Stefan Wolpe

Stefan Wolpe was a German-born American composer. He was associated with interdisciplinary modernism, with affiliations ranging from the Bauhaus, Berlin agitprop theater and the kibbutz movement to the Eighth Street Artists' Club, Black Mountain College, and the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. He lived and worked in Berlin (1902–1933) until the Nazi seizure of power forced him to move first to Vienna (1933–34) and Jerusalem (1934–38) before settling in New York City (1938–72). In works such as Battle Piece (1942/1947) and "In a State of Flight" in Enactments for Three Pianos (1953), he responded self-consciously to the circumstances of his uprooted life, a theme he also explored extensively in voluminous diaries, correspondence, and lectures. His densely eclectic music absorbed ideas and idioms from diverse artistic milieus, including post-tonality, bebop, and Arab classical musics.

25 August 1902

Born on the same birth day (25 August): Andrew Longmore • Bill Handel • Duleep Mendis • Joanne Whalley • John Neal (writer) • Lise Bacon • Mia Zapata • Rachel Bilson • Rob Halford • Robert Maschio • Stuart Murdoch (musician)

Born in the same month (August 1902): Alfredo Binda • Angel Karaliychev • Arne Tiselius • Carlo Gambino • David Buttolph • Fernand Braudel • Georgette Heyer • Géza Révész • Leni Riefenstahl • Lloyd Nolan • Margaret Murie • Mina Rees • Ogden Nash • Paul Dirac • Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria • Thomas Pelly • Zino Francescatti