Born in Rochester, New York, and spent some years in Cleveland, becoming an accomplished violinist as a teenager. David Diamond studied composition with two of this century's most noted teachers, Roger Sessions and Nadia Boulanger. His own compositions, however, have had to wait a while to achieve full recognition.
His firm allegiance to tonal harmony (though with a strong modal element) and to classical forms may have sounded old-fashioned to some listeners twenty years ago, but now they seem quite up-to-date. Mr. Diamond's music is presently being performed and recorded more often than ever before.
Mr. Diamond composed two symphonies as a student that he does not count among his mature works. During two periods of study in Paris in the late 1930s, the young composer was befriended by such luminaries as Milhaud, Stravinsky, and his idol, Ravel.
Early works such as Psalm for orchestra and Elegy for brass, percussion and harps (on the death of Ravel) brought him recognition from such conductors as Pierre Monteux and Dmitri Mitropoulos. The latter introduced Mr. Diamond's Symphony No. 1 in Carnegie Hall in December 1941.
Of course, something else happened in December 1941, involving a U.S. naval base in Hawaii. The entry of this country into World War II had a galvanizing effect on society and on artists. Mr. Diamond is loath to bring in extramusical associations with his music, but at the very least his Symphony No. 2, with its contrasts between brooding meditation and fierce outbursts of energy, was appropriate music for those times.
Due to the political climate in the United States during the 1950s he spent fifteen years in Europe, and it was not until 1973 that he finally obtained a teaching position, at the Juilliard School. Only in 1997 did he retire completely from that position.
Now living in New York City, in 1995, he was presented the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton. Both Carson McCullers and her gay husband Reeves McCullers were in love with him.
