Marcel Mihalovici (

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, 22 October 1898 –

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, 12 August 1985) was a French composer born in Romania. He was discovered by

George Enescu George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei. Biog ...

. He moved to

in 1919 (at age 21) to study under

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Par ...

. His works include his ''Sonata number 1 for violin and piano'' (1920), ''Mélusine'' opera (1920, libretto by

Yvan Goll Yvan Goll (also: Iwan Goll, Ivan Goll; born Isaac Lang; 29 March 1891 – 27 February 1950) was a French-German poet who was bilingual and wrote in both French and German. He had close ties to both German expressionism and to French surrealism ...

), his ''1st string quartet'' (1923), ''2nd string quartet'' (1931), ''Sonata number 2 for violin and piano'' (1941), ''Sonata for violin and cello'' (1944), ''Phèdre'' Opera (1949), ''Étude in two parts for piano and instrumental ensemble'' (1951) and ''Esercizio per archi'' (1960). Many of his piano works were first performed by his wife, the concert pianist

Monique Haas Monique Haas (20 October 1909 – 9 June 1987) was a French pianist. Born in Paris, she studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Joseph Morpain and Lazare Lévy, taking a ''Premier Prix'' in 1927. She went on to study with Rudolf Serkin and Rob ...

. Mihalovici was the original composer for the music of

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

's radio play ''

Cascando ''Cascando'' is a radio play by Samuel Beckett. It was written in French in December 1961, subtitled ''Invention radiophonique pour musique et voix'', with music by the Franco-Romanian composer Marcel Mihalovici. It was first broadcast on France ...

'' (1962). His ''Fifth Symphony'' features a soprano singing a setting of a Beckett poem, and he used ''

Krapp's Last Tape ''Krapp's Last Tape'' is a 1958 one-act play, in English, by Samuel Beckett. With a cast of one man, it was written for Northern Irish actor Patrick Magee (actor), Patrick Magee and first titled "Magee monologue". It was inspired by Beckett's e ...

'' as the basis for a small opera, Krapp, ou, La dernière bande. His memories of their friendship are recounted in the collected work ''Beckett at Sixty A Festschrift'' by John Calder, Calder and Boyars (1967). A strong proponent of

neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...

, during his career Mihalovici embraced a variety of contemporary styles, with a harmonic language ranging from

chromaticism Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic scale, diatonic pitch (music), pitches and chord (music), chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. In simple terms, within each octave, diatonic music uses o ...

serialism In music, serialism is a method of Musical composition, composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other elements of music, musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, thou ...

Romanian folk music Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

influenced his unconventional use of rhythmic variation and instrumental colour.

List of Works (by opus number)

