Previous Page

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

The Roy Harris Story

Relatively early in his career (around the time of Symphony 1933), Harris vowed to write only on commission, a practice to which he largely adhered, the few exceptions being compositions written as gifts (e.g., Toccata for Piano, Wedding Song) or projects for which the original arrangements fell through but in which he maintained sufficient interest to bring to completion (e.g., Concerto for Amplified Piano Brass, String Basses, and Percussion; Symphony No. 10 [orig. vers.]). However, the amounts involved in his commissions indicate that this source accounted for only a very small portion of his income; rather, the family's livelihood appears to have derived chiefly from his and Johana's combined teaching salaries plus yearly guarantees received from his publishers (especially from the mid50s on, after he affiliated with AMP/Broadcast Music, Inc.). These comparatively stable monies notwithstanding, the Harris finances were usually in disarray due, among other things, to frequent changes of residence, unexpected hospitalizations, sums extended for festival activities, extravagant indulgences, and the overall carelessness of the head-of-the-household's fiscal management. In fact, Harris's long, detailed, and eloquently drafted pleas, especially numerous during the 1960s and into the 70s, for financial assistance to old friends and supporters, such as M. D. Herter Norton (Polly Norton) and Artie Mason Carter and representatives of his publishers, such as Leonard Feist of AMP, are among the most fascinating and revealing documents of his career, in their own way very nearly as masterfully executed as the finest of his musical creations. The complex schemes of investments, advances against guarantees, etc. and methods of repayment (most of which he seemed constitutionally incapable of fulfilling) form a depressing litany that eventually taxed the goodwill of even the most accommodating individuals such as Feist, who were compelled eventually, albeit sorrowfully, to turn a deaf ear.

Next Page