American classical composer (1915-2005)
David Diamond
Portrait of Diamond
c. 1987 Born (1915-07-09 ) July 9, 1915Died June 13, 2005(2005-06-13) (aged 89) Occupation
Composer
David Leo Diamond (July 9, 1915 – June 13, 2005) was an American
composer of
classical music . He is considered one of the preeminent American composers of his generation. Many of his works are
tonal or modestly
modal . His early compositions are typically triadic, often with widely spaced
harmonies , giving them a distinctly American tone, but some of his works are consciously French in style. His later style became more
chromatic .
Life and career
He was born in
Rochester, New York , and studied at the
Cleveland Institute of Music and the
Eastman School of Music under
Bernard Rogers , also receiving lessons from
Roger Sessions
[1] in New York City and
Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He won a number of awards including three
Guggenheim Fellowships .
Diamond's most popular piece is Rounds (1944) for
string orchestra . Among his other works are eleven
symphonies (the last in 1993),
concertos including three for
violin , eleven
string quartets , music for
wind ensemble , other
chamber music ,
piano pieces and vocal music.
He composed the musical theme heard on the
CBS Radio Network broadcast
Hear It Now (1950–51) and its TV successor,
See It Now (1951–58).
[2]
Diamond was named honorary composer-in-residence of the
Seattle Symphony . He was a longtime member of the
Juilliard School faculty, his notable students including
Alan Belkin ,
Robert Black ,
Kenneth Fuchs ,
Albert Glinsky ,
Daron Hagen ,
Adolphus Hailstork ,
Anthony Iannaccone ,
Philip Lasser ,
Lowell Liebermann ,
Alasdair MacLean ,
Charles Strouse ,
Francis Thorne ,
Kendall Durelle Briggs and
Eric Whitacre . Diamond is also credited with advising
Glenn Gould on his mid-career work, most notably his String Quartet, Op. 1.
In 1995, he was awarded the
National Medal of Arts .
[3] In 1991 he was awarded the
Edward MacDowell Medal .
[4]
Diamond was openly
gay
[5] long before it was socially acceptable, and believed his career was slowed by
homophobia and
antisemitism .
[5]
[6] According to an obituary in
The Guardian however, "He enjoyed enormous success in the 1940s and early '50s with champions that included Koussevitzky, Bernstein, Munch, Ormandy and Mitropoulos but, in the 1960s and '70s, the serial and modernist schools pushed him into the shadows."
[7]
The New York Times similarly referred to Diamond as "a major American composer whose early brilliance in the 1940s was eclipsed by the dominance of atonal music... He was part of what some considered a forgotten generation of great American symphonists, including
Howard Hanson ,
Roy Harris ,
William Schuman ,
Walter Piston and
Peter Mennin ."
[8] The New York Times also suggested that Diamond's career troubles may have also been caused by his "difficult personality... he said in the 1990 interview, 'I was a highly emotional young man, very honest in my behavior, and I would say things in public that would cause a scene between me and, for instance, a conductor.'"
In 2005, Diamond died at his home in
Brighton, Monroe County, New York , from
heart failure .
Works
Ballet
Orchestra
Early discarded symphonies (No. 1 from 1933, No. 2 from 1935)
[9]
Symphony No. 1 (1940)
Symphony No. 2 (1942–1943)
Symphony No. 3 (1945)
Symphony No. 4 (1945)
Symphony No. 5 (1947–1964)
Symphony No. 6 (1951)
Symphony No. 7 (1957)
Symphony No. 8 (1958–1960)
Symphony No. 9 (1985)
Symphony No. 10 (1987/2000)
[10]
Symphony No. 11 (1989–1991)
[11]
Concerto for Small Orchestra (1940)
Psalm (1936)
Elegy in Memory of Ravel (1937)
Rounds for String Orchestra (1944)
Concert Piece for large orchestra (1939)
Timon of Athens - A Portrait After Shakespeare (1955)
Music for chamber orchestra
Overture
Heroic Piece
The Enormous Room (1948)
The World of Paul Klee
Concertante
Violin Concerto No. 1 (1937)
Concerto for Small Orchestra (1940)
Violin Concerto No. 2 (1947)
Violin Concerto No. 3 (1976)
Flute Concerto (1986)
Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra (1996)
Piano Concerto
Piano Concertino
Cello Concerto
Kaddish for cello and orchestra (1987)
Romeo and Juliet (1947)
Incidental music for Romeo and Juliet (1951)
Wind ensemble
Tantivy (1988)
Hearts Music (1989)
Chamber music
String Quartet No. 1 (1940)
String Quartet No. 2 (1943–1944)
String Quartet No. 3 (1946)
String Quartet No. 4 (1951)
String Quartet No. 5 (1960)
String Quartet No. 6 (1962)
String Quartet No. 7 (1963)
String Quartet No. 8 (1964)
String Quartet No. 9 (1965–1968)
String Quartet No. 10 (1966)
Concerto for String Quartet (1936)
String Trio (1937)
Quintet for Flute, Piano and String Trio (1937)
Quartet for Piano and String Trio (1936/67)
Partita for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano (1935)
Quintet for Clarinet, 2 Violas and 2 Cellos (1950)
Piano Trio (1951)
Wind Quintet (1958)
Night Music, for Accordion and String Quartet (1961)
Piano Quartet (1937 rev. 1967)
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 (1943-6)
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 (1981)
Canticle for Violin and Piano (1946)
Perpetual Motion for Violin and Piano (1946)
Chaconne for Violin and Piano (1948)
Sonata for Solo Violin
Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1
Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 (1987)
Sonata for Solo cello
Concert Piece for Horn and String Trio (1978)
Concert Piece for Flute and Harp (1989)
Concert Piece for Viola and Piano (1994–95)
Concerto for Two Solo Pianos (1942)
Alto Saxophone Sonata
Nonet for Strings
Sonatina for Accordion
Piano
Piano Sonata No. 1 (1947)
Piano Sonata No. 2 (1971)
Piano Sonatina No. 1 (1935)
Piano Sonatina No. 2 (1987)
Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major
Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C minor (1939)
Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in E minor
Prelude and Fugue No. 4 in C-sharp minor (1939)
Prelude, Fantasy and Fugue (1983)
A Myriologue (1935; rev. 1969)
Gambit (1967)
Tomb of Melville (1950)
8 Piano Pieces
Album for the Young
Two Barcarolles (1993)
Vocal
David Mourns for Absalom (1946); text from II Samuel 18:33
Vocalises for soprano and viola (1935, revised 1956)
This Sacred Ground for solo baritone, choir, children's choir and orchestra (1962)
Prayer for Peace for choir
Many songs for solo voice with piano
References
^
Andrea Olmstead (6 August 2012).
Roger Sessions: A Biography . Routledge. pp. 16–.
ISBN
978-1-135-86892-5 .
^
"See It Now" . Classicthemes.com. Retrieved 2013-12-04 .
^
"Lifetime Honors: National Medal of Arts" . Archived from
the original on January 6, 2013. Retrieved 2012-04-28 .
^
"David Diamond - Artist" . www.macdowellcolony.org .
^
a
b McFarland, John (2006). "
Diamond, David
Archived 2008-06-29 at the
Wayback Machine ", glbtq.com .
^
"David Diamond, 89; composed symphonies of intensity" by Richard Dyer,
The Boston Globe , June 16, 2005
^
"Obituaries: David Diamond Composer" .
Gramophone . 2005.
^ Wakin, Daniel J. "David Diamond, 89, Intensely Lyrical Composer, Is Dead". The New York Times . June 15, 2005
^ See
David Diamond, a Bio-bibliography , p. 2, at
Google Books in regards the early "first" symphony (conducted by Howard Hanson in 1933, Kimberling says;
OCLC
27784320 claims first performed in Kilbourn Hall, Rochester, April 18, 1934), and
OCLC
45420849 in regards the second.
^ Manuscript copy of score record in Grawemeyer Collection Library Catalog. Also contains instrumentation and number of pages (398).
^ published in 2016 by Peermusic.
OCLC
961937630 .
"Dark Years And Difficult Questions". Essay by Diamond in Berman, P. L. (1989), The Courage To Grow Old (p. 83-88). New York, NY: Ballantine Books.
External links
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
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