(Works with "op. ??" are placed at the point in the list where they are presumed to have been composed) * op. 6 – Three Nocturnes; piano * op. 11 – Sonatine; piano * op. 12 – Dialogues; clarinet and piano * op. 13 – Sonatine; oboe or violin and piano * op. 18 – Chansons et Jeux (Romanian Poems); voice and piano * op. 19 – Impromptu Pieces; piano * op. ?? – Sonata no. 1; violin and piano * op. ?? – String Quartet no. 1 * op. 23 – Karagueuz; puppet ballet for orchestra or 4-hand piano * op. 25 - Trois romances de Victor Hugo, piano and voice, published 1932 * op. 26 – Fantaisie for orchestra (performed at the 1930 ISCM Festival in Liège) * op. 27 – The Intransigent Pluto, or, Orpheus in the Underworld; opera in one act * op. 28 – Chindia; radio-orchestra * op. 29 – Four Caprices; piano * op. 30 – Trio 'Serenade'; violin, viola, and cello * op. 31 – String Quartet no. 2 * op. 32 – Chanson, Pastorale, Rumanian Dance; piano * op. 33 – Concerto (Quasi una Fantasia); violin and orchestra * op. 35 – Sonata; clarinet trio (E-flat, A, and bass clarinet in B-flat) * op. 37 – Five Bagatelles; piano * op. 38 – Divertissement; small orchestra * op. 40 – Rhapsody Concertante; orchestra * op. 42 – Prelude and Invention; string orchestra * op. 44 – Toccata; piano and orchestra (or 2 pianos) * op. 45 – Sonata no. 2; violin and piano * op. 46 – Ricarcari, Variations; piano * op. 47 – Sonata; viola and piano * op. ?? – Sequences; orchestra * op. 50 – Sonata; violin and cello * op. 51 – Counter-Rhymes, 3 songs; voice and piano * op. 52 – String Quartet no. 3 * op. 54 – Variations; horns and strings * op. 58 – Phèdre; opera in five scenes * op. 59 – Sonata; solo violin * op. 60 – Sonata; solo cello * op. 61 – Ritournelles; orchestra * op. 62 – Four Pastorales; piano * op. 63 – Three Nocturnes; piano * op. 64 – Etude in Two Parties; piano, winds, brass, celeste, and percussion * op. 65 – Sinfonia giocosa (Symphony no. 1); orchestra * op. 66 – Sinfonia partita (Symphony no. 2); string orchestra * op. 67 – Two Poems by Agrippa D'Aubigne; SATB chorus * op. 68 – Memorial (Five Motets); chorus * op. ?? – Symphonies for Present Times; orchestra * op. 70 – The Homecoming; opera in one act * op. 71 – Trio; oboe, clarinet, and bassoon * op. 72 – Elegy; orchestra * op. 73 – Scenes from Thésée (Ballet); orchestra * op. 74 – Alternamenti (Ballet); orchestra * op. 75 – Evening Songs, Four Poems by Yvan Goll; voice and piano * op. 76 – Tragic Overture; orchestra * op. ?? – Sonata; bassoon and piano * op. 78 – Sonata; B-flat clarinet and piano * op. ?? – Scherzo-Waltz; B-flat trumpet and piano * op. ?? – Meditation; C or B-flat trumpet and piano * op. ?? – Novelette; bassoon and piano * op. ?? – Episode; Horn in F and piano * op. 80 – Exercise; string orchestra * op. 81 – Krapp's Last Tape (Beckett); opera * op. 82 – Sinfonia variata (Symphony no. 3); orchestra * op. 83 – Improvisations; percussion and piano * op. 84 – The Twins; opera in three acts * op. 87 – Musique Nocturne; clarinet and chamber orchestra * op. 88 – Sinfonia Cantata (Symphony no. 4); baritone, mixed chorus, and orchestra * op. 89 – Aubade; string orchestra * op. 90 – Sonata; piano * op. 92 – Dialogues; clarinet and piano * op. 93 – Périples; small orchestra * op. 94 – Symphony no. 5 (in memory of Hans Rosbaud) * op. 95 – Pretexts; oboe, bass clarinet, piano, percussion, and strings * op. 96 – Variantes; F horn and piano * op. 97 – Cantus Firmus; two pianos * op. 98 – Rondo; orchestra * op. 99 – Serioso; bass saxhorn and piano * op. 100 – Cantilène; mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra * op. 101 – Recit; solo clarinet * op. 102 – Melopeia; oboe solo * op. 103 – Chant Premier (Sonata); tenor saxophone and orchestra * op. 104 – Texts; viola and piano * op. 105 – Passacaglia for One Hand; piano * op. 106 – Follia, Paraphrases; orchestra * op. 107 – Délié (Cantata); soprano and orchestra (or piano) * op. 108 – Sonata-Danse; cello and piano * op. 109 – Malinconia (Cantata); soprano, bass, string quartet, and orchestra * op. 110 – Sonata; viola solo * op. 111 – String Quartet no. 4 * op. 112 – Mirror of Songs; flute and piano * op. 113 – Torse (Meditation); violin solo * op. 114 – Elegy no. 2; violin and piano

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mihalovici, Marcel 20th-century classical composers French classical composers French male classical composers Romanian emigrants to France Musicians from Bucharest 1898 births 1985 deaths 20th-century French composers 20th-century French male musicians