Manuel Rosenthal (1904–2003)

Manuel Rosenthal was born in Paris, France. His mother was Anna Devorsosky, a Russian born midwife; he never knew his father. He took his surname from his stepfather, Bernard Rosenthal. He began to study the violin at age nine, and a few years later, his mother persuaded the Paris Conservatoire to accept him as a student. Rosenthal also had to work to support his mother and two sisters after his stepfather died. He eked out a living playing in cafés, theaters, and cinemas around the city. He also composed some music that was performed publicly. Rosenthal's life turned around when Maurice Ravel heard some of his music and invited the younger man to study with him in 1926. From being Ravel's last pupil, Rosenthal went on to became a close friend. He was an important and insightful interpreter of Ravel's music and would later publish the book Ravel: Souvenirs De Manuel Rosenthal (1995). Ravel also encouraged Rosenthal to become a conductor, and in 1928, Rosenthal made his debut conducting the Orchestre Pasdeloup. From 1934 to 1939, he was associate conductor of the newly-formed National Radio Orchestra of France. At the outbreak of World War II, he joined the French Army and was captured by the Germans while serving on the front line in the Vosges. In March 1941, he was repatriated to France and joined the French Resistance. After the liberation of Paris in 1944, Rosenthal returned to Radio France, and became one of the most influential and respected French conductors of the 20th century. For the next half century, he was in demand throughout the world. He made his first conducting appearances in New York in 1946, when he led the New York Philharmonic in an all-French program. In 1962, Rosenthal introduced Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande into the Paris Opéra's repertory for the centenary of the composer's birth, and 26 years later brought it for the first time to Russia. Other career highlights included his recordings of the complete Debussy and Ravel orchestral works, his appointment as professor of conducting at the Paris Conservatoire in 1966, and his complete Ring cycle at the Seattle Opera in 1986. He led the French premieres of works by Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, and Sergey Prokofiev. As a composer, he fared better with light-hearted works such as his operetta La Poule Noire and his ballet based on Offenbach, Gaîté Parisienne, but he also produced a series of colorful orchestral scores, numerous sacred choral works, some solo piano and chamber works, and dozens of songs. In 1987, he published Satie, Ravel, Poulenc: An Intimate Memoir.