Leo Smit (January 12, 1921 – December 12, 1999) was an American composer and pianist.

Life

Leo Smit was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. As a child his mother took him to the Soviet Union where he studied with the composer

Dmitri Kabalevsky Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky (russian: Дми́трий Бори́сович Кабале́вский ; 14 February 1987) was a Soviet composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue of Russian gentry descent. He helped set up the Union of Soviet Co ...

. He later studied piano in New York with

Isabella Vengerova Isabelle Vengerova ( be, Ізабэла Венгерава; 7 February 1956) was a Russian, later American, pianist and music teacher. She was born Izabella Afanasyevna Vengerova (Изабелла Афанасьевна Венгерова) in M ...

and

José Iturbi José Iturbi Báguena (28 November 189528 June 1980) was a Spanish conductor, pianist and harpsichordist. He appeared in several Hollywood films of the 1940s, notably playing himself in the musicals ''Thousands Cheer'' (1943), '' Music for Mill ...

and composition with

Nicolas Nabokov Nicolas Nabokov (Николай Дмитриевич Набоков; – 6 April 1978) was a Russian-born composer, writer, and cultural figure. He became a U.S. citizen in 1939. Life Nicolas Nabokov, a first cousin of Vladimir Nabokov, and of ...

. While working as

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

's rehearsal pianist, he met

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

. He often gave thematic recitals – sometimes illustrated with his own slides – and performed a great deal of new music, especially works by

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

. His breakthrough as a composer came in 1957, when the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

played his First Symphony. In that year he moved to Los Angeles to teach at the University of California. From 1962 he taught at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He wrote two operas: ''The Alchemy of Love'' (1969), in collaboration with the British astronomer

Sir Fred Hoyle Sir Fred Hoyle FRS (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and was one of the authors of the influential B2FH paper. He also held controversial stances on other sci ...

, with whom he also worked on an

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

about

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...

; and ''Magic Water'' (1978). Later in his life, he composed nearly 100 songs to texts by

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...

. He was also a talented photographer, taking many pictures of notable musicians. He died in

Encinitas, California Encinitas (Spanish language, Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County (San Diego area), North County area of San Diego County, California. Located within Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between ...

, at the age of 78, of

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

Awards

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

*1973

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Prizes have been awarded annually since 1921, with a hiatus ...

References

External links

Leo Smit Photograph Collection
from the

University at Buffalo Libraries The University at Buffalo Libraries is the university library system of the University at Buffalo. The library's collections includes some 3.8 million print volumes, as well as media, and special collections. The Libraries subscribe to some 350 r ...

Biographical essay by Neil W. Levin
from the

Milken Archive of Jewish Music The Milken Archive of Jewish Music is a collection of material about the history of Jewish Music in the United States. It contains roughly 700 recorded musical works, 800 hours of oral histories, 50,000 photographs and historical documents, an ext ...

Interview with Leo Smit
November 5, 1986 * , WNCN-FM, 25-Dec-1981 1921 births 1999 deaths American male classical composers American classical composers American opera composers Male opera composers 20th-century classical composers Musicians from Philadelphia 20th-century American photographers American people of Dutch descent 20th-century American composers Classical musicians from Pennsylvania 20th-century American male musicians American expatriates in the Soviet Union {{US-composer-20thC-stub