Manuel Rosenthal

Manuel Rosenthal (18 June 1904 – 5 June 2003) was a French composer and conductor who held leading positions with musical organizations in France and the United States. He was friends with many contemporary composers, and despite a considerable list of compositions is mostly remembered for having orchestrated the popular ballet score Gaîté Parisienne from piano scores of Offenbach operettas, and for his recordings as a conductor.

Early life and career Rosenthal was born in Paris to Anna Devorsosky, of Russian-Jewish descent, and a French father he never met. His surname was taken from his stepfather, Bernard Rosenthal.

He started his musical studies on violin at age 6, which he played in cafés and cinemas after his stepfather's death in 1918 to support his mother and sisters. In 1920, he entered the Conservatoire in Paris but eventually left it after failing to win an expected first prize.

His Sonatine for two violins and piano, composed for a sight-reading examination, was acclaimed after its performance at the 99th concert of the Société musicale indépendante in Paris at the end of October 1924, attended by both Nadia Boulanger and Alexis Roland-Manuel. After a stint in the military he became a student of Maurice Ravel, seeing him once or twice a month while also having lessons in counterpoint and fugue from Jean Huré. Ravel lobbied the directors of the Opéra-Comique to get Rosenthal's one-act opera Rayon des soieries performed there in June 1930. After Ravel's death in 1937, and following the success of Gaîté Parisienne, he became a close colleague of Igor Stravinsky.

In early 1946, Rosenthal's first conductorship in the USA was with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Having accepted the post of composer-in-residence at the College of Puget Sound, he was invited to become music director of the Seattle Symphony, which he conducted from 1948–1951 while undertaking guest engagements in San Francisco and Buenos Aires. He then went to Algiers to conduct there and in Tunis during the winter of 1952-53. He returned to Seattle in 1986 to conduct Richard Wagner's Ring cycle at the Seattle Opera.

He conducted the first performance of Claude Debussy's radical 1902 operatic masterpiece Pelléas et Mélisande in Russia, in Moscow in 1988, and later that year premiered the same work in Caracas, Venezuela. In 1992, he conducted a production of Padmâvatî by Albert Roussel at the Opera Bastille. Un baiser pour rien ou La folle du logis, 1928-1929, ballet in one act Les Bootleggers, 1932, comédie musicale in one act La Poule noire, 1933-1937, comédie musicale in one act Gaîté Parisienne, 1938, ballet in one act d’après Offenbach Que le diable l'emporte, 1948, ballet in one act Les femmes au tombeau, 1956, drame lyrique in one act Hop, Signor! 1957-1961, drame lyrique in three acts

Orchestral Sérénade, 1927 Jeanne d'Arc, 1934–36 Les petits métiers, 1933 (Le Maréchal ferrant, L’Herboriste, Le Montreur de Marionnettes, Le Veilleur de Nuit, Le Facteur Déodat, Le Barbier, La Marchande d’Oublies, Le Rémouleur, La Nounou, Le petit Télégraphiste) Musique de table, 1941 (Entrée de Convives, Salade russe, Matelote d’Anguilles, Quenelles lyonnaises, Filet de Bœuf, Jardinière de Légumes, Cuissot de Chevreuil, Salade de Saison, Fromage de Montagne, Bombe glacée, Corbeille de fruits, Café, Liqueurs, Cigares, Conversations d’après diner) Noce Villageoise, 1941 Symphonies de Noël, 1947 Magic Manhattan, 1948 Symphony in C, 1949 Offenbachiana, 1953 Rondes Françaises, 1955

Vocal, choral Saint François d'Assise, 1936–39 Trois burlesques, 1941 La pietà d’Avignon, 1943 Cantate pour le temps de la Nativité, 1943–44 Deux sonnets de Jean Cassou, 1944 A choeur vaillant, 1952–53 Missa Deo Gratias, 1953 Trois pièces liturgiques, 1958

