Pamela Harrison (28 November 1915 – 28 August 1990) was an English composer, pianist and music teacher. Harrison's music was influenced by composers including E.J. Moeran,

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral music ...

and John Ireland, and French music.

Early career

Pamela Harrison was born in Orpington, England, and educated at the Brampton Down School for Girls in

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

. She studied with

Gordon Jacob Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob CBE (5 July 18958 June 1984) was an English composer and teacher. He was a professor at the Royal College of Music in London from 1924 until his retirement in 1966, and published four books and many articles about ...

and Arthur Benjamin at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

in London. She first made her mark as a composer with the Quintet for flute, oboe and strings, written in 1938 and first performed that year at a concert of the

Society for the Promotion of New Music The Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM), originally named The Committee for the Promotion of New Music, was founded in January 1943 in London by the émigré composer Francis Chagrin, to promote the creation and performance of new music i ...

. The Quintet was heard again in 1944 at Fyvie Hall, Regent Street, played by an ensemble led by Leonard Hirsch.

Wartime

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she worked as a school teacher. She was music mistress at The Hall School,

Wincanton Wincanton ( or ) is a town and electoral ward in Somerset, southwest England. The town lies off the A303 road, a main route between London and South West England, and has some light industry. In the 2021 census the civil parish had a populatio ...

, Somerset in 1942, and at St Monica's School,

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea, often simply called Clacton, is a seaside town and seaside resort, resort in the county of Essex, on the east coast of England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District, wi ...

from 1943 until 1945.''Who's Who in Music'', Fifth Edition (1969), p. 134 She also continued to compose and perform. Her String Quartet was played more than once at the wartime Myra Hess

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

concerts in 1944. She married the cellist and conductor Harvey Phillips (1910 – active until late 1970s) in 1943. They lived initially at The Red House, Crockham Hill, Kent, and then at "The Cearne", (previously the house of

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

and

Constance Garnett Constance Clara Garnett (; 19 December 1861 – 17 December 1946) was an English translator of nineteenth-century Russian literature. She was the first English translator to render numerous volumes of Anton Chekhov's work into English and the ...

). Harvey was a member of the Hirsch String Quartet and made his professional conducting debut with the Jacques Orchestra at the Wigmore Hall in 1950 (at which he conducted his wife's ''Suite for Tomothy''). That year he formed the Harvey Phillips String Orchestra (with leader Hugh Bean), which included in its repertoire Harrison's ''Five Poems of Ernest Dowson'' for tenor and string orchestra - the first London performance with

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career started ...

as the soloist on 15 December 1952 at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

- and her ''Six Poems of Baudelaire''. Pamela Harrison wrote her 1944 Cello Sonata for Harvey, who gave its debut performance with pianist John Wills at the Wigmore Hall on 9 May 1947. The marriage ended in 1959, and Harrison moved to Brimstone Down, a remote

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...

farmhouse.Plane, Robert
Notes to ''Pamela Harris: Chamber Music''
Resonus CD RES10313 (2023)

Post war

After the war Harrison went on to compose chamber and orchestral music, as well as vocal settings of

Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics, an ...

, Herrick, Dowson and Edward Thomas. The Viola Sonata was written in 1946 and performed a year later at the

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

. Watson Forbes and Alan Richardson gave its first broadcast performance on 17 March 1951. Her piece for small orchestra, ''A Suite for Timothy'', was composed for the first birthday of her son in 1948 and first performed at

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

in 1949. It has been recorded, and was revived in a live performance by the Somerset County Orchestra in December 2023. The Clarinet Sonata (1954) was written for Jack Brymer, who was also the soloist in several performances and broadcasts of the Clarinet Quintet in the late 1950s. In May 1959, Harrison's Concertante for piano and string orchestra with Eric Harrison (not related) as soloist was broadcast on BBC Radio. An archive recording exists, and the first modern performance took place on 13 December 2023. The Edward Thomas song cycle ''The Dark Forest'' for tenor and strings was composed in 1957, but had to wait until 1979 for its first broadcast performance, by

Ian Partridge Ian Partridge (born 12 June 1938) is a retired English lyric tenor, whose repertoire ranged from Monteverdi, Bach and Handel, the Elizabethan lute songs, German, French and English songs, through to Schoenberg, Weill and Britten, and on to co ...

