Roy Harris

Roy Ellsworth Harris ( born February 12, 1898 Lincoln County, Oklahoma, † October 1, 1979 in Santa Monica, California ) was an American composer.

Life and work

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

Following a recommendation by Aaron Copland studied Harris 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 Aleksandrovich Koussevitzky championed Harris ' Symphony No. 1 " 1933" a; thus she became the first American symphony which was recorded on LP ( with the Boston Symphony Orchestra ).

Since 1933, Harris has taught at Mills College. Among his students, for example, Vincent Persichetti, William Schuman and Peter Schickele were (the " spiritual father " of PDQ Bach).

The 3rd Symphony from 1938 became an integral part of the American repertoire (not least thanks to the support of Leonard Bernstein, who grossed more than once ), together with the about the same time resulting third symphonies of Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson. The first edition of Kent Kennan Wheelers The Technique of Orchestration cites three passages from Harris ' third symphony to an example to demonstrate successful orchestral passages for cello, drums and vibraphone.

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

His music, though sometimes appearing abstract, is characterized by its optimistic, "American" sound. The musicologist John Canarina looks hallmark of " Harris style " in " rousing horn passages and Paukenostinati ".

Works (selection)

Orchestral works

  • Symphony No. 1, 1933
  • Symphony No. 2, 1934
  • Symphony No. 3, 1938, rev.1939
  • Symphony No. 4, " Folk Song 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," in concert with piano, 1961-62
  • Symphony No. 9, " polytonality ", 1962
  • Symphony No. 10, " The Abraham Lincoln Symphony " for narrator, choir, brass, percussion and 2 pianos, 1967, revised version for narrator, choir, piano and orchestra
  • Symphony No. 11, 1967
  • Symphony No. 12, " Pere Marquette " with tenor, narrator and orchestra, 1969
  • Symphony No. 13, " Bicentennial Symphony ", for narrator, soloists, chorus and orchestra, 1976, numbered from Harris as No. 14 out of superstition about the number 13, again posthumously referred to as No. 13 by Dan Stehman with permission from the widow of the Composers
  • Abandoned Symphony " Our Heritage ", the mid-1920s
  • Symphony for voices without orchestra, 1935
  • Symphony " Point" for military band, 1952
  • American Symphony for Jazz Band in 1938, unfinished
  • Walt Whitman Symphony for baritone, chorus 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
  • Chorale for Brass and Strings, 1944
  • Ode to Friendship, 1944
  • Mirage, 1945
  • Memories of Child's Sunday, 1945
  • 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: J.F.K., 1963
  • Salute to Youth, 1964

Concerts

  • Concerto for string quartet, piano and clarinet, 1926, rev. In 1927/28
  • Piano Concerto No. 1, 1941
  • Piano Concerto No. 2, 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
  • Fair, 1948
  • Ostermotette
  • Whitman Triptych on texts by Walt Whitman
  • 3 songs of democracy 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 )
Lincoln County (Oklahoma) P. D. Q. Bach Integrated Authority File
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