A pupil of Darius Milhaud at the Conservatoire de Paris, he got interested in the music of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin, whose latest works (from Prometheus: The Poem of Fire to Mysterium) influenced his own compositions.
[3] In his memories, Jacques Viret evokes a man "of perfect simplicity, modesty and affability", making him meet Marina Scriabin, daughter of the composer of the Mysterium, of which the Acte préalable presents a twelve-tone tuning which carried him with enthusiasm.
[4] Among the many publications by Manfred Kelkel, Jean-Jacques Velly mainly retains the book Musique des mondes, published in 1988, "a unique work of its kind which synthesizes his two activities as a composer and musicologist.
[6] Fascinated by oriental civilizations and occult practices, Manfred Kelkel decided on the basis of Tabula Smaragdina (referring to the Emerald Tablet), to apply to his compositions "in a rational and coherent manner, principles derived from Chinese esoterism, Arabic geomancy and the alchemical operations, playing on unsuspected correspondence between Buddhist mandalas, hermetic diagrams, magic squares and the art of sound".
[10] Manfred Kelkel died in Paris 18 April 1999 at age 70,[11] shortly after the publication of his biography and full analysis of the works of Scriabin.