David Nicholls (musicologist)

David Nicholls (musicologist) (born in 1955^[1], Birmingham, United Kingdom) is a British musicologist and composer. Since August 2000 he has been Professor of Music at the University of Southampton. From 1987 to 2000 he was Professor of Music and Research Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Keele University. Between 1984 until 1987 Nicholls was based at Selwyn College, Cambridge as a Keasbey Fellow in American Studies.

He is a former editor of the American Music (2000–2005), and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2001. Until 1998 he was also active as a composer, and his works were performed and broadcast in the UK and in Europe, America, Australia, and South Africa.^[2]

Education

Nicholls read Music at St. John's College, Cambridge, and graduated with a first.^[3] In 1986 he completed a Ph.D. at Cambridge with a thesis on the compositional techniques of Charles Ives, Henry Cowell, John Cage, and other experimental composers.

Major Compositions

• Stars and Distances 1977-78; revised 1981 (16 solo voices, optional electronics)
• Three Empson Songs 1978-79 (soprano, clarinet, percussion)
• Reflections and Refractions 1978 (flute, clarinet, piano, string trio)
• Pleiades 1979-80 (three groups of instruments)
• ... with which to open ... and ... with which to close ... 1982 (soprano, clarinet, piano)
• Competitive Strategies 2 1982 (oboe)
• The Giant's Heart 1983 (mimes/dancers/puppets/actors, optional tape)
• Chi 1983, revised 1987-88 (dancer, percussionist, live electronics)
• Carol 1983 (8 voices, organ, bells)
• Seascape 1984 (strings, harp, celesta, 4 percussion)
• Gonepteryx rhamni 1985 (clarinet, piano)
• Siva Dances 1985
• ... whisperings upon leaves ... 1986 (soprano, 10 instruments)
• Mosaic 1986 (flute, clarinet, piano, vibraphone, violin, violoncello)
• In the Cage 1986 (singing/speaking recorder player, optional assistant/tape)
• 2 Japanese Miniatures 1988-89 (8 players)
• Largo e Piano 1989 (14 players)
• Winter landscape with skaters and birdtrap 1989-90 (string quartet)
• Several Elephants 1989-90 (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, trombone/bass saxophone)
• Cantata: Jerusalem 1990-91 (soprano, 2 mixed choruses, 2 wind & percussion bands)
• Sam Bam and the House in the Sky 1994-95 (children's musical for voices and instruments)
• Lily's Birds 1996 (a musical story for children; string quartet and narrator)
• Songs of the Spirit 1998 (SATB chorus)
• Tears 1998 (soprano, clarinet, piano)

Books

• Nicholls, David (1991 [1990]). American Experimental Music 1890–1940. Cambridge, New York, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052142464X
• Nicholls, David, ed. (1997). The Whole World of Music: A Henry Cowell Symposium. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Press. ISBN 9057550032
• Nicholls, David, ed. (1998). The Cambridge History of American Music. Cambridge, New York, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521454298
• Nicholls, David, ed. (2002), The Cambridge Companion to John Cage, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521789684
• Nicholls, David (2007), John Cage, University of Illinois Press, ISBN 9780252032158
• Nicholls, David (2010), John Cage, Turner Libros, Spanish translation, ISBN 9788475068701

References

1. ^ http://www.nmcrec.co.uk/composer/nicholls-david
2. ^ See http://www.southampton.ac.uk/music/staff/Publications/DNichollsC.html
3. ^ http://www.southampton.ac.uk/music/staff/Publications/DNichollsC.html

External links

• David Nicholls Staff Page, University of Southampton

Persondata
Name	Nicholls, David
Alternative names
Short description	musicologist, composer
Date of birth	1955
Place of birth	Birmingham
Date of death
Place of death