Michael Seyfrit

Biography

Michael Seyfrit was born in Kansas in 1947 and grew up in Pasco, Washington and Piqua, Ohio. In the course of a multifaceted career, Seyfrit did research and historical orchestrations for the Smithsonian Institution's Divisions of Musical Instruments and Performing Arts, and was Curator of Musical Instruments at the Library of Congress for four years. His writings include Musical Instruments in the Dayton C. Miller Collection at the Library of Congress, Volume I: Recorders, Fifes, and Simple System Transverse Flutes of One Key, and the articles on woodwind instruments in the 1986 edition of The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. As a composer, he received the Charles Ives Scholarship from the National Academy of Arts and Letters.

As an instrumentalist on recorder, baroque oboe and baroque flute, Seyfrit performed and recorded with the Smithsonian Chamber Players and appeared with other ensembles including Hesperus, Wondrous Machine, Berkeley Collegium Musicum, Portland Baroque Orchestra and Early Music Guild of Oregon. His final years were spent on the West Coast, where he worked as a computer programmer. Michael Seyfrit died of AIDS in Portland, Oregon at the age of 46 on May 29, 1994. —Nurit Tilles

  • solo voice(s)+2 to 6 instruments
  • ACE Publications

    52 title(s)
    Composer Title SCORING/INSTRUMENTATION Year
    Michael Seyfrit AND STILL THE NIGHT STARS SHINE vln, vcl, 5-octave marimba
    Michael Seyfrit ASCENDING & DESCENDING handbell choir
    Michael Seyfrit BALLADE pf
    Michael Seyfrit BRASS RINGS 2 tpt in C, horn, tbn, tba
    Michael Seyfrit CONTINUUM,VACUUM,RESIDUUM cl,ehn,tbn,prepared pf-6hands
    Michael Seyfrit DANCE OF LIFE vln,pf
    Michael Seyfrit DICHROISM (Symphony No. 3) fl, ob, cl, bsn, 2 tpt(C), tbn, bstbn, perc(4), cel, strings 77683
    Michael Seyfrit DUET FOR TRUMPET AND ALTO SAXOPHONE Bb trumpet, Eb alto saxophone
    Michael Seyfrit DUPONT CYCLE
    cl,ehn,vla,mmb,prep pf
    Michael Seyfrit DUSK TO DARK cl, Ehn, hn, vcl, 12 perc
    Michael Seyfrit EARTH CYCLE (musica mundana) Soprano, clarinet, and 3 ensembles
    Michael Seyfrit EIGHT LOVE POEMS Oboe and Piano
    Michael Seyfrit FOR ONE ALONE cl
    Michael Seyfrit FOUR MORSELS FOR RECORDER QUINTET for recorder quintet (a, t, t, b, b)
    Michael Seyfrit HYMENEAL (WEDDING SUITE)
    2tpt, vln, 2vla, 2vcl
    Michael Seyfrit IN SEARCH OF cl,mmb,cb
    Michael Seyfrit INTERACTIONS pf
    Michael Seyfrit INTERPLAY
    vln, alto recorder, 2-channel tape
    Michael Seyfrit IT IS LOVE sop,pf
    Michael Seyfrit LATENT IMAGES cl,bsn,mmb,pf,vln,vcl
    Michael Seyfrit LOST and FOUND organ
    Michael Seyfrit LOST & WANDERING 2fl, 2ehn, cl, bsn, hn, 4tpt, tbn, mmb
    Michael Seyfrit NIGHT OF THE BLUE MOON orch:pic/3fl-2-ehn-2-2-cbsn, 4-2-2-btbn-1,2perc,timp,hp,str
    Michael Seyfrit NIGHT PIECE clarinet, strings (3 vln, 2 vla, 2 vc, cb)
    Michael Seyfrit PAGES FROM MY DIARY Flute (or Baroque Flute)

    Additional Works