Julius Allan Greenway Harrison (26 March 1885 – 5 April 1963) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 who was best known as a conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 of operatic works.

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

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School may refer to:* Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Ashbourne, England* Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Alford, Lincolnshire, England* Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys, Barnet, England...

, Hartlebury

Hartlebury

Hartlebury is a village in Worcestershire, England. It is a few miles south of Kidderminster and is in Wychavon district. The village registered a population of 2,549 in the Census 2001.The railway station is about half a mile to the east of the village....

. Aged only 16, Harrison was appointed organist and choirmaster at Areley Kings

Areley Kings

Areley Kings is a Worcestershire village on the River Severn 10 miles north of Worcester in the picturesque area of the Wyre Forest. The area is featured in the Domesday Book and many historical places of interest are open to visitors...

 Church, and at Hartlebury

Hartlebury

Hartlebury is a village in Worcestershire, England. It is a few miles south of Kidderminster and is in Wychavon district. The village registered a population of 2,549 in the Census 2001.The railway station is about half a mile to the east of the village....

 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. He gained two Firsts in music in Cambridge local examinations and studied under Sir Granville Bantock

Granville Bantock

Sir Granville Bantock was a British composer of classical music.-Biography:Granville Ransome Bantock was born in London. His father was a Scottish doctor. He was intended by his parents for the Indian Civil Service but was drawn into the musical world. His first teacher was Dr Gordon Saunders at...

 at the Birmingham and Midland Institute of Music where he specialised in conducting.

He worked with several orchestras including Sir Thomas Beecham

Thomas Beecham

Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...

's Opera Company at Drury Lane

Drury Lane

Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....

, the British National Opera Company

British National Opera Company

The British National Opera Company presented opera in English in London and on tour in the British provinces between 1922 and 1929. It was founded in December 1921 by singers and instrumentalists from Sir Thomas Beecham's Beecham Opera Company , which was disbanded when financial problems over...

, and the Hastings Municipal Orchestra where he had been Director of Music to the Hastings

Hastings

Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....

 Corporation from 1930 to 1940. He also conducted the Handel Society and the Scottish Orchestra. Shortly after the start of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the Hastings orchestra was disbanded and Harrison returned to Worcestershire where he became Director of Music at Malvern College

Malvern College

Malvern College is a coeducational independent school located on a 250 acre campus near the town centre of Malvern, Worcestershire in England. Founded on 25 January 1865, until 1992, the College was a secondary school for boys aged 13 to 18...

 in Great Malvern

Great Malvern

Great Malvern is an area of Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is the historical centre of the town, and the location of the headquarters buildings of the of Malvern Town Council, the governing body of the Malvern civil parish, and Malvern Hills District council of the county of...

 and following the onset of deafness, he began to concentrate on composition.

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

Royal Academy of Music

The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...

.

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.

Harrison died in 1963, aged 78, in Harpenden

Harpenden

Harpenden is a town in Hertfordshire, England.The town's total population is just under 30,000.-Geography and administration:There are two civil parishes: Harpenden and Harpenden Rural....

 in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 where he settled after leaving Malvern towards the end of the 1940s.

Selected works

• Autumn Days
• CA Fantasy of Flowers
• I Love the Jocund Dance
• In Celia's Face
• Pastoral
• Rapunzel (1917)
• Rhapsody
• Rosalys
• Song of the Plough
• Spring in the Air
• The Canterbury Pilgrims (unfinished opera)
• The Rival Fourth Fingers
• The Wanderer's Song
• Variations on Down Among the Dead Men

Orchestral

• Ballade for string orchestra (1902)
• Prelude Music for string orchestra and piano (or harp), Op.16 (1912); original for harp and string quartet
• Widdicombe Fair, Humoreske for string orchestra, Op.22 (1916); original for string quartet
• Worcestershire Suite (1918); original for piano
• Romance, a Song of Adoration for orchestra (1930)
• Cornish Holiday Sketches for string orchestra (1935)
• Autumn Landscape for string orchestra (1937); premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra
  BBC Symphony Orchestra
  The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
  
   in February 1937
• Troubadour Suite for string orchestra, harp (or piano) and optional horns (1944)

1. The King of Navarre's Chanson
2. The Marriage of Yolande
3. Song of Spring
4. Dancing Song
   • Serenade for Strings

Concertante

• Bredon Hill, Rhapsody for violin and orchestra (1941)

Chamber music

• Prelude Music, Quintet in G major for harp and string quartet, Op.16 (1912); also for string orchestra and piano (or harp)
• Scaramouche for violin and piano (1915)
• Pensée fugitive for violin and piano (1915)
• Widdicombe Fair, Humoreske for string quartet, Op.22 (1916); also for string orchestra
• Fanfare for a Masked Ball for 4 trumpets (1921)
• Sonata in C minor for viola and piano (1945)
• String Quartet

