Roy Harris

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Roy Ellsworth Harris (* 12. February 1898 in Lincoln County , Oklahoma ; † 1. October 1979 in Santa Monica , California ) was a US -American composer .

life and work

Harris always attached particular importance to the fact that he was born on Abraham Lincoln's birthday in a log cabin in Lincoln County, Oklahoma . He received piano and later clarinet lessons from his mother. He completed his studies at the University of California, Berkeley .

On a recommendation from Aaron Copland , Harris studied from 1926 to 1929 in Paris with Nadia Boulanger , who also taught other American composers, such as Walter Piston , Elliott Carter , Virgil Thomson and Philip Glass .

Sergei Alexandrowitsch Kussewizki supported Harris' 1st symphony "1933" ; this made it the first American symphony to be recorded on LP (with the Boston Symphony Orchestra ).

Since 1933 Harris taught at Mills College . Vincent Persichetti , William Schuman and Peter Schickele (the “spiritual father” of PDQ Bach ) were among his students .

The 3rd symphony from 1938 became an integral part of the American repertoire (not least thanks to support from Leonard Bernstein , who recorded it several times), together with the 3rd symphonies by Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson, which were written around the same time. The first edition of Kent Kennan's The Technique of Orchestration quotes three passages from Harris' Third Symphony to demonstrate exemplary orchestral passages for cello, timpani and vibraphone.

Harris wrote 14 other symphonies. He was a prolific composer of choral music but did not compose operas.

His music, even if it appears abstract at times, is characterized by its optimistic, “American” sound. The musicologist John Canarina sees hallmarks of the “Harris Style” in “sweeping horn passages and timpani ostinati”.

In 1944 Harris was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

Works (selection)

Orchestral works

  • Symphony No. 1, 1933
  • Symphony No. 2, 1934
  • Symphony No. 3, 1938, rev. 1939
  • Symphony No. 4, "Folksong Symphony" with choir, 1942
  • Symphony No. 5, 1940-42
  • Symphony No. 6, "Gettysburg Address Symphony", 1944
  • Symphony No. 7, 1952, rev. 1955
  • Symphony No. 8, "San Francisco", concert performance with piano, 1961–62
  • Symphony No. 9, "Polytonality", 1962
  • Symphony No. 10, "The Abraham Lincoln Symphony" for speaker, choir, brass, percussion and 2 pianos, 1967, revised version for speaker, choir, piano and orchestra
  • Symphony No. 11, 1967
  • Symphony No. 12, "Père Marquette" with tenor, speaker and orchestra, 1969
  • Symphony No. 13, "Bicentennial Symphony", for speakers, soloists, choir and orchestra, 1976, numbered by Harris as No. 14 from superstitions about the number 13, referred to posthumously as No. 13 by Dan Stehman with the permission of the widow of Composers
  • Symphony "Our Heritage", abandoned in the mid-1920s
  • Symphony for choir voices without orchestra, 1935
  • Symphony "Point" for military band, 1952
  • American Symphony for jazz band, 1938, unfinished
  • Walt Whitman Symphony for baritone, choir and orchestra, 1955–58
  • Andante, 1925
  • "American Portraits", 1929
  • Toccata, 1931
  • Overture "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", 1934
  • Prelude and Fugue for string orchestra, 1935
  • Symphonic elegy "Farewell to Pioneers", 1935
  • Time Suite, 1936
  • Ode to Truth, 1941
  • Evening Piece, 1941
  • Acceleration, 1941
  • Fanfare, 1942
  • March in Time of War, 1943
  • Chorales for brass and strings, 1944
  • Ode to Friendship, 1944
  • Mirage, 1945
  • Memories of Child's Sunday, 1945
  • Children at Play, 1946
  • Radio Piece, 1946
  • Melody, 1946
  • Celebration, 1946
  • Work, 1947
  • Mood, 1947
  • Quest, 1948
  • Kentucky Spring, 1949
  • Cumberland Concerto, 1951
  • Symphonic epigram, 1954
  • Ode to Consonance, 1957
  • Elegy and Dance, 1958
  • Horn of Plenty, 1963
  • Epilogue to Profiles in Courage: JFK, 1963
  • Salute to Youth, 1964

Concerts

  • Concerto for string quartet, piano and clarinet, 1926, rev. 1927/28
  • 1st piano concerto, 1941
  • 2nd piano concerto, 1953
  • Concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra, 1946
  • Accordion Concert, 1946
  • Elegy and Paean for viola and orchestra, 1948
  • Violin Concerto, 1949/50
  • Fantasy for piano and orchestra, 1954
  • "These Times" for piano and orchestra, 1962
  • Concerto for piano, brass and percussion, 1969

Vocal music

  • Madrigals, 1947
  • Mass, 1948
  • Easter motets
  • Whitman Triptych based on texts by Walt Whitman
  • 3 songs of democracy based on a poem by Walt Whitman

Chamber music

  • Piano sonata, 1928
  • Andantino for strings, clarinet and flute, 1931
  • Piano quintet, 1936
  • String Quartets, No. 3: Preludes and Fugues (1937)

literature

  • Dan Stehman: Roy Harris . An American Musical Pioneer. Twayne Publishers, Boston 1984, ISBN 978-0-8057-9461-8 .
  • Dan Stehman: Roy Harris . A Bio-Bibliography. Greenwood Press, New York 1991, ISBN 978-0-313-25079-8 .
  • Robert Layton, Ed .: A Guide To The Symphony , Chap. 18, "The American Symphony," by John Canarina.
  • Kent Kennan : The Technique of Orchestration .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Members: Roy Harris. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed April 2, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Harris, Roy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Harris, Roy Ellsworth (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH February 12, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Lincoln County , Oklahoma
DATE OF DEATH 1st October 1979
Place of death Santa Monica , California