Donald Harris (composer)
Encyclopedia
Donald Harris is an American composer who taught music at The Ohio State University for 22 years. He was Dean of the College of the Arts from 1988 to 1997.
Harris earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in Music from the University of Michigan
. He completed further studies at the Tanglewood Music Center
and the Centre Français d'Humanisme Musical in Aix-en-Provence
. He studied with Ross Lee Finney
, Max Deutsch
, Nadia Boulanger
, Boris Blacher, Lukas Foss
, and Andre Jolivet
. He founded the Contemporary Music Festival at Ohio State in 2000. Prior to joining the faculty at Ohio State, he served on the faculties and as an administrator of the New England Conservatory of Music and the Hartt School of Music. From 1954 to 1968, Harris lived in Paris, where he served as music consultant to the United States Information Agency
and produced the city's first postwar Festival of Contemporary American Music. A documentary about Harris entitled Sonata 1957 was produced by Daniel Beliavsky through opus1films in 2011. It explores Harris’ development in mid 20th-century Paris
, when pre-war musical thought bridged with post-war experimentation.
in 1956, the Prince Rainier III of Monaco Composition Award in 1962 (deuxieme mention), a Guggenheim Fellowship
in 1966, a National Endowment for the Arts
Fellowship Grant in Composition in 1974, the A.C. Fuller Award of the Julius Hartt Musical Foundation in 1988, and the ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award in 1989 (for co-editing The Berg Schoenberg Correspondence ). He received commissions with the Serge Koussevitzky
Music Foundation (Library of Congress
), Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
Foundation (Library of Congress
), St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Radio France, Cleveland Orchestra
, Goethe Institute (Boston), Boston Musica Viva
, Connecticut Public Radio, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Arnold Schoenberg Institute, and Festival of Contemporary American Music at Tanglewood
. In 1991, he received an award in composition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which led to a retrospective recording of his work on the CRI label in 1994. In 2011, he was the featured composer of the Contemporary Music Festival at The Ohio State University, a festival which he founded.
Harris earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in Music from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. He completed further studies at the Tanglewood Music Center
Tanglewood Music Center
The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops designed to provide an intense training and networking experience...
and the Centre Français d'Humanisme Musical in Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence
Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...
. He studied with Ross Lee Finney
Ross Lee Finney
Ross Lee Finney Junior was an American composer born in Wells, Minnesota who taught for many years at the University of Michigan. He studied with Nadia Boulanger, Edward Burlingame Hill, Alban Berg and Roger Sessions...
, Max Deutsch
Max Deutsch
Max Deutsch was an Austrian-French musical composer, conductor, and teacher.He was a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg and founded the theater Der Jüdische Spiegel in Paris. Here, many works of composers like Schoenberg, Anton Webern, or Alban Berg were debuted in France...
, Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...
, Boris Blacher, Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss was a German-born American composer, conductor, and pianist.-Music career:He was born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922. His father was the philosopher and scholar Martin Fuchs...
, and Andre Jolivet
André Jolivet
André Jolivet was a French composer. Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet's music draws on his interest in acoustics and atonality as well as both ancient and modern influences in music, particularly on instruments used in ancient times...
. He founded the Contemporary Music Festival at Ohio State in 2000. Prior to joining the faculty at Ohio State, he served on the faculties and as an administrator of the New England Conservatory of Music and the Hartt School of Music. From 1954 to 1968, Harris lived in Paris, where he served as music consultant to the United States Information Agency
United States Information Agency
The United States Information Agency , which existed from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, USIA's broadcasting functions were moved to the newly created Broadcasting Board of Governors, and its exchange and non-broadcasting information functions were...
and produced the city's first postwar Festival of Contemporary American Music. A documentary about Harris entitled Sonata 1957 was produced by Daniel Beliavsky through opus1films in 2011. It explores Harris’ development in mid 20th-century Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, when pre-war musical thought bridged with post-war experimentation.
Compositions
- Piano Sonata (1957)
- Fantasy For Violin & Piano (1957)
- Symphony In Two Movements (1958–1961)
- String Quartet (1965)
- Ludus (1966) for ten instruments
- Ludus II (1973) for five instruments
- On Variations (1976) for chamber orchestra
- Charmes (1971–1980; unfinished) for soprano and orchestra; after the poems of Paul ValéryPaul ValéryAmbroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. His interests were sufficiently broad that he can be classified as a polymath...
