Richard Mohaupt (1904-1957) was a German-born composer who later settled in the United States. Born in Breslau, he worked in Germany until political conditions forced him to emigrate in the late 1930s.

His works include operas, ballets, orchestral pieces and music for stage and screen. His Concerto for Orchestra based on Red Army Songs is represented in Pristine’s wartime NBC Symphony repertory under Stokowski.

Mohaupt’s music is colourful, energetic and theatrical, often shaped by rhythm and public occasion. It reflects the displaced but productive world of European composers working in America.

He is now little known, but his music belongs to the same wartime concert culture that gave many émigré composers a new stage. Mohaupt’s voice is one of those sparks in the larger transatlantic furnace.