Roland-Manuel (real name, Roland Alexis Manuel Levy)
Roland-Manuel (real name, Roland Alexis Manuel Levy)
Roland-Manuel (real name, Roland Alexis Manuel Levy) , French composer and writer on music; b. Paris, March 22, 1891; d. there, Nov. 1, 1966. He was a pupil of Roussel and d’Indy, and also studied privately with Ravel. In 1947 he became a prof. at the Paris Cons. In his compositions, he adopted the French neo-Classical style, close to Roussel’s manner; however, he became best known as a perspicacious critic, publishing, in Paris, 3 vols, on Ravel: Maurice Ravel et son oeuvre (1914; 2nd ed., rev., 1926; Eng. tr., 1941), Maurice Ravel et son oeuvre dramatique (1928), and À la gloire Maurice Ravel (1938; 2nd ed., rev.,1948; Eng. tr., 1947); also monographs on Satie (1916), Honegger (1925) and Falla (1930).
Works
DRAMATIC: Isabelle et Pantalon, opéra-bouffe (Paris, Dec. 11, 1922); Le Diable amoureux, light opera (1929); L’écran des jeunes filles, ballet (Paris, May 16, 1929); Elvire, ballet on themes of Scarlatti (Paris, Feb. 8, 1937). OTHER: Jeanne d’Arc, oratorio (1937); Piano Concerto (1938); Cantique de la sagesse for Chorus and Orch. (1951).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire