Monfred, Avenir de

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Monfred, Avenir de

Monfred, Avenir de, Russian composer of French descent; b. St. Petersburg, Sept. 17, 1903; d. Paris, April 11, 1974. He studied piano, organ, and composition at the Petrograd Cons., graduating in 1922. In 1924 he went to Paris and studied with d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum (1925–27). He promulgated an interesting theory of composition,”diatonic polymodality,” expounded in detail in his book The New Diatonic Modal Principle of Relative Music (N.Y., 1970).

Works

dramatic:Suite New-yorkaise, ballet (Monte Carlo, Nov. 19, 1956); film scores. orch.:Rapsodie juive (1926); Vienna, 1850, symphonic poem (1941); 2 syms. (1955, 1957); Manhattan Sketches, symphonic suite (1958). chamber: 3 violin sonatas (1922, 1926, 1947); Cello Sonata (1938); String Quartet (1939); piano pieces; organ works. VOCAL: Choruses.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire