Stevan Hristić (Serbian Cyrillic: Стеван Христић), (June 19, 1885 – August 21, 1958), was the most popular Serbian composer of the first half of the 20th century, remembered best for his technically cultivated compositions in the Neoromanticist, veristic, and Romanticist-Impressionist styles.
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He conducted his primary studies in Leipzig, but also in Moscow, Paris and Rome before the First World War. He had an expert knowledge of both the European musical style and of Serbian national music (especially the works of Mokranjac). Because of this, he created a distinct style that was a mix of folkloric, Late Romantic and Impressionist elements in both melody and harmony.
His greatest contribution to the cultural life in Serbia is the founding of the Belgrade Philharmonic. He was also the director of the Belgrade Opera from 1924 to 1935, and in 1937. He is also one of the founding professors of the Musical Academy. After the Second World War, in 1945, he was a co-founder of the League of Composers of Serbia, also serving as one of its first presidents. He was also the first president of the Alliance of Composers of Yugoslavia, founded in 1950. Since then he was a casual member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
In 1907, he created the stage music for "Čučuk Stana". He continued writing solo poems, a few choir works and two major works - the "Symphonic fantasy for violin and orchestra" and "Rapsody for violin and piano". His most important creations are "Resurrection", the first Serbian Oratorio; "Opelo in b minor" (a Serbian Orthodox Requiem); and the Ballet "Ohridska legenda" (The Legend of Ohrid)", his most famous work.
One of his greater contributions is a Ballet scene of Opera "Suton" from 1958 which he wrote while he was a guest in Moscow.