Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961) was an American composer and teacher, and one of the early American figures to engage seriously with modernist techniques. Born in Georgia, he studied in the United States and Europe.

His works include orchestral music, chamber pieces, choral works, ballet scores and piano music. He was one of the first American composers to make systematic use of twelve-tone methods.

Riegger’s music is clear, disciplined and often austere, with a strong concern for structure and motivic development. It belongs to the more intellectually rigorous side of American modernism.

Though not a household name, Riegger helped widen the language available to composers in the United States. His music has the clean geometry of a mind refusing decoration.