Lévy, Michel-Maurice

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Lévy, Michel-Maurice

Lévy, Michel-Maurice, French composer; b. Ville-d’Avray, June 28, 1883; d. Paris, Jan. 24, 1965. He studied at the Paris Cons. with Lavignac and Leroux. From 1920 to 1932 he was popular as a musical parodist in vaudeville under the name of Bétove (i.e., Beethoven), under which name he wrote operettas Pom-Pom (1928), Les Exploits galants du Baron de Crac (1932), and D’Artagnan (1945). Under his own name he wrote the operas Le Cloître (Lyons, 1932) and Dolores (Paris, 1952), the operettas Lydia (Brussels, 1936) and La Demoiselle de Carentan (Paris, 1951), and Les Trois Pantins de bois, ballet suite for Orch., Le Chant de la terre, symphonie poem (1945), Moïse, “fresque lyrique” (Mulhouse, 1955), film music, choral works, and songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire