Editing Roy Harris (section)

== Character, reputation, and style characteristics ==
Harris was a champion of many causes. He founded the [[International String Congress]] to combat what was perceived as a shortage of string players in the U.S., and co-founded the [[American Composers Alliance]].  In 1958 the U.S. State Department sent him, along with some fellow composers including [[Peter Mennin]] and [[Roger Sessions]], to the Soviet Union as a "cultural ambassador"; he was impressed by the support for composers that the Soviet state provided, not aware at the time of how carefully his visit was managed.<ref>Stehman 1984, 103 and n4.</ref> He was a tireless organizer of conferences and contemporary music festivals and a frequent radio broadcaster. His last symphony, a commission for the [[American Bicentennial]] in 1976, was mauled by the critics at its first performance.  This may have been due to its themes of [[slavery]] and the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], which were in contrast to the celebratory mood of the country.<ref>Stehman 1984, 145–146.</ref>

Although the rugged American patriotism of his works of the 1930s and 1940s is reflected in his research into and use of folk music (and to a lesser extent of [[jazz]] rhythms), Harris was paradoxically obsessed with the great European pre-classical forms, especially the [[fugue]] (which we hear in the Third Symphony) and [[passacaglia]] (as featured in the Seventh). His customary mode of musical discourse, with long singing lines and resonant modal harmonies, is ultimately based on his admiration for and development of Renaissance polyphony.{{Citation needed|date=July 2014}} He also used antiphonal effects, which he exploited brilliantly with a large orchestra. Like many American composers of his time, he was deeply impressed by the symphonic achievement of [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2014}} In Harris's best works the music grows organically from the opening bars, as if a tiny seed gives birth to an entire tree. This is certainly the case with the Third Symphony, which joined the American repertoire during the same era as works by [[Aaron Copland]] and [[Virgil Thomson]]. The first edition of Kent Kennan's ''The Technique of Orchestration'' (1952) quotes three passages from this symphony to illustrate good orchestral writing for cello, timpani, and vibraphone, respectively. The book quotes no other Harris symphonies. Few other American symphonies have acquired such a position in the standard performance repertory as has this one, due in large part to the championing of the piece by [[Leonard Bernstein]], who recorded it twice.

Though Harris's symphonies are his greatest contribution to American music, he composed over 170 works, including many works for amateurs. His output includes works for band, orchestra, voice, chorus and chamber ensembles.