Diamond's First

Synopsis

In all, American composer David Diamond wrote 11 symphonies, spanning some 50 years of his professional career. The last dates from 1991, and the first from 1940, completed after his return from studies in Paris shortly before the outbreak of World War II.

Diamond’s Symphony No. 1 was premiered on today’s date in 1941 by the New York Philharmonic led by famous Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos. Despite winning awards and positive comments from fellow composers ranging from Virgil Thomson to Arnold Schoenberg, for years Diamond struggled to make ends meet by playing violin in various New York City theater pit bands. More than one fellowship grant, however, enabled him to live abroad for extended stays, where, he said:

“I can make my income last and live extremely well with my own villa and garden at a cost that would provide a hole-in-the-wall, coldwater flat in America … There is a spiritual nourishment, too, in that cradle of serious music [and] quiet for concentration that could never be found in an American city.”

Defending his more traditional approach, Diamond wrote: “It is my strong feeling that a romantically inspired contemporary music, tempered by reinvigorated classical technical formulas, is the way out of the present period of creativity chaos in music … To me, the romantic spirit in music is important because it is timeless.”

Music Played in Today's Program

David Diamond (1915-2005): Symphony No. 1; Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor; Delos 3119

On This Day

Births

• 1837 - Russian composer Mily Balakirev (Gregorian date: Jan. 2)

• 1850 - Bohemian composer Zdenek Fibich, in Vseborice

• 1940 - American composer and guitarist Frank Zappa, in Baltimore, Maryland

Deaths

• 1864 - American composer and journalist William Henry Fry, 51, in Santa Cruz, West Indies

• 1890 - Danish composer Niels W. Gade, in Copenhagen, 73

• 1957 - British light-music composer Eric Coates, 71, in Chichester

Premieres

• 1890 - Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 (final version), in Vienna, Hans Richter conducting

• 1900 - Frederick Converse: The Festival of Pan for orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, Wilhelm Gericke conducting

• 1903 - Glazunov: Symphony No. 7, in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Jan. 3)

• 1908 - Schoenberg: Quartet No. 2 for strings and soprano, in Vienna, by the Rosé Quartet with soprano Marie Gutheil-Schoder

• 1934 - Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kijé Suite (from the film), on a Moscow radio broadcast

• 1934 - Toch: Big Ben (Variation Fantasy on the Westminster Chimes) for orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting

• 1939 - Prokofiev: cantata Zdravitza (A Toast), in Moscow, to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin