In addition to his musical oeuvre, Harris left an enormous body of writings, published and unpublished, ranging from program notes on various of his compositions to articles (some extending to several installments), newspaper series, and lectures. Although these cover a wide range of subjects, many center around the effects on the arts of historical developments and socio-economic conditions, and on the relationship of the arts to both the individual and society at large. Although he sometimes tends toward a self-confident over-generalization, with an occasionally simplistic assessment of the historical aspect, and although the extent to which he put into actual practice ideas fervently embraced in print might be questioned by an alert observer, he nonetheless often demonstrates, through a literary expression that is colorful, distinctive, and eloquent, an astonishingly deep and original perception of cause and effect operating at fundamental levels. He often accomplishes this so effectively, in fact, that even some of the strongest detractors of his music readily acknowledge his persuasiveness in the literary arena.
At various times, the composer also planned books on contemporary music and large-scale, multi-volume studies of musical materials, these latter approaching their topics in terms of both practical application and historical development (one such effort in the mid50s involved the United States Naval Academy). None reached fruition, however.
III. STYLE
Harris's career can be divided into four principal style periods. The first, extending from the mid20s through the late30s, is marked by the formulation of his polytonal, polymodal principles of harmony and melody; the gradual clarification, systematizing, and paring down of his harmonic resources; a move away from a tentative exploration of sonata structure toward the development of an autogenetic approach to form generation; and, in his purely instrumental compositions, an often abstract, intellectualized approach that relies on cleverly designed but over-ex-tended motivically-generated contrapuntal textures.
