SEIBER, MATYAS  

A pupil of Kodály in Budapest, Mátyás Seiber also studied the cello. When, in 1927, his Serenade for wind sextet was denied first prize in a Budapest competition, Kodály and Bartók both resigned from the jury. Seiber taught a jazz class at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, where he also conducted and played in the Lenzewski Quartet. Proscribed by the Nazis, in 1935 he emigrated to London, where he worked for the publisher Schott and taught at Morley College. He won distinction as a teacher of composition and as a choral conductor. He died in a car accident during a visit to South Africa. Works were dedicated to him by Kodály, his pupil Fricker, and Ligeti.