stefan wolpe society newsletter 2007 greeting

1STEFAN WOLPE SOCIETY NEWSLETTER 2007

Stefan Wolpe Newsletter/2007© 2007 Stefan Wolpe Society, Inc.1075 Stasia St., Teaneck NJ, 07666

editorAustin Clarkson

associate editorsNoyes Bartholomew

Martin BrodyMatthew Greenbaum

Cheryl Seltzer

productionDaniel Foley

Stefan Wolpe Society, Inc.Directors

honorary president Katharina Wolpe

president Martin Brody

vice-presidents Austin Clarkson

Matthew Greenbaum

secretary Cheryl Seltzer

treasurerNoyes Bartholomew

Hannah Arie-GaifmanJames KendrickRobert MartinRobert Morris

Zaidee ParkinsonPaul SadowskiFred Sherry

Becky StarobinDavid StarobinTodd Vunderink

[email protected]://www.wolpe.org

GREETING

We hope you enjoy this newsletter, which arrives after a lapse ofmany years. The article on the Cantata Yigdal is by Stefan Wolpe’scousin Gerald, who was attending the Jewish Theological Seminary atthe time. Stephen M. Fry tells the story of the bronze bust of Wolpethat found a home in the music library of the University of Californiaat Los Angeles. And the events attending the birth of Wolpe’s one andonly Symphony are recounted by one of the editors of the newedition. Bruce Pomahac of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organizationwas most generous in supplying information for the appreciation ofTrude Rittmann, who made an extraordinary contribution to theBroadway stage over three decades. And Dave Lewis instructs us onhow to access the Wolpe listings that he prepared for the All MusicGuide website. The remaining departments bring news from thearchives, conferences, books, editions, and recordings. The Chronicleof 2001-2007 and the Bibliography are comprehensive, but surely notcomplete, and we would be grateful for additions and corrections. Wealso welcome news items from performers, scholars, and enthusiastsfor inclusion in the next newsletter.

Austin Clarkson

with Martin Brody, Matthew Greenbaum, and Cheryl Seltzer

Table of Contents

ARTICLES

The Yigdal Cantata and its Background 2Gerald Wolpe

The Birth of Symphony No. 1 4Austin Clarkson

Remembering Trude Rittmann 6Bruce Pomahac & Austin Clarkson

A Wolpe Portrait in Los Angeles 7Stephen M. Fry

A Shout Out from All Music Guide 8Dave Lewis

REPORTS

Basel 9Heidy Zimmermann

Chapel Hill 9Austin Clarkson

Kassel 10Thomas Phleps

Salzburg 10Brigid Cohen

BOOKS 11

EDITIONS 12

RECORDINGS 14

CHRONICLE 2007-2001 18

BIBLIOGRAPHY 22

APPEAL FOR DONATIONS 24

The “Yigdal” Cantata and its BackgroundGerald Wolpe

The trauma in the World Jewish Community in the mid1940s was brutal. The full extent of the Holocaust wasemerging from postwar Europe, and the number of theloss was shattering. I remember hearing Rabbi Kaplan,the chief rabbi of France, in a lecture to our class at theJewish Theological Seminary. A survivor of the camps,he reported that a million Jews had died. We thoughtthat his experiences had affected his mind. "A millionJews — impossible." The true number was yet to beabsorbed.

As the community began to deal with this loss, religiousand cultural responses arose. In the words of onescholar, we were not going to give Hitler a posthumousvictory. Loyalty to Judaism, or at least to the JewishPeople, became a priority. One priority was the struggleto establish a Jewish State. A second was to expandJewish institutions — synagogue and secular —throughout America. Allies were sought and talentedJews were recruited for the effort. We had to prove tothe world that there were people of quality who wantedto be Jews and be identified without hesitation. AlbertEinstein, Arnold Schoenberg (returning fromChristianity), Leonard Bernstein. and others becamesymbols of a new renaissance.

Cantor David Putterman of the Park Avenue Synagoguein New York City used this energy to introduce newinterpretations of the liturgy. He wanted to leash theextraordinary talent of modern Jewish composers totheir ancestral heritage. In some cases the effort hadregrettable results. Many composers had had no contactwith their heritage, and their works seemed to beforced into unacceptable forms. In other cases therewas a meaningful understanding of the ancient andmodern words and compositions. Ernest Bloch was apioneer of this new approach, even composing acomplete service for the synagogue. Darius Milhaud andMario Castelnuovo-Tedesco worked from a firmgrounding of their ancient Jewish communities. Milhaudwas from the Provence and its Jewish history began inthe pre-Christian era. Tedesco was from Italy, whichfeatured major Jewish composers during the MiddleAges and Renaissance. These communities haddeveloped distinctive Jewish musical traditions, and thecomposers were conversant with their nuances. In bothcases they produced excellent works of Jewish interest.

The Stefan Wolpe Society Newsletter | 2007 |

Cantor Putterman wanted to enlist composers who hadmade their mark on the national and internationalscene. He hoped to show them that there was ameaningful Jewish musical tradition in which they couldparticipate. Primary in the group was LeonardBernstein, who had made a stir in the musical world bya successful substitution for the ill Bruno Walter. Hequickly became the star of the New York cultural sceneand Putterman was quick to ask for his participation. I had known Leonard at our synagogue in Boston, and hisfather was a close friend of our family. When Leonardhad a “Jewish concert,” his father would call me at theSeminary and invite me to join him. Bernstein waspresenting his Jewish symphonies, and I remember histelling me that the fourth movement of his JeremiahSymphony — the Eicha Theme — was based on hisremembrance of the Tisha B'Av service at oursynagogue. The congregational musical director, Dr.Solomon Braslavsky, taught him the ancient chant, amourning of the destruction of the Solomonic Temple.One can imagine the response to any program which wasattended by Leonard Bernstein and which includedworks by Lukas Foss, Bernard Rogers, Irving Fine andothers. It became a highlight of the New York culturalscene. It was no longer parochial for intellectuals toattend a Jewish program. Now it was fashionable.

It was at this time that I met Stefan. His wife Irma wasa close friend of Judith Lieberman, who was the wife ofone of my teachers. Saul Lieberman was the world’sleading Talmudist and a legend in our seminary. Mrs.Lieberman, a noted educator, was the daughter of afamous rabbi in Europe, and she maintained connectionswith noted figures in Germany, Palestine, and nowAmerica. I had dinner at their home a few times, and shetold me about Stefan. I met him at a concert and webegan a short but delightful relationship. A major themewas the family background. The Wolpe family has a longhistory in Lithuania. There is a tradition (later bolsteredby a genealogist in the family) that we were descendantsof Italian converts to Judaism. Many members stillspelled the name as ‘Volpe,’ which is a popular Italiansurname. Stefan and I could not trace a directrelationship, but we discovered that we were related tothe same Wolpes. We decided that we had to be cousins.He was pleased to know that we were related to ArnoldVolpe, who was born in Lithuania in 1869 and came toAmerica in 1898. Arnold was a noted conductor whofounded the popular Lewisohn Stadium Concerts in NewYork in 1918. He later founded the University of MiamiSymphony Orchestra in 1926. After his death in 1940, hiswife, Marie, was executive director of the orchestra formany years. Stefan indicated that he was interested in

meeting with her, but I do not think it took place. OnApril 5, 1998, a gathering of the Wolpe family took placein Washington, D.C. Close to 400 people attended fromIsrael, Europe, South Africa, Australia, as well as Canadaand the U.S.A. People spoke of their knowledge ofStefan’s family in Germany and indeed we were related.

As I went through my rabbinic training, Stefan and Iwould meet and discuss specific texts andinterpretations. He surprised me with his knowledge ofJewish sources, and I noted the extent of his ownspiritual quests. His connection with leftist causes wasclearly articulated, and he had piercing questions aboutthe meaning of Judaism, as I understood it. He wasclearly sympathetic to my choice of career. CantorPutterman commissioned a work from Stefan, and, sinceI knew both of them, I was present at many of theirmeetings. The Third Annual Sabbath Eve Service ofLiturgical Music by Contemporary Composers was held atthe Park Avenue Synagogue on May 11, 1945. While thecompositions by the other composers — Bernstein,Milhaud, Tedesco, Binder, etc. — were given completeperformances, only an excerpt of Stefan's Yigdal Cantatawas presented. Some time later Putterman arranged aconcert of liturgical music at the Seminary. It was, to myknowledge, the first time that he produced a concertoutside of his synagogue. It was an extended program ofinstrumental and vocal music. I remember Bernstein'sHashkevanu and Wolpe's Yigdal. I think it was the debutof the complete Yigdal. The music was above theunderstanding of the general audience. Students fromthe Julliard School, which at that time was across thestreet from the Seminary, were enthralled. I was uneasyfor Stefan. His ire was not directed towards theaudience, but towards the musicians, chorus andsoloists, whom he felt were not well chosen. We hadcoffee after the concert, but it was not one of our morepleasant meetings. He was clearly upset.

From then on our meetings and contact were sporadic. Iwas in the midst of ordination examinations, and I alsohad to teach to support myself. I had also begun agraduate degree at New York University in RenaissanceArt and History. It was a period when I struggled betweenthe choice of the rabbinate or an academic career inRenaissance studies. With an activist effort on behalf ofthe struggle for a Jewish State, my calendar wascrowded. Stefan and I did write to one another a fewtimes, but during one of my moves, that archive was lost.We lost contact and, to my regret, did not meet again.

Gerald Wolpe was for 29 years rabbi of a congregation in PennValley, PA, and has recently retired as director of theFinkelstein Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary


The Birth of Wolpe’s Symphony No. 1Austin Clarkson

Early in 1955 Stefan Wolpe received a commission for anorchestral work from Richard Rodgers and OscarHammerstein by way of the League of Composers andthe International Society of Contemporary Music. Atthat time he was music director at Black MountainCollege, but the college was failing financially and thestaff had not been paid in months. The award of $1,350was a godsend, and Wolpe set to work immediately. Heset aside over 300 bars of a wind symphony he wassketching and set to work on the piece for orchestra.Expecting to return the piece in progress, he wrote“Symphony No. 2” on the cover and laid out anexpansive five-movement design modeled onEnactments for Three Pianos. Between May andSeptember of 1955 he drafted three movements in shortscore and by the following January had completed theorchestration. It is not possible to say whether he usedmaterial from the wind symphony, as no sketches havesurvived, but he scratched “No. 2” from the cover ofthe full score of the Symphony, which suggests that hedid not intend to return to the piece in progress.

Wolpe was disappointed that the commission called foronly twenty minutes of music, as the three movementsin hand already exceeded the allotted time. Resolved towrite another symphony, he delivered the score asrequested in January of 1956. Three years went bybefore he could afford to have a fair copy made onvellum masters. The young Japanese pianist andcomposer Toshi Ichyanagi accomplished the arduoustask during the summer of 1959. On the title page of thenew score Wolpe wrote “Symphony No. 1, 1955-1956,”and yet it remained his only symphony.

When Leonard Bernstein saw the score, he scheduledthe premiere for the 1963-1964 season of the New YorkPhilharmonic. He noted, however, that the rhythmswere exceedingly complex and recommended to Wolpethat he simplify the metrics. The composer resistedstrenuously, but Bernstein persisted and persuaded himto accept the assistance of the conductor andmathematician Stefan Bauer-Mengelberg. The revisionprocess was underwritten by Bernstein’s AmbersonFoundation and was accomplished during the spring of1962. As the work proceeded Bauer-Mengelbergrecognized that the complexities of the score were notmere artifice but that Wolpe imagined the musicexactly as he had notated it. This realization led tomaking as few changes as possible, and yet alterationswere made to about one-third of the pages of the firstand third movements and one-half the pages of thesecond. Bernstein approved the revised score,scheduled it for a series of avant-garde concerts in thewinter of 1964, and invited Bauer-Mengelberg toconduct the premiere.

A Guggenheim Fellowship provided funds for making theorchestral parts, and Wolpe supervised theirpreparation while residing at the American Academy inRome. When the parts arrived in New York late in thefall of 1963, most were found to be inadequate, and thepremiere scheduled for mid-January of 1964 had to becanceled. David Oppenheim of Columbia Records cameto the rescue and helped to raise the funds needed fora crash program by a dozen copyists under ArnoldArnstein to prepare a fresh set of parts. On December29 The New York Times announced that theperformance was rescheduled and rehearsals began twodays before the premiere. Bernstein allotted as muchtime as possible to the Symphony, but it was soonapparent that only the two shorter movements could beprepared in time. Before each of the four performancesJanuary 16-19, 1964 Bernstein read a text thatrecounted the symphony’s difficult birth:


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. . . The symphony of Stefan Wolpe turned outin practical rehearsals to be of such enormousdifficulty that it has proved impossible toprepare all of it in time for these concerts. . . .And so Mr. Mengelberg and I have chosen qualityas against quantity and have decided to presenttwo of the three movements well preparedrather than all three movements in the rough. .. . When the score first arrived at my officesome years ago, I was deeply struck by itsintensity, originality, and great musicality, but itwas frankly unperformable. . . . But I stillthought that this music ought to be heard, andso I conceived the idea of asking Mr. Wolpe if hewould consider re-barring and rearranging themetrical values of the Symphony in the interestsof practicality. …

The truncated Symphony made a powerful impression.Eric Salzman wrote in The New York Times that the twomovements were

to say the least, a remarkable, evenoverwhelming experience. . . . It is full of a kindof on-going process of transformation andchange that works itself out in rich, flashing,kaleidoscopic lines, colors and accents; themusic tumbles, it twists and turns, it plungesahead, and stumbles and falls, it darts andsweeps from top to bottom, from each momentto the next creating its own unique world ofpossibilities and realizations. It ends only byexhausting itself, by using up its own form, bydestroying its own unique universe, created andthen exhausted by the musical thought itself.

