Julius Harrison

Julius Harrison
Born March 26, 1885(1885-03-26)
Bewdley, England
Died April 5, 1963(1963-04-05) (aged 78)
Harpenden, England
Nationality British
Occupation composer, conductor, arranger
Known for classical music

Julius Allan Greenway Harrison (26 March 1885 – 5 April 1963) was an English composer who was best known as a conductor of operatic works.[1]

Contents

Life and career

Harrison was born in Stourport in Worcestershire, England, and was educated at a Dame School in Stourport and Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Hartlebury.[2] Aged only 16, Harrison was appointed organist and choirmaster at Areley Kings Church, and at Hartlebury Church at the age of 21. When he was 17 he directed the Worcester Musical Society in a performance of his own Ballade for Strings.[2] He gained two Firsts in music in Cambridge local examinations and studied under Sir Granville Bantock at the Birmingham and Midland Institute of Music where he specialised in conducting.[1][2]

He worked with several orchestras including Sir Thomas Beecham's Opera Company at Drury Lane, the British National Opera Company, and the Hastings Municipal Orchestra where he had been Director of Music to the Hastings Corporation from 1930 to 1940. He also conducted the Handel Society and the Scottish Orchestra. Shortly after the start of World War II, the Hastings orchestra was disbanded and Harrison returned to Worcestershire where he became Director of Music at Malvern College[3] in Great Malvern and following the onset of deafness, he began to concentrate on composition.[1]

Harrison was director of the early Elgar Festivals held in Malvern, and he was a founder member and vice-president of the Elgar Society.[2] He also spent time as Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music.[2]

His greatest works are the Mass in C minor which took him eleven years to complete, and the Requiem. These compositions were influenced by Wagner and Verdi.[1][4]

Harrison died in 1963, aged 78, in Harpenden in Hertfordshire where he settled after leaving Malvern towards the end of the 1940s.

Selected works

Orchestral
  1. The King of Navarre's Chanson
  2. The Marriage of Yolande
  3. Song of Spring
  4. Dancing Song
Concertante
Chamber music
Organ
Piano
  1. The Shrawley Round
  2. Redstone Rock
  3. Pershore Plums
  4. The Ledbury Parson
  1. Dance in the Cherry Orchard (Ribbesford)
  2. Twilight on the River (Bewdley)
  3. Far Forest
  1. March Humoresque
  2. An Old Legend
  3. Columbine's Waltz
  4. Summer Breeze
  5. The Jolly Huntsman
Vocal
  1. Little Untrodden Paths
  2. Oh, Little Mist from the Sea
  3. Silent Trees
  4. At Daybreak
  1. Sir Giles' War Song
  2. Guendolen
  3. The Eve of Crecy
  4. The Gilliflower of Gold
  1. You Bring Me Pearls
  2. O Jewel of the Deep Blue Sea
  3. Caravan of Love
  1. The Soldier
  2. The Last Revel
  3. There Was a King of Liang
  4. The Recruiting Sergeant
  1. Merciless Beauty; words by Geoffrey Chaucer
  2. The Escape from Love; words by Geoffrey Chaucer
  3. A Lament; words by Sir Thomas Wyatt
Boot, Saddle, To Horse and Away
King Charles
Marching Along
  1. Come Away Death
  2. Jolly Robin
  3. O Mistress Mine
  4. Clown's Song
Choral
Arrangements

Harrison's many arrangements include versions of Weber’s Invitation to the Dance, sundry Schubert songs (entitled Winter and Spring) and a "concert version" of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride all for mixed chorus.[4]

Discography

Worcestershire Suite for orchestra (1918)
Bredon Hill, Rhapsody for violin and orchestra (1941)
Troubadour Suite for orchestra (1944)
Romance, a Song of Adoration for orchestra (1930)
Prelude-Music for harp and string orchestra (1912)
Widdicombe Fair, Humoresque for string orchestra (1916)
Hubert Clifford – Serenade for Strings (1943)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – Legend (Conzertstück), Op.14 (1897); Romance of the Prairie Lilies, Op.39; Violin Concerto in G minor, Op.80 (1912)
Julius Harrison – Bredon Hill, Rhapsody for violin and orchestra (1941)
Edgar Bainton – Viola Sonata (1922)
Julius Harrison – Viola Sonata in C minor (1945)
Frank Bridge – Pensiero (1905); Allegro Appassionato (1908); Allegretto (1905?)

References

  1. ^ a b c d MusicwebInternational. Retrieved 27 December 2009
  2. ^ a b c d e Worcestershire's other composer This is Worcestershire - 14 April 2001 Retrieved 27 December 2009
  3. ^ Julius Harrison and the importunate muse. Geoffrey Self. Scolar Press. 1993. pp 47.
  4. ^ a b Musicweb-composerconductors Retrieved 27 December 2009

Further reading