David Diamond (composer)

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Contents 1 Works 1.1 Ballets 1.2 Orchestra 1.3 Concertante 1.4 Chamber 1.5 Wind Ensemble 1.6 Vocal 2 Notes 3 External links

David Leo Diamond (July 9, 1915 – June 13, 2005) was an American composer of classical music.

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 in New York City and Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He won a number of awards including three Guggenheim Fellowships, and 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.

Diamond died at his home in Brighton from heart failure.

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 also 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); (see [1]).

A longtime member of the Juilliard School faculty, Diamond was also named honorary composer-in-residence of the Seattle Symphony. His notable students include Daron Hagen, Adolphus Hailstork, Anthony Iannaccone, Alasdair MacLean, Francis Thorne, Eric Whitacre, and Lowell Liebermann. Diamond is also credited with advising Glenn Gould on his mid-career work, most notably Gould's String Quartet Op.1.

He is a distant blood relative of Lucchese crime family associate Stanley Diamond.^{[verification needed]}

Diamond was openly gay^[1], or out, long before it was socially acceptable and also opposed anti-Semitism^[2].

[edit] Works

[edit] Ballets

• TOM (1936)

[edit] Orchestra

• Symphonies
  • 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 (1980s)
  • Symphony No. 11 (1989-1991)
• Psalm (1936)
• Rounds for String Orchestra (1944)

His symphonies illustrate the term "entartete kunst" as applied to music.

[edit] Concertante

• Violin Concerto No. 1 (1937)
• Concerto for Small Orchestra (1940)
• Violin Concerto No. 2 (1947)
• Violin Concerto No. 3 (1976)
• Kaddish, for cello and orchestra (1987)

[edit] Chamber

• String Quartet No. 1 (1940)
• String Quartet No. 2 (1943-4)
• String Quartet No. 3 (1976)
• String Quartet No. 4 (1951)
• String Quartet No. 5 (1960)
• String Quartet No. 6 (1962)
• String Quartet No. 7 (1943)
• String Quartet No. 8 (1964)
• String Quartet No. 9 (1965-1967)
• String Quartet No. 10 (1956)
• String Quartet No. 11

[edit] Wind Ensemble

• Tantivy (1988)
• Hearts Music (1989)

[edit] Vocal

David Mourns for Absalom (1946) text is II Samuel 18:33

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Boston Globe: David Diamond, 89; composed symphonies of intensity By Richard Dyer, Globe Staff, June 16, 2005
• David Diamond at the Internet Movie Database
• David Diamond at allmusic
• The Official David Diamond Website created by The Estate of David L. Diamond
• McFarland, John (2006). David Diamond glbtq.com.