Roy Harris

Roy Ellsworth Harris (February 12, 1898 – October 1, 1979) was an American composer. He wrote much music on American subjects, becoming best known for his Symphony No. 3.

Life

Harris was born in Chandler, Oklahoma, of mixed Scots, Irish and Welsh ancestry, in circumstances he sometimes liked to contrast with those of the more privileged East-coast composers: to poor parents, in a log cabin in Oklahoma, on Abraham Lincoln's birthday, one of five children (three of whom died early). His father was able to combine the proceeds of his gambling with the auction of his Oklahoma homestead to purchase some land near to Covina in the San Gabriel Valley of southern California, where he brought his family in 1903. The boy grew up a farmer in this rural, isolated environment. He studied piano with his mother, and later clarinet. Though he studied at the University of California, Berkeley, he was still virtually self-taught when he began writing music of his own, but in the early 1920s he had lessons from Arthur Bliss (then in Santa Barbara) and the senior American composer and researcher of American Indian (then called "Red Indian") music, Arthur Farwell. Harris sold his farmland and supported himself as a truck-driver and delivery man for a dairy firm. Gradually he made contacts in the East with other young composers, and partly through Aaron Copland's recommendation he was able to spend 1926-29 in Paris, as one of the many young Americans who received their final musical grooming in the masterclasses of Nadia Boulanger. Harris had no time for Boulanger's neoclassical, Stravinsky-derived aesthetic, but under her tutelage he began his lifelong study of Renaissance music, and wrote his first significant work: the Concerto for Piano, Clarinet and String Quartet.

Roy Harris (boxer)

Roy Harris (born 29 June 1933) is a retired American heavyweight boxer, whose nickname derived from his place of birth, Cut and Shoot, Texas. Roy is a co-trainer of undefeated title contender Alfonso López III.

Amateur career

Roy and his brother Toab took up the boxing together after receiving their first set of gloves in a trade for wild ducks. Roy was a four-time Texas Golden Gloves champ, won his state Olympic Trials in 1952, and was the winner of the Joe Louis Sportsmanship Award at the 1954 National Golden Gloves.

Professional career

Roy was a heavyweight contender during the 1950s. He won his first 23 fights, including consecutive wins against Willi Besmanoff, Bob Baker and Willie Pastrano, and was named Ring Magazine's progress of the year for 1957.

World Heavyweight Championship

Before the bout, Roy was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. In August 1958, he was given a title shot by world champion Floyd Patterson. Patterson had trouble obtaining title defenses, as boxing at the time was controlled by an organization that Patterson and his manager, Cus D'Amato, refused to cooperate with.

Roy Harris (disambiguation)

Roy Harris (1898–1979) was an American classical composer.

Roy Harris may also refer to:

Roy Harris (GC)

ARP Staff Officer Roy Thomas Harris (1 August 1902 - 18 August 1973) was awarded the George Cross for the 'conspicuous gallantry' he displayed on 18 September 1940 in defusing unexploded bombs which had fallen on Langdale Road in Thornton Heath, Surrey.

He later joined the Royal Engineers where he reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

18 September 1940

Whilst serving as the Chief Combustion Engineer to Croydon Corporation, Harris was serving as a Captain in The Queen's Royal Regiment, attached to the Croydon Home Guard.

On the night of 17/18 September, a Luftwaffe bombing raid has resulted in a number of unexploded devices being found at a school on Langdale Road in Thornton Heath, Surrey. Harris proceeded to the school to defuse the bombs and save the school from certain destruction.

George Cross citation

Harris's George Cross citation appearedd in the London Gazette on 17 December 1940:

For conspicuous bravery in carrying out dangerous duties.

References

Roy Harris (linguist)

Roy Harris (24 February 1931 - 9 February 2015) was Emeritus Professor of General Linguistics in the University of Oxford and Honorary Fellow of St Edmund Hall. He also held university teaching posts in Hong Kong, Boston and Paris and visiting fellowships at universities in South Africa and Australia, and at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study.

His books on integrationism, theory of communication, semiology and the history of linguistic thought include 'The Language Myth', 'Rethinking Writing', 'Saussure and his Interpreters' and 'The Necessity of Artspeak'.

He was a founding member of the International Association for the Integrational Study of Language and Communication (IAISLC) and founding editor of the journal Language & Communication.

Integrationism

The main focus of Harris' research was the development of an integrational approach to signs and semiological systems, and hence to all human communication. His approach, called integrationism, involves looking at current educational practice, together with the whole history of linguistic thought from Plato down to the present day, in a perspective that differs radically from traditional views. Integrationism has important implications for our understanding of interpersonal relations, as well as of modern society and its communicational resources, including the entire range of arts and sciences.