The first complete performance was given in Boston inApril of 1965, when Frederick Prausnitz led the NewEngland Conservatory Orchestra. The followingSeptember he conducted the BBC Symphony in theEuropean premiere. Arthur Weisberg made the firstrecording in September of 1975, when he led theOrchestra of the 20th Century in Carnegie Hall (CRI 676).

Perhaps it was a poorly balanced performance thatprompted Wolpe to delete most of the percussion afterbar 106 of the second movement. The Weisbergrecording confirmed that Wolpe’s fears wereunfounded, and that the complete part fulfills thepromise of a fugue in which one of the three subjectsconsists mainly of un-pitched percussion. When Prof.Robert Falck and I prepared the new edition, wedecided to restore the deleted percussion, but thepublisher no longer had a score with the completepercussion or the original percussion part. We contacted

Mr. Weisberg, who kindly photocopied and sent us theneeded pages from his score. The edition was preparedin collaboration with Todd Vunderink and Robert Lee ofPeermusic in New York. David Nichol, who has engravedmany Wolpe scores, mastered the challenges with hisaccustomed patience and expertise.

A few months after completing the symphony Wolpegave a lecture on new music in the U.S.A. at Darmstadt.He said that “the prevailing style over in America isbecoming radicalized only very, very slowly.” A neworchestral sound was emerging in Elliott Carter’sVariations for Orchestra (1955) and the Third Symphony(1957) of Roger Sessions, but most Americansymphonists were uninterested in the models providedby Ives, Varèse, and Ruggles. They continued to favordiatonicism, stratified thematic space in whichinstrumental choirs move integrally and antiphonally,and the auras of regionalism, Romanticism, and Neo-Classicism. Wolpe’s symphony stands closer to thesymphonic works of Ralph Shapey, Earle Brown, MortonFeldman, Charles Wuorinen, and Mario Davidovsky, whoregarded Varèse and Wolpe as mentors. In the companyof the painters, jazz musicians, and dancers of New Yorkand the poets of Black Mountain College Wolpe made abold and brilliant contribution to the movement thatshifted the focus of the avant-garde from Europe toNorth America. His Symphony No. 1 marks the thresholdof a new era of symphonic music in America.

[From the preface to the new edition.]

References

Bauer-Mengelberg, Stefan. 2003. In Recollections of StefanWolpe, edited by A. Clarkson.http://www.wolpe.org/Recollections.

Falck, Robert. 2003. A Labyrinthine Universe: The One andOnly Symphony No. 1. In The Music of Stefan Wolpe: Essaysand Recollections, ed. A. Clarkson, 221-232. Hillsdale, NY:Pendragon Press.

Ichyanagi, Toshi. 2003. In Recollections of Stefan Wolpe.

Peyser, Joan. 1998. Bernstein, A Biography. New York:Billboard Books.

Salzman, Eric. 1964. The New York Times, 17 Feb. 1964.

Austin Clarkson, professor of music (ret.), York University, was a studentof Stefan Wolpe while studying musicology at Columbia University. He isgeneral editor of the composer’s music and writings


Remembering Trude Rittmann

Trude Rittmann was a brilliantpianist, composer, andarranger who played a crucialrole in Broadway dance andmusical theater from the1940s until the mid 1970s. Shewas born in Mannheim,Germany, in 1908 and beganmusic studies at the age ofsix. Ernst Toch taught hercomposition while she was inher early teens, after whichshe went to the Hochschule in

Cologne, where she studied with Philip Jarnach forcomposition and Edward Erdmann for piano. Shegraduated with the artist’s diploma in both fields in1932 and the next year joined the group of soloistsperforming under the direction of Hermann Scherchenat the Strasbourg Festival of Contemporary Music. Shepremiered a piano work by Alan Bush, who was sodelighted that he brought her to England to teach atDartington. In 1935 she was again with Scherchen,performing and teaching at his International School ofMusic and Drama at Brussels. It was there that she metStefan Wolpe, who had come from Palestine to studyconducting. Rittmann, though six years younger, wasWolpe’s coach. She recalled:

I coached Stefan conducting a Bach Suite. Heconducted silently and I watched him with the score.He was already then a remarkable pianist of his ownstuff. He was so musical, the music dripped out of hisfingers. He had always a magnetic quality in anythinghe did, whether he talked or played, such intensityand drama.

Rittmann stayed on in Brussels as Scherchen’s assistantat the Théâtre de la Monnaie and also assistant editorof his journal Musica Viva. She immigrated to the U.S.A.in 1937 and was soon engaged by Lincoln Kirstein aspianist for George Balanchine’s American BalletCaravan. At first she assisted Elliott Carter, who was themusic director, but when he quit to concentrate oncomposing, she took over for the next four years. Sheand Wolpe got together at least by 1940, as ten lettersfrom Rittmann to Wolpe from that year suggest that aromance had blossomed between them. In June of 1940Rittmann accompanied Josef Marx in the second andthird movements of Wolpe’s Oboe Sonata for abroadcast over WNYC. Theodore Adorno, who produceda series of music programs for the city radio station,included the Wolpe along with songs of Mahler and theBerg Piano Sonata performed by Rittmann.

I was supposed to play the Berg Sonata, Op. 1, andthen to end the program Joe Marx and I playedStefan's Oboe Sonata. Then a terrible thinghappened. I played the Berg Sonata and nobody knewthat I would repeat the exposition part, which I did.And so when Joe and I started the Oboe Sonata andplayed and played and played, we were not donewhen the time was finished. So part of it was hackedoff, and poor Stefan had a fit. We played to the endbut didn’t know they had turned off. Adorno wascalled out while we were playing and returnedlooking very pale and disturbed, and afterwards hetold us Mayor LaGuardia had called to say he didn’twant any more of that music on his station. He wasvery outspoken about it. I still feel very guilty forhaving done that to poor Stefan. I made that repeatwhich nobody had foreseen. It’s such a short piecethat if I repeat the exposition, it will make it a bitlonger.

At that time Rittmann was touring with Ballet Caravanthrough the USA, Canada, and South America. Rittmannand another pianist performed the repertoire on twopianos, and in 1941 she commissioned Wolpe totranscribe the Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings and theBach Double Concerto (BWV 1043). That year sheassisted Wolpe with music for the propaganda film“Palestine at War,” commissioned by the PalestineLabor Committee. The eight items for flute, violin,viola, cello, and piano included such titles as “MilitaryReview,” “Diamonds Shop View,” Top of Saw Mill,” and“Children at Givat Brenner.” The last, “Jewish Soldier’sDay,” is a setting of the march song “Rote Soldaten”that Wolpe had composed ten years before in Berlin.The song was published in a collection of Communistsongs distributed from Moscow (1935) and reprinted as“Ours is the Future” in Songs of the People, a song bookpublished in New York by the Workers Library (1937).The scoring of that item is in Rittmann’s hand, as aretwo other items, one of which is perhaps her owncomposition. The materials have timings and othermarkings that indicate it was performed, presumablywith Rittmann directing from the piano. Where andwhen the film was actually shown has not beendetermined. Rittmann provided Wolpe entré to thedance community. Marthe Krueger (1910-2001), whohad immigrated from Germany in 1933, commissionedWolpe to compose a suite of three dances in 1940. Itwas through Rittmann that Wolpe met Eugene Loring,who left the Ballet Theatre in 1941 to form his owncompany. The next year Wolpe composed the ballet TheMan from Midian for Loring’s Dance Players.

It was at the invitation of Agnes de Mille and Kurt Weillthat Rittmann worked on her first Broadway musical,One Touch of Venus (1943). She was soon in demand as


a rehearsal and concert accompanist and choral anddance music arranger, and through her career workedon more than sixty Broadway productions. Her firstRichard Rodgers musical was Carousel (1945), for whichshe arranged the music to Agnes de Mille’s dances. Sheworked on four further Rodgers and Hammersteinmusicals—Allegro (1947), South Pacific (1949), The Kingand I (1951), and The Sound of Music (1959). It was notuntil after the death of Rodgers in 1979 that hisdaughter Mary, also a composer, prevailed upon theRodgers and Hammerstein Organization to printRittmann’s name on the music she had composed. Shealso contributed to the musicals of Lerner and Loewe —Brigadoon (1946), Paint your Wagon (1951), My FairLady (1956), Gigi (film, 1958 and Broadwayversion,1974), Camelot (1960) and The Little Prince(film, 1974). And she wrote for the stage, television,and films, including several productions of JoshuaLogan, the last being Rip van Winkle (1976).

As composer, arranger, and pianist Rittmann made adistinguished and lasting contribution to the Broadwaymusical stage. For some shows she only wrote dancemusic, for some only the vocal arrangements, for somethe incidental music, for some she did all three and wasonly credited for one or two. The only way to know forsure is to check the opening night programs for credits.Then again sometimes she received little or no credit inthe program and was credited later in the publishedvocal scores and libretti. In 1953 Agnes de Mille formedher own Dance Theatre and asked Rittmann to supervisethe musical preparation. Rittmann composed The CherryTree Legend for de Mille, with whom she maintained anintimate and life-long association until her death in 1993.In 1997, speaking with a reporter, Rittmann said, “That’sa story in itself—the development of women in thetheater. We were not too welcome. Agnes had herdifficulties. I guess we both had our difficulties.” Shebrought out her score of South Pacific with the signaturesof Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. The list ofcredits mentioned neither Agnes de Mille nor TrudeRittmann. Trude Rittmann retired to Waltham, Mass.,where she died on February 22, 2005, aged 96.

References

Rittmann, Trude. 2003. In Recollections of Stefan Wolpe,edited by A. Clarkson. http://www.wolpe.org/Recollections.The Rittmann Papers are in the Dance Division of the New YorkPublic Library at Lincoln Center.

— Bruce Pomahac & Austin Clarkson

A Wolpe Portrait in Los AngelesStephen M. Fry

Since his emigration to this country in 1938, StefanWolpe has been known primarily as an East Coastcomposer with no ties to Los Angeles. Except for one.His likeness is sculpted in a superb bronze portraitwhich rests alongside busts of Arnold Schoenberg andErnst Toch in the UCLA Music Library. How this sculpturecame to the library is an interesting and consequentialstory. The tale began in 1967 when Austin Clarksonbrought the well-known sculptor Helaine Blum to meetWolpe. They talked of her creating a bronze head of thecomposer, and she invited them both to visit her studio.She was attracted to the composer’s personality andagreed to commence with the work. I interviewed herabout this episode and how the bronze portraittranspired. She remembers the event of some thirty-five years ago quite well and offered many details ofher experience.

“Wolpe had a strongmental energy about him,”she recalls. “I enjoyed ourconversations while he satfor the work. I felt therewas a lot of substancethere to work with, and Iimmediately wanted to dothe sculpture. We spokeabout his time in Israel,and also his early days inNew York. However, he wasnot an easy subject. Hewas a Jewish intellectualand had a kind of sarcasticwit, sometimes almostcaustic, which seemedexacerbated by his ongoingillness [He was suffering

from Parkinson’s disease.] In fact this was an interestingaspect of his personality to me, and seemed a commoncharacteristic of German intellectuals in my experience.I completed the clay model after several sessions. Hewould come around nine in the morning with Mr.Clarkson. He would sit for about an hour and a half eachsession, with a few breaks when I would make coffee.”


The Modern Art Foundry in New York cast the portrait inbronze, she explained. “From my original work in claythey made a plaster cast, then created a wax mould ofit. It took about six weeks to finally cast the metalportrait using the lost wax process. The experience ofdoing Wolpe’s portrait seemed to come and go veryquickly. I felt the work was an absorbing challenge. Thiswas a very exciting and active time in my life. I had justcompleted a portrait of Walter Starkie, who was SamuelBeckett’s teacher. This had been an extraordinaryexperience. Ben Gurion, Max Weber, and MarcelMarceau were yet to come. I had done Linus Pauling.”Blum described the unveiling. “The portrait waspresented to the composer and a group of about twentyof his friends, colleagues, and students in the Clarksonapartment in New York. Wolpe liked it very much. I feltit was a great accomplishment for me. The WeintraubGallery was my showcase at the time, and afterwardthe portrait went on exhibition there.”

I met Helaine Blum in the spring of 1987 and discussed withher the letters and other documents by writers andscientists with whom she was friends. Being a charming andwitty woman and a marvelous conversationalist, we grewto be friends. She told me about her bronze portrait ofWolpe after I had assured her that I knew of the composerand his work. She placed the portrait on loan in the UCLAMusic Library in 1988, and in 1991 the remarkable womangraciously donated the work to UCLA. Her portrait of StefanWolpe, standing 16 inches high on a 5-by-5-inch ebonybase, now has a permanent home beside the two otherillustrious emigrés in our library.

Stephen M. Fry retired from the UCLA Music Libraryseveral years ago. Currently he writes a weekly columnon music for Blue Pacific Newspapers, and is preparingfor publication transcriptions of songs and dancespublished in the 18th Century London monthly TheGentleman's Magazine.

A Shout Out from All Music GuideDave Lewis

As assistant editor in the classical music department atthe All Music Guide in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I want tocongratulate the Wolpe Society on its new newsletter,which I understand has been a long time in coming.Some real strides have been made on behalf of Wolpe inthe last couple of years, such as the discs Enactmentson Hat Art, which I reviewed for AMG, and Wolpe inJerusalem on Mode, which was reviewed by mycolleague Blair Sanderson. Accessing information about

such recordings on the web or in print can be a dauntingproposition, and part of what we do at AMG is to providea platform through which detailed information aboutrecordings of classical music can be accessed withrelative ease.

In 2001 AMG’s classical department instituted a numberof projects where we unified the work lists of about 200deserving classical composers. Wolpe was one of the lastof the original series of composers "cleaned," the workbeing completed by myself in the summer-fall of 2005. Ielicited the help of Austin Clarkson, who was mostgenerous with his time and information — I have morethan a dozen emails that we have exchanged dealingwith fine details relating to Wolpe and his works.

Here are some navigational hints to the allmusic.comWolpe site. First, you go to www.allmusic.com and type"Wolpe, Stefan" into the empty box to the right of theword "ALLMUSIC." Make sure that the tab below the boxis set to "Artist/Group," which it usually is when youfirst go there. Hit "Enter" or press the "Go" button to theright of the box, and that should take you right toWolpe's classical page, with photo and bio. Click the tababove his name that reads "Works." First, it brings up"Highlights," which singles out those works of Wolpe thathave been recorded with the most frequency. Click onthe tab to the right of the "Highlights" box, and thatleads to a pull down menu that lists "All" below"Highlights," followed by the various genres in whichWolpe worked. Clicking "All" will bring you a listing ofeverything, which for Wolpe is four pages of works,which you can navigate by clicking the row of numbersat the bottom of the page. If you are interested in hisChoral works only, for example, then click on "Choral"and you will see them on their own page (or pages).

Click on a work and this will lead to that work's dedicatedpage, listing the title, forces, relevant dates and, if wehave it, the typical duration of a given piece. If there isno recording of that work, then this is as far as oursystem will take you. However, if there are recordings,then the "Performances" tab will be shaded, rather thangray. Click on that, and it will lead you to a listing ofalbums that work appears on. There are "Complete" and"Excerpt" tabs at the top of the listing. In Wolpe's case,the works are generally "complete," but if either tabs, orjust the "Excerpt" tab, are highlighted, you may need tolook at both to find all of the album listings.


Once clicked through to an album, you should see thecover scan, titles and timings. A little speaker icon tothe left of a track title indicates a 30-second sample ofthat track is available for listening. You can access thenames of performers just by running your cursor over thetop of track titles, and it gives you the option of clickingfor more information of that kind. Sometimes there is areview of the album, and sometimes there isn't. If thedisc is still commercially available, there should be a linkto available vendors both underneath the scan of thefront cover and through the "Buy" tab above the title ofthe album. Track and Credit information for each albumis also available from that same row of tabs, though insome cases complete track info is already accessiblefrom the page you are looking at.

And that is how, in a nutshell, to navigate our Wolpesite, and it extends to every other composer andperformer that AMG has entered into our database.Happy surfing!

REPORTS

BASEL

The Stefan Wolpe Collection was instituted at the PaulSacher Foundation when the composer’s papers werepurchased from Hilda Morley Wolpe in 1992. Recentadditions to the collection include the materials of ForMarthe Krueger (1940), dance suite for two pianos,which were acquired in 2005. Judith Adler, the daughterof the Bauhaus artist Anni Wottitz, gave the Foundationfour letters from Wolpe to her mother and recentlypresented us with the charcoal portrait that thecelebrated artist Friedl Dicker made of Wolpe in about1920. Ms. Adler also gave a volume of Hölderlin poemspublished in 1920. On the flyleaf of the volume Wolpeinscribed a dedication to Anni Wottitz in 1921 and thebeginning of the vocal part of a setting of "An Diotima,"which is different from the one he composed in 1927.We also obtained the correspondence between Wolpeand the important German painter Hans Kaiser (1914-1982) from his daughter Anna H. Berger-Felix of Berlin.The collection consists of 15 letters from Wolpe toKaiser and 35 letters from Kaiser to Wolpe that theyexchanged between 1961 and 1969, though Wolpe’s

replies were increasingly hampered by the symptoms ofParkinson’s disease. The two artists shared similartemperaments and discussed issues at the core of theiraesthetic concerns. The extensive project to restoreWolpe’s papers is ongoing, and our specialist has by nowtreated about one half of the damaged manuscripts.The many letters that bear traces of fire and water willbe treated in due course. For the moment they have allbeen placed in special polyester folders for preservation, andthe whole correspondence has been microfilmed. Scholarswho wish to study at the Sacher Foundation should go to www.paul-sacher-stiftung.che/practical%20tips.htm for advice on applying for research stipends.

— Heidy Zimmermann

CHAPEL HILL

Music at Black Mountain“Festival on the Hill,”

Chapel Hill, March 30-April 2, 2006

Festival on the Hill is a biennial event sponsored by theMusic Department at the Chapel Hill campus of theUniversity of North Carolina. “Music at Black Mountain”was organized by Professors Severine Neff (Chapel Hill)and Jonathan Hiam (Univ. of Hawaii), who obtained hisPh.D. at Chapel Hill with a dissertation on music at BlackMountain College. They brought together a richassortment of scholars, musicians, and former studentsof the College for a stimulating and varied program ofconcerts, workshops, lectures, and round tables. MaryEmma Harris gave the keynote address on the work of theBlack Mountain College Project, which is concerned withthe documentation and preservation of the College’shistory. Several sessions focused on the Summer Instituteof 1944, which celebrated Schoenberg’s 70th birthday,and which, according to Dr. Hiam, was a crucial event forthe cultivation of the Second Viennese School in theU.S.A. Gerold Grober (Univ. of Vienna) provided aportrait of Schoenberg’s student Heinrich Jalowetz, whoarrived at BMC in 1939. Dr. Grober conducted a livelyconversation with Lisa Jalowetz Aronson, who as thedaughter of Heinrich and Johanna Jalowetz, grew up atBMC. Sabine Feisst (Arizona State Univ.) discussedSchoenberg reception in America.


Several papers dealt with composers who taught at BMCin subsequent years: David Bernstein (Mills College) gavea paper on John Cage’s “Defense of Satie,” theprovocative lecture of 1948; Ethan Lechner (Chapel Hill)discussed Lou Harrison, Nancy Perloff (Getty ResearchInstitute) gave a presentation on David Tudor, and AustinClarkson (York Univ.), assisted by David Holzman,lectured on Stefan Wolpe. Mr. Holzman gave a masterlyrecital of Webern, Schoenberg, Bartók. He devoted thesecond half to Wolpe, concluding with the prodigiousBattle Piece. The superb Brentano String Quartet gave aconcert of Webern, Schoenberg, and Berg, which waspreceded by a talk given by Prof. Neff. The Quartet alsogave a most engaging workshop on performing the musicof the Second Viennese School. The conference programincluded two concerts performed by students and facultyfrom the Chapel Hill campus. The final concert beganwith Psalm 122 by Wolpe, sung by the UNC ChamberSingers, conducted by Susan Klebanow, and concludedwith a reinvention of John Cage’s celebrated TheaterPiece No. 1, the so-called Happening of 1952. The star ofthe Theater Piece was a festively caparisoned llama.

— A. Clarkson

KASSEL

The edition of Wolpe’s Zehn frühe Lieder is nowcomplete. The songs were composed during the summerof 1920, which Wolpe spent in Weimar with students atthe Bauhaus. Three of the texts are by the medievalmystics Mechthild von Magdeburg and JohannesSterngassen and one is from Des Knaben Wunderhorn.From modern authors Wolpe set a hymn from a play byOskar Kokoschka and poems by Christian Morgenstern,Rainer Maria Rilke, and the elusive German poetChristina Godwin. Nearing completion is an edition ofpieces that Wolpe wrote for “Teddy Stauffer and hisBand” who were playing at the Berlin Cabaret “Anti” in1929. The movements are Blues, Marsch, and a settingfor speaking chorus of Erich Kästner’s anti-war poem“Stimmen aus den Massengrab.” The volume will alsoinclude the Sport Revue “Alles an den roten Start”(1932) on a text by Siegfried Moos. It was performed bythe Communist agitprop Truppe Fichte-Balalaika duringthe “Rote Sportinternationale” of 1932. A new editionof the music theater piece Schöne Geschichten (1927-1929) is in preparation. Werner Herbers, who with hisEbony Band, performs the music so brilliantly, gaveadvice regarding details of performance. A secondvolume of Wolpe’s writings is in preparation. It willinclude a lecture given in Philadelphia in 1940, threeseminars given at Darmstadt in 1961, and a new editionand translation of the “Lecture on Dada” (1962).

— Thomas Phleps

SALZBURG

Music and Resistance: 1933-1945University of Salzburg, April 10-11, 2006

The conference was part of the Salzburg Easter Festival,directed by Simon Rattle, in conjunction with theInternational Center for Suppressed Music, University ofLondon, and the Jewish Museum (Vienna). Theconference was tremendously successful, with afascinating mixture of older and younger scholars andperformances of many composers affected by theatrocities of the Third Reich. Peter Tregear (University ofMelbourne) presented a particularly thought-provokingpaper on “Music Technique as Political Allegory inKrenek’s early 12-tone Works,” and KatarzynaNaliwajek-Mazurek (University of Warsaw) gave anexcellent presentation on Constantin Regamey, acomposer whose musical innovations and Polishresistance activities have received too little attention.Papers on Anton Webern, Erwin Schulhoff, and music inthe French resistance were also particularly interesting.My paper on Wolpe’s “Political Resistance, Migration,and Community” was very well received. At the end ofthe conference Juerg Stenzl remarked that he urgentlyneeded to know more about Wolpe. I also enjoyedtalking talk to Michael Haas, producer of the Decca CDof Wolpe’s music theater pieces. The conference wasorganized by Juerg Stenzl (University of Salzburg), ErikLevi (Royal Holloway, University of London), PeterTregear (University of Melbourne), David Bloch(University of Tel Aviv), Jutta Raab Hansen (formerly ofHamburg University), and Michael Haas (Jewish Museum,Vienna). Papers from the conference will be published ina forthcoming periodical by the Jewish Museum.Unfortunately the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonicwere not able to prepare Wolpe’s Oboe Quartet in timeand gave the Oboe Sonata instead. It seemed as thoughthey had just managed to get the notes under theirfingers and were beginning to get a sense of theexpressive side of things (but only beginning).

— Brigid Cohen

Brigid Cohen is a Ph.D. candidate in historical musicology atHarvard University, where she is completing her dissertationtitled "Migrant Cosmopolitan Modern: Cultural Reconstructionin Stefan Wolpe's Musical Thought." During the 2007–2008academic year, she will hold the position of MellonPostdoctoral Fellow at the Wesleyan University Center for theHumanities, and she is also the recipient of an honorary AlvinH. Johnson AMS 50 Dissertation Fellowship.


BOOKS

ON THE MUSIC OF STEFAN WOLPE: ESSAYS AND RECOLLECTIONS

Edited by Austin Clarkson. (Dimension & Diversity, no. 6)Hillside, NY: Pendragon Press, 2003. [xii, 371 p., ISBN1-57647-063-0. $42] Index, notes, illustrations, catalogue,discography, compact disc.

REVIEWS

Andy Hamilton, Wire 244 (June 2004), 75

The first book on this seriously neglected composer is acompendious labour of love, plentifully illustrated andwith a well-conceived CD to accompany it. … [T]he lovewhich Stefan Wolpe inspired is very evident from thismagnificent edition.

Arnold Whittall, The Musical Times, Autumn, 2004

The 20 authors who contribute to Austin Clarkson'svolume offer colourful snapshots of Wolpe's remarkablydiverse life, in Berlin, Weimar (the Bauhaus), Israel andAmerica, and of his work as teacher (Black MountainCollege, Darmstadt) as well as composer. Clarkson'scitation of Wolpe's wish to 'mix surprise and enigma,magic and shock, intelligence and abandon, Form andAntiform' (p.25) encapsulates the modernist instincts ofsomeone who counted Dadaism and the i2-note methodamong his resources, and the best chapters in the bookmanage to indicate how a distinctive musical mannermight be forged from these fruitfully warring elements— in order, as Wolpe is quoted as saying, 'to coordinatemultiplicities' (p. 147).

Udo Kasemets, Musicworks 91, Winter, 2005

Particularly illuminating are the discussions of themusics of Wolpe, Eisler, and Vogel, which carry directpolitical messages. Music with a political content keepssurfacing time and again. Frustrated by policies andevents contrary to human rights or needs, many acomposer has felt the need to sing a song of anger (and/ or hope!). The problem, so far unsolved, is how to finda common language that at once represents one’spolitical and musical ideals, and at the same timespeaks to the vast and varied population in search ofliberty and justice.

