Weinberger was born in Prague and emigrated to the United States in 1921. He started piano study at age five and was composing and conducting by age 10. For a while, he taught composition at Ithaca Conservatory in New York. He returned to Czechoslovakia in 1926 where he was appointed director of the National Theater. He fled the Nazis and returned to the United States in 1939 and became a citizen in 1948. He is best known for his opera "Schwanda the Bagpiper." His Bible Poems were written in 1939 and reflect the gathering war clouds over Europe. The Last Supper is one of the movements of this suite for organ.