Composer
Rosenthal composed works in all classical forms, including operas, operettas, ballets, 13 works for orchestra, choral works with orchestra and a capella, works for solo voice and orchestra, chamber music, music for voice and piano, and solo piano music. His reputation was sealed in France with Jeanne d'Arc, first performed in 1936, although this was followed by a production of the light-hearted one-act operetta La Poule Noire of 1937.
However, his best-known work as a composer was the 1938 ballet Gaîté Parisienne, which he arranged based on the music of Jacques Offenbach. The commission by Léonide Massine was originally meant for Roger Désormière, but for lack of time, Désormière asked Rosenthal, a friend, to undertake the arrangement. Rosenthal was initially reluctant, but fulfilled the commission. Massine rejected the score, but after arbitration by Igor Stravinsky, finally accepted the work and choreographed the ballet, which was a major success.
In 1965 his serious opera Hop, Signor! was a disappointment in Toulouse and at the Opéra-Comique.
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