Freed, Isadore
FREED, ISADORE
FREED, ISADORE (1900–1960), composer. Born in Brest-Litovsk, Russia, Freed was taken to the United States as an infant. He studied with Ernest *Bloch there and with Vincent d'Indy in Paris. Returning to the United States in 1934, he engaged in teaching, and was chairman of the music department of the Hart College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, from 1944 until his death. He wrote two symphonies; violin and cello concertos; and an opera, The Princess and the Vagabond (1948); chamber music; and choral works. His works were of a moderately modernistic idiom, with some use of American folk themes, as in his Appalachian Symphonic Sketches (1946). His synagogal compositions include Sabbath Morning Service (1950), Hasidic Service (1954), Psalm settings, and a selection from Salamone de *Rossi's Ha-shirim asher li-Shelomo arranged as a service for cantor, chorus, and organ (1954).