John Joseph Davye (October 19, 1929 – September 25, 2007) was an American choral conductor and a composer of choral and chamber music. He finished his career as a teacher, composer, director, and festival adjudicator as Professor Emeritus of Music at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA. He held degrees from the University of Miami (FL) 1952 and Ithaca College (NY) 1965 where he studied composition with Warren Benson. His compositions, both published and unpublished, were played at a wide variety of universities and churches, and on the radio; his work was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts as well as the arts commissions of Virginia and Norfolk.

Works and Biography

For almost 40 years John J. Davye had his music published by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (NYC/London); Augsburg Publishing House (Minneapolis, Minn.); Crystal Spring Music Publishers, Inc. (Roanoke, VA); Mark Foster Music Co. (Champaign, Ill.); muSic eSpreSS, inc. (Tempe, AZ) and World Library Publications, Inc. (Cincinnati, Ohio).

Prior to publication his compositions had been performed on the campuses of Capital University (Ohio); East Carolina University (N.C.); Hollins College (VA); University of Kansas; James Madison University (VA); Manhattan School of Music (NYC); ODU; Penn State University; University of South Florida; St. Olaf College (Minn.); Tennessee Tech University, and West Virginia University, among others.

Professor Davye's larger works include, Cry of Anguish, Song of Praise (Psalm 22) for chorus of Mixed Voices, Organ and Brass Quartet, which was commissioned by the First Lutheran Church of Norfolk in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther; Symphony in One Movement, commissioned by ODU in celebration of its Golden Anniversary, and Four Days From My Life, a ballet in five scenes which had its premiere performances funded partially by the National Endowment for the Arts, Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the Norfolk Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

For nearly 30 years Professor Davye was a renowned choral director at University and High School levels.

Before coming to ODU in 1966, Professor Davye was for 11 years a public school music educator at the secondary level. Nine of those years as director of one of the most highly rated and acclaimed high school music programs in New York state, while teaching at Owego Free Academy, Owego, N.Y. There he directed 5 choirs that had a total enrollment of 250, in a school that had a student population of 800. Listed among many prestigious appearances, his group's broadcast around the world over Voice-of -America Radio; performed in two different years in the New York State Pavilion at the New York World's Fair, and appeared in Concert for the United States Senate in Washington, D.C.

For 17 years (1966–83) Professor Davye was the Director of the ODU Concert-Choir. During this time the Choir made numerous appearances with the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra; performed several times over 7 of the world's largest radio networks; appeared at state, regional, national and international conferences and conventions.

In 1975-76 the ODU Choir performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. as part of the Bicentennial Parade of American Music, and also at the Loyola University Bicentennial Collegiate Choral Festival in New Orleans, LA. The Choir regularly toured in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

He was a member of the American Choral Directors Association, American Society of University Composers, American Association of University Professors, Music Educators National Conference, and an honorary life member of Iota Tau chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity. John Davye is included in several biographical sources, among them International Who's Who in Music and Musicians Directory, 1990/91 and Who's Who in American Music: Classical.

In the fall of 1967, Davye founded the Tidewater Chorale which he directed until 1976. Professor Davye was one of nine original founding members of the Tidewater Composer's Guild in 1979.

In 1985 he founded the Composition program at the newly established Governor's School for the Arts, in Norfolk, VA. Professor Davye was also a frequent festival adjudicator throughout the eastern U.S. and Canada.

On December 31, 1997 Professor Davye suffered a stroke.

On September 25, 2007, Professor John J. Davye died in his home in Norfolk, Virginia.

Published and Unpublished Compositions

Legacy

The John Davye Collection in the Diehn Composers Room of the Old Dominion University Library contains seventeen seven inch audio reels, three five inch ones, and one tape cassette, spanning the years from 1971 to 1992.^[1]

References