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The article presents the text of composer Stefan Wolpe's Frances Parker Lecture. According to Wolpe, the "Passacaglia" was written at a time when he was concerned with the possibilities of writing music based upon a minimum of material. In the piece "Form for Piano," Wolpe says that the main concern is the art of molding opposites into adjacent situations. In the "Piece in Two Parts for Flute and Piano," a canvas of autonomous sound is created by the two instruments, says Wolpe. In "Two Parts for Six Players," Wolpe says the pitches are arranged in a structural order in which certain tones or combinations of tone have a characteristic mode of behavior.