Wolfes, Felix

Wolfes, Felix (1892–1971) music teacher, composer; born in Hanover, Germany. Forced by the Nazis to abandon a promising career as an opera conductor and transcriber of modern operas for piano, he came to New York and was assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera (1938–47). In 1948 he joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music; there, at Tanglewood, and in private lessons in New York he taught two generations of American singers. He composed over 200 Lieder in the classic vein, which are now being published and increasingly sung in public.