Symphony I (Stamp)

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Jack Stamp

Jack Stamp


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Subtitle: In Memoriam David Diamond


General Info

Year: 2006
Duration: c. 20:20
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: LudwigMasters Publications
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $275.00   |   Score Only (print) - $55.00


Movements

1. Elegy – 7:20
2. Scherzo – 3:40
3. Romanza – 4:00
4. Finale – 6:20


Instrumentation

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

In June of 2005, America lost one of its greatest composers, and I lost a dear friend and mentor. The death of David Diamond has left a musical void in me that has been difficult to fill. During the same summer, I had the opportunity to once again serve as a composer and mentor for the National Band Association along with fellow composers David Holsinger and David Maslanka, and our host, Steve Steele at Illinois State University. Through the course of the week, I shared my desire to write longer works and told Dr. Maslanka that I should take a “symphony” lesson from him during my upcoming sabbatical since he has mastered the form seven times! As we shared music with our students and each other, Dr. Maslanka told me that he was impressed with my music and that I “didn’t need any lessons.”

At the end of our residency, we had an open forum with members of Bands of America, and we were asked the question, “What are you working on now?” I responded that the great American composer David Diamond had died a week earlier. I told him that when Diamond’s favorite composer, Maurice Ravel, died in 1937, he wrote Elegy in Memory of Maurice Ravel for brass and harps. I told the forum that I was compelled to write a work in memory of David Diamond. As I left the forum to catch a plane back to Pennsylvania, Steve Steele approached me and said, “I’d like you to write your Symphony No. 1 – in Memoriam of David Diamond.” I was overwhelmed and immediately accepted! I, therefore, will be eternally grateful to Dr. Steele and Dr. Maslanka for their confidence and for providing me the opportunity to grieve for my mentor in a musically productive way.

Symphony No. 1 – In Memoriam of David Diamond is cast in four movements: Elegy, Scherzo, Romanza, and Finale. The Elegy is based upon the theme in the first movement of Diamond’s Fourth Symphony. His “Fourth” was the first Diamond piece I had ever heard as a student of composition with Robert Washburn as a college junior the summer of 1974. The beginning and strident brass chords are my own musical “grief”. An intentional “scoring quote” of Diamond’s occurs in measures 69-70. At the climax in the second movement of his Fourth Symphony, Diamond purposely delays the cymbal crash a beat after the ensemble impact. He said it extended the musical arrival. As stated earlier, Diamond responded to the death of his favorite composer by writing a work shortly after his death. I decided to use the notes from the first movement of Ravel’s String Quartet in F on which to base the Scherzo. Ravel was Diamond’s favorite composer. And, believe it or not, the String Quartet in F was the first work of Ravel’s I learned or heard. At the end of the movement, the motive from the first movement returns.

A Romanza is a work written on a legendary subject. It is also the title of one of the most beautiful works ever written, that is, the third movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5. In this case, the legendary musical subjects are David Diamond and Aaron Copland, who shared a friendship that lasted over fifty years. The work has a “Coplandesque” style, reminiscent of the music from Our Town.

The Finale is patterned after the first movement of Diamond’s Third Symphony, in which he bases the movement on a three-note theme. My work is based on the notes C-Eb-Bb-C. I’ve always been fascinated by form. In this movement, all of the themes from the symphony return, with a triumphant simultaneous recapitulation of the theme from the Romanza with the theme from the Finale. This movement is dedicated to Alex Jeschke and to the memory of William Black. Both gentlemen were friends of Mr. Diamond and included me in their professional lives, helping open up a new world of music to me.

- Program Note by composer


Commercial Discography


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff) Wind Symphony (Daniel Schmidt, conductor; Shannon Cochran, soprano) – 17 March 2016 (CBDNA Reno)
  • Illinois State University (Normal) Wind Symphony (Steve Steele, conductor) - November 2006 *Premiere Performance*


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

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