David Diamond (composer)
David Leo Diamond (born July 9, 1915 in Rochester , NY - † June 13, 2005 in Brighton , Monroe County ) was an American composer .
Life
Diamond studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester with Bernard Rogers . He received further lessons from Roger Sessions in New York City , and he is one of the large group of American composers who took lessons from Nadia Boulanger in Paris . From 1951 to 1953 he taught at the University of Rome and then lived as a freelance composer in Florence . In 1965 he took over a professorship at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Later he taught - until 1997 - at the Juilliard School . Eric Whitacre was one of his students . In 2005, Diamond died of heart failure in his Brighton, Monroe County, New York home.
Diamond has received numerous awards (including three Guggenheim Fellowships ) and is considered one of the most outstanding American composers of his time. Numerous works were premiered by Leonard Bernstein . His style is tonal , mostly easy to understand and committed to a romantic-classical tradition. Passages are reminiscent of Aaron Copland , and occasionally Dmitri Shostakovich , without attaining their tonal harshness.
Rounds (1944) for string orchestra is one of Diamond's best-known works . He also wrote 11 symphonies (1940 to 2000), concerts (including 3 violin concertos ), 10 string quartets (the last was composed in 1968), further chamber music , piano pieces and vocal music .
In 1966 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters .
Works (selection)
Symphonies
- 1st symphony (1940/41)
- 2nd symphony (1942/43)
- 3rd symphony (1945)
- 4th symphony (1945)
- 5th Symphony (1951, rev. 1964)
- 6th Symphony (1951–54)
- 7th symphony (1959)
- 8th symphony (1960)
- 9th Symphony (1985)
- 10th symphony (1987/2000)
- 11th Symphony (1989-91)
literature
- Mary Wallace Davidson: Diamond, David. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- Michael Saffle, Karl H. Wörner: Diamond, David. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 5 (Covell - Dzurov). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2001, ISBN 3-7618-1115-2 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
- Victoria J. Kimberling: David Diamond, a bio-bibliography . Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, New Jersey 1987, ISBN 978-0-8108-2058-6 .
- Bret Johnson: David Diamond. In: The Guardian . June 17, 2005, accessed April 8, 2018 .
Web links
- David Diamond at Allmusic (English)
- The Official David Diamond Web site of The Estate of David L. Diamond (Engl.)
- Alan Belkin: The Symphonies of David Diamond: A Listener's Guide (English).
Remarks
- ↑ The dates of composition are given in the sources partly contradicting each other. The data used here are based on the scores (1–3, 7, 11), according to information from New Grove and Alan Belkin (4–6, 8) and other sources (9, 10).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Diamond, David |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Diamond, David Leo (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 9, 1915 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rochester , NY |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 13, 2005 |
| Place of death | Brighton , Monroe County |