Alexei Haieff

Alexei Vasilievich Haieff (August 25, 1914 – March 1, 1994)[1] was an American composer of orchestral and choral works. He is known for following Stravinsky's neoclassicism, observing an austere economy of means, and achieving modernistic effects by a display of rhythmic agitation, often with jazzy undertones.

Background

Born in Blagoveshchensk, in the Russian Far East, Haieff received his primary education at Harbin, Manchuria.[2] In 1931 he went to the U.S., where he studied with Rubin Goldmark and Frederick Jacobi at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City (1934–38). In 1938-39 he also studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He became a U.S. citizen and held U.S. citizenship for 55 years, until his death.

He held a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1946 and again in 1949, and was a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome (1947–48). His Divertimento (1944) was choreographed by George Balanchine in 1947. He won the Rome Prize in 1949. He was a professor at the University at Buffalo (1962–68), and composer-in-residence at the University of Utah (1968–70). His Piano Concerto won the New York Music Critics’ Circle Award (1952) and his 2nd Symphony the American International Music Fund Award (1957).[3]

Haieff's notable students include Paul Ramsier.

He was married to Sheila Jeanne Agatha van Meurs in 1988.[4] He died in Rome, Italy, at the age of 79.

List of works

Ballets

Orchestral

Chamber music

Piano Compositions

Vocal/Choral

Recordings in current CD release ( with selected movements available on YouTube):

References

  1. ↑ Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Centennial Edition. Nicolas Slonimsky, Editor Emeritus. Schirmer, 2001.
  2. ↑ New York Public Library Digital Collection http://digilib.nypl.org/dynaweb/ead/nypl/mushaieff/@Generic__BookView
  3. ↑ "Alexei Vasilievich Haieff." Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Centennial Edition. Nicolas Slonimsky, Editor Emeritus. Schirmer, 2001
  4. ↑ Peerage of the House of Lords http://www.thepeerage.com/p15215.htm
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