John Diercks (1927 – April 2020) was an American composer born in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. As ...

, in 1927. He held degrees from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

, the Eastman School, and the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

(PhD). His composition teachers included

Howard Hanson Howard Harold Hanson (October 28, 1896 – February 26, 1981)''The New York Times'' – Obituaries. Harold C. Schonberg. February 28, 1981 p. 1011/ref> was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American class ...

and

Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness (; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American-Armenian composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) and ...

. For

Asian music Asian music encompasses numerous musical styles originating in many Asian countries. Musical traditions in Asia * Music of Central Asia ** Music of Afghanistan (when included in the definition of Central Asia) ** Music of Kazakhstan ** Music of ...

and dance he studied with Dorothy Kahananui and Halla Huhm. Dr. Diercks taught piano at the

College of Wooster The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969 when ownership ties with the Presbyterian Church ...

(1950–54), then began a long tenure at

Hollins University Hollins University is a private university in Hollins, Virginia. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States ...

, teaching theory and composition. He served as department chair from 1962 until 1990. Among many grants and awards he has received are those from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, the Mellon and Danforth foundations (five times), the Southern Foundation for the Humanities, and

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

(fifteen times). As a composer he has enjoyed residence at the

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowell ...

, Wolf Trap Farm, and the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Center for the Creative Arts. Much of Diercks' music is influenced by

exoticism Exoticism (from "exotic") is a trend in European art and design, whereby artists became fascinated with ideas and styles from distant regions and drew inspiration from them. This often involved surrounding foreign cultures with mystique and fantas ...

, including

microtonality Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones—intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of tw ...

and "unconventional" musical sounds. An early work, ''Cave Music'' for

vocalise A vocal warm-up is a series of exercises meant to prepare the voice for singing, acting, or other use. There is very little scientific data about the benefits of vocal warm-ups. Relatively few studies have researched the effects of thesexercis ...

and three players on

prepared piano A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sounds temporarily altered by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and/or other objects on or between the strings. Its invention is usually traced to John Cage's dance music for ''Bacchanale' ...

, accompanied a dance performed in Virginia's Dixie Caverns and broadcast on NBC-TV's ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

''. His ''Twelve Sonatinas'', performed by pianist Marthanne Verbit, are in the catalog of

Albany Records Albany Records is a record label that concentrates on unconventional contemporary classical music by American composers and musicians. It was established by Peter Kermani in 1987 and is based in Albany, New York. See also * List of record la ...

. In 2009

The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) is a professional association of carillonneurs in North America, dedicated to the advancement of the art, literature, and science of the carillon. It was founded in Ottawa, Canada, in 1936 by A ...

published his ''Fugue in C'' (for Elizabeth Graves Vitu) and ''Fantasia'' (commissioned by the University of Iowa-Ames). Over 125 of Diercks' music has been published, for

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, voice, choral, chamber ensemble, and

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...

. He has written more than two hundred reviews and articles in newspapers and journals, and authored two chapters published in the Denes Agay book "Teaching Piano". Diercks lived in Honolulu, and served as president of the Hawaii Music Teachers Association from 1992 to 1996. Since then he has composed/arranged extensively for the Oahu Piano Quartet, and continued to compose for the carillon. John Diercks died in April 2020 at ninety-two years old.

Compositions

* Clap your hands! for voices and keyboard * Concertino for piano and woodwind quintet * Divertimento for woodwind quintet * Dove of Peace, early American hymn-settings for unison voices with organ and handbells * An Easter Triptych, three pieces for carillon * Figures on China for horn, trombone, and tuba * Kongai: The Soul of the Great Bell for

* Moonspell for flute and piano * Of Mountain and Valley (for the Roanoke Symphony) * Prelude to Manvantara for carillon * Sonata for oboe and piano * Suite for flute and piano * Suite for Strings for string orchestra * Suite No. 1 for piano duet * Suite No. 2 for orchestra * Theme and Variations for piano * Three Diversions for flute (alto recorder) and piano (or harpsichord) * Toward the Summer Land for two pianos * Twelve Sonatinas for piano * Variations on a Flower Drum Song for two prepared pianos * Variations on a theme of Gottschalk for tuba and piano * Vienna: For a Time and Place for two pianos * The Warriorʻs Ghost Returns to Play his Lute (Jeanne Larsen) for baritone and string quartet * Woodwind Quintet

References

External links

John Diercks page
1927 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century classical composers 21st-century American composers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century classical composers American classical composers American male classical composers Composers for carillon Oberlin College alumni People from Honolulu Pupils of Bernard Rogers University of Rochester alumni {{US-composer-20thC-stub