. A modern studio performance in Salford by the BBC Philharmonic with tenor John Finden took place on 10 January 2024. The same orchestra revived Harrison's ''Five Poems of Ernest Dowson'' on 17 April 2024 under conductor

Martyn Brabbins Martyn Charles Brabbins (born 13 August 1959) is a British conductor. Biography The fourth of five children in his family, he learned to play the euphonium, and then the trombone during his youth at Towcester Studio Brass Band. He later studi ...

Final years

She also studied

Dalcroze eurhythmics Dalcroze eurhythmics, also known as the Dalcroze method or simply eurhythmics, is a developmental approach to music education. Eurhythmics was developed in the early 20th century by Swiss musician and educator Émile Jaques-Dalcroze and has inf ...

, giving exhibitions with Emile Jaques-Dalcroze in Brighton. Banfield, Stephen. 'Harrison, Pamela', in ''Grove Music Online'' (2004) By the late 1960s Harrison was living at The Old Toll House, Yarlington in Somerset. In 1983 she moved again, to a seafront flat in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

. She died aged 74 in a car accident in

Firle Firle (; Sussex dialect: ''Furrel'' ) is a village and civil parish in the Lewes (district), Lewes district of East Sussex, England. Firle refers to an Old English word ''fierol'' meaning overgrown with oak. Although the original division of ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

. Jack Brymer performed the short piece ''Drifting Away'' at her Service of Thanksgiving in December 1990. Her son Tim Phillips, who was Artistic Director of East Devon Music, died in 2023.East Devon Music presents The Tim Phillip's Memorial Concert
/ref>

Selected works

;Orchestral * ''A Suite for Timothy'' for string orchestra (1948) * ''Concertante'' for piano and string orchestra (1954) * ''An Evocation of the Weald'', symphonic poem (1954) * ''Brimstone Down'' for small orchestra (1958) ;Chamber music * ''Allegretto'' for cello and piano (c.1935); published in '' The Strad'', February 2003 * Quintet for flute, oboe, violin, viola and cello (1938) * String Quartet (1944) * String Trio (1945) * Sonata for viola and piano (1946) * Woodwind Quintet (1948) * Sonata for cello and piano (1947) * Sonatina for violin and piano (fp. Wigmore Hall, 15 October 1949) * Sonata for clarinet and piano (1954) * Clarinet Quintet for clarinet, 2 violins, viola and cello (1956) * ''Idle Dan, or, Nothing to Do'' for cello and piano (1959) * ''2 Pieces'' for cello and piano (1959) **'White May Morning' **'A Marsh Song' * ''Four Pieces'' (1962) **Lento espressivo, for flute and piano **Allegretto e leggiero (also published separately as ''Chase a Shadow'') for oboe and piano ** Andante, for clarinet and piano ** Moderato, for bassoon and piano * ''Badinage'' for flute and piano (pub. Chappell, 1963) * ''Chase a Shadow'' for oboe and piano (1963) * ''Faggot Dance'' for bassoon and piano (1963) * ''Sonnet'' in D minor for cello and piano (1963) * ''Lament'' for viola and piano (1965) * Piano Trio for violin, cello and piano (1967) * Quartet for flute, violin, cello and piano (1968) * Quintet for flute, oboe, violin, cello and piano (1974) * ''Drifting Away'' for clarinet and piano (1975) * ''5 Pieces'' for flute and piano (1976) * Septet for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello and double bass (1980) * ''Octetto Pastorale'' for wind octet (2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, 2 bassoons) (1981) * ''Mariner's Way'' for flute and piano (1982) * ''Lullaby'' for cello and piano * ''Rock Grove Suite'' for flute, cello and piano (1989) * Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano ;Organ * ''Epithalamium'' (1967) ;Piano * ''Anderida'', 6 Diversions (1960) :# Romney Marsh Goblin :# A Canterbury Tale :# Hoppers' Dance :# Childdingstone Cherry Pickers :# Ebb tide at Sandgate :# Faversham Fair * ''6 Eclogues of Portugal'' (1960) :# Plains and Hills :# Little Boy Following :# An Ancient Olive Grove :# Horsemen to the Fair :# Shepherd's Siesta :# Estremoz, Walled City * ''Dance Little Lady'', suite for piano duet (1976) ;Vocal * ''The Lonely Landscape'' for voice and piano (1944); words by

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English writer best known for her 1847 novel, ''Wuthering Heights''. She also co-authored a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte and Anne Bront� ...

:# Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away :# I'm happiest now when most away :# The night is darkening round me :# The battle has passed from the height :# The starry night shall tidings bring :# 'Tis moonlight, summer moonlight * ''6 Poems of Baudelaire'' for tenor and string orchestra (1944–1945); words by

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

* ''8 Poems of Walter de la Mare'' for voice and piano (1949); words by

Walter de la Mare Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for his psychological horror short fi ...

:# Blindman's In :# A Goldfinch :# White :# Dreamland :# Where :# Why? :# The Horseman :# Nicoletta * ''5 Poems of Ernest Dowson'' for tenor and string orchestra (1951–1952); words by

Ernest Dowson Ernest Christopher Dowson (2 August 186723 February 1900) was an English poet, novelist, and short-story writer who is often associated with the Decadent movement. Biography Ernest Dowson was born in Lee, London, Lee, then in Kent, in 1867. His ...

:# Beata solitudo :# Non suma qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae :# Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam :# Villanelle of Marguerite's :# Soli cantare periti Arcades * ''The Kindling of the Day'' for voice and string quartet (1952) :# To Julia, in her Dawn, or Daybreak :# Upon Julia’s Haire, Filled With Dew :# The Tear Sent to Her from Staines :# To the Western Wind :# A Meditation for His Mistress :# To Musick: A Song :# To the Water Nymphs Drinking at the Fountain :# Gilly-flowers :# To Daisies: Not to Shut So Soon :# The Night-Piece: To Julia * ''2 Songs'' for voice and piano (1954); words by

* ''The Dark Forest'', song cycle for tenor and string orchestra (1957); words by Edward Thomas * ''8 Songs'' for voice, recorder and piano (1959); words by

:# Blindman’s In :# A Goldfinch :# White :# Dreamland :# Where :# Why? :# The Horseman :# Nicoletta * ''Ladies' Choice'' for voice, violin, cello and harp (1969); words by

;Choral * Songs for children's chorus and piano (1969); words by

Recordings

Selected recordings include: * ''A Portrait of the Viola'' – Sonata for viola and piano: Helen Callus (viola), Robert McDonald (piano). ASV CD DCA 1130 (2002) * ''English String Miniatures, Volume 5'' – ''A Suite for Timothy'': Gavin Sutherland (conductor), Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Naxos 8.557752 (2006) * ''La Viola: Music for Viola and Piano by Women Composers of the 20th Century'' – ''Lament'', Viola Sonata: Hillary Herndon (viola), Wei-Chun Bernadette Lo (piano). MSR 1416 (2012) *
Eclogues of Portugal
': performed by pianist Marc Verter. Sidholme Music Room, 21 June 2018 * ''Chamber Works'' – Piano Trio, Violin Sonatina, Clarinet Quintet, Clarinet Sonata, ''Idle Dan'' (cello and piano), ''Sonnet'' (violin and piano), ''Drifting Away'' (clarinet and piano). Gould Piano Trio, Robert Plane, David Adams, Gary Pomeroy. Resonus RES10313 (2023) *
Danza Gaya: Music for Two Pianos
', Simon Callaghan, Hiroaki Takenouchi. Includes ''Dance Little Lady''. Lyrita SRCD433 (2024) *
Lonely Landscape: Chamber music and song
'. Cello Sonata, ''The Kindling of the Day'', Septet, ''The Lonely Landscape'', ''Octetto Pastorale'', ''Four Pieces'', ''Eight Poems of Walter de la Mare''. Alice Neary (cello), James Gilchrist (tenor), Jâms Coleman (piano), Royal Welsh Chamber Players. Resonus Classics RES 10351 (2024)

External links

Official website

Extract, Clarinet Quintet
Jack Brymer, Arnici String Quartet, BBC broadcast, 1959
Pamela Harrison, by Robert Plane
''Clarinet & Saxophone'', Spring 2003, Vo. 48 No 1

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Pamela 1915 births 1990 deaths 20th-century English classical composers English women classical composers British music educators 20th-century English classical pianists Road incident deaths in England People from Orpington Alumni of the Royal College of Music English women music educators 20th-century English women composers 20th-century English women pianists