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Stefan Wolpe (1902-1972), though not as well-known as, say, Copland, Cage, and Stockhausen, is an important figure in modern music. Wolpe taught the generation of artists who shook classical music's foundation: Cage, David Tudor, Lou Harrison and Morton Feldman. Wolpe was one of the figures who was a "bridge" between the European modernist tradition (which he never abandoned) and the brave new musics that were developing in America (jazz, the classical avant-garde).
Wolpe's music for chorus is rooted in the styles of Thomas Tallis, William Byrd and pre-Renaissance-era vocal music, though what he does with it is very modern. He makes striking use of restraint and silence, creating an experience akin to eavesdropping on an outlawed choir practicing in secret. "Two Chinese Epitaphs" uses martial-sounding percussion to echo the turbulent tenor of the time and place it was written (central Europe 1937).
Morton Feldman certainly learned well from Wolpe-their choral works bear some superficial resemblance to each other. But Feldman was under the sway of the Abstract Expressionist esthetic (Mark Rothko, Jasper Johns), Persian art and the concepts of indeterminacy and unconventional notation. His music is austere yet very "human," and to an extent finds parallels with minimalism in the way that scattered single tones mix with a range of chords. Like some minimalism, "change" is almost imperceptible, but it's there, and beautifully done. "For Stefan Wolpe," for chorus and two vibraphones, is transparent and ethereal (but not "new-age-y"). The voices and vibes do not interact, but the decaying notes from the vibes ring into the voices. It's as if Feldman is lovingly deconstructing Wolpe's choral music tone by tone: it gives the impression of serenity, but it's a feeling that must be earned.
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