On the Music of Stefan Wolpe: Essays and Recollections.(Book review)

On the Music of Stefan Wolpe: Essays and Recollections. Edited by Austin Clarkson. (Dimension & Diversity, no. 6.) Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2003. [xii, 371 p. ISBN 1-57647-063-0. $42.] Index, notes, illustrations, catalog, discography, compact disc.

In the last decade of his compositional career, Stefan Wolpe (1902-1972) favored two-movement forms for his music. The importance of these large-scale formal plans to the composer's conception is ably and bluntly demonstrated by the titles of many of these works: consider, for example, In Two Parts for Six Players and Piece in Two Parts for Violin Alone, both of which are featured on the compact disc included with this volume. But these compositions have formal implications well beyond the classical norms of contrast in tempo, style, and timbre. In particular, Wolpe frequently reuses or recasts iconic materials from one movement to another, creating a network of similarities and relationships that operates independently of (and in consort with) the traditional contrasts.

The experience of reading this near-centennial collection of essays bears a striking parallel to the unfolding of one of these late compositions. The volume's formal organization divides the contributions into two sections--"Engagements" and "Makings"--that represent a sort of post-modern gloss on the traditional Man-and-Music composer biography. Stretching across and within these two parts is a complex web of associations, created by repeated references to composers, philosophers, and compositions that serve as guideposts for the authors in their explorations. That these sites of navigation are widely disparate (the titles of the essays alone invoke such diverse figures as Busoni, Eisler, Vogel, Cage, Adorno, Satie, Varese, and Babbitt) underscores the challenge of situating Wolpe in the ever-changing contemporary landscape.

The two-part structure also pays homage to the Hegelian roots of Wolpe's philosophical writings. Indeed, many of the authors (especially in the first section) invoke syntheses of varied poles of cultures, philosophies, and compositional styles to serve as lenses for their examinations. Pairs of essays also often bring about a similar sort of aggregate effect, creating a more nuanced picture through the dialectic combination of their contrasting views on substantially similar topics.

The climax of the collection comes at the beginning of the second part, with essays by Martin Zenck and David Holzman that both involve Wolpe's monumental Battle Piece for piano. Zenck, a musicologist, uses neoclassicism and serialism as foils for several piano works from the 1930s and 1940s. Unusually for this volume, Zenck explicitly disavows any suggestion that Wolpe represents a synthesis of these isms (p. 175). An initial clue lies in the title: "Beyond Neoclassicism and Dodecaphony: Wolpe's Third Way." Pianist Holzman deals with the physical and interpretive challenges of Battle Piece, contrasting his own performances and recordings with those of David Tudor (renditions of Battle Piece by both artists are on the accompanying compact disc). Holzman's consideration of the large-scale impact of the differences between his and Tudor's interpretations is especially engaging and expert.

The reuse and development of iconic materials figures prominently in both authors' treatments. For Zenck, it facilitates the creation of formal maps, an ostensibly serial echo of neoclassical aesthetics. The tonal implications (or lack thereof) of these materials also form a navigable layer, which Zenck imbues with almost narrative qualities. Tonality itself becomes a character whose accretions and denials find resonance with the anti-war program intended by the composition's title. For Holzman, these recastings (he borrows the term interpolations from Tudor) represent an opportunity for romantic memory, a dramatic turn of almost theatrical quality. He contrasts this with Tudor's approach, in which the interpolations are interruptions, an aggregate effect lying outside the erstwhile flow of the musical surface. Tonality again figures prominently as a source for navigation; but ...