Instrumental Sonatine for two violins and piano, 1922 Saxophone-Marmelade, 1929 Les Soirées du Petit Juas, string quartet, 1942 Aesopi Convivium (violin, piano, orchestra), 1947-1948

Selected recordings Debussy: Orchestral works - Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, Images pour orchestre, Jeux, Nocturnes, La Mer; Orchestra of the Opéra de Paris, conducted by Manuel Rosenthal. VEGA Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Rapsodie espagnole, Alborada del gracioso, Valses nobles et sentimentales; Orchestra of the Opéra de Paris, conducted by Manuel Rosenthal. VEGA Ravel: L'heure espagnole - Géori Boué (Concepcion), Roger Bourdin (Ramiro), Orchestre National de France, conductor: Manuel Rosenthal. Paris 28 December 1944. IMV 027. Ibert: Concertino da camera for alto saxophone and eleven instruments, Debussy: Rapsodie, Loeffler: Poeme paien d'apres Virgile - Marcel Mule, Orchestre Philharmonique de Paris, conductor Manuel Rosenthal. Paris, 1952, 2-EMI 85240. Glazounov: Suite from Raymonda - Orchestre Philharmonique de Paris, conductor Manuel Rosenthal. Paris, 1952, 2-EMI 85240. Scriabin: The Poem of Ecstasy - Orchestre Philharmonique de Paris, conductor Manuel Rosenthal. Paris, 1952, 2-EMI 85240. Sauguet: Les caprices de Marianne - Andrée Esposito (Marianne), Michel Sénéchal (Coelio), Camille Maurane (Octave), Orchestre Radio-Lyrique, conductor: Manuel Rosenthal. Paris, 27–28 May 1959. SOCD 98/99 Bizet: Les pêcheurs de perles - Jeanine Micheau (Leila), Alain Vanzo (Nadir), Gabriel Bacquier (Zurga), Lucien Lovano (Nourabad), Chœur de la RTF, Orchestre Radio-Lyrique, conductor: Manuel Rosenthal. Paris, 25 June 1959. GALA GL 100.504 Messiaen: Chronochromie - Orchestre National de France, conductor Manuel Rosenthal. Ades 14122. Lalo: Symphonie espagnole, Camille Saint-Saëns, violin concerto n°3. Arthur Grumiaux (violin), Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux, conductor: Manuel Rosenthal. Eloquence 462 579-2 (1963). Satie: Parade, Trois Petite Pieces Montées, Socrate, En habit de cheval. French National Radio & Television Orchestra, Manuel Rosenthal. 1968. Everest - EVERCD014 Offenbach: Pomme d'api, M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le . . ., Mesdames de la Halle - Mady Mesplé, Jean-Philippe Lafont, Léonard Pezzino, Charles Burles, Michel Trempont, Michel Hamel; Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Ensemble Choral Jean Laforge, Conductor: Manuel Rosenthal. Monte Carlo 21–29 September 1982. EMI 3952972. Puccini: Tosca - Jane Rhodes, Albert Lance, Gabriel Bacquier; Orchestra of the Opéra de Paris, conducted by Manuel Rosenthal. VEGA - VAL 18 Offenbach: La belle Hélène - Jane Rhodes, Bernard Plantey, Jean Giraudeau, Michel Hamel, Jacques Doucet, Bernard Demigny, Andrine Forli; Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra-Comique, Paris, conducted by Manuel Rosenthal. Philips GL5664

Personal life Rosenthal was married twice. His first marriage was to a chorus girl, Mlle. Troussier, in 1927. He had begun a relationship with soprano Claudine Verneuil while still married to his first wife, but during his tenure in Seattle presented Claudine as his wife even though he had not divorced Troussier. His failure to declare Verneuil's true status led to his detention for six weeks on Ellis Island on the way back to Seattle in October 1951, in 1999 he published a small book, 'Crescendo vers Dieu', in which he examined the religious beliefs that were woven into his life story.

He died in Paris, just short of his 99th birthday.