SEIBER, Matyas
b Budapest, 4 May 1905
d Kruger National Park, S Africa, 24 September l960, aged fifty-five
He was born into a musical family, and began studying cello at the age of ten. From 1919 to 1924 he studied at the Budapest Academy of Music with Kodaly; then he taught in Frankfurt. In 1927 he joined a ship's orchestra as a cellist, and came back to Frankfurt in 1928 to join the staff of the Hoch Conservatory, and to conduct at theatres in the city. He went to England in 1935 and stayed there for the rest of his life. He taught at Morley College from 1942 to 1957; founded, with Chagrin, the SPNM in 1943; and founded the Dorian Singers in 1945. He frequently went abroad to festivals and to lecture, and it was while he was lecturing at South African universities that he was killed in a car crash.
1924 (19)
String Quartet No 1
Sarabande and Gigue, for cello and piano
Missa Brevis, for unaccompanied chorus
1925 (20)
Serenade, for six wind instruments
Sonata da Camera, for cello and violin
1926-8 (21-3)
Divertimento for clarinet and string quartet
1934 (29)
Eva spielt mit Puppen, opera
String Quartet No 2 (1934-5)
1940 (35)
Besardo Suite No 1
1941 (36)
Besardo Suite No 2, for strings
Transylvanian Rhapsody
Fantasy, for cello and piano
Pastorale and Burlesque, for flute and strings (1941-2)
1942 (37)
Balaton, opera
La Blanchisseuse, ballet music
1943-4 (38-9)
Fantasia Concertante, for violin and strings
1944 (39)
Notturno, for horn and strings
1945 (40)
Phantasy, for flute, horn and strings
1948 (43)
Johnny Miner, radio opera
String Quartet No 3, Quartetto Lyrico (1948-51)
1949 (44)
Ulysses, cantata (possibly 1946-7)
Andantino and Pastorale, for clarinet and piano
1951 (46)
The Seasons, for orchestra
Concertino, for clarinet and strings
1953 (48)
Three Pieces for cello and orchestra
1954 (49)
Elegy, for violin and small orchestra
To Poetry, song cycle
1958 (53)
Permutazione a cinque, for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, chamber cantata
1959 (54)
Improvisation for Jazz Band and Symphony Orchestra (with Dankworth)
1960 (55)
Invitation, ballet
A Three-cornered Fanfare
Performed posthumously:
1962 Violin Sonata
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