Adrian P. Childs, Music Library Association Notes,March, 2006: 723

The experience of reading this near-centennialcollection of essays bears a striking parallel to theunfolding of one of [Wolpe’s] late compositions. Thevolume’s formal organization divides the contributionsinto two sections— “Engagements” and “Makings”—thatrepresent a sort of postmodern gloss on the traditionalMan-and-Music composer biography. Stretching acrossand within these two parts is a complex web ofassociations, created by repeated references tocomposers, philosophers, and compositions that serveas guideposts for the authors in their explorations. Theclimax of the collection comes at the beginning of thesecond part, with essays by Martin Zenck and DavidHolzman that both involve Wolpe’s monumental BattlePiece for piano. Zenck, a musicologist, usesneoclassicism and serialism as foils for several pianoworks from the 1930s and 1940s. … Zenck explicitlydisavows any suggestion that Wolpe represents asynthesis of these isms. … Pianist Holzman deals withthe physical and interpretive challenges of Battle Piece,contrasting his own performances and recordings withthose of David Tudor (renditions of Battle Piece by bothartists are on the accompanying compact disc).Holzman’s consideration of the large-scale impact ofthe differences between his and Tudor’s interpretationsis especially engaging and expert. …

This volume is a must-have for any scholar or enthusiastof Wolpe’s compositions and writings, as well as foranyone working in any of the composer’s variousmilieux. The stronger contributions and the compactdisc also recommend the collection for all academiclibraries. Due to the vast reach and variety of Wolpe’sown career, the essays inevitably touch on topics thatare of interest to almost all musical readers; most willfind reading the volume to be time well spent.


STEFAN WOLPE, DAS GANZE ÜBERDENKEN Vorträge über Musik 1935-1962.

Edited by Thomas Phleps. Quellentexte zur Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts.Band 7.1. Saarbrücken: Paul Sacher Stiftung,

Basel, und Pfau-Verlag, 2002. 262 p.

Thomas Phleps, Introduction: “‘Outsider im besten Sinne des Wortes’: Stefan Wolpes Einblicke ins Komponieren in Darmstadt und anderswo.”

1. Die musikalische Idee und das orchestrale Equilibre (Brüssel 1935)Zum 1. Satz der Symphonie Nr. 95 in c-moll von Haydn

2. Über die ersten acht Takte der Violinsonate a-moll op. 23 von Beethoven (Jerusalem 1935)

3. Die Modulation als Prozess (Philadelphia 1940)4. Der musikalische Vorgang (Maine 1941):

Über den 1. Satz der 7. Klaviersonate D-Dur op. 10/3 von Beethoven

5. Zur Passacaglia in c-moll von Bach (New York 1941)

6. Über Dance in Form of a Chaconne(New York 1941)

7. Über neue (und nicht so neue) Musik in Amerika (Darmstadt 1956)

8. Einblick ins Komponieren (Kassel 1957)9. Thinking Twice (Los Angeles 1959)10. Proportionen (Darmstadt 1960)11. Über Simultaneität (Darmstadt 1962)

NEW EDITIONS

For Marthe Krueger, Suite for Two Pianos

The music had lain silent for over six decades. In thesummer of 2005 Sharon Hawkes of Auburn, Maine, whohad inherited the music library of her teacher, thedancer Marthe Krueger, mailed a large packagecontaining copies of scores by Wolpe. 81 pages were inWolpe’s hand, 9 were in the hand of Irma Wolpe, and 20pages had been copied by Marthe Krueger’s dancepartner Atty van den Berg. In addition there were twodance scores by Krueger and van den Berg. Among theWolpe papers were a handbill and program for a jointdance recital by Marthe Krueger and Atty van den

Berg given on January 26, 1941 at the Barbizon-PlazaConcert Hall in New York. Three of the fourteennumbers on the program listed music by Wolpe, but thetitles “Remembrance,” “The Women,” and “The Tidesof Man” did not correspond to any of his known scores.Here at last was some fourteen minutes of music thathad not been seen or heard for 66 years. A long-standingmystery had been solved.

Marthe Krueger was born in Mulhouse (Alsace) in 1910and studied dance in France and England. Sheimmigrated to the U.S.A. in 1933, attended the MarthaGraham School in New York, and taught in various dancestudios. She collaborated with several youngcomposers, among them John Colman, Alex North, andWolpe. Trude Rittmann (see Remembrance, p. 6) likelyprovided the link between Krueger and Wolpe, as hername appears on the same dance program as thearranger of a Bach chorale. After the war MartheKrueger moved to Ridgefield, Connecticut and taughtdance in Norwalk. In 1962 she built a home and dancestudio in Wilton and taught there until shortly beforeher death in 2001. While sorting through Krueger’smusic library, Ms. Hawkes found original scores ofseveral composers. Having made her trove of Wolpematerials known, the Paul Sacher Foundation of Baselpurchased them for their Stefan Wolpe Collection.

For Marthe Krueger fills what had been a sizeablelacuna between the Zemach Suite (1939) and theToccata (1941). The first movement, “The Women,” is aseries of variegated actions in Wolpe’s Palestinian veinof modernist modality. The second movement,“Remembrance,” with slow, freely chromatic outersections bracketing a “Con moto” middle section in Cminor, is a lament that prefigures the “Too muchsuffering in the world” movement of the Toccata. Thethird movement, “The Tides of Man: Passions spin theplot,” is a vehement march fantasy. The Suite will bepublished by Peermusic and will be re-awakened fromits long slumber in the fall of 2007 by Susan Grace andAlice Rybak of Colorado, who concertize as QuattroMani and are recording the Suite for Bridge Records.

— Editor


Johannes Schöllhorn & Stefan WolpeAbout the Seventh

In the beginning Wolpe’s music did not attract mevery much, rather, I was irritated by the diversity ofhis styles and by his strange complexity. Later Iunderstood that his music was so close to life that itwas not possible for him (fortunately) to make anycompromises. Because he was so personal, he didnot have to “create” a personal handwriting. I thinkI will never really understand Wolpe, which is why heattracts me all the time.

I composed About the Seventh (1992) to celebrateWolpe’s 90th anniversary year. My point of departurewas the set of four pieces that make up the work ofthe same name that Wolpe composed in 1945-46.The work consists of 15 short movements for flute,clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano, and percussion. Imade three settings of each of the four pieces andof a fifth piece that I composed in place of one thatis missing from the Wolpe work. The three settingsof each item are in styles that are near to anddistant from Wolpe’s style. My goal was a prismaticconstellation of miniatures that provide a fresh andmutually illuminating perspective on the music ofWolpe. I was thinking of John Berger, when he writesthat the act of approaching a given moment ofexperience produces at once a close investigationand also the possibility of distant associations. Thepiece has received many performances, and will begiven in Paris in April by the ensemble instant donné.

— Johannes Schöllhorn

Born in 1962, Johannes Schöllhorn studied with Klaus Huber,Emanuel Nuñes, and Mathias Spahlinger and attendedconducting courses with Peter Eötvos. He is laureate of theFondation Strobel at the SWR and the Gaudeamus Foundationand in 1995 was winner of the Comitée de lecture of theEnsemble Intercontemporain. His chamber opera les petitesfilles modales was given many times in France. He taught at theMusikhochschule in Zürich-Winterthur and was conductor of theEnsemble für Neue Musik at the Musikhochschule Freiburg. Heis currently professor of composition at the Hochschule fürMusik und Theater Hannover.

RECENT EDITIONS

Published by Peermusic Classical, unless noted otherwise.

Bearbeitungen Ostjüdischer Volkslieder [Arrangementsof Yiddish Folksongs] (1925), medium voice and piano. Edited by David Bloch.

Blues (1929). Blues, “Stimmen aus dem Massengrab”(Text: Erich Kästner), Marsch. 2 sax(cl), tpt, perc, 2 pno, speaking chorus. Edited by Thomas Phleps.

Enactments for Three Pianos (1953). Edited by A. Clarkson.

Good Woman of Setzuan, The (1953). Text by Bertolt Brecht. English version by Eric Bentley. Overture and 9 songs, voices and piano. Edited by E. Bentley & A. Clarkson. Published by Samuel French.

Konzert für Neun Instrumente [Concerto for Nine Instruments] (1937). For fl, cl, bn, tpt, hrn, tbn,vn (inc.), vc, pno. Edited by Johannes Schöllhorn, with Werner Herbers & Emilio Pomàrico.

Music for Le malade imaginaire (Molière) (1935). For fl, cl, vn, va, cb. Edited by A. Clarkson.

Piano Music 1939-1942. Lied Anrede Hymnus (1939). Zemach Suite (1939): Song, Piece of Embittered Music, Fuge a 3 no. 1, Fuge a 3 no. 2, Jubilation,Complaint, Dance in Form of a Chaconne. Two Pieces for Piano (1941): Pastorale, Con fuoco. The Good Spirit of a Right Cause (1942). Edited by A. Clarkson & David Holzman.

Quartet for Trumpet, Tenor Saxophone, Percussion and Piano (1950-54). Edited by A. Clarkson.

Schöne Geschichten (Droll Stories) (1927-1929). Text: Otto Hahn & S. Wolpe. For actors, singers, marionettes, fl, 2 cl(sax), tpt, tbn, perc, vn, pno, chorus. Edited by T. Phleps.

Sportrevue “Alles an den roten Start” (Cantata on Sport). Text: Siegfried Moos. Edited by T. Phleps.

Suite for Marthe Krueger (1940). For two pianos. Edited by A. Clarkson.

Suite from the Twenties: 1. March Nr. 1; 2. Tango für Irma; 3. Blues; 4. Tango; 5. Tanz (Charleston); 6.Rag-Caprice. For cl, Bcl, Asax, tpt, tbn, bjo, pno, vn, vc. Arrangements by Geert van Keulen.

Symphony No.1 (1956). Edited by A. Clarkson & Robert Falck.Waltz for Merle (1952). Edited by D. Holzman.Zehn frühe Lieder (1920). Texts: Christina Godwin,

Mechthild von Magdeburg, Christian Morgenstern,Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Oskar Kokoschka, Rainer Maria Rilke, Johannes Sternegassen, Stefan Wolpe. Edited by T. Phleps.

Zwei Studien für Grosses Orchester (1933). 1. Ouvertüre; 2. Pastorale in Form einer Passacaglia. Edited by Martin Brody & Matthew Greenbaum.

Zwei Tänze für Klavier (1926). 1. Blues; 2. Tango. Edited by D. Holzman.


RECORDINGS

Songs (1920–1954)1 Excerpts from Dr. Einstein’s Address about

Peace in the Atomic Era (1950)2 Ten Early Songs (1920)

3 Arrangements of Yiddish Folk Songs (1925)4 Six Songs from the Hebrew (1938, 1954)

5 Der faule Bauer mit seinen Hunden, Fabelvon Hans Sachs (1926)

6 Epitaph (1938)Patrick Mason, bar, Robert Shannon, pno (1, 3, 5)

Tony Arnold, sop, Jacob Greenberg, pno (2)Leah Summers, m-sop, J. Greenberg, pno (4, 6)Ashraf Sewailam, bass-bar, Susan Grace, pno (4)

Bridge 9209 (2007)

This just-released CD brings firstrecordings from Wolpe’s extensivecatalogue of vocal music. The Ten EarlySongs (1920), composed when he was 17years old and spending the summer withstudents of the Bauhaus at Weimar, revealan extraordinary range of expressive andtechnical resources. The texts includemeditations on spiritual love by medievalmystics, a love song from Des KnabenWunderhorn, and poems by contem-poraries Oskar Kokoschka, Rilke, ChristianMorgenstern, and Christina Godwin.Wolpe also set two of his own verses,amusing poems to an infant child. TheEarly Songs, which range in style frompassionate Jugendstil odes to wittyragtime tunes, are performed by sopranoTony Arnold, nominated for a GrammyAward in 2006, and pianist JacobGreenberg. The program for Wolpe’sBerlin debut as composer and pianistincluded his Arrangements of 13 YiddishFolksongs. Baritone Patrick Mason, whowas nominated for a 2007 Grammy, singsthe six surviving arrangementsaccompanied by Robert Shannon. Theyalso perform the solo cantata “Der fauleBauer mit seinen Hunden” [The lazyfarmer and his dogs] (1926), the setting ofa long moralistic poem by the 16th-century Hans Sachs, and “Excerpts from

Dr. Einstein’s Address about Peace in theAtomic Era” (1950), Wolpe’s vigorousprotest against the hydrogen bomb. LeahSummers, mezzo-soprano, and AshrafSewailam, bass-baritone, accompaniedrespectively by Jacob Greenberg andSusan Grace, perform seven of Wolpe’sHebrew settings of texts from the Bibleand by contemporary poets to round outthis collection of songs from Wolpe’sBerlin, Jerusalem, and New York years.Some of the Hebrew songs will beperformed by Mr. Sewailam and Ms. Graceat the Lincoln Center Library ofPerforming Arts on April 5, 2007, alongwith Egyptian and Egyptian-related works.

Stefan Wolpe, Vol. 4Ensemble SurPlus Bridge 9215 (2007)

1 Oboe Sonata Fragment (1937)2 Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1937-1941)3 Song, Speech, Hymn, Strophe (1939)

4 Piece in Two Parts for Flute and Piano (1960)5 Piece for Oboe, Cello, Percussion & Piano (1955)Heinz Holliger, ob, James Avery, pno (1, 2, 3)Robert Aitken, flute, James Avery, piano (4)

Peter Veale, oboe, Beverley Ellis, cello, Sven Thomas Kiebler, piano, Pascal Pons,percussion, James Avery, conductor (5)

Jewish Music of the DanceMilken Archive of American Jewish Music

Naxos 8.559439 (2006)

Wolpe, The Man from Midian, Ballet Suite no.1(1942) 19:05 Rundfunk Sinfonie-orchesterBerlin, Joseph Silverstein, conductor. With:Leon Stein, Three Hassidic Dances (1946);Darius Milhaud, Opus Americanum no. 2, Suitefrom the Ballet Moïse (1947), excerpts; LazareSaminsky, The Vision of Ariel (opera-ballet)(1916), excerpts.

