Photo: Federal Theatre Project / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Marc Blitzstein is the kind of figure I genuinely admire. He wasn't just a skilled composer, pianist, and librettist out of the University of Pennsylvania; he was an artist with a spine. When his pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by federal authorities in 1937, he turned suppression into legend. That fusion of craft and conviction, capped by a 1940 Guggenheim Fellowship, is rare. I'm always drawn to artists who aim their talent at the world rather than just the stage, and Blitzstein did precisely that with real courage and lasting consequence.
Overview
Marcus Samuel Blitzstein (March 2, 1905 – January 22, 1964), was an American composer, lyricist, and librettist. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the Works Progress Administration.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Marc Blitzstein
- Name (Japanese)
- マーク・ブリッツスタイン
- Reading
- まーく・ぶりっつすたいん
- Born
- March 2, 1905 – January 22, 1964
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Pisces / Snake
- Origin
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- composer / pianist / lyricist / librettist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- University of Pennsylvania
Awards & achievements
- 1940 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 1946 Arts and Letters Award in Music
- star on Playwrights' Sidewalk
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Composer — see all → · Pianist — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.