Sergei Evseev was a Soviet composer and music theorist. Born in Moscow on 25 January 1894, he studied piano with Lev Conus and Nikolai Medtner. He graduated from the law faculty of Moscow University in 1916, then studied at the Moscow Conservatory from 1916 to 1919: piano with Alexander Goldenweiser, composition with Georgy Catoire, and counterpoint and fugue with Sergei Taneyev.
From 1917, Evseev took part in lecture-concerts, carried out educational work in military units, and wrote articles about composers, including his teachers Catoire and Taneyev. From 1919 to 1930 he taught at the Taneyev State Music School, becoming its director in 1927.
Evseev began teaching theoretical subjects at the Moscow Conservatory in 1922 and was appointed professor there in 1935. He created and taught special courses in modern harmony from 1927 to 1930, chaired the Association of Chamber Music from 1929 to 1932, and also taught at the Central Correspondence Music-Pedagogical Institute in Moscow between 1936 and 1941. From 1941 to 1948, he taught another course he established, on the foundations of Russian harmony and polyphony.
His music reflects a close study of Russian folk song and makes use of folk diatonic modes. His three symphonies were among his popular works, while his chamber compositions were also of artistic interest. His orchestral output includes three symphonies, composed in 1925, 1933—with chorus—and 1943, two piano concertos of 1932, and a clarinet concerto of 1943.
His chamber works include the piano-trio Heroic Poem (1924), two string quartets (1935 and 1945), and two quintets (both 1934). His piano music includes two sonatas (1921 and 1952), Russian Variations (1946), Concert Suite (1946), a Poem-Sonata for two pianos (1948), and Polyphonic Pieces on Russian Song Foundations (1950). He also wrote works for violin and piano, including Fairy-Tale Sonata (1928) and Scherzo-Sonatina (1947), as well as the Dramatic Sonata for cello and piano (1941), vocal ensembles, romances, and folk-song arrangements.
As a writer and teacher, Evseev published studies and textbooks on harmony, Russian folk polyphony, and Russian folk song. These included Practical Course of Harmony (1934–1935), a Harmony Textbook (1937–1939), and a textbook on Russian folk polyphony (1956). Several further studies were published posthumously, including Russian Folk Polyphony (1960) and writings on Taneyev, Lyadov, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tchaikovsky in relation to folk song.
Evseev received the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1946 and the Order of Lenin in 1949. He died in Moscow on 16 March 1956 and was buried in Danilov Cemetery.