- For The Night To Wear (1978) for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble; after the Hortense Flexner poem
- Balladen (1979) for solo piano
- Of Hartford In A Purple Light (1979) for soprano with piano accompaniment; after the Wallace StevensWallace StevensWallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as a lawyer for the Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.His best-known poems include "Anecdote of the Jar",...
poem - Prelude To A Concert In Connecticut (1981) for orchestra
- Les Mains (1983) for mezzo-soprano with piano accompaniment; after the Marguerite YourcenarMarguerite YourcenarMarguerite Yourcenar was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist. Winner of the Prix Femina and the Erasmus Prize, she was the first woman elected to the Académie française, in 1980, and the seventeenth person to occupy Seat 3.-Biography:Yourcenar was born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie...
poem - Meditations (1984) for solo organ
- Three Fanfares For Four Horns (1984)
- Canzona & Carol (1986) for double brass quintet and timpani
- Pierrot Lieder (1988) for soprano and chamber ensemble; after the Albert GiraudAlbert GiraudAlbert Giraud , was a Belgian poet who wrote in French.-Biography:Giraud was born Emile Albert Kayenbergh in Leuven, Belgium. He studied law at the University of Louvain. He left university without a degree and took up journalism and poetry...
poem - Mermaid Variations (1992) for chamber orchestra
- String Quartet #2 (2002)
- A Lyric Fanfare (2003) for orchestra
- Five Tempi (Ludus III) (2004)
- Kaleidoscope (2007) for orchestra
- A Letter From Home (2011) for two sopranos, flute, viola, and harp; after the Mary OliverMary OliverMary Oliver is an American poet who has won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. The New York Times described her as "far and away, this country's [America's] best-selling poet".-Early life:...
poem
Stage Works
- The Legend Of John Henry (1954) ballet for orchestra
- The Golden Deer (1955) ballet for orchestra
- Intervals (1959) dance work for chamber ensemble
Awards and Honors
Harris was awarded a Fulbright AwardFulbright Award
The Fulbright Award is a scholarship awarded as part of the Fulbright Program to foster international research and collaboration. The program also awards a fellowship to Ph.D.'s to lecture and teach in foreign universities...
in 1956, the Prince Rainier III of Monaco Composition Award in 1962 (deuxieme mention), a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
in 1966, a National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
Fellowship Grant in Composition in 1974, the A.C. Fuller Award of the Julius Hartt Musical Foundation in 1988, and the ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award in 1989 (for co-editing The Berg Schoenberg Correspondence ). He received commissions with the Serge Koussevitzky
Serge Koussevitzky
Serge Koussevitzky , was a Russian-born Jewish conductor, composer and double-bassist, known for his long tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949.-Early career:...
Music Foundation (Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
), Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge aka Liz Coolidge , born Elizabeth Penn Sprague, was an American pianist and patron of music, especially of chamber music....
Foundation (Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
), St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Radio France, Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
, Goethe Institute (Boston), Boston Musica Viva
Boston Musica Viva
Boston Musica Viva is a Boston, Massachusetts-based music ensemble founded by its Music Director, Richard Pittman, in 1969 and dedicated to contemporary music.-Composers and compositions:...
, Connecticut Public Radio, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Arnold Schoenberg Institute, and Festival of Contemporary American Music at Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
. In 1991, he received an award in composition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which led to a retrospective recording of his work on the CRI label in 1994. In 2011, he was the featured composer of the Contemporary Music Festival at The Ohio State University, a festival which he founded.
Further reading
- Organization of American States, Composers of the Americas, Vol. 18, 1972
- Contemporary American Composers Based or Affiliated with Colleges and Universities, 1975
- Contemporary American Composers: A Biographical Dictionary, 1976
- Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, New York, 1978
- Introduction to Contemporary Music (Joseph Machlis), second edition, W. W. Norton, 1979
- ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, Fourth Edition, 1980
- American Music Recordings, A Dictionary of 20th Century U.S. Composers, 1982
- American Composers, A Biographical Dictionary, by David Ewen, 1982
- Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music, Harvard University Press, 1996