Born: December 26, 1899 - New York, New York, USA
Died: August 11, 1964 - Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA

The American pianist, teacher, composer, and inventor, Leopold (Damrosch) Mannes, was the son of David and Clara (née: Damrosch) Mannes. He studied at Harvard University (B.A., 1920) and took courses at the Mannes School of Music and the Institute of Musical Arts in New York. Among his teachers were Quaile, Guy Maier, Berthe Bert, and Alfred Cortot in piano, and Johannes Schreyer, Goetschius, and Scalero in composition. He won a Pulitzer scholarship in 1925, and a Guggenheim fellowship in 1927.

In 1922 Leopold Mannes made his debut in New York as a pianist. He taught theory and composition at the Mannes School from 1927 to 1931. Then he worked for the Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, New York, where he invented the Kodachrome process of colour photography with Leopold Godowsky, Jr., son of the pianist Leopold Godowsky, in 1935. He subsequently was director (1940-1948) and a teacher of theory and composition (1946-1948) at the Mannes School; was its co-director (1948-1952) and president (1950-1964). He was also active with his own Mannes Trio from 1948 to 1955.

Leopold Mannes wrote 3 Short Pieces for Orchestra (1926); incidental music to Shakespeare's Tempest (1930); String Quartet (1928); Suite for 2 Pianos (1924); songs.

Source: Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (July 2007)

Bach-L. Mannes: Leopold Mannes | Works | Recordings

Links to other Sites

Leopold Mannes (Wikipedia)
Leopold Mannes (Answers.com)

Leopold Damrosch Mannes (American musician) (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Bibliography