David Leo Diamond (July 9, 1915 – June 13, 2005) was an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. 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 In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

, 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 Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

, and studied at the

Cleveland Institute of Music The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is a private music conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. The school was founded in 1920 by a group of supporters led by Martha Bell Sanders and Mary Hutchens Smith, with Ernest Bloch serving as its first dire ...

and the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

under Bernard Rogers, also receiving lessons from Roger Sessions in New York City and

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...

in Paris. He won a number of awards including three

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

s. Diamond's most popular piece is ''Rounds'' (1944) for

string orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first a ...

. Among his other works are eleven symphonies (the last in 1993),

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

s including three for

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

, eleven

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

s, music for wind ensemble, other

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

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). Diamond was named honorary composer-in-residence of the Seattle Symphony. He was a longtime member of the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

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 Charles Louis Strouse (June 7, 1928 – May 15, 2025) was an American composer and lyricist best known for writing the music to the Broadway musicals ''Bye Bye Birdie'', ''Applause (musical), Applause'', and ''Annie (musical), Annie''. Backgrou ...

, 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 The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...

. In 1991 he was awarded the

Edward MacDowell Medal The Edward MacDowell Medal is an award which has been given since 1960 to one person annually who has made an outstanding contribution to American culture and the arts. It is given by MacDowell, the first artist residency program in the United St ...

. Diamond was openly gayMcFarland, John (2006).
Diamond, David
", ''glbtq.com''. long before it was socially acceptable, and believed his career was slowed by

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

and

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. According to an obituary in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' 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." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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 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 and music theorist. As director for forty year ...

, Roy Harris, William Schuman, Walter Piston and Peter Mennin." ''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 Brighton is a town and census-designated place in Monroe County, New York, United States. The population was 37,137 at the 2020 census. History The town of Brighton, located on the southeastern border of the city of Rochester, is located on th ...

, from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

Works

Ballet

*''TOM'' (1936)

Orchestra

*Early discarded symphonies (No. 1 from 1933, No. 2 from 1935) *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) *Symphony No. 11 (1989–1991)published in 2016 by Peermusic. . *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

* "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

Profile, works, discography
at Peermusic Classical * *
The Official David Diamond Website
created by The Estate of David L. Diamond

October 18, 1990 {{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond, David 20th-century American classical composers American male classical composers Jewish American classical composers Cleveland Institute of Music alumni Eastman School of Music alumni LGBTQ classical composers Gay Jews American gay musicians American LGBTQ composers LGBTQ people from New York (state) Gay composers Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Musicians from Rochester, New York Pupils of Bernard Rogers Pupils of Roger Sessions United States National Medal of Arts recipients 2005 deaths 1915 births People from Brighton, Monroe County, New York Classical musicians from New York (state) 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Cedille Records artists 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people