David Noon (born 23 July 1946) is a contemporary classical composer and educator. He has written over 200 works from opera to chamber music. Noon's composition teachers have included Karl Kohn,

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

, Charles Jones, Yehudi Wyner, Mario Davidovsky, and Wlodzimierz Kotonski. He was a distinguished member of the faculty at the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

for 30 years.Manhattan School of Music
Faculty biography: David Noon
. Accessed 29 November 2010.

Biography

David Noon was born on 23 July 1946 in

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is the largest city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, it is the principal city of the Metropolitan statistical area ...

. He is of Pennsylvania Dutch, Welsh, and American Indian heritage. His formal musical education began at the age of 8 when he learned to play the clarinet. Subsequently, he took bassoon, flute, piccolo, and piano lessons. Throughout his childhood, he frequently performed in choirs, bands, orchestras, and chamber music ensembles. During his collegiate years at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...

, he continued to sing and play bassoon and piano. He also began the systematic study of composition. Following his undergraduate education, he attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

to study

Medieval music Medieval music encompasses the sacred music, sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the Dates of classical music eras, first and longest major era of Western class ...

with

Gustave Reese Gustave Reese ( ; November 29, 1899 – September 7, 1977) was an American musicologist and teacher. Reese is known mainly for his work on medieval and Renaissance music, particularly with his two publications ''Music in the Middle Ages'' (1940 ...

. After receiving an MA in musicology at NYU, he attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where he received an MMA and a DMA in composition.David Noon
Ars Nova biography
. Accessed 29 November 2010. In 1972–73, he was a

Fulbright Fellow The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

in composition at the Music Conservatory in Warsaw, Poland. From 1973 to 1976, Noon taught music theory and composition and supervised the advanced ear-training program at the School of Music at Northwestern University. In 1976, he was composer-in-residence at the Wurlitzer Foundation in

Taos, New Mexico Taos () is a town in Taos County, New Mexico, Taos County, in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Santa Fe ...

. From 1996 to 1998, Noon was Composer Artist-in-Residence at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine. A prolific composer, Noon has written 232 works, including chamber music, orchestral works, and choral compositions. He has written 11 string quartets, 3 piano concertos, the opera ''R.S.V.P''., and many works featuring percussion. He has also written 2 books of poetry: ''Postcards from Rethymno'' and ''Bitter Rain''; 3 historical novels: ''The Tin Box'', ''Googie's'', and ''My Name Was Saul''; and 3

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 ...

mysteries, ''Murder at the Ballets Russes'', ''The Tsar's Daughter'', and ''The Organ Symphony''. He was on the faculty of

in New York City from 1981 to 2011, where he was chairman of the Music History Department (1981-2007), chairman of the Composition Department (1989–98), and dean of academics (1998-2006). In 2007–08, Noon was a visiting professor of musicology and composition at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, China. Noon resides in New York City and on the Greek island of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

Awards

*Manhattan School of Music ''Presidential Medal of Honor'' (2006) *

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, broadc ...

Standard Awards in Composition (yearly since 1973 to the present) *YMF Debut Award in Composition (1973) *Yale University's ''Harriet Gibbs Fox Memorial Prize'' (1972) *Yale University's ''Jon Day Jackson Prize'' (1972) *Yale University's ''Woods Chandler Memorial Prize'' (1971) *Composers' Forum, New York City (1971) * Aspen Music Festival prizes in composition (1969, 71, 79) *YMF career grants in composition (1968, 71) *BMI Awards to Student Composers (1967, 70)

Fellowships and prizes

*Chamber Music America (1993) *Pomona College Centennial commission (1987) *

Houston Symphony Orchestra The Houston Symphony is an American orchestra based in Houston, Texas. The orchestra is resident at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts. History The first concert of what was to become the Houston Symphony took place on June 21, 1 ...

commission (1981) *NEA commissions (1977) *Wurlitzer Foundation of Taos, New Mexico, composer-in-residence (1976–77) * Berkshire Music Center Fellowship in Composition at

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue and Music festival, festival in the towns of Lenox, Massachusetts, Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony ...

(1974) *Yale University's ''Lucy G. Moses Scholarship'' (1971) *Yale University's ''David Stanley Smith Memorial Scholarship'' (1971) *Yale University scholarship in music (1970) *Aspen Music Festival scholarships in composition (1969, 71, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81) *NDEA Title-IV fellowship in music at New York University (1968–70)

Compositions

Influenced by

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...

, and

Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

, Noon wrote serial music until 1975. It was in that year, in the finale of his ''String Quartet #1'', that Noon abruptly wrote a volta in the style of a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

viol consort. This was the beginning of Noon's conscious reference to styles, techniques, and formal procedures of the past. While often maintaining a fully chromatic harmonic and melodic language, Noon's music frequently makes allusions to tonal diatonicism. The sharp distinction between chromatically dissonant and diatonically tonal music has become a stylistic trait of Noon's work. Formally, Noon's music is clearly indebted to the Classical tradition with his music being frequently informed by references to sonata-allegro, variation,

rondo The rondo or rondeau is a musical form that contains a principal theme (music), theme (sometimes called the "refrain") which alternates with one or more contrasting themes (generally called "episodes", but also referred to as "digressions" or "c ...

, and binary dance forms of the past. His early and continued interest in

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

and Renaissance music has influenced many of his compositions with regard to choices of text (

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...

, St. Augustine of Canterbury, Sedulius Scottus,

Columbanus Saint Columbanus (; 543 – 23 November 615) was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries after 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil Abbey in present-day France and Bobbio Abbey in presen ...

Alcuin Alcuin of York (; ; 735 – 19 May 804), also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin, was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Ecgbert of York, Archbishop Ecgbert at Yor ...

, Villon,

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

), constructive techniques (including isorhythm), and basic melodic material (especially

Gregorian Chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...

). The obvious influence of Medieval music can be heard in Noon's ''Alleluias'' for solo flute, winds & percussion, ''A Medieval Reliquary'' for baritone, flute, 'cello & harp, ''Tristan's Mirror'' and ''Miroir Estampie'' both for 2 pianos, and ''String Quartet #7 "le tombeau des troubadours''." Blending Medieval and Renaissance with contemporary procedures has become a hallmark of Noon's pluralistic, Post-Modern work. Alongside music for traditional ensembles, Noon has frequently written music for percussion from large ensembles such as his ''Symphonia Apocalyptica'' for 12 percussionists to solo works such as ''Hardcore'' for solo timpanist. While usually writing for traditional percussion instruments, Noon occasionally writes theatrical pieces for found percussion (music stand, pots & pans, playing cards, brooms), for example, his works ''Stand Up!'', ''Hot Grease, Nasty Licks!'', ''Table for One'', ''Hit the Deck'', and ''Swept Away''. *''Serenade for English Horn and String Quartet'' Op. 78 – premiered March 1985 by the New York Philharmonic Ensemble.Page, Tim
"Philharmonic Ensemble Plays at Asia Society"
''

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 ...

'' (March 27, 1985). Accessed 30 November 2010. *''Sonata da camera'' Op. 89 – recorded on ''Sonata da Camera for Flute and Harp'' (Label: Cantilena 66035-2).Barnett, Rob
CD Review: ''Sonata da Camera''
MusicWeb International (July 2008). Accessed 29 November 2010. *''Tristan's Lament with Rotta'' Op. 119 for solo harp – composed in 1993.Kozinn, Allan

''The New York Times'' (August 17, 2002). Accessed 29 November 2010. *''Three Pieces'' – transcriptions of three piano works by

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

: ''L'Isle joyeuse'', ''La Fille aux cheveux de Lin'', and ''Tarantelle styrienne'' for flute, harp, and string quartet.Kozinn, Allan
Review: "Debussy From a Duo And Friends"
''New York Times'' (April 4, 1990). Accessed 29 November 2010.

References

External links

Manhattan School of Music bio

Discography on Arkivmusic.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noon, David American male composers 21st-century American composers Aspen Music Festival and School alumni 1946 births Living people 21st-century American male musicians Pomona College alumni