o Seel.” His most famous work was perhaps his Symphony Opus 21.
This work made him a favorite to many fellows across Europe and even the most powerful man on the mainland was a great fan. Adolf Hitler himself adored Webern, he felt admiration and power while listening to his conducting. This made Webern a star in Germany, although Webern had very religious work throughout his life and did not agree with the principles of the Nazi Party.
World War Two played a large part in the life of Anton Webern. He had one son, who he adored more than anything in the world. His son was drafted in the Nazi military and killed in a troop train headed for the Eastern Front. He was unable to compose after this and fell into another deep depression. When the war ended in 1945 he felt as if a curse had been lifted and began to write the beginning sketches of what would become later works. Tragically he was never able to write his final songs and was mistakenly killed in a field by an American soldier just weeks after the war was ended, in 1945.
So look him up. He wrote fantastic symphonies.
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