Levy, Marvin David

Levy, Marvin David, American composer; b. Passaic, N.J., Aug. 2,1932. He studied composition with Philip James at N.Y.U., and with Luening at Columbia Univ. He was awarded 2 Guggenheim fellowships (1960, 1964) and 2 American Prix de Rome fellowships (1962–63; 1965). Levy showed a particular disposition toward the musical theater. In his vocal and instrumental writing, he adopted an expressionistic mode along atonal lines, in an ambience of cautiously dissonant harmonies vivified by a nervously asymmetric rhythmic pulse.

Works

dramatic opera:Sotoba Komachi (N.Y., April 7,1957); The Tower (Sante Fe, Aug. 2,1957); Escorial (N.Y., May 4, 1958); Mourning Becomes Electra, after O’Neill (N.Y., March 17,1967). m u s i c a 1 :The Balcony (1981–87). orch.:Caramoor Festival Overture (1959); Sym. (Los Angeles, Dec. 15, 1960); Kryos, dance poem for Chamber Orch. (1961); Piano Concerto (Chicago, Dec. 3, 1970); Trialogues I and II (1972); In memoriam W.H. Auden (1974); Arrows of Time (Orlando, Fla., Oct. 3, 1988). chamber: String Quartet (1955); Rhapsody for Violin, Clarinet, and Harp (1956); Chassidic Suite for Horn and Piano (1956). vocal:Echoes for Soprano and Ensemble (1956); For the Time Being, Christmas oratorio (1959); One Person, cantata for Alto and Orch. (1962); Sacred Service for the Park Avenue Synagogue in N.Y. (1964); Masada, oratorio for Narrator, Tenor, Chorus, and Orch. (1973; rev. version, Chicago, Oct. 15, 1987); Canto de los Marranos for Soprano and Orch. (1977).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire