Felix Wolfes (September 2, 1892 in Hannover – March 28, 1971 in Boston) was an American educator, conductor and composer.

Biography

Felix was born to Jewish parents in Hannover, Germany. After graduating from high school, he attended the Leipzig Conservatory, where he studied music theory with Max Reger and piano with Robert Teichmüller. He also studied with Richard Strauss and later in Strasbourg with Hans Pfitzner. His conducting debut was in Breslau in 1923. He then worked as musical director and opera conductor in Essen (1924–1931) and Dortmund (until 1933). In Dortmund he had to leave his position in the spring of 1933 due to the Nazi rise to power. He emigrated first to France and later to the US. He conducted the Monte Carlo opera in 1936 and 1937. While in France, he was also the teacher of composer Lukas Foss, who studied orchestration with him. In 1938 he moved to New York City, where he worked as an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, where he stayed until 1947. In 1948 he followed a call to the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he taught for two decades. He died in Boston, aged 78.

Musical compositions and editing

Wolfes composed at least 140 songs that are published. Most were composed after he moved to Boston, but he continued to set German poetry. There are a few songs in English, however. As a disciple of Strauss and Pfitzner, Wolfes composed vocal works using similar complex rhythmic and harmonic materials. He was also highly skilled in editing and preparing the vocal scores for operas from the full orchestral score. Some of his important work in this area was for the Strauss opera Arabella and the Pfitzner opera Palestrina. He also prepared vocal scores for Strauss's opera Die schweigsame Frau and Pfitzner's operas Das Herz and Die Rose vom Liebesgarten.

Works

Ausgewählte Lieder in 5 Bänden für Singstimme und Klavier (Selected Songs in Five Volumes), Mercury Music Corporation, New York 1962 Volume I, songs for high voice Volume II, songs for high voice Volume III, songs for medium voice Volume IV, songs for medium voice Volume V, songs for low voice Selected Lieder, ed. John S. Bowman and Richard Aslanian, Theodore Presser Company, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Volume VI, songs for high voice, 1987 Volume VII, songs for medium voice, 1987 Volume VIII, songs for low voice, 1991 Volume IX, songs for high voice, 1991 Volume X, songs for medium voice, 1992 Volume XI, songs for medium voice, 1992 Volume XII, songs for high voice, 1996 Volume XIII, settings of poems by Hermann Hesse, ed. Richard Aslanian, 2008

Footnotes