Frank Llewellyn Harrison facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Frank Ll. Harrison
Frank Llewellyn Harrison
Born	29 September 1905 Dublin, Ireland
Died	29 December 1987 (age 82) Canterbury, England
Occupation	Musicologist

Francis Llewellyn Harrison, often known as "Frank Harrison," was a very important musicologist and a pioneer in ethnomusicology. Musicologists study music, especially its history and how it's made. Ethnomusicologists study music from different cultures around the world.

Frank Harrison was born on September 29, 1905, and passed away on December 29, 1987. He first trained to be an organ player and a composer (someone who writes music). In the early 1950s, he started focusing on musicology. He first studied old English and Irish music from the Middle Ages. Later, he became very interested in ethnomusicology.

His book Music in Medieval Britain (published in 1958) is still a key book for studying music from that time. His book Time, Place and Music (published in 1973) is an important textbook for learning about ethnomusicology.

Early Life and Musical Training

Frank Harrison was born in Dublin, Ireland. His special middle name, "Llewellyn," came from his grandmother, who was from Wales.

He started singing in the choir at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1912. He went to school there until 1920 and then to Mountjoy School until 1922. Frank was a good organist and even worked as a deputy organist at St Patrick's from 1925 to 1928.

In 1920, he also began studying music at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He learned composition, organ, and piano. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Trinity College Dublin in 1926. In 1929, he received a doctorate for a musical piece he wrote based on Psalm 19. After that, he worked in Kilkenny for a year. He was the organist at St Canice's Cathedral and a music teacher at Kilkenny College.

Moving to Canada and Teaching Music

In 1930, Frank Harrison moved to Canada. He became the organist at Westminster Presbyterian Church in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. He briefly studied in France in 1933. Then, he returned to Canada in 1934 to be the organist at Knox Presbyterian Church in Ottawa.

In 1935, he took a new job in Kingston, Ontario. He was the organist and choirmaster at St. George's Cathedral. He also became the "resident musician" at Queen's University. His job involved giving lectures, leading choirs and orchestras, and conducting concerts. He started the first music course at Queen's University that students could get full credit for.

He left St. George's in 1941. In 1942, he became an assistant professor of music at Queen's. During his time in Canada, he continued to play music and compose. He won three national composition competitions for his works: Winter's Poem (1931), Baroque Suite (1943), and Night Hymns on Lake Nipigon (1945).

Frank Harrison later studied composition at Yale University with Paul Hindemith. He also took musicology classes there. In 1946, he worked at Colgate University in New York. Then, he moved to Washington University in St. Louis in 1947. There, he became the head of the new Department of Music until 1950.

Becoming a Leading Musicologist

In 1951, Frank Harrison earned more degrees from Jesus College, Oxford. He became a lecturer there in 1952. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 1956 and then to reader in the history of music from 1962 to 1970.

In 1965, he became a Fellow of the British Academy. He was also a Senior Research Fellow at Oxford. From 1970 to 1980, Harrison was a Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He started teaching part-time in 1976 before fully retiring.

He also taught as a Visiting Professor at several other famous universities. These included Yale University, Princeton University, and Dartmouth College. He even returned to Queen's University at Kingston as a special visiting professor in 1980. He also taught at the University of Pittsburgh in 1981.

Frank Harrison received many honors. He was given an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Queen's University in 1974. He was also a Corresponding Member of the American Musicological Society and Vice President of the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society. A new building at Queen's University, Harrison-LeCaine Hall, was partly named in his honor in 1974.

Frank Harrison was married twice. With his first wife, Nora, he had two daughters. In 1965, he married Joan Rimmer, who was also a famous expert on musical instruments. They worked together on studying music from different cultures and wrote several papers together.

His Lasting Impact

Frank Harrison is remembered as a very important musicologist. Harry White, another music expert, said in 1989 that Harrison's work covered almost everything in musicology. David F. L. Chadd described him as an "explorer," always curious and excited to learn new things.

Since 2004, the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI) gives out a special award called the Harrison Medal. It is given every two years to important international musicologists in his honor.

Musical Compositions

Frank Harrison wrote several musical pieces, though most were not officially published. Here are some of his compositions:

• Psalm 19 (1929) for choir and orchestra
• Winter's Poem (1931) for organ
• Concertino (1932) for piano and orchestra
• Ode of Remembrance (1940) for choir
• Baroque Suite (1943) for orchestra
• Night Hymns on Lake Nipigon (around 1944) for solo voice, chorus, and orchestra
• Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1946)
• Three Pieces for Clarinet and Piano (before 1948)
• Two Preludes (before 1948) for piano
• Homage to Spring (around 1950) for soprano and piano
• Other works for organ and piano

Music Editions and Books

Frank Harrison also edited many important historical music collections, making them available for others to study and perform. Some of his notable editions include:

• The Eton Choirbook (1956–61)
• John Sheppard: Sechs Responsorien zu 4 und 6 Stimmen (1960)
• William Mundy: Latin Antiphons and Psalms (1963)
• Motets of French Provenance (1968)
• Now Make We Merthë: Medieval and Renaissance Carols (1968)
• Medieval English Songs (1979, with E. J. Dobson)

He also wrote several influential books:

• Music in Medieval Britain (1958)
• Collins Music Encyclopedia (1959, with Jack A. Westrup)
• Musicology (1963, with Mantle Hood & Claude V. Palisca)
• European Musical Instruments (1964, with Joan Rimmer)
• Time, Place and Music: An Anthology of Ethnomusicological Observation c1550 to c1800 (1973)
• Irish Traditional Music: Fossil or Resource? (1988)

He wrote many articles for academic journals and books, sharing his research on various topics in music history and ethnomusicology.