ROSENTHAL, MANUEL

ROSENTHAL, MANUEL (Emmanuel; 1904–2003), conductor and composer. Born in Paris, he studied solfège with Mme. Marcou and the violin with Jules Boucherit at the Paris Conservatoire (1918–23). He was also Ravel's student and was among his master's closest disciples, a privileged interpreter and confidant. After conducting Parisian orchestras, he became leader of the National Radio Orchestra in 1934. During World War II, he was a prisoner in Germany and at the end the war he conducted, at the French Radio in Paris, the concert given to mark the liberation (September 28, 1944), which included the first performance of Messiaen's Chant des déportés for choir soprano, tenor and orchestra (published in 1945). He became instructor of composition at the College of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, in 1948 and was the conductor of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra from 1949 to 1951. In April 1973, he conducted the first performance to mark the reopening of the Paris Opera. Rosenthal also appeared on many occasions at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and in 1987 he conducted the Russian première of Pelléas et Mélisande. He was professor of conducting at the Paris Conservatoire (1962–74) and made recordings of the music of Debussy and Ravel. As a composer, he rejected the compartmentalized aesthetics of French music in the interwar period and put his individual language into his work. He wrote in almost every musical genre, including opera (such as Rayon des soieries, opéra-bouffe, 1926–28), ballet (such as Un baiser pour rien, 1928–29) chamber, and orchestral music, as well as choral and sacred music Cantate pour le temps de la Nativité (1943–44); and Missa Deo gratias, (1953). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grove Music Online; D. Saudinos, Manuel Rosenthal (1992); M. Marnat (ed.), Ravel: souvenirs de Manuel Rosenthal (1995). (Israela Stein (2nd ed.)