The Man from MidianNaxos 8.559265 (2006)

Reissue of Koch International Classics.Group for Contemporary Music

1 The Man from Midian for 2 Pianos (1942)Cameron Grant, James Winn, piano2 Sonata for Violin and Piano (1949)

Jorja Fleezanis, violin, Garrick Ohlsson, piano

Dave Lewis, Allmusic Guide:

Stefan Wolpe was a composer who cuts aZelig-like path through the early 20thcentury.… Naxos’ Stefan Wolpe: The Manfrom Midian makes available once againsome of the first recorded salvos fired onWolpe's behalf in the digital era…The Man from Midian was written forchoreographer Eugene Loring andillustrates some chapters in the life ofMoses drawn from the Biblical book ofExodus; it originally premiered on thesame program as Copland’s ballet Billythe Kid. The Man from Midian is not asdissimilar from the far better knownCopland work as one might think; it issimilarly potently rhythmic, and parts ofit are straightforwardly diatonic, thoughnot very “neo-classical” in the sense thatthis might imply. There are stretches ofbusy twelve-tone composition that windback into, and out of, the diatonicsections, a very post-modern way ofworking for 1942. It is also a very excitingand engaging piece, somewhatreminiscent of Nikos Skalkottas' four-handpiano work Le Retour de Ulysse (1944).

Duo pianists Cameron Grant and JamesWinn turn in a swinging, yet well-articulated performance of The Man fromMidian, and their steel-fingered sonorities


raise just the right rhythmic profile inWolpe's music. Parts of The Man fromMidian are deeply jazzy in sound, andeven these sections spin off throughtwelve-tone sections scored at hair-raisingtempi that will leave one's jaw agape.

The Sonata for Violin and Piano is a muchmore strict serial work and a veryaggressive one; it is superficially similarto the fast sections of ArnoldSchoenberg's Fantasy for violin andpiano, Op. 47. This Sonata will proveabsolute torture for some, however ifyou ever loved atonal music for its senseof bite and aggression, this is for you —it will remind many who have enjoyedstrict, old fashioned serialism in the pastwhat they liked about it in the firstplace. Jorja Fleezanis and GarrickOhlsson’s performance is very good in itsturbulent, hell-bent for leathertreatment of the music, but in this casethe recording, made at ConcordiaCollege in Bronxville in 1991, is just alittle too “live” — the generousreverberation of the hall swallows upsome of the music. Anyone interested inmusic of the 20th century, though,should endeavor to get to know The Manfrom Midian — it is one of the mostdistinctive and direct musical utterancesthat Stefan Wolpe left to us.

Stefan Wolpe Chamber MusicNaxos 8.559262 (2006)

Reissue of Koch International Classics 1996(items 1, 2), and 1993 (items 3, 4).

Group for Contemporary Music.1 String Quartet (1969)

2 Second Piece for Violin Alone (1966)3 Trio in Two Parts for Flute, Cello & Piano (1964)4 Piece for Oboe, Cello, Percussion & Piano (1954)

Curtis Macomber, violin (1, 2), TheodoreArm, violin (1), Toby Appel, viola (1), FredSherry, cello (1, 3, 4), Harvey Sollberger,

flute (3), conductor (4), Stephen Taylor, oboe(4) Charles Wuorinen, piano (3), Aleck Karis,

piano (4), Daniel Kennedy, percussion (4).

Wolpe in Jerusalem 1934-1938Mode 156 (2006)

Co-Production of Westdeutsche Rundfunk,Beth Hatefutsoth Records.

1 Passacaglia, op. 23 (1937) 12:12* WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln,Johannes Kalitzke, conductor

2 Music for Molière’s Le malade imaginaire(1934) 20:01* ensemble recherche

3 Drei kleinere Kanons, op. 24a (1936) 4:56ensemble recherche

4 Suite im Hexachord, op. 24b (1936) 14:52ensemble recherche

5 Konzert für 9 Instrumente, op. 22 (1933-37) 24:48 ensemble recherche, Werner Herbers, cond.

* first recording

REVIEWS

Mark SwedThe Los Angeles Times, April 16, 2006

When Stefan Wolpe came to New Yorkafter fleeing Nazi Germany, he wasknown as a stubborn composer ofbrilliantly Modernist music. He was alsoknown as something of a reluctant fatherof American avant-gardists — he wasmentor to both pianist David Tudor andcomposer Morton Feldman. But little isknown of the four years he spent inJerusalem after leaving Berlin andbefore arriving in America. The Israelisall but erased him from their history,finding him too ornery for a thenconservative musical culture — aheadache is better than his music, oneIsraeli critic wrote. They can have theirheadaches. It turns out Wolpe wrotesome remarkable music while inJerusalem that is only now beingrediscovered; much of this disc containsfirst recordings. The “Passacaglia” fororchestra is a gripping 12-tone scorefrom 1937 that manages to sound angryand visionary at the same time. Todislike Wolpe's witty, rambunctious andengagingly melodic incidental music forMolière's “The Imaginary Invalid” seemsall but impossible. The “HexachordSuite” for oboe and clarinet isintriguingly inspired by Arab music.

The “Concerto for Nine Instruments” is acuriosity, since the violin part was lost andreconstructed in 2000, but the vigor of themusical imagination is still unmistakable.The performances are compelling.

Dan WarburtonParisTransatlantic.com, April, 2006

. . . once more Mode is setting thestandard for excellent and informativeliner notes - translated into French,German and, not surprisingly, Hebrew. …Though the [Passacaglia] was originallyscheduled for performance at the timeunder the baton of William Steinberg,the members of the newly foundedPalestine Symphony found it too difficult(presumably technically, though onesuspects the real reasons were musical)and the piece wasn’t heard in publicuntil as late as 1983, when it was finallypremiered by Charles Wuorinen and theAmerican Composers Orchestra. Thisdebut recording — at last — should helpestablish the Passacaglia as one of themajor early orchestral twelve-toneworks, one worthy of taking its placealongside Berg's Der Wein andSchoenberg's Variations.…

Proof that he was equally at homewriting more harmonically andrhythmically straightforward musiccomes in the six pieces he wrote in 1934as incidental music for Molière's LeMalade Imaginaire, brilliantly scored forflute, clarinet, violin, viola and doublebass. Accessible they might be, butthere's no question of a dumbing down interms of language - the Schlafmusik isanother passacaglia based on a themefrom Schoenberg’s String Quartet, op 10.The canons and the suite may already befamiliar to readers, having appearedbefore on disc, but this version by theEnsemble Recherche is the best that'sappeared to date. Wolpe’s contrapuntalmastery is clear throughout: this is settheory in action (I shan't bore you withtalk of hexachords — why tell you how itworks when you can hear how it works?)and terrific music to boot, comparablewith Webern and late Stravinsky in itscombination of formal complexity andlucidity of line and texture.

The album's third scoop is the firstrecording of the Concerto for NineInstruments, a work Wolpe had begunwhile studying with Webern andreturned to four years later. It’s scoredfor near-identical forces as Webern’swell-known piece of the same name —the only difference being that Wolpecalls for bassoon and cello where Webernuses oboe and viola — but there thesimilarities end. Wolpe's work is


considerably more substantial in scope;calling it a chamber symphony mighthave been more appropriate, andcomparing it to Schoenberg’s twochamber symphonies might make moresense. Where Webern seems to belooking forward to the second half of thetwentieth century, and the pointillism ofNono, Boulez and Stockhausen, Wolpe,like Schoenberg, often glancesaffectionately back at the latter part ofthe nineteenth, with its octave doublingsand rather dense scoring. That said,what we hear on the disc is not exactlywhat Wolpe wrote, unfortunately: boththe full score and the violin part havebeen lost, and the work has beenreconstructed by Johannes Schöllhornfrom the other existing parts, with onlya few written cues to hint at what theviolin was to have played. Rather thanattempt to write a violin part,Schöllhorn decided (wisely) to leave thework as is, with eight complete parts andfragments of a ninth. Even so, itsappearance at last is cause forcelebration, and another feather inMode’s cap. It's an impressive androusing - if challenging - conclusion to anexcellent and highly recommended disc.

Oded AssafHa'aretz (Israel), March 24, 2006

The real Stefan Wolpe was a well knowncomposer (b. 1902) who escaped theNazis, lived in Jerusalem for four years,and immigrated to the USA, where hedied in 1972. His presence in Palestinebecame a deluded memory, like in Zarhi'snovel Car Like an Orchid (1997). Recently,Beth Hatefutsoth’s Feher Jewish MusicCenter has produced a disc named StefanWolpe in Jerusalem: 1934-1938. Is it anindication that the dim and neglectedfringes of musical life in Israel aregradually moving closer to the center?

It doesn't look like that. Just as Wolpe,who really tried to be an Oleh and apioneer, quickly discovered that in theLevant he was only a temporary guest.And later — to quote Paul Griffiths'Encyclopaedia of Twentieth-CenturyMusic — he became a mere "German-American composer." Moreover, to whichcenter the Wolpe tradition can movecloser now when everything introducedtoday as Israeli music — in the radio, TV,theatre and poetry evenings — is in factpop industry, to which even well-established art composers areconsidered the fringe? Is the fact thatthe new disc was mentioned in the presssignals a new, serious discussion ofWolpe? This is doubtful; the disc can beeasily regarded as just another "item,"planted between Zubin Mehta's eternal

smile decorating the Philharmonic ads(side by side with well-dressed ladies,coffee, and cake) and a chromo journaltitled: “Music Magazine and the GoodLife.” This is also pop industry. Wolpe’smusic and his worldview were nevermeant to be part of it. They were meantto uproot it.

One of the journalists who wrote aboutthe new disc complimented it by sayingthat “the compositions are not animpassable hurdle.” Incorrect. They wereconstructed purposely as a hurdle in orderto force the listener to make an effortand overcome it, otherwise what is meantto be overcome is worthless. Wolpe asksthe listener to stop, to give up hiscustoms and expectations, to considerother ways, other passages which leadone doesn't know where. To those whodistinguish between contemporarycomposers who "take the audience intoconsideration" and “composers’composers” — Wolpe is a blow in the face.In Germany, before his arrival toJerusalem, and in the USA — he had greatinfluence on many music lovers, notcomposers, but “the audience” — thismanipulative term — Wolpe refused totake it into consideration. …

A review published in the daily Ha'aretzin 1936, after the gala performance ofthe Passacaglia (in the two pianosversion) says almost everything: “In thisart the motion of our time and thedecadence of the previous time arecombined together and this pairingmakes this music …a little sick… it isforeign here, a guest from abroad.”Somehow, with a few changes of style,this criticism is coming back to fashionnowadays, in the era of neo-conservatism, and not only in Israel.

From the plans to celebrate the 100thanniversary of Wolpe’s birth, which tookplace in 2002-2003 in the USA and Europe,many important parts were omitted due tolack of funds. But studies, performances,and new recordings, few as they are, andespecially an alternative discourse, canbecome new stimulants. And there is aunique interest in all this in Israel: Wolpewas here; an opportunity was lost; thethings he had no time to teach — aremissing. The Pastorale — a part of Suite imHexachord — (also in the new disc) is a testcase. A pastorale and at the same timeanti-pastorale, it is full of unsolvedtensions, turning its back to nostalgia,‘ethnicity’ or ‘fusion’, but checking — in ahigh level of the abstraction — whereperfect systems of Western compositionsmeet with maquamic patterns, related toArab traditions: a provocative work todayas it was when composed. Yuval Shaked,

initiator and senior participant in theproduction of the new CD, once wrotethings that he probably thought about alsotoday: “The right of existence and thevitality of the Art are in the possibility ofprovocation.”

Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

This 2006 Mode release of music by StefanWolpe is a significant survey ofcompositions from the 1930s, when hewas among the most important Europeanmusicians to settle and work in Jerusalem.Even though much of his time wasoccupied with teaching composition andtheory at the Palestine Conservatoire anddirecting choral performances, Wolpefound sufficient energy and creativeresources to compose a substantial bodyof concert and theater music in thesetransitional and often chaotic years. Theorchestral version of the Passacaglia, Op.23 (1937), the Three Smaller Canons, Op.24a, the Hexachord Suite, Op. 24b (both1936), and the reconstructed Concerto forNine Instruments, Op. 22 (1933-1937) areamong Wolpe's earliest accomplishments intwelve-tone composition. In some waysstill influenced by Webern’s concepts, butalso reflecting some of the more flexibleapplications of Hauer's trope system,Wolpe demonstrates an independence ofthought and freedom of technique thatsets him apart from the serial orthodoxyof his mentors; as a result, his music isoften more ingratiating, naturallyinflected, and transparent to the ear. Instriking contrast to these dodecaphonicworks, his Incidental Music for Molière's Lemalade imaginaire (1934) is almostshocking in its Neoclassical simplicity andopen tonality, and it seems to reflect anacceptance of Stravinsky’s influence,along with the ideas of the SecondViennese School. The performance of thePassacaglia by Johannes Kalitzke and theWDR Sinfonieorchester Köln is fairly dry intone and crisply detailed, as if to give themusic a heightened, analytical outline.However, the remaining works here areperformed with a more fluid feeling,warmer expression, and richer sonoritiesby ensemble recherche, under thedirection of Werner Herbers. Mode’s soundquality is a little uneven from track totrack due to the different venues andrecording dates, but because occasions tohear Wolpe 's music are still too rare, mostof the audio problems may be excused forthe sake of appreciating this phase of thecomposer’s career.


Enactments, Works for PianoHat[now]ART 161 (2005)

Co-Production Hessischer RundfunkFrankfurt / Hat Art Records Ltd.

1 March and Variations for Two Pianos(1933) 18:45 first recording.

Josef Christof & Steffen Schleiermacher.2 The Good Spirit of a Right Cause(1942) 3:29 Steffen Schleiermacher.3 Enactments for Three Pianos 1953

32:27 first CD recording.Josef Christof, Benjamin Kobler &

Irmela Roelcke; James Avery, conductor.

REVIEWS

Geoff BrownThe Times, 12 August 2005

An electrifying piano disc, and an admirableintroduction to the music of Stefan Wolpe,still not given his proper due as a 20th-century giant. The exhilarating March andVariations (a first recording) plunge usstraight into the composer's roots: WeimarBerlin, and the music of revolutionarystruggle. But most of the minutes aregobbled up by the CD premiere of theextraordinary three-piano epic Enactments,from Wolpe's American exile in the early1950s, when his music multiplied incomplexity and spun out into some abstractexpressionist outer space. The secret trickis to listen inwards towards the core, awayfrom surface detail. Christof, BenjaminKobler and Irmela Roelcke all displaysuperhuman stamina and control.

Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

… The never-before-recorded, nearly 20-minute long, four-hand work March andVariations of 1933 seems to have beenspurred on by the example of FerruccioBusoni in the Fantasia Contrappuntisticaand bears some resemblance to ArnoldSchoenberg 's piano music of the early'30s. However, where Busoni is relentlesslycontrapuntal, Wolpe is chordal, and thechords rush onward in an unceasing,uneasy marching rhythm that evokes thechilling aura of “funny little bootsmarching over Europe.” This puts it incontext with Kurt Weill 's Symphony No. 2,except that it is far more intense andconsiderably less sentimental. The Good

Spirit of a Right Cause is a brief gem ofagitprop music that possesses a tongue-in-cheek ambivalence, as though Wolpe isn’tsure whether a “good spirit” or “rightcause” can be found in the depths ofWorld War II. The title work Enactments isa world away from these otherconsiderations. Composed in 1953, itmakes clear what the so-called “New YorkSchool,” namely Morton Feldman, JohnCage, Earle Brown, and others, found inthe work of Wolpe. One might infer thatFeldman was attempting in his earlymulti-hand piano pieces controlled bygraphic scores to achieve textures similarto those found in Enactments withouthaving to work as hard as Wolpe!Like March and Variations, this too is anepic work, running to more than 32minutes and scored for three pianos. Inearly movements of the piece the textureis incredibly dense with rapid figurationsin a manner that may remind some ofConlon Nancarrow’s most hyperactiveplayer piano music. It cools downgradually into a sparser idiom beforeheating up again at the end. One canlisten to Enactments many times without“getting” the full impact of it, so great isits level of complexity. The performancesare very good, especially considering thatthis is such highly difficult and virtuallyunknown music. Enactments is mainlyrecommended to listeners with fast earsand advanced tastes in contemporarymusic. If one is enthusiastic about theprospect of acquainting them-selves withthe music of Wolpe, then Enactments willprove a revelation.

Compositions for Piano 1920-1952David Holzman, piano Bridge 9116 (2002)1 Sonata No. 1 “Stehende Musik”(1925) 13:49

2 Adagio “Gesang, weil ich etwas teuresverlassen muß” (1920) 2:51 3 Tango (1927)

3:30 4 The Good Spirit of a Right Cause (1942)3:00 first recording 5 Battle Piece (1943-1947)

24:30 6 Waltz for Merle (1952) 5:06 firstrecording 7 Zemach Suite (1939) 11:33

Holzman’s recording received a nomination for aGrammy Award and Holzman and Clarksonjointly received ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards fortheir essays in the booklet.

REVIEWS IN BRIEF

Anthony Tommasini, The New YorkTimes: “fearless performances of steelyworks by Stefan Wolpe.” MatthiasKriesberg, The New York Times: “DavidHolzman demon-strates with intro-spective virtuosity the breadth ofWolpe’s pianistic expression, rangingfrom poignant delicacy to breathtakingferocity.” Michael Oliver, BBC: “DavidHolzman passionately believes in themusic and, crucially, has the scorchingtechnique to do it justice.” PhilipEhrensaft, WholeNote Magazine:“Magnificent music played magnifi-cently. David Holzman presented thismusic in a passionate and colorfulmanner, so that one does not for asecond feel it to be an intellectualexercise.” Daniel Felsenfeld, ClassicsToday: “performances of revelatoryinsight and passionate conviction. . . It’sa disc I wouldn’t want to be without.Holzman’s precious, metallic “newmusic” sound — makes this disc not onlyvaluable to Wolpe admirers, but anentertaining and fun listeningexperience, something you can rarelysay about a recording dedicated toavant-garde piano music.”

Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

…For a pianist Wolpe's work represents achallenge of the most formidable kind,as it combines pan-tonal gestures withjazzy rhythms, agitprop tunes jerked outof proportion, and wistful moments ofreflective sensitivity. Bringing all ofthese elements into focus is anincredible task that a mere reading ofWolpe 's score is not going to expose.David Holzman is wholly familiar with,and committed to, the letter and spiritof this music. Wolpe is not "easylistening," but the reward is found in thelargesse of Wolpe 's conceptions, thecontinuous flow of his arguments, andthe sheer excitement of his propulsiverhythms. The Sonata No. 1 "StehendeMusik" is a real find, a work from the1920s that could have been written 70years later, as Antheil-like discord andmotor rhythms are contrasted with astark, enigmatic middle movement ofSatiëian plainness and simplicity. TheBattle Piece and Zemach Suite heardhere are notable improvements overprevious recorded versions, and theremaining shorter works, somepreviously unrecorded, are allrevelatory. The recorded sound isterrific. For those who dare to ventureinto the rarefied world of Stefan Wolpe,they could hardly do better than withthis exceptional Bridge Records release.


CHRONICLE 2007–2001

2007

February 10, Heidenheim, Musikschule, Ensemble AuditeNova, Manuel Nawri, conductor: Johannes Schöllhorn,About the Seventh, version with oboe.

March 10, Zürich, Brockenhaus, Collegium Novum. An all-Wolpe evening with Quartet for Trumpet, TenorSaxophone, Percussion and Piano, and Blues, Stimmen ausden Massengrab, Marsch.

April 5, New York, Lincoln Center Library for the PerformingArts. Recital with Ashraf Sewailam, bass-baritone, andSusan Grace, piano: Wolpe, On a Mural by Diego Rivera,David's Lament Over Jonathan, Lines from the ProphetMicah, Isaiah. With Handel, Mozart, Brahms, Massenet,Halim el Dabh, Sherif Mohie el Din.

April 10, Paris, Théâtre de Thouars, Ensemble Aleph:“Officiels et diffamés, la musique et le IIIè Reich.” Wolpe,“performance, voix et diffusion sonore.” With: Dessau,Eisler, Schulhoff, Schwitters, von der Wense, Weill.Monica Jordan, voice, Dominique Clément, clarinet,Sylvie Drouin, piano, accordion.

May 21, Nijmegen, De Vereniging. The Ebony Band, WernerHerbers, conductor. Wolpe, Suite from the Twenties.

August, Ostrava Days, Czech Republic. August 27, OstravskáBanda, Petr Kotik, conductor. Wolpe, Chamber Piece No.1. With: Cage, Stockhausen, Kolman, Kotik, Kupkovic,Brown. August 29, Sonar Streich Quartet (Berlin). Wolpe,12 Pieces for String Quartet. With Xenakis, Lachenmann.

2006

March 11, Bremen, Radio Bremen Sendesaal. Gunnar Brandt-Sigurdsson, tenor, Johan Bossers, piano: “Songs and PianoMusic of Wolpe: An Anna Blume von Kurt Schwitters, Decretnr. 2 (Majakowski), Cabaret and agitprop songs to texts byEckelt, Lenin, Weh, Lindt, Moos, Kästner, Weinert; Pianomusic: Adagio, Gesang; Battle Piece for Piano.

March 14, Goethe-Institut, New York, NY. Recital with DavidHolzman, piano: Roger Sessions, Sonata no. 3; Wolpe,Battle Piece; George Perle, Ballade; and works by Zeisl,Corbett, and Martino.

March 31-April 2, Chapel Hill. University of North Carolina.“Festival on the Hill: Music at Black Mountain.” Concert:David Holzman, piano: Wolpe, Tango, Waltz for Merle,Lied Anrede Hymnus Strophe, Battle Piece. With music bySchoenberg, Webern, Bartók. Symposium: AustinClarkson, lecture, assisted by David Holzman: “Form andAntiform.” Concert: UNC Chamber Singers, SusanKlebanow, conductor: Wolpe, Psalm 122. With music bySchoenberg, Cowell, Cage, Milhaud, Satie, Harrison.

April 9, 12, 13, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Den Bosch, Ebony Band,Werner Herbers, conductor: Wolpe-van Keulen, Suitefrom the Twenties.

April 10-11, Salzburg, University of Salzburg, “Music andResistance: 1933-1945.” Wolpe, Sonata for Oboe andPiano. Brigid Cohen paper, “Stefan Wolpe as ‘an oldcollective individualist or individual collectivist’: PoliticalResistance, Migration, and Community.”

April 24, New York, NY. Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble, PetrKotik, conductor. Celebrating 80th anniversary of MortonFeldman. Wolpe, Chamber Piece no. 1; Zenakis,Palimpsest; Feldman, For Samuel Becket.

June 30, Zürich, Kunsthaus, Ensemble für Neue Musik,Sebastian Gottschick, conductor. Johannes Schöllhorn,About the Seventh (Wolpe), version with clarinet.

2005

March 5, Tully Hall, New York. Family Musik ChamberEnsemble, Robert Kapilow, director. Stefan Wolpe, “LazyAndy Ant,” with Sherry Boone, soprano, Judith Gordonand Rob Kapilow, piano.

April 7-10, 14-17, Center for the Arts, State University of NewYork at Buffalo. Theater Department, Saul Elkin, director:Bertolt Brecht, “The Good Woman of Setzuan,” translatedby Eric Bentley. Music by Stefan Wolpe, adapted byDonald Jenczka.

June 3, Vienna. Internationales Musikfest. Konzerthaus.ensemble recherche, Werner Herbers, conductor:Schönberg, Chamber Symphony no. 1; Schreker, “DerWind”; Wolpe, Concerto for Nine Instruments; Eisler,Vierzehn Arten den Regen zu beschreiben.

May 14, North*South*East*West Festival, Maluhia. Waihee,Hawaii. David Holzman, piano: Wolpe, Tango, Dance inForm of a Chaconne, with Beethoven, Brahms, Chou Wen-Chung, George Walker, Robert Pollock, William Anderson,Alba Potes.

May 22, Jean Hartmann Memorial Concert, Temple Emanuel,San Francisco, CA David Holzman, piano: Brahms, Wolf(with Roslyn Barak, soprano), Eric Zeisl. Wolpe,Palestinian Notebook; with music by Mamlok, Avni,Susman, Daniel, Feinsmith.

October 11, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, NY. DavidHolzman, piano: Wolpe, Waltz for Merle; withSchoenberg, Webern, Wolpe, Pleskow, Zeisl, LouisKarchin, Arthur Krieger, Matthew Greenbaum, Eric Moe.

October 25, New Paltz, Department of Music, SUNY. “World ofJewish Music Series.” Lecture by Austin Clarkson, “Questfor a New Voice: Stefan Wolpe and the Modern Hebrew Art


Song.” Concert: “Songs of Stefan Wolpe,” performed byTony Arnold, soprano, Leah Summers, mezzo, PatrickMason, baritone, Jacob Greenberg, Robert Shannon,David Holzman, piano: Ten Early Songs, Arrangements ofYiddish Folksongs, Excerpts from Dr. Einstein’s Address,Zemach Suite, Two Songs from the Hebrew, Three TimeWedding.

November 12, Seattle, WA, Society for Music Theory AnnualMeeting. Panel, “Stefan Wolpe and Dialectics.” BrigidCohen, “’Boundary Situations’: Wolpe’s MigrantTranslational Poetics”; Matthew Greenbaum, “Debussy,Wolpe, and Dialectical Form”; Martin Brody, “Where toAct, How to Move: Wolpe’s Dialectical Moment”; AustinClarkson, “Stefan Wolpe and the Dialectical Image.”Respondents: Christopher Hasty and Anne Shreffler.

November 13, Natick, Center for the Arts. Marvin Wolfthal,piano. Battle Piece, 2nd part.

2004

January 3, Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie. “Cantos”. EnsembleGelber Klang: Wolpe, Twelve Pieces for String Quartet;European first performance of the String QuartetFragment 1950-51; Morton Feldman, King of Denmark,Duration 4, Structures. Improvisationen zu den 18 Cantosvon Barnett Newman.

July 3, Leipzig. Klangrausch. “Hommage à Edgard Varèse.”Ensemble SurPlus, conducted by James Avery: Wolpe,Enactments for Three Pianos.

August 29, Kunstmuseum, Basel, “Schwitters Arp Exhibition.”Christoph Homberger, tenor, Jay Gottlieb, piano: Wolpe,Stehende Musik; An Anna Blume von Kurt Schwitters. WithAntheil, Satie, Scelsi, Von der Wense, Schulhoff,Feldman, Cage.

November 27, Paris, Cité de la musique. “Le IIIe Reich et laMusique. Le cabaret.” Ebony Band & CappellaAmsterdam, conducted by Werner Herbers. Wolpe: AnAnna Blume von Kurt Schwitters; Suite from the Twenties;Schöne Geschichten.

