Halsey Stevens (December 3, 1908 – January 20, 1989) was a US composer and music educator.
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Halsey Stevens was born in Scott, New York and educated at Syracuse University and the University of California, Berkeley. He studied with William Berwald at Syracuse and with the composer Ernest Bloch at Berkeley.
Stevens served as a faculty member at Syracuse University (1935-37), Dakota Wesleyan University (1937-41), Bradley University (1941-46), the University of Redlands (1946), and then at the University of Southern California from 1946 until his retirement in 1976. His notable students there included Morten Lauridsen.
He died in a Long Beach, California, medical facility January 20, 1989, after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.
His recorded music includes Triskelion (1953), Sinfonia Breve (1957), Symphony No. 1 (1945), Symphonic Dances (1958), Sonata for Solo Cello (1958), Sonata for Trumpet and Piano (1956), Concerto for Clarinet (1969), Sonata for Trombone (1965), Intrada for Piano (1954), Three Inventions for Piano (1948), Five Duos for Two Cellos (1954), Sonatina for Trombone (or Bass Tuba) (1960), Sonata for Horn and Piano (1953), Partita for Harpsichord (1954), Quintet for Flute, Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello (1945), The Ballad of William Sycamore (1955), Go, Lovely Rose" (1942), and several other works.
A Bartók scholar and musicologist, Stevens wrote the definitive work, The Life and Music of Béla Bartók (Oxford University Press, 1953; revised edition, 1964).
Stevens contributed scholarly articles to Musical Quarterly, The Journal of Music Theory, Music and Letters (London), Tempo (London), Énekszós (Budapest), Musikoloski Zborník (Ljubljana), among other journals.