ABSTRACT
This chapter explores Christian Wolff's approach to word setting and writing for voice, and the way in which this aspect of his work has served to illuminate, clarify and sometimes problematize the political dimension of his music. It provides a brief survey of Wolff's settings of politicized texts from his early attempts in the 1970s through to more recent times, singling out for attention his early efforts Accompaniments and Wobbly Music, and from the 1980s I Like to Think of Harriet Tubman. The chapter demonstrates the range of Wolff's political concerns, from social reorganization in China to the US Labor movement, to a celebration of strong radical female figures. Wobbly Music is a major statement from Wolff about the attempt to make a connection between music and politics in his work. The subject of the piece is 'closer to home' than that of Accompaniments, dealing as it does with a significant movement in American political history.