2003

February 11, Merkin Hall, New York. Continuum, directed byJoel Sachs and Cheryl Seltzer, with Carol Meyer, soprano.Wolpe, Form IV, Psalms 64 & Isaiah 35, The Angel, Apolloand Artemis I, Decret Nr. 2, March and Variations; withmusic by Ursula Mamlok.

February 23, Center for Jewish History. “Edward LevyMemorial Concert.” Wolpe, Drei kleinere Kanons, 12Pieces for String Quartet. With music by Milton Babbitt,David Glaser, Edward Levy, Noyes Bartholomew.

March 4, Galapagos, Brooklyn NY. Talea Quartet: “StefanWolpe Centenary Concert.” Stefan Wolpe: Drei KleinereKanons, 12 Pieces for String Quartet, Piece for Viola

Alone. With music by Matthew Greenbaum, Butch Morris,Noyes Bartholomew.

March 9-12, New England Conservatory, Boston. “Charlie Parkerand the Teachers of his Dreams,” curated by Don Palma andRobert Saden. Concert: Wolpe, Quartet for Trumpet, TenorSaxophone, Percussion & Piano. With music by Parker,Brookmayer, Russell. Concert: Wolpe, Form IV (RandallHodgkinson); Piece for Two Instrumental Units (Don Palma,cond.). With music by Varèse, Parker. Concert: Wolpe, Voneine Handvoll Reis, Blues. With music by Parker, O’Farerill,Lacy, Varèse. Lecture: Martin Brody, “Wolpe and the NewYork Scene.” Lecture-recital: Veronica Jochum, piano,“Stefan Wolpe and the Bauhaus.”

March 14-15, City University of New York Graduate Center,“Stefan Wolpe Centennial Symposium and Concerts.”Session 1: "Cultural Contexts," Austin Clarkson, moderator.Papers by Heidy Zimmermann, "Wolpe's settings from theSong of Songs (1937): Folksong and collective identity," and“The Stefan Wolpe Collection at the Paul SacherFoundation.” Session 2: A. Clarkson, "Wolpe in New York:Perspectives on the Milieu of Music, Poetry, and the VisualArts." Respondents: Dore Ashton, Andrew Kohn, Basil King,Laura Kuhn, Olivia Mattis, Leonard Meyer, Larson Powell,Eric Salzman, Cheryl Seltzer, Katharina Wolpe. Session 3:“New approaches to the study of 20th century concertmusic”: papers by Avi Berman, Brigid Cohen, CatherineHirata, Brian Locke. Concert 1: Parnassus, Anthony Korf,conductor. Wolpe, Piece in 2 Parts for 6 Players, Piece for2 Instrumental Units. With Charles Wuorinen, MatthewGreenbaum, Mei-Fang Lin, Anthony Korf. Readings by poetMartine Bellen of texts by Stefan Wolpe, Hilda Morley,Robert Creeley and Martine Bellen. Session 4: AnalysisSymposium. Martin Brody, “The Will to Connect: Wolpe’sTheater of Action, Memory, and Estrangement.” RobertMorris, “Respiration in Stefan Wolpe’s Piece in 2 Parts for 6Players.” Dora Hanninen, “Association and the Emergenceof Form in Two Works by Wolpe.” Christopher Hasty,“Concentrating your Attention: Some Effects of Disjunctionin Wolpe’s Piece in 2 Parts for 6 Players.” Concert 2,Electronic Music: Varese, Davidovsky, Morris, Olan,Chasalow, (Wolpe Variations), Brün, Babbitt. Panel onWolpe and Electronic Music, David Olan, moderator. MarioDavidovsky, Matthew Greenbaum, Robert Morris, EricChasalow. Concert 3, Katharina Wolpe, piano. Program:Wolpe, Zemach Suite, Form, Adagio, Rag-Caprice, Tango,March no. 1, Two Studies for Piano part 1, Sonata no. 1;Webern, Variationen.

March 31, Paul Sacher Stiftung, Basel, Annual Meeting. MarcUllrich, trumpet, Marcus Weiss, saxophone, SylwiaZytynska, percussion, Manuel Bärtsch, piano, JanSchultsz, conductor. Wolpe, Quartet for Trumpet, TenorSaxophone, Percussion and Piano.

April 6, C.W. Post College, Long Island NY. “Stefan Wolpe:Three Lands, One Language,” curated by David Holzman.Concert 1: David Holzman, Stephanie Watt, piano. Wolpe,Sonata no. 1, Tango. With music by Bartok, Varese,Hindemith, Stravinsky, Gershwin. Concert 2: “Josef Marxand Stefan Wolpe: A Friendship in Music.” PatriciaSpencer, flute, Susan Barrett, oboe, Barbara Speer, Anne


Chamberlain, piano. Wolpe, Oboe Sonata; Blues andTango. With music by Pleskow, Nemiroff, Wuorinen,Rovics, Sollberger. Concert 3: David Holzman, piano, withPatricia Spencer, flute. Wolpe, Palestinian Notebook;Tango, Piece in Two Parts for Flute and Piano, Battle Piece.With music by Eric Zeisl.

April 7-8, Rock Hall, Temple University, Philadelphia. "StefanWolpe: Music for Dancers" Charles Abramovic, piano.Choreography, Joellen Meglin. plus works by AlexDeVaron, Matthew Greenbaum, and others TBA Panel,with Austin Clarkson, Marion Kant. Concert: TheBugallo/Williams Piano Duo with Nicolas Hodges. Wolpe,Enactments for Three Pianos. With music by Davidovsky,Feldman, Vigeland, and Williams. "Entartete(Degenerate) Musik"

April 10, Americas Society, League/ISCM. Stefanie Griffin, viola,Blair McMillen and Cheryl Seltzer, piano; theBugallo/Williams Piano Duo with Nicolas Hodges, piano.Wolpe, Form, Enactments for Three Pianos. With music byDavidovsky, Feldman, Greenbaum, Mamlok, Pleskow, Potes.

May 13, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA. SouthwestChamber Music, Jeff van Schmidt, director. Wolpe,Palestinian Folksongs, Suite im Hexachord, Lamenatzeach,Oboe Sonta, Good Spirit of a Right Cause, On a Mural byDiego Rivera, Excerpts of Dr. Einstein’s Address.

May 21, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC. “Musicin Exile.” David Holzman, piano, et al.: Wolpe, Battle Piece.With music by Zeisl, Hindemith, and Schoenberg.

2002

January 19, Bauhaus Archiv, Berlin. Veronica Jochum, piano.“Stefan Wolpe and the Bauhaus.”

February 18-19, Rahmaninov Hall of Tchaikovsky Conservatoire,Moscow. Concert 1: Studio New Music Ensemble, IgorDronov, conductor. Vladimir Tarnopolsky, director. Wolpe, 6Piano Pieces, 5 Hölderlin Songs, Marsch und Variationen,Drei Arbeitslieder von Thomas Ring, Saxophone Quartet,Symposium: Austin Clarkson, Eugenie Golubeva.Rahmaninov Hall of Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. Concert 2:Studio New Music Ensemble, Igor Dronov , conductor. Triofor Flute, Cello, and Piano; 4 Lieder auf Texte von Lenin,Majakowski, et al..; Chamber Piece no. 1; Battle Piece;From Here on Farther.

March 3, Concertgebouw, Bruges. March 19, Marni Theatre,Brussels. Prometheus Ensemble. Wolpe, Blues-Stimmen aus-Marsch, Schöne Geschichten. With Eisler, Antheil, Weill.

May 5, Theatre Dubois, Paris. Ensemble Aleph. Wolpe, Quartetfor Trumpet, Saxophone, Percussion, and Piano.

May 5, Basel Stadtcasino, Basel Sinfonietta, Emilio Pomàrico,conductor: Wolpe, Symphony no. 1; Bruckner, Symphonyno. 1 (Linzer Fassung). May 4, Bern Dampfzentrale, May8,. Schiffbau Zürich.

June 7, Carl-Orff Saal, Munich. “Musica Viva: Stefan Wolpezum 100. Geburtstag.” Ensemble SurPlus, James Avery,conductor. Wolpe, Enactments.

June 26, Museum Bochum (Germany), Veronica Jochum vonMoltke, piano: Wolpe, Adagio Gesang, Es wird die neueWelt geboren, Tango, Rag-Caprice; with Krenek,Schoenberg, Busoni, Stuckenschmidt, Stravinsky, Milhaud.

July 21, Tanglewood Music Center. Tanglewood Fellows.Wolpe, Piece for Trumpet & 7 Instruments.

August 25, 26. North Melbourne Town Hall (Australia). Astra,Michael Kieran Harvey, piano: Wolpe, Battle Piece, EarlyPiece for Piano. Seven Pieces for Three Pianos. AstraChoir, John McCaughey, director: Psalm 122; Dust ofSnow; Ballad of the Widows of Ossek; Fantasy of the Dayafter Tomorrow.

September 9-17, Berlin Festival, “The Composer Stefan Wolpefor his 100th Birthday: Berlin-Jerusalem-New York.”Konzerthaus. Event 1, Konzerthaus. Ebony Band, CapellaAmsterdam, Werner Herbers, cond. Wolpe, Blues-Stimmen aus-, Marsch, Zeus und Elida, SchöneGeschichten. Event 2, Konzerthaus, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Johannes Kalitzke, cond. RIAS-Kammerchor, David Hill, director. Wolpe, Symphony no.1;Two Chinese Epitaphs, no. 2; Four Pieces for MixedChorus, nos. 1, 3, 4. Symphony no. 1. Event 3, JosefChristof, Benjamin Kobler, Irmela Roelke, SteffenSchleiermacher, pianos. Wolpe, March and Variations,Zemach Suite, Morton Feldman, Four Pianos (Version 1).Wolpe, Stehende Musik. Feldman, Four Pianos (Version 2).Wolpe, Enactments for Three Pianos. Event 4,Symposium: "Wolpe's Musical Theater: Schoenberg,Busoni, the Bauhaus, and Kunstjazz." Heinz-KlausMetzger, Thomas Phleps (moderator), Annette Schwarzer,Hyesu Shin, and others. Event 5, Katharina Wolpe, piano.Wolpe, Six Piano Pieces, Music for Any Instruments, Form,Form IV, Sonate Stehende Musik, Webern, Variationen.Event 6, Musikklub: Stefanie Wüst, voice, Michael Nündel,piano, Götz Schulte, speaker. Songs of Stefan Wolpe withdocuments about his life. Event 7, Symposium: “OnPerforming Wolpe's Chamber Music,” with James Avery(ensemble SurPlus), Heinz-Klaus Metzger, Habakuk Traber(moderator), Katharina Wolpe, and members of ensemblerecherche (Lucas Fels, Martin Fahlenbock, BarbaraMaurer). Event 8, ensemble recherche: Lucas Vis; Wolpe-Johannes Schöllhorn, About the Seventh; Wolpe, ClarinetQuartet fragment (first performance); Piece for TwoInstrumental Units. With music by Webern, Wuorinen,Carter.

September 26, Music Festival Strasbourg. Prometheus Ensemble,Etienne Siebens, director. Wolpe: Schöne Geschichten; Blues -Stimmen aus dem Massengrab – Marsch.

September 30, Starr Auditorium, Tate Modern (London). AustinClarkson lecture, “Stefan Wolpe and Abstract Expressionism.”Recital, Nicolas Hodges, piano, Mieko Kanno, violin: Wolpe,Battle Piece; Sonata for Violin and Piano.


October 11-December 6, The Warehouse (London). 5Centenary Concerts curated by Katharina Wolpe. Concert1, Oct. 11, Ensemble SurPlus, James Avery, conductor:Oboe Sonata, Piece in Two Parts for Flute and Piano, OboeQuartet, Trio in Two Parts. Concert 2, Oct. 12. KatharinaWolpe, piano: Wolpe, Zemach Suite, Form IV, Piano Pieces1920-29, Displaced Spaces; Webern, Variations; Wolpe,Sonata no. 1. Concert 3, Nov. 8. Rolf Hind, piano: Wolpe,Four Studies on Basic Rows, Music for a Dancer; withmusic by Scriabin, Liszt. Concert 4, Nov. 9, Double ImageEnsemble: Wolpe, From Here on Farther, Music forHamlet, Decret Nr. 2, Five Holderlin Songs, Street Music;with music by Busoni, Debussy, Varese. Concert 5, Dec. 6,Nicolas Hodges, piano: Wolpe, Form, Battle Piece; withmusic by Shapey, Feldman, Cage.

October 12-13, Merkin Hall, New York, “The PalestinianYears,” curated by Fred Sherry and Matthew Greenbaum.Concert 1. Helen Bugallo and Amy Williams, piano duo:Busoni, Fantasia Contrappuntistica. Wolpe, The Man FromMidian. Panel with Hanna Arie-Gaifman, Austin Clarkson,Rabbi Phillip Miller, Raoul Pleskow, Charles Wuorinen,Fred Sherry, moderator. Concert 2. Fred Sherry, artisticdirector. Wolpe, Piece in Two Parts for Flute and Piano,Quintet with Voice; with music by Feldman, Babbitt,Greenbaum, Wuorinen. Program notes read by DavidMargulies. Concert 3: Feldman, Triadic Memories, MarilynNonken, piano. Concert 4, 20th Century ClassicsEnsemble, Robert Craft, cond. Wolpe, Suite imHexachord, Piece for Trumpet and 7 Instruments. Withmusic by Webern, Schoenberg. Panel with Milton Babbitt,Matthew Greenbaum, Matthias Kriesberg, Fred Sherry,Martin Brody, moderator.

