Editing Roy Harris (section)

==Life==
Harris was born in [[Chandler, Oklahoma]] on February 12, 1898. His ancestry was Scottish, Irish and Welsh. In 1903, his father was able to combine the proceeds of the auction of his Oklahoma homestead with his winnings from a lucky gambling streak to purchase some land near [[Covina, California|Covina]] in the [[San Gabriel Valley]] of southern California and move the family there.<ref>Stehman 1984, 8.</ref>  Roy Harris grew up as a farmer in this rural, isolated environment.  He studied piano with his mother, and later clarinet. Though he studied at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], he was still virtually self-taught when he began writing music of his own. In the early 1920s, he had lessons from [[Arthur Bliss]] (then in [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]]) and the senior American composer and researcher of [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] music, [[Arthur Farwell]]. Harris sold his farmland and supported himself as a truck-driver and delivery man for a dairy farm. Gradually, he made contacts in the East with other young composers, and, partly through [[Aaron Copland]]'s recommendation, he was able to spend 1926–29 in Paris, as one of the many young Americans who received their final musical grooming in the masterclasses of [[Nadia Boulanger]]. Harris had no time for Boulanger's [[Neoclassicism (music)|neoclassical]], [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]]-derived aesthetic, but under her tutelage he began his lifelong study of [[Renaissance]] music, and wrote his first significant work: the Concerto for Piano, Clarinet and String Quartet.<ref>Stehman 1984, 20.</ref>

After suffering a serious back injury, Harris was obliged to return for treatment to the United States, where he formed associations with [[Howard Hanson]] at the [[Eastman School of Music]] in [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]] and, more importantly, with [[Serge Koussevitsky]] at the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]]. These associations secured performance outlets for the large-scale works he was writing. In 1934, a week after its first performance under Koussevitsky, his ''Symphony '1933''' became the first American symphony to be commercially recorded. His work was also part of the [[Art competitions at the 1936 Summer Olympics#Music|music event]] in the [[Art competitions at the 1936 Summer Olympics|art competition]] at the [[1936 Summer Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/921523 |title=Roy Harris |work=Olympedia |access-date=1 August 2020}}</ref>

It was his Symphony No.&nbsp;3, however, first performed by Koussevitsky in 1939, which proved to be the composer's biggest breakthrough and made him practically a household name.<ref>Oliver 1987; Lamkin 2016.</ref>

During the 1930s Harris taught at [[Mills College]], [[Westminster Choir College]] (1934–1938) and the [[Juilliard School]] of Music. He spent most of the rest of his professional career restlessly moving through teaching posts and residences at American colleges and universities. His final posts were in California, first at [[UCLA]] and then at [[California State University, Los Angeles]]. Among his pupils were [[William Schuman]], [[H. Owen Reed]], [[John Donald Robb]], [[Robert Turner (composer)|Robert Turner]], [[Lorne Betts]], [[George Lynn (composer)|George Lynn]], [[John Verrall]], [[Florence Price]], [[Regina Hansen Willman]], [[Peter Schickele]] (best known as the creator of [[P.D.Q. Bach]]) and [[Rudi Martinus van Dijk]]. He received many of America's most prestigious cultural awards, and at the end of his life was proclaimed Honorary [[Composer Laureate]] of the State of California.<ref>Lamkin 2016</ref> 

In 1936 Harris married pianist [[Johana Harris]] (''née'' Duffey), his junior by 14 years, who went on to a highly successful career, making numerous recordings and appearing as a soloist with almost every major American symphony orchestra. She also had a long career teaching on the piano faculty at the Juilliard School. Her name prior to their marriage was Beula Duffey, but Harris convinced her to change it to Johana after J.S. Bach. ''[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]'' states, "Johana and Roy Harris were a ''tour de force'' in American music. Their collaboration has been compared to that of Robert and Clara Schumann. The Harrises organized concerts, adjudicated at festivals, and in 1959 founded the [[International String Congress]]. They promoted American folksong by including folksongs in their concerts and broadcasts."<ref>Gillard 2013.</ref> The couple had five children: Patricia, Shaun, Daniel, Maureen and Lane. Their two sons performed with [[The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band]], a Los Angeles-based [[psychedelic rock]] band of the late 1960s,<ref>Deming n.d.</ref> and Roy Harris provided string [[arrangement]]s on Shaun's self-titled solo album in 1973.<ref>Ankeny n.d.</ref>

Harris was among he founders of the [[Music Academy of the West]] summer conservatory in 1947.<ref name="Greenberg">{{cite web|last1=Greenberg|first1=Robert|title=Music History Monday: Lotte Lehmann|url=https://robertgreenbergmusic.com/music-history-monday-lotte-lehmann/|website=robertgreenbergmusic.com|access-date=7 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207093617/https://robertgreenbergmusic.com/music-history-monday-lotte-lehmann/|archive-date=7 February 2020|language=en-US|date=26 August 2019}}</ref>