Organ

• Paean and Tonus Peregrinus: Homage to Cesar Franck

Piano

• Rhapsody, Intermezzo and Capriccio (1903)
• Barcarolle (1917)
• Worcestershire Suite (1918); also orchestrated

1. The Shrawley Round
2. Redstone Rock
3. Pershore Plums
4. The Ledbury Parson
   • The Pixie Man, Suite (1920)
   • Silver Bells and Cockle Shells (1920)
   • Severn Country, Suite (1928)
5. Dance in the Cherry Orchard (Ribbesford)
6. Twilight on the River (Bewdley)
7. Far Forest
   • Town and Country (1948)
   • Wayside Fancies, Suite (1948)
8. March Humoresque
9. An Old Legend
10. Columbine's Waltz
11. Summer Breeze
12. The Jolly Huntsman
    • Mr. Alberti Takes a Stroll (1952)
    • Outdoor Song: At the fair (1952)
    • Musette

Vocal

• Six Short Songs for medium voice and piano (1907)
• Bonny Blue-cap for medium voice and piano (1908); words by Sir Walter Scott
  Walter Scott
  Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
  
  
• Songs of Fancy, 4 Songs (1913); words by P. Ashbrooke

1. Little Untrodden Paths
2. Oh, Little Mist from the Sea
3. Silent Trees
4. At Daybreak
   • Four Songs of Chivalry for voice and piano (1915); words by William Morris
     William Morris
     William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
     
     
5. Sir Giles' War Song
6. Guendolen
7. The Eve of Crecy
8. The Gilliflower of Gold
   • Three Eastern Love Songs for voice and piano (1915); words by Edward Teschemacher
9. You Bring Me Pearls
10. O Jewel of the Deep Blue Sea
11. Caravan of Love
    • Four Narratives from the Ancient Chinese for medium voice and piano (1917)
12. The Soldier
13. The Last Revel
14. There Was a King of Liang
15. The Recruiting Sergeant
    • Three Sonnets from Boccaccio for high voice and piano (1919); words by Giovanni Boccaccio
      Giovanni Boccaccio
      Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
      
      
    • On the Beach at Otahai (1920); words by E. J. Brady
      E. J. Brady
      E. J. Brady was an Australian poet.He was born at Carcoar, New South Wales, and was educated both in the United States and Sydney...
      
      
    • Three Songs (1921–1927)
16. Merciless Beauty; words by Geoffrey Chaucer
    Geoffrey Chaucer
    Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
    
    
17. The Escape from Love; words by Geoffrey Chaucer
    Geoffrey Chaucer
    Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
    
    
18. A Lament; words by Sir Thomas Wyatt
    Thomas Wyatt (poet)
    Sir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English lyrical poet credited with introducing the sonnet into English. He was born at Allington Castle, near Maidstone in Kent – though his family was originally from Yorkshire...
    
    
    • I Know a Bank for soprano or tenor and piano (1928); words from A Midsummer Night's Dream
      A Midsummer Night's Dream
      A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
      
      by William Shakespeare
      William Shakespeare
      William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
      
      
    • Four Cavalier Tunes for tenor or baritone and piano (1930); words by Robert Browning
      Robert Browning
      Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
      
      

Boot, Saddle, To Horse and Away

King Charles

Marching Along

• Rhapsody for baritone voice and orchestra (1932); words by Walt Whitman
  Walt Whitman
  Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
  
  
• Sea Winds for voice and piano (1932); words by Paul Askew
• Memory Island for baritone and piano (1936); words by Paul Askew
• Philomel for voice and piano (1938); words from A Midsummer Night's Dream
  A Midsummer Night's Dream
  A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
  
  by William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
  
  
• Four Songs from Twelfth Night for high voice and piano (1948); words from Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
  
  

1. Come Away Death
2. Jolly Robin
3. O Mistress Mine
4. Clown's Song

Choral

• Cleopatra, Dramatic Poem (Cantata) for soli (soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor), chorus and orchestra (1908); performed at the Norwich Festival in 1908
• Harvest Cantata for soprano (or tenor) and contralto (or baritone) soli, chorus and piano or organ (1910); words by Rose Dafforne Betjemann
• Christmas Cantata for soli and chorus (1911); words by Rose Dafforne Betjemann
• Viking Song, Part-song for male chorus and pianoforte or orchestra (1911); words by Fred Adlington
• Open Thy Gates, Introit Anthem for mixed chorus (with organ ad libitum) (1913); words by Robert Herrick
  Robert Herrick (poet)
  Robert Herrick was a 17th-century English poet.-Early life:Born in Cheapside, London, he was the seventh child and fourth son of Julia Stone and Nicholas Herrick, a prosperous goldsmith....
  
