RIETI, VITTORIO

RIETI, VITTORIO (1898–1994), composer. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Rieti studied with Giuseppe Frugatta in Milan and later in Rome with Ottorino Respighi. During the 1920s and 1930s he was part of a group of French composers known as "Les Six" and spent most of his time in Paris, where he composed ballet and theater music in a neoclassical style. After moving to the United States in 1940, he became an instructor at various colleges and concentrated on symphonic and chamber music. Among his compositions are the music for Balanchine's ballets Barabau (1925) and Le Bal (1929) presented by Diaghilev, the ballet David Triomphant (1926), the operas L'Arca di Noe (1922), Orfeo tragedia (1928–29), Teresa nel bosco (1934), Don Perlimplin (1952), Viaggio di Europa (1954), The Pet Shop (1958), The Clock (1959–60), Maryam the Harlot (1966), oratorios, symphonies, orchestral works, chamber music, songs, and piano pieces. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grove online, S.V.; C. Ricci, Vittorio Rieti (1987). (Israela Stein (2nd ed.)