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): Adrian Lam • Andrew Longmore • Bret Harte • Brian Moore (novelist) • Erich Honecker • Jan-Berry Burger • Jim Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness • Mia Zapata • Nick Schultz (ice hockey) • Philipp Mißfelder • Ruth Ann Swenson • Shock G • Thea Astley • Velimir Jovanović • Álvaro Mutis

Born in the same month (August 1902): Alfredo Binda • Angel Karaliychev • Arne Tiselius • Christian de Castries • Curt Siodmak • Felix Wankel • Fernand Braudel • Georgette Heyer • Géza Révész • Lloyd Nolan • Margaret Murie • Mohammad Hatta • Norma Shearer • Ogden Nash • Regina Jonas • Zino Francescatti