Vittorio Rieti

b. 1898 – d. 1994

Vittorio Rieti was a Jewish-Italian composer. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Rieti moved to Milan to study economics. He subsequently studied in Rome under Respighi and Casella, and lived there until 1940.

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

He emigrated to the United States in 1940, becoming a naturalized American citizen on the 1st of June 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.

His music is tonal and neo-classical with a melodic and elegant style.