Alexei Vasilievich Haieff

Alexei Vasilievich Haieff, (August 25, 1914 – March 1, 1994) [Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Centennial Edition. Nicolas Slonimsky, Editor Emeritus. Schirmer, 2001.] was an American composer of orchestral and choral works. He is known for following Stravinsky's neo-Classicism, observing an austere economy of means, and achieving modernistic effects by a display of rhythmic agitation, often with jazzy undertones.

Background

Born in Blagoveshchensk, Siberia, Haieff received his primary education at Harbin, Manchuria. [New York Public Library Digital Collection http://digilib.nypl.org/dynaweb/ead/nypl/mushaieff/@Generic__BookView] In 1931 he went to the U.S., where he studied with Goldmark and Jacobi at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. (1934-38). In 1938-39 he also studied with Boulanger in Paris and in Cambridge, Mass. He held a Guggenheim fellowship in 1946 and again in 1949, and was a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome (1947-48). He was a professor at the University of 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 and his 2nd Symphony the American International Music Fund Award. ["Alexei Vasilievich Haieff." Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Centennial Edition. Nicolas Slonimsky, Editor Emeritus. Schirmer, 2001]

He was married to Sheila Jeanne Agatha van Meurs in 1988. [Peerage of the House of Lords http://www.thepeerage.com/p15215.htm] He died Rome, Italy.

List of works

Ballets
* The Princess Zondilda and Her Entourage (1946)
* Beauty and the Beast (1947)

Orchestral
* Symphony No. 1 (1942)
* Symphony No. 2 (Boston, April 11, 1958)
* Symphony No. 3 (New Haven, Conn., April 11, 1961)
* Divertimento (N.Y., April 5, 1946)
* Violin Concerto (1948)
* Piano Concerto (N.Y., April 27, 1952)
* Éloge for Chamber Orch. (1967)

Chamber music
* Sonatina for String Quartet (1937)
* 3 Bagatelles for Oboe and Bassoon (1939)
* Serenade for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, and Piano (1942)
* Eclogue for Cello and Piano (1947)
* La Nouvelle Héloïse for Harp and String Quartet (1963)
* Cello Sonata (1963)
* Rhapsodies for Guitar and Harpsichord (1980)
* Wind Quintet (1983)

Piano Concertos
* Sonata for 2 Pianos (1945)
* Sonata (1955)

Vocal/Choral
* Caligula for Baritone and Orch., after Robert Lowell (N.Y., Nov. 5, 1971)

References