The facts, as we know them, are these. Living in occupied Vienna at the end of World War II, Webern had gone to Mittersill, a nearby village in the countryside, to visit his daughter and son-in-law, Benno Mattel, a Nazi and black marketeer. The composer stepped outside to smoke one of Mattel’s illicit cigars after dinner. It was pitch-black, and an American soldier, who had come to arrest Mattel and was possibly drunk, apparently bumped into Webern and saw the flash of light from match or stogie. He shot first and asked questions later, according to testimony from Mattel’s cook; from the thief, Mattel, himself; from the composer’s wife; and from the soldier.(English)
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