Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora (New Perspectives in Music History and Criticism, Series Number 23)

The German-Jewish émigré composer Stefan Wolpe was a vital figure in the history of modernism, with affiliations ranging from the Bauhaus, Berlin agitprop and the kibbutz movement to bebop, Abstract Expressionism and Black Mountain College. This is the first full-length study of this often overlooked composer, launched from the standpoint of the mass migrations that have defined recent times. Drawing on over 2000 pages of unpublished documents, Cohen explores how avant-garde communities across three continents adapted to situations of extreme cultural and physical dislocation. A conjurer of unexpected cultural connections, Wolpe serves as an entry-point to the utopian art worlds of Weimar-era Germany, pacifist movements in 1930s Palestine and vibrant art and music scenes in early Cold War America. The book takes advantage of Wolpe's role as a mediator, bringing together perspectives from music scholarship, art history, comparative literature, postcolonial studies and recent theories of cosmopolitanism and diaspora. Frontmatter List of illustrations and musical examples (page ix) Acknowledgments (page xi) Introduction: Toward a historiography of modernism in migration (page 1) Modernism, migration, and Wolpe (page 1) Retheorizing musical modernism (page 8) Beyond national frameworks and studies of exile and assimilation (page 12) Migrant cosmopolitanism (page 22) On the interpretation of modernist works (page 31) 1 Wolpe's Self-Revelatory Poetics and Critical Reflections, Circa 1951 (page 38) "The real clarification and real-true solution of human particularities" (page 38) "Held In" (page 40) Form and broken form (page 47) "The un-losable friendship of human recognition" (page 55) Wolpe's self-revelation and self-narration (page 64) 2 Weimar-Era Montage and Avant-Garde Community (page 76) Part 1: At the Bauhaus (page 76) "What would we be in a position to do without school?" (page 76) Montage: the ethics of estrangement, formalization, and reclamation (page 88) Part 2: After the Bauhaus (page 104) Zeus und Elida (page 105) Shock and experimental form (page 130) 3 "Amalgamated" Musics and National Visions in 1930s Palestine (page 140) "Amalgamated" idioms and Mandate-era politics (page 140) Wolpe's political position in Palestine (page 145) Wolpe's "full concern" and pedagogical presence (page 158) "If it be my fate..." (page 169) The "dream-panorama" of Jewish music (page 183) "But only if it existed: the most spiritual community" (page 193) 4 The Mid-Century Poetics and Politics of Experimental Community (page 202) The Oboe Quartet: community life and memory (page 202) Resisting the "holes of oblivion": Wolpe, Arendt, and human plurality (page 212) Tranforming "things" into "beings": Wolpe, Blücher, and "organic modes" (page 222) Wolpe's mid-century communities in profile (page 230) Heterotopia (page 263) Epilogue: The Witnessing Memory (page 267) No direction home (page 267) The self-narrator's belonging (page 275) Haunted objects (page 284) The "discontinuum" of testament (page 295) Interpretive communities and publics (page 301) Select Bibliography (page 304) Index (page 322) The German-jewish Emigre Composer Stefan Wolpe Was A Vital Figure In The History Of Modernism, With Affiliations Ranging From The Bauhaus, Berlin Agitprop And The Kibbutz Movement To Bebop, Abstract Expressionism And Black Mountain College. This Is The First Full-length Study Of This Often Overlooked Composer, Launched From The Standpoint Of The Mass Migrations That Have Defined Recent Times. Drawing On Over 2000 Pages Of Unpublished Documents, Cohen Explores How Avant-garde Communities Across Three Continents Adapted To Situations Of Extreme Cultural And Physical Dislocation. A Conjurer Of Unexpected Cultural Connections, Wolpe Serves As An Entry-point To The Utopian Art Worlds Of Weimar-era Germany, Pacifist Movements In 1930s Palestine And Vibrant Art And Music Scenes In Early Cold War America. The Book Takes Advantage Of Wolpe's Role As A Mediator, Bringing Together Perspectives From Music Scholarship, Art History, Comparative Literature, Postcolonial Studies And Recent Theories Of Cosmopolitanism And Diaspora. -- Book Jacket. Wolpe's Self-revelatory Poetics And Critical Reflections, Circa 1951 -- Weimar-era Montage And Avant-garde Community -- Amalgamated Musics And National Visions In 1930s Palestine -- The Mid-century Poetics And Politics Of Experimental Community. Brigid Cohen. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [304]-321) And Index. The German-Jewish émigré composer Stefan Wolpe was a vital figure in the history of modernism, with affiliations ranging from the Bauhaus to bebop to Black Mountain College. This first full-length study of this often overlooked composer brings together perspectives from the fields of music, visual art, literature and migration. Cohen traces a history of modernism in migration through the composer Stefan Wolpe, from the Bauhaus to Black Mountain College