Harris, Roy (actually, Leroy Ellsworth)
Harris, Roy (actually, Leroy Ellsworth)
Harris, Roy (actually, Leroy Ellsworth), significant American composer; b. Chandler, Okla., Feb. 12, 1898; d. Santa Monica, Calif., Oct. 1, 1979. His parents, of Irish and Scottish descent, settled in Okla.; in 1903 the family moved to Calif., where Harris had private music lessons with Henry Schoenfeld and Arthur Farwell. In 1926 he went to Paris, where he studied composition with Boulanger; continued his stay in Paris thanks to two consecutive Guggenheim fellowships (1927, 1928). Upon his return to the U.S., he lived in Calif, and in N.Y.; several of his works were performed and attracted favorable attention; Farwell publ, an article in the Musical Quarterly (Jan. 1932) in which he enthusiastically welcomed Harris as an American genius. In his compositions, Harris showed a talent of great originality, with a strong melodic and rhythmic speech that was indigenously American. He developed a type of modal symbolism akin to Greek ethos, with each particular mode related to a certain emotional state. Instrumental music is the genre in which he particularly excelled. His Sym. No. 3 (Boston, Feb. 24, 1939) became his best-known and most frequently perf. work; it was the first American sym. to be played in China, during the 1973 tour of the Philadelphia Orch. under the direction of Eugene Ormandy. Harris never wrote an opera or an oratorio, but made astute use of choral masses in some of his works. He held the following teaching positions: Westminster Choir School, Princeton (1934–35); Cornell Univ. (1941–43); Colo. Coll. (1943–48); Utah State Agricultural Coll. in Logan (1948–49); Peabody Coll. for Teachers at Nashville (1949–51); Sewanee, Term. (1951); Pa. Coll. for Women (1951–56); Univ. of Southern 111. (1956–57); Ind. Univ. (1957–60); Inter-American Univ., San German, Puerto Rico (1960–61); Univ. of Calif., Los Angeles (1961–73). In 1973 he was appointed composer-in-residence at Calif. State Univ., Los Angeles, a post he held until his death. He received honorary D.Mus. degrees from Rutgers Univ. and the Univ. of Rochester in N.Y.; in 1942 he was awarded the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal “for eminent services to chamber music.” In 1936 he married the pianist and teacher Johana Harris (née Beula Duffey; b. Ottawa, Ontario, Jan. 1, 1913; d. Los Angeles, June 5, 1995); she assumed her professional name Johana in honor of J. S. Bach; the single ’n’ was used owing to some esoteric numerologie considerations to which Harris was partial. After his death, she married, on Dec. 18, 1982, her 21-year-old piano student Jake Heggie.
Works
dramatic: Ballet: From This Earth (Colorado Springs, Aug. 7, 1941); Namesake (Colorado Springs, Aug. 8, 1942); What So Proudly We Hail (Colorado Springs, Aug. 8, 1942). ORCH.: Andante (1925); American Portrait 1929, sym. (1929; withdrawn); 13 other syms.: No. 1, Symphony 1933 (1933; Boston, Jan. 26, 1934), No. 2 (1934; Boston, Feb. 28, 1936), No. 3 (Boston, Feb. 24, 1939), No. 4, Folksong Symphony, for Chorus and Orch. (Cleveland, Dec. 26, 1940; rev. version, N.Y., Dec. 31, 1942), No. 5 (1942; Boston, Feb. 26, 1943), No. 6, Gettysburg (Boston, April 14, 1944), No. 7 (Chicago, Nov. 20, 1952; rev. 1955), No. 8, San Francisco (1961; San Francisco, Jan. 17, 1962), No. 9 (1962; Philadelphia, Jan. 18, 1963), No. 10, Abraham Lincoln, for Speaker, Chorus, Brass, 2 Pianos, and Percussion (Long Beach, Calif., April 14, 1965), No. 11 (1967; N.Y., Feb. 8, 1968), No. 12, Pere Marquette, for Tenor/Speaker and Orch. (1968-69; Milwaukee, Nov. 8, 1969), and No. 13, Bicentennial Symphony, for Chorus and Orch. (1975-76; 1st perf. as Sym. No. 14, Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 1976); Concert Piece (1930); Andantino (1931; rev. 1932); Toccata (1931); From the Gayety and Sadness of the American Scene, overture (Los Angeles, Dec. 29, 1932); When Johnny Comes Marching Home: An American Overture (1934; Minneapolis, Jan. 13, 1935); Farewell to Pioneers: A Symphonic Elegy (1935; Philadelphia, Feb. 28, 1936); Prelude and Fugue for Strings (1935; Philadelphia, March 27, 1936); Concerto for Piano and Strings (1936; arranged from the Piano Quintet); Time Suite (ABC, N.Y., Aug. 8, 1937); 2 violin concertos: No. 1 (1938; withdrawn) and No. 2 (1949; Wilmington, N.C., March 21, 1984); Prelude and Fugue for Strings and 4 Trumpets (1939; arranged from the String Quartet No. 3); American Creed (Chicago, Oct. 30, 1940); Acceleration (Washington, D.C., Nov. 2, 1941; rev. 1942); Evening Piece (1941; 2nd movement of 3 Pieces); Mirage (c. 1941); Ode to Truth (San Francisco, March 9, 1941); 3 Pieces (N.Y., April 9, 1941; nos. 1 and 3 from the Folksong Symphony)) Fanfare for the Forces (c. 1942); Folk Rhythms of Today (1942; Minneapolis, Jan. 29, 1943); Concerto for Piano and Band (Ann Arbor, April 7, 1942); March in Time of War (N.Y, Dec. 30, 1942; rev. 1943); Chorale for Organ and Brass (Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 26, 1943); Fantasia for Piano and Band (1943);Children’s Hour (1943--4); Chorale (London, July 22, 1944); 2 piano concertos: No. 1 (Colorado Springs, Aug. 1944) and No. 2 (Louisville, Dec. 9, 1953); Toccata for Organ and Brass (Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 24, 1944); Ode to Friendship (N.Y., Nov. 16, 1944); Memories of a Child’s Sunday (1945; N.Y, Feb. 21, 1946); Variation[No. 7] on a Theme by Goossens (Cincinnati, March 23, 1945; with 9 other composers); Celebration Variations on a Timpani Theme from Howard Hanson’s Third Symphony (Boston, Oct. 25, 1946); Melody (N.Y, May 12, 1946); Radio Piece for Piano and Orch. (Rochester, N.Y, May 18, 1946); Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orch. (1946; Denver, Jan. 21, 1947); The Quest (1947; Indianapolis, Jan. 29, 1948); Theme and Variations for Accordion and Orch. (Chicago, June 1, 1947); Elegy and Paean for Violin and Orch. (Houston, Dec. 14, 1948); Kentucky Spring (Louisville, April 5, 1949); Cumberland Concerto for Orchestra (Cincinnati, Oct. 19, 1951); Fantasy for Piano and Pops Orch. (1951); Symphonic Fantasy (1953; Pittsburgh, Jan. 30, 1954); Symphonic Epigram (N.Y, Nov. 14, 1954); Fantasy for Piano and Orch. (Hartford, Conn., Nov. 17, 1954); Ode to Consonance (1956); Elegy and Dance (Portland, Ore., April 19, 1958); These Times for Piano and Small Orch. (La Jolla, Calif., Aug. 14, 1963); Epilogue to Profiles in Courage JFK (Los Angeles, May 10, 1964); Horn of Plenty (Beverly Hills, June 14, 1964); Salute to Youth (1964; Santa Barbara, Calif., Feb. 28, 1965); Fantasy for Organ, Brass, and Timpani (1964); Rhythms and Spaces (N.Y, April 7, 1965; arranged from the String Quartet No. 2); Concerto for Amplified Piano, Brass, String Basses, and Percussion (Los Angeles, Dec. 9, 1968); Folksong Suite for Harp and Orch. (1973). band:Sad Song for Jazz Band (1938); Cimarron, overture (Enid, Okla., April 18, 1941); When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1941; Ann Arbor, Jan. 24, 1942); Rhythms of Today (1943); Conflict (1944); Sun and Stars (1944); The Sun from Dawn to Dusk (1944); Take the Sun and Keep the Stars (1944); Fruit of Gold (Westwood, Calif., May 10, 1949); Dark Devotion (1950); Kentucky Jazz Piece (1950); Sym., West Point (West Point, N.Y, May 30, 1952); Ad majorem gloriam Universitatis Illinorum, tone poem (1958); Bicentennial Aspirations (San Diego, July 4, 1976). CHAMBER: Impressions on a Rainy Day for String Quartet (1925); Concerto for Piano, Clarinet, and String Quartet (1926; Paris, May 8, 1928); 3 string quartets: No. 1 (1929), No. 2, Variations on a Theme (1933), and No. 3, 4 Preludes and Fugues (1937); Concerto for String Sextet (1932); Fantasy for Winds, Horn, and Piano (Pasadena, Calif., April 10, 1932); 4 Minutes—20 Seconds for Flute and String Quartet (1934); Piano Trio (1934); Poem for Violin and Piano (1935); Piano Quintet (1936); Soliloquy and Dance for Viola and Piano (1938); String Quintet (1940); Violin Sonata (1942); Lyric Studies for Woodwind and Piano (1950); Cello Sonata (1964; rev. 1968); Childhood Memories of Ocean Moods for Piano, String Quartet, and Double Bass (1966). keyboard: p i a n o;: Sonata (1928); Little Suite (1939); Toccata (1939); Suite in 3 Movements (1939–3); American Ballads (2 vols., 1942-45). organ:Études for Pedals (1964; rev. 1972). VOCAL: Challenge 1940 for Bass, Chorus, and Orch. (N.Y, June 25, 1940); Railroad Man’s Ballad for Chorus and Orch. (1940; N.Y, Feb. 22, 1941); Freedom’s Land for Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (Pittsburgh, Nov. 11, 1941); Rock of Ages for Chorus and Orch. (N.Y, Sept. 19, 1944); Blow the Man Down for Countertenor, Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (Cleveland, May 12, 1946); The Brotherhood of Man for Chorus and Orch. (1966); numerous other choral works.
Bibliography
D. Stehman, R. H.: An American Musical Pioneer (Boston, 1984); idem, R. H: A Bio-Bibliography (N.Y, 1991).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire