John Michael Diack (Arranger)

Born: 1869
Died: 1947

John Michael Diack (known also as J. Michael Diack) was well known in his day for his arrangements, many ballad-like songs and, most notably, the nursery rhymes (e.g., Sing a Song of Sixpence and Little Jack Horner) set in the style of George Frideric Handel.

John Michael Diack was a director of the Glasgow music publishing house of Pattersons, and one of the founders of the Scottish Country Dance Society formed in November 1923. He arranged for Beltona label to record 12 sides of dance music by the Sutherland Orchestra (consisting of London studio musicians) to be recorded on behalf of the Society, the records would be for sale in the normal way. So rapidly did the Society expand and so well did these acoustic records sell that in April 1927 fresh sides were made by the electrical method.

Source: MusicWeb (Author: Philip L. Scowcroft); The Musical Traditions Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (November 2011)

John Michael Diack: Short Biography | Piano Transcriptions: Works | Recordings | Other Arrangements/Transcriptions: Works | Recordings

Links to other Sites

A Tenth Garland of British Light Music Composers (MusicWeb)

Beltona Records and their role in recording Scottish music (The Musical Traditions)

Bibliography