Wolfgang Steinecke (22 April 1910 – 23 December 1961) was a German musicologist, music critic, and cultural politician.

In Darmstadt, he revived cultural life after World War II, especially by initiating the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, which connected Germany to the international scene of contemporary music.

[3] His father was a full-time Reichsbahn inspector, a music critic[3] for well-known Essen daily newspapers, and a choral conductor.

[1] Steinecke first completed practical music studies at the Folkwangschule in Essen with Ludwig Riemann (1863–1927) and Felix Wolfes.

[1] In addition to his studies, he worked as an assistant at the theatre with Georg Hartmann [de] at the Städtische Bühnen Kiel.

[2] During the Nazi regime, Steinecke was related to numerous influential musicians and musicologists, including his doctoral advisor Friedrich Blume, but also Fritz Stein.

He then moved to Darmstadt to work as the editor for southwestern Germany for the Düsseldorf theatre newspaper Der Mittag.

[4] The programs was in the early years influenced by musicians and composers such as Hugo Distler, Wolfgang Fortner, Gerhard Frommel [de] and Hermann Reutter.