Mennini, Louis (Alfred)

Mennini, Louis (Alfred), American composer and music educator, brother of Peter Mennin; b. Erie, Pa., Nov. 18, 1920. He studied at the Oberlin (Ohio) Cons. (1939–42), then served in the U.S. Army Air Force (1942–45); subsequently studied composition with Rogers and Hanson at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, N.Y. (B.M., 1947; M.M., 1948). He was a prof, at the Univ. of Tex. (1948–49); then was a prof, of composition at the Eastman School of Music, receiving his doctorate in composition from the Univ. of Rochester in 1961. After serving as dean of the School of Music at the N.C. School of the Arts in Winston-Salem (1965–71), he became chairman of the music dept. at Mercyhurst Coll. in Erie, Pa., in 1973, where he founded the D’Angelo School of Music and D’Angelo Young Artist Competition. In 1983 he founded the Va. School of the Arts in Lynchburg, serving as its head until his retirement in 1988. His music is pragmatic and functional, with occasional modernistic touches.

Works

dramatic:Opera: The Well (Rochester, N.Y., May 8, 1951); The Rape, chamber opera, after Eugene O’Neill (Tanglewood, Aug. 8, 1955). orch.: Overtura breve (1949); Cantilena (1950); Canzona for Chamber Orch. (1950); 2 syms. {Da Chiesa, 1960; Da Festa, 1963); Tenebrae (1963); Concerto Grosso (1975). chamber: Violin Sonata (1947); Cello Sonatina (1952); String Quartet (1961); many piano works.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire