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It is with regret that we announce the death of John Davison in January, 1999.

John Davison was born in 1930 and studied music at the Juilliard lower school, Haverford College, Harvard, and The Eastman School, where he received his doctorate in Composition. From 1959 he taught at Haverford College, where he was Ruth Marshall Magill Professor of Music. He received a number of prizes and fellowships, and his music has been played widely in the U. S. as well as Europe and Asia. Among orchestras playing his compositions have been the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, and the Minnesota Orchestra.

With John Ashmead he co-authored a book, The Songs of Robert Burns, and his new harmonizations of the Scots melodies used by Burns have been featured on national public television. His compositions for trombone have been particularly widely played. The Chestnut Brass Company recorded his Brass Quintet on their CD/tape Pastime with Good Company.

John Davison   -  Canzona & Reel/Jig

"The Canzona is a kind of free fugue, playing extensively in all voices with one main theme. This theme centers on a single note, falling and rising from it but always returning to it. Appearing in many keys, the melody and a subordinate motive rise to a climax and subside to a peaceful ending. The second movement, Reel/Jig, is just what its title implies: a jig, followed by a reel, followed by a return of the jig and then by a combining of the two at the end. The dance rhythms and melodic material are derived from, and strongly suggestive of, traditional Anglo-Celtic-American folk material."

-John Davison

The Canzona & Reel/Jig is 4'45" long.

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Last modified: May 04, 2003