Musicatlas
Music
Selected work list
Stage Works: Zeus und Elida, musikalische Groteske (1927); Schöne Geschichten, chamber opera (1927); Solo Scene (with Kurt Schwitters) (1929); The Man from Midian, ballet (1940)
Orchestral: 2 Studies (1933-34); Symphony No.1 (1955 rev. 1964)
Chamber: Blues-Stimmen aus dem Massengrab-Marsch (1928); Musik fur Hamlet (1929); Nonet (1936);Oboe Sonata (1938); Suite im hexachord for oboe and clarinet (1938); Violin Sonata (1949); Quartet for trumpet, saxophone, percussion and piano (1950); Quartet for oboe, cello, percussion & piano (1955); Quintet with Voice (1957); Piece in 3 Parts for piano and 16 instruments (1961); Piece in 2 Parts for 6 players (1962); Piece for 2 Instrumental Units (1962); Trio in 2 Parts for flute, cello & piano (1963-64); Chamber Piece No.1 for 14 players (1964); Solo Piece for trumpet 91966); Chamber Piece No.2 for 14 players (1968); String Quartet (1968-9); Piece for Trumpet and 7 Instruments (1971)
Vocal: 5 Hölderlin Lieder (1924); 6 Songs from the Hebrew (1936-8); Arrangements of Palestinian and Yemenite Folksongs (1938); Yigdal - Cantata (1938); Israel and its Land - Cantata (1939); Drei Lieder von Bertolt Brecht (1943); Excerpts from Dr Einstein’s Address about Peace in the Atomic Era, for voice and piano (1950); Apollo and Artemis (1955); Music for Medium Voice and piano (1959)
Piano: Melos (1920); Stehende Musik (1925); Cinq marches caracteristiques (1920s); Tango (1927); Studies on Basic intervallic Rows (1936 - includes the Passacaglia, one of his best-known pieces); Simple Music with definitely Political Intentions (also for Band or any other instrumental combination) (1938); Zemach Suite (1939); Studies, Part 1 (1944-51); Battle Piece (1943-4); 7 Pieces for 3 Pianos (1951); Enactments for 3 pianos (1950-53); Form (1959); Form IV: Broken Sequences (1969)
Life
Stefan Wolpe is of Viennese and Russian parentage. He studied at the Berlin Hochschule with Franz Schreker and Paul Juon, 1918-22. From 1923-25 he was associated with the Bauhaus in Dessau, studied Gregorian Chant in France and became musical director of the Berlin Volkstheater. In 1931-2 he was pianist and composer for the Agitprop group Die Truppe. Fleeing Berlin in 1933 he went to Vienna and studied with Webern, then settled in Palestine in 1934, where he taught at the Hebrew Conservatory. In 1938 emigrated to the USA and taught in Philadlphia Music Academy and (from 1957) at Long Island University. he also taught privately; his pupils include Charles Wuorinen and Bernard Benoliel. He was much afflicted by Parkinson’s Disease in his last years. The pianist Katharina Wolpe is his daughter.