Tcherepnin, Alexander (Nikolaievich) (1899–1977)

Russian-born US composer. He wrote ballets and orchestral and chamber pieces in a neoclassical style.

He was born at St Petersburg and studied under his father, Nikolai Tcherepnin and Nikolai Aleksandrovich Sokolov (1859–1922), learning the piano from Annette Nikolaevna Essipova (1850–1914). He appeared as a boy pianist and began to publish his works, but in 1921 settled in Paris with his father, studying composition with André Gédalge and piano with Isidore Philipp at the Conservatory. He taught in Paris 1925–38, and from 1949 at De Pauw University in Chicago. He settled in the USA in 1950.

Works Opera and stage operas 01–01 (after Andreiev, 1928) and Die Hochzeit der Sobeide (after Hofmannsthal, 1933); ballets, including The Frescoes of Ajanta (1923) and (with Honegger and Harsányi) Shota Roustaveli; incidental music for Wilde's Salome, Rolland's L'esprit triomphant, and Hauptmann's Hannele.

Choral cantata Le jeu de la nativité.

Orchestral and chamber four symphonies (1927–58), three pieces for chamber orchestra, six piano concertos (1923–72), Rapsodie géorgienne for cello and piano, Concerto da camera for flute, violin, and small orchestra; two string quartets (1922, 1926); piano trio; violin and piano sonata, three cello and piano sonatas; sonata, studies and pieces for piano.