  
• Prevent Us, O Lord, Anthem for mixed chorus and organ (1914)
• Blows the Wind To-day for mixed chorus a cappella (1915); words by Robert Louis Stevenson
  Robert Louis Stevenson
  Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
  
  
• In the Forest for mixed chorus a cappella (1913); words by Heinrich Heine
  Heinrich Heine
  Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
  
  ; translation by Francis Hueffer
  Francis Hueffer
  Francis Hueffer, born Franz Hüffer , was a German-English writer on music, music critic, and librettist.-Biography:...
  
  
• Easter Carol for female chorus and piano (1921); words by Frederick Elliott
• The Little Men for female chorus (1921); words by William Allingham
  William Allingham
  William Allingham was an Irish man of letters and a poet.-Biography:He was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland and was the son of the manager of a local bank who was of English descent...
  
  
• The Blessed Damozel for female chorus a cappella (1928); words by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
  Dante Gabriel Rossetti
  Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
  
  
• A Sunny Shaft, Part Song for female chorus and piano (1929); words by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
  
  
• Merry Miller, Folk-jingle for mixed chorus a cappella (1932); words by Helen Taylor
• Magnifcat and Nunc dimittis for unison voices and organ (1941)
• The Wild Huntsman, Fantasia for male chorus a cappella (1946)
• The Dark Forest, Part-song for mixed chorus a cappella (1947); words by Edward Thomas
  Edward Thomas (poet)
  Philip Edward Thomas was an Anglo-Welsh writer of prose and poetry. He is commonly considered a war poet, although few of his poems deal directly with his war experiences. Already an accomplished writer, Thomas turned to poetry only in 1914...
  
  
• Mass in C for solo voices, chorus, organ and orchestra (1936–1947); premiered at Stoke-on-Trent in 1948; twice broadcast in 1952 and 1955
• Missa liturgica for mixed chorus a cappella (1950)
• Psalm C (Psalm 100) for mixed chorus and organ (1953)
• Requiem Mass for soprano, alto, tenor and bass soli, mixed chorus and orchestra (1948–1957); first performed in 1957 at the Worcester Three Choirs Festival
• Requiem for Archangels

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.

Discography

• Julius Harrison Orchestral Music; Hubert Clifford Serenade for Strings; Dutton Epoch CDLX7174 (2006)
  Matthew Trussler (violin); Andrew Knight (harp); BBC Concert Orchestra
  BBC Concert Orchestra
  The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five which is not a full-scale symphony orchestra....
  
   conducted by Barry Wordsworth
  Barry Wordsworth
  Barry Wordsworth is a British conductor.From 1989 to 2006, Wordsworth was principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and now holds the title of conductor laureate. From 1990 to 1995, Wordsworth was music director of the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden. He began his second tenure in that post in...
  
  

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: Violin Concerto, Legend, Romance; Julius Harrison: Bredon Hill; Lyrita 317 (2008)
  Lorrain McAsian (violin); London Philharmonic Orchestra
  London Philharmonic Orchestra
  The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
  
   conducted by Nicholas Braithwaite
  Nicholas Braithwaite
  Nicholas Paul Dallon Braithwaite is an English conductor. He is the son of the conductor Warwick Braithwaite.Braithwaite studied at the Royal Academy of Music, at the Festival masterclasses in Bayreuth, and with Hans Swarowsky in Vienna. In the 1960s, Braithwaite was associate conductor of the...
  
  

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer who achieved such success that he was once called the "African Mahler".-Early life and education:...

 – 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)

• Viola Sonatas: Edgar Bainton and Julius Harrison (World Premiere Recordings); 3 Pieces by Frank Bridge; British Music Society BMSCD415R (2008)
  Martin Outram
  Martin Outram
  Martin Outram is an English viola soloist and violist of the Maggini Quartet.-Biography:Martin Outram studied at Fitzwilliam College at Cambridge University and later at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Outram is the violist of the Maggini Quartet....
  
   (viola); Michael Jones (piano)

Edgar Bainton

Edgar Bainton

Edgar Leslie Bainton was a British composer, most celebrated for his church music. Perhaps his most famous piece is the liturgical anthem And I saw a new heaven, but during recent years Bainton's other musical works - neglected for decades - have been increasingly often heard in the concert...

 – Viola Sonata (1922)

Julius Harrison – Viola Sonata in C minor (1945)

Frank Bridge

Frank Bridge

Frank Bridge was an English composer and violist.-Life:Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others...

 – Pensiero (1905); Allegro Appassionato (1908); Allegretto (1905?)

Further reading

• Rubbra, Edmund (1950) Julius Harrison's Mass Oxford University Press.
• Self, Geoffrey (1993) Julius Harrison: And the Importunate Muse, Scolar press, ISBN: 0859679292