SIEGMEISTER, ELIE

SIEGMEISTER, ELIE (1909–1991), U.S. composer and writer. He was born in New York and studied at Columbia University and at the Juilliard School of Music, New York, as well as in Paris under Nadia Boulanger. In 1946 he formed the   American Ballad Singers, and later taught at Hofstra University. Siegmeister's interest in American folk music was reflected in many of his own compositions, such as A Walt Whitman Overture (1940), Ozark Set (1944), and Prairie Legend (1947). He composed symphonies, operas (including The Plow and the Stars, 1963), orchestral works, chamber music, works for piano, choral works, and songs. His publications include Songs of Early America (1943), Invitation to Music (1961), A Treasury of American Song (1940, 19432), and a manual, Harmony and Melody (1965). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baker, Biog Dict; Grove, Dict; MGG; Riemann-Einstein; Riemann-Gurlitt.