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Composers Bureau
Donald Harris
Biography
Donald Harris served on the faculties and as an administrator at
the New England Conservatory of Music (1967-77) and the Hartt School
of Music, University of Hartford (1977-88), before becoming dean
of the College of the Arts and professor of music at Ohio State
in 1988. In 1997, after a thirty-year career as a senior-level administrator
in higher education and the arts, he stepped down as dean and rejoined
the OSU faculty in composition. From 1954 until 1968, Harris lived
in Paris where, among other things, he was music consultant to the
United States Information Service, and produced the city's first
postwar Festival of Contemporary American Music.
Harris earned bachelor's and master's degrees in composition from
The University of Michigan, where he was a student of Ross Lee Finney.
He continued his studies with Lukas Foss, Boris Blacher, Nadia Boulanger,
and Max Deutsch, a student of Arnold Schoenberg.
Harris has received numerous commissions, including the Serge Koussevitzky
Music Foundation, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation in the Library
of Congress, St. Paul Chamber
Orchestra, Radio France,
and the Cleveland Orchestra.
He is co-editor of the W. W. Norton publication of the correspondence
between Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg, for which he received
an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award
(1989). He was honored with an award in composition from the American
Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1991), which led to a
retrospective recording of his work on the CRI label (1994). His music is published by the Editions Jobert in France,
and in this country by Theodore
Presser and GUNMAR Music. In addition to CRI,
his compositions have been recorded on the Delos and NEC-Golden Crest labels.
Principal Compositions
- PIANO SONATA, 1957; publication: Societe des Editions Jobert,
Paris, 1965; recording: Veronica Jochum, pianist, Golden Crest
NEC-107, 1974
- FANTASY FOR VIOLIN & PIANO, 1957; publication: Jobert, Paris,
1965; recording: Paul Zukovsky, violinist, Gilbert Kalish, pianist,
CRI S-307, 1973; reissued as CRI CD-666, 1994
- SYMPHONY IN TWO MOVEMENTS, 1958-61; publication: Jobert, Paris,
1965
- STRING QUARTET, 1965; publication: Jobert, Paris, 1965; recording:
Composers String Quartet, CRI-274, 1972; reissued as CRI CD-666,
1994
- LUDUS for Ten Instruments, 1966; publication: Jobert, Paris,1968;
recording: Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Hodkinson, coed.,
CRI S-274, 1972; reissued as CRI-CD 666, 1994
- LUDUS II for Five Instruments, 1973; publication: Jobert, Paris,
1974; recording: Boston Musica Viva, Richard Pittman, conductor,
DELOS 25406, 1975; reissued as CD 1011, 1987
- ON VARIATIONS for Chamber Orchestra, 1976; publication: Jobert,
Paris, 1979
- CHARMES (Paul Valery) for Soprano and Orchestra, 1971-80
- FOR THE NIGHT TO WEAR (Hortense Flexner), Mezzo-Soprano & Chamber
Ensemble, 1978; publication: Theodore
Presser, Bryn Mawr, PA, 1983; recording: Janice Meyerson,
Boston Musica Viva, Richard, Pittman, coed., CRI CD-666, 1994
- BALLADEN, Solo Piano, 1979; publication: Theodore
Presser, Bryn Mawr, PA,1983; recording: Veronica Jochum, CRI
CD-666, 1994
- OF HARTFORD IN A PURPLE LIGHT (Wallace Stevens), Soprano with
Piano Acc., 1979; publication: Theodore
Presser, Bryn Mawr, PA, 1979; recording: Susan Davenny Wyner,
soprano, Yehudi Wyner, piano, CRI CD-666, 1994
- PRELUDE TO A CONCERT IN CONNECTICUT, for Orchestra, 1981
- LES MAINS (Marguerite Yourcenar), Mezzo-Soprano with Piano Acc.,
1983; publication: Theodore
Presser, Bryn Mawr, PA, 1986; recording: Janice Meyerson,
mezzo-soprano, Hugh Hinton, piano, CRI CD-666, 1994
- MEDITATIONS, Organ Solo, 1984; publication: Gunmar Music Inc.
Newton, Mass., 1990
- THREE FANFARES FOR FOUR HORNS, 1984; publication: Gunmar Music
Inc., Newton, Mass. 1990
- CANZONA & CAROL, for Double Brass Quintet and Timpani, 1986;
publication: Gunmar Music, Inc., Newton, Mass. 1990
- PIERROT LIEDER (Albert Giraud; German translation, Otto Erich
Hartleben), soprano & chamber ensemble, 1988; publication: Gunmar
Music Inc., Newton, Mass. 1990; recording: Lucy Shelton, OSU Faculty
Ensemble, Craig Kirchhoff, coed., CRI CD-666, 1994
- MERMAID VARIATIONS, for Chamber Orchestra, 1992; publication:
Theodore Presser,
Bryn Mawr, PA, 1996; recording: Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Edwin
London, coed., CRI CD-666, 1994
- In progress: THE LITTLE MERMAID (Marguerite Yourcenar, English
translation, Dori Katz), opera in three acts, 1985
Stage Works, Incidental Music
- THE LEGEND OF JOHN HENRY, Ballet for Orchestra; 1954, revised
orchestration, 1979
- THE GOLDEN DEER, Ballet for Orchestra, 1955
- INTERVALS, Dance Work for Chamber Ensemble, 1959
- A FANFARE FOR THE SEVENTIES, March for Band, 1978
- THE POET WITH THE BLUE GUITAR, Documentary for radio on the
life and works of poet, Wallace Stevens (Connecticut Public Radio),
written and directed by Jordan Pecile, produced by D. Bradford
Spear, featuring Estelle Parsons, Alexander Scourby, and the participation
of Holly Stevens, Richard Eberhart, John Hollander, Brendan Gill
and Helen Vendler; Incidental Music for Flute and Guitar, 1979;
recipient of a 1981 Ohio State Broadcasting Award
- FIRES, Radio Dramatization of the prose poem by Marguerite Yourcenar
Connecticut Public Radio), translated by Dori Katz, adapted by
Jordan Pecile, directed by Ellen Kraft, featuring Anne Baxter,
Dina Merrill, Mildred Dunnock, Linda McGuire, and Lisa Banes;
Incidental Music for Orchestra, 1983
- A BIRTHDAY CARD FOR GUNTHER, in honor of the 60th Birthday of
Gunther Schuller, solo violin, 1985; Publication: Perspectives
of New Music, Spring-Summer, 1986, Vol. 24, No. 2.
Further Information
Contact Information
E-mail: Harris.27@osu.edu
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