Major commissioned works include Akrostichon and L‘ORA X for orchestra, an oratorio for Pentecost, Pfingstoratorium, music for the F. W. Murnau silent film Tabu and the ballets Der Kreisel and Effi Briest.
The German novelist Theodor Fontane used the death of Rhenanian Emil Hartwich (1843- 1886; district judge in Düsseldorf) during a duel with Baron Léon Armand von Ardenne as guideline for his novel Effi Briest in 1894.
Mattes was featured in four films directed by director Rainer Werner Fassbinder (The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Wildwechsel, Effi Briest and In a Year of 13 Moons).