Vittorio Rieti Explained

Vittorio Rieti (January 28, 1898 – February 19, 1994) was an Italian and American composer.

Biography

Rieti was born to a family of Jewish descent in Alexandria, Kingdom of Egypt. He later moved to Milan to study economics. Subsequently, he studied music in Rome with Ottorino Respighi and Alfredo Casella, and lived there until 1940.^[1]

In 1925, he temporarily moved to Paris and composed music for George Balanchine's ballet for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Barabau.^[2] He met his wife in Alexandria. He was a cousin of actor Vittorio Rietti.

He emigrated to the United States in 1940, becoming a naturalized American citizen on June 1, 1944. He taught at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore (1948–49), Chicago Musical College (1950–54), Queens College, New York (1958–60), and New York College of Music (1960–64). He died in New York on 19 February 1994.^[1]

Selected works

Ballet

• Barabau (1925)
• Le bal (1929)
• La Sonnambula (1946)

Orchestral

• Symphony No. 3 (1932)
• Symphony No. 4 (1942)
• Suite "La Fontaine" (1968)

Concertante

• Piano Concerto No. 3 (1955)
• Concerto for harpsichord and orchestra (1952–1955, 1972)
• Cello Concerto No. 2 (1953)
• Triple Concerto for violin, viola, piano and orchestra (1971)

Chamber music

• Capriccio for violin and piano (1941)
• Partita for harpsichord, flute, oboe, 2 violins, viola and cello (1945)
• String Quartet No. 3 (1951)
• Woodwind Quintet (1957)
• String Quartet No. 4 (1960)
• Concertino for 5 Instruments for flute, viola, cello, harp and harpsichord (1963)
• Pastorale e fughetta for flute, viola and piano (or harpsichord) (1966)
• Sonata à 5 for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and piano (1966)
• Incisioni for brass quintet (1967)
• Silografie for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and basson (1967)
• Sestetto pro Gemini for flute, oboe, piano, violin, viola and cello (1975)

Keyboard

• Second Avenue Waltzes for 2 pianos (1942)
• Sonata all' Antica for harpsichord (1946)^[3]
• Suite champêtre for 2 pianos (1948)
• Medieval Variations (1962)
• Chorale, variazioni e finale for 2 pianos (1969)

Film music^[4]

• Your Money or Your Life, directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia (1933)
• Ritorno alla terra, directed by Mario Franchini (1934)
• Amore, directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia (1935)
• The Happy Road (La route heureuse), directed by Georges Lacombe (1936)
• The Cuckoo Clock, directed by Camillo Mastrocinque (1938)

External links

• Interview with Vittorio Rieti, November 10, 1985

Notes and References

1. "Rieti, Vittorio" in Baker's Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Classical Musicians, ed. Laura Kuhn. Schirmer Books, 1997.
2. Samuel Rechtoris (1991) - booklet note published in "Vittorio Rieti" CD, New World NWCR 601
3. Palmer . Larry . August 1982 . Harpsichord News . . 73 . 873 . 3.
4. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0726396/ Internet Movie Database