October 26-27, Kaufmann Concert Hall, 92nd Street Y: “StefanWolpe Centennial,” curated by Hanna Arie-Gaifman.Concert 1: Peter Serkin, piano, Daniel Phillips, violin,Brentano String Quartet. Wolpe, Second Piece for ViolinAlone, Passacaglia, String Quartet, Violin Sonata.Dadalogue and Brunch: Panel, Walter Frisch, WernerHerbers, Irina Zantovski-Murray, Hanna Arie-Gaifman,Austin Clarkson. Concert 2: Ensembe, Werner Herbers,cond. Program: Alexey Zhivotov, Fragmente; GeorgeAntheil, Quintet; Kurt Weill, Oil Music; Wolpe, Wumba-Wumba Lied, Wolpe-van Keulen, Suite from the Twenties;Wolpe, An Anna Blume von Kurt Schwitters, SchöneGeschichten.

October 30, Tully Hall, New York. The Riverside Symphony.Program: Wolpe, Two Studies for Orchestra; Scriabin, PianoConcerto; Webern, Passacaglia; Bartok, Dance Suite.

November 15, Akademie der Künste, Berlin. Ensemble Mosaik,"Hommage an Stefan Wolpe." Wolpe, Saxophone Quartet,Piece for Two Instrumental Units; Morton Feldman, The Violain My Life I; Walter Zimmermann, Schatten der Ideen II;Sebastian Claren, Fehlstart (Detail).

November 15, Musica Viva, Herkulessaal, Munich.Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, PeterRundel, cond. Wolpe, Symphony; Nicholaus Richter deVroe, Tetra IV; Morton Feldman, Coptic Light.

November 17, Instrumentensammlung, Musica reanimata,“Wolpe as Teacher”: The Wolpe Trio. The Wolpe Trio."Wolpe as Teacher" Wolpe. Piano Pieces. Tango, Rag-Caprice, Charleston. About the Seventh, Piece for CelloAlone, Trio in Two Parts for Flute, Cello, and Piano;Herbert Brün, Gesto; Edward Levy, West of Nepal I, Westof Nepal II; Morton Feldman. Two Pieces, Untitledcomposition, Intersection 4, Durations 2. Raoul Pleskow,Zueignung; Charles Wuorinen, Third Flute Trio.

November 22-23, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Cologne. Musik derZeit: Broken Sequences. Concert 1, For Voices, Daniel N.Seel, piano, and Netherlands Chamber Choir, EdSpanjaard, cond. Schoenberg, De Profundis, Psalm 130,Op. 50b; Wolpe, Four Pieces for Mixed Chorus; MortonFeldman, For Stefan Wolpe; Daniel N. Seel , new piece forpiano; Wolpe, Two Chinese Epitaphs; Guo Wenjing, Echoesfrom Heaven and Earth for choir and percussion. Concert2. Orchestral Views, Cologne Philharmonie, with ClaronMcFadden, soprano, Netherlands Chamber Choir (malevoices), preparation, Ed Spanjaard, WDRSinfonieorchester Köln, Johannes Kalitzke, cond. Varèse,Nocturnal; Feldman, Episode for Orchestra; Wolpe,Passacaglia; Johannes Schöllhorn, Views of Water forOrchestra; Varèse, Ecuatorial. Concert 3. Hommages &Variations, with ensemble recherche, Markus Poschner,cond. Wolpe, Le malade imaginaire; Elliott Carter, InnerSong; Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, Hommage à DanielLibeskind für Sextett; Johannes Schöllhorn, About theSeventh for Ensemble; Wolpe, Piece for Two InstrumentalUnits.

November 29. Theatre Dubois, Paris. Ensemble Aleph. Wolpe atBlack Mountain College. Solo Piece for Trumpet. 3 Canons for2 voices with accompaniment of a third voice. Quartet no. 1.

December 1, Music Gallery, Toronto. New Music Concerts,Robert Aitken, conductor. Wolpe, Enactments. WithGeoffrey Palmer, String Quartet.

December 11, New York Society for Ethical Culture. The CygnusEnsemble. Wolpe, Music for Any Instruments; MatthewGreenbaum, Mute Dance; Ursula Mamlok, Five Intermezzi,Elliott Carter, Inner Song; Varese: Density 21.5; DavidClaman, Gone for Foreign; William Anderson, The Job ofJourneywork for Uillean Pipes and sextet.

December 12, 19, Symphony Space, New York. Curated byMarshall Taylor Concert 1, “Entartete Musik and Music ofExile”: Marshall Taylor, saxophones, Samuel Hsu, piano,Joyce Lindorff, harpsichord, Jenny Potes, reciter, MarionKant, commentator. Program: Schulhoff, Dessau,Hindemith, Pleskow, Foss, Mamlok; Wolpe, Form, Form IV.Concert 2: "Stefan Wolpe's Artistic Legacy: ThreeGenerations of Composers." Pieces by Jay Fluellen,Katherine Malyj, Daniel Barta, Matthew Greenbaum,Kristin Hevner, Mark Rimple, Alba Potes; Wolpe, SoloPiece for Trumpet (for saxophone).

December 15, Gasworks Theatre, Melbourne (Australia). AstraEnsemble. Wolpe, Solo Piece for Trumpet, Second Piecefor Violin Alone, Holderlin Song No. 1, To the


Dancemaster, Reading: Why I am not a Dadaist, ChamberPiece No. 2, March and Variations, Piece for Trumpet andSeven instruments, Entrance march (Agitprop Song). WithWebern, Busoni, Schwitters, Feldman, Ligeti, Hufschmidt,Schoenberg, Brahms.

2001

November 29-December 1. “Stefan Wolpe Festival-Symposium,” Northwestern University School of Music,Evanston, Ill. Concert 1: Nicolas Hodges, piano. FourStudies on Basic Rows, Form, Form IV, Battle Piece.Concert 2: Northwestern Contemporary Music Ensemble,Pacifica String Quartet, Jacob Greenberg, piano. Wolpe,String Quartet, Piece in Three Parts for Piano and 16Instruments. Session 1: papers by Nicolas Hodges, DoraHanninen. Session 2: papers by Patricia Morehead,Matthew Greenbaum. Concert 3: Patricia and PhilipMorehead. Wolpe, Sonata for Oboe and Piano. WithShapey. Concert 4: David Holzman, piano. Wolpe: SonataNo. 1, Zemach Suite, Waltz for Merle. Concert 5: eighthblackbird, Tony Arnold, soprano. Wolpe, Second Piece forViolin Alone, Lilacs, To the Dancemaster, Piece in TwoParts for Violin Alone. With Carter, Karlins, Rzewski,Varèse, Etezady. Session 4: papers by Andrew Kohn,Austin Clarkson. Session 5: Keynote address, ChristopherHasty, responses by Robert Morris and Martin Brody.Session 6: paper by A. Clarkson, responses by ThomasBauman and Jesse Rosenberg. Concert 6: Bugallo-WilliamsPiano Duo with Ursula Oppens, piano. Wolpe, Solo Piecefor Trumpet, Seven Pieces for 3 Pianos, Tango für denPsychotechniker, Psalm 64, The Man from Midian. WithCarter, Feldman.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Applebaum, Stanley. Lessons with Stefan Wolpe Began withJust One Note, Clavier 44/7 2005, 24-28.

Ashton, Dore. (2003). Stefan Wolpe: Man of Temperament. InThe Music of Stefan Wolpe: Essays and Recollections, ed.A. Clarkson, 95-102. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press.

Behrens, Jack, with A. Clarkson. (2003). The Sense ofNonsense: Wolpe, Satie, Cage. In The Music of StefanWolpe: Essays and Recollections, ed. A. Clarkson, 139-152. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press.

Benjamin, William. (2003). Distinctive and Original Featuresof the Pitch Structures in Part One of Wolpe’s In Two Partsfor Six Players. In The Music of Stefan Wolpe: Essays andRecollections, ed. A. Clarkson, 279-288. Hillsdale, NY:Pendragon Press.

Brody, Martin. (2002). The Scheme of the Whole: BlackMountain and the Course of American Music, in BlackMountain College: Experiment in Art, edited by VincentKatz, 237-267. Cambridge: MIT Press.

_____. (2002). Wolpe’s Inner Beauty (A Response toChristopher Hasty with 3 Entries for a Wolpe Lexicon.Perspectives of New Music 40/2, Summer 2002, 174-182.

_____ . (2003). The Will to Connect: Wolpe’s Theater of Actionand Memory, Open Space 5, fall 2003, 164-171.

_____. (2003). A Concrete Element You Work With: Wolpe andthe Painters. In The Music of Stefan Wolpe: Essays andRecollections, ed. A. Clarkson, 245-262. Hillsdale, NY:Pendragon Press.

Clarkson, Austin. (2001). From Tendenzmusik to AbstractExpressionism: Stefan Wolpe’s Battle Piece for Piano,Mitteilungen der Paul Sacher Stiftung 14, April 2001, 38-43.

_____. (2002). .Stefan Wolpe and Abstract Expressionism, inThe New York Schools of Music and Visual Arts, edited bySteven Johnson, 75-112. New York: Routledge.

_____. (2002). Stefan Wolpe, in Music of the Twentieth-Century Avant Garde, edited by Larry Sitsky, 569-580.Westport CT: Greenwood, 2002.

_____. (2002). Essays in Actionism: Wolpe’s Pieces for ThreePianists. Perspectives of New Music 40/2, 115-133.

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Cohen, Brigid. (2006). Wolpe’s ‘Geschichte der Verknüpfungen’:Reflections on Writing and Community. Mitteilungen derPaul Sacher Stiftung 19, April 2006, 18-22.

Falck, Robert. (2003). A Labyrinthine Universe: The One andOnly Symphony No. 1. In The Music of Stefan Wolpe:Essays and Recollections, ed. A. Clarkson, 221-232.Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press

François, Jean-Charles. (2003). Stefan Wolpe’s Dual Thought,Open Space 5, fall 2003, 172-181.

Greenbaum, Matthew. (2002). Stefan Wolpe’s DialecticalLogic: A Look at the Second Piece for Violin Alone,”Perspectives of New Music 40/2, 91-114.

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Hanninen, Dora A. (2002). Understanding Stefan Wolpe’sMusical Forms. Perspectives of New Music 40/2, 8-67.

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Hasty, Christopher. (2002). Broken Sequences:Fragmentations, Abundance, Beauty, Perspectives of NewMusic 40/2, 155-173.

Hirshberg, Joshua. (2003). A Modernist Composer in anImmigrant Community: The Quest for Status and NationalIdeology. In The Music of Stefan Wolpe: Essays andRecollections, ed. A. Clarkson, 75-94. Hillsdale, NY:Pendragon Press.

Holzman, David. (2003). On Performing Battle Piece. In TheMusic of Stefan Wolpe: Essays and Recollections, ed. A.Clarkson, 187-206. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press.

Kohn, Andrew. (2002). Wolpe and the Poets of Black Mountain,Perspectives of New Music 40/2, 134-154.

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Lach, Friedhelm. (2003). Concepts of Dada andPostmodernism in Wolpe’s Lecture on Dada. In The Musicof Stefan Wolpe: Essays and Recollections, ed. A.Clarkson, 153-161. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press.

Leutscher, Dick. (2003). A Composer Sitting Between theChairs: Wolpe, Cage, Adorno. In The Music of StefanWolpe: Essays and Recollections, ed. A. Clarkson.Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 133-138.

Levitz, Tamara. (2003). The Would-Be Master Student: StefanWolpe and Ferruccio Busoni. In The Music of StefanWolpe: Essays and Recollections, ed. A. Clarkson.Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 31-40.

Levy, Edward. (2003). Structure and Imagination II: Thinkingand Writing Music in Milton Babbitt and Stefan Wolpe. InThe Music of Stefan Wolpe: Essays and Recollections, ed.A. Clarkson, 103-110. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press.

Malyj, Katherine. (2003). Structures of Fantasy: Part Two ofWolpe’s In Two Parts for Six Players. In The Music ofStefan Wolpe: Essays and Recollections, ed. A. Clarkson,289-310. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press.

Morley Wolpe, Hilda. (2003). The Eighth Street Club. In TheMusic of Stefan Wolpe: Essays and Recollections, ed. A.Clarkson, 103-110. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press.

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Zimmermann, Heidy, & Matthias Kassel. (2003). ’A 100 EagleWings Set Afire’: Bedrohung und Bewahrung derManuskipte Stefan Wolpes, Mitteilungen der Paul SacherStiftung 16, March 2003, 18-24.



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This certainly is the reason, is the raison d’êtreof the Form, ripped endlessly open, and self-renewed by interacting extremes of opposites.There is nothing to develop because everythingis already there in reach of one’s ears. If one hasenough milk in the house one doesn’t go to thegrocery store. One doesn’t need to sit on themoon if one can write a poem about it with thetwitch of one’s senses. One is there where onedirects oneself to be. On the back of a bird,inside of an apple, dancing on the sun’s ray,speaking to Machaut, and holding the skeleton’s

hand of the incredible Cézanne — There is whatthere was and what there isn’t is also. Don't getbacked too much in a reality which has fashionedyour senses with too many realistic claims. Whenart promises you this sort of reliability, this sortof prognostic security, drop that baby I will say!Good is to know not to know how much one isknowing. And all the structures of fantasy andall the fantasies of structures one should knowabout — and one should mix surprise and enigma,magic and shock, intelligence and abandon, Formand Antiform. — Thinking Twice, 1959

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