Marc Blitzstein

MARC BLITZSTEIN (1905-1964) was an American composer from Philadelphia, Penn. As a young musical prodigy, Blitzstein made his professional concerto debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of 21. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and later trained with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Arnold Schoenberg in Berlin. Stricken with grief by the sudden death of his wife Eva in 1936, Blitzstein composed THE CRADLE WILL ROCK, a pro-union political opera directed by Orson Welles that garnered international attention when it was shut down by the Works Progress Administration. Blitzstein went on to compose several other political works such as I’VE GOT THE TUNE (1937) and NO FOR AN ANSWER (1941), as well as ambitious scores for REGINA (1949), RUEBEN RUEBEN (1955) and JUNO (1959). He also composed for films and contributed two songs to the original production of Lillian Hellman’s award-winning play TOYS IN THE ATTIC (1960).