Johana Harris

A Biography

By (author) Ethel Paquin

Hardback - £74.00

Publication date:

07 February 2011

Length of book:

288 pages

Publisher

Scarecrow Press

ISBN-13: 9780810877597

Johana Harris was a musical prodigy who began her education in her native Canada, then moved to New York at the age of 12. The youngest student ever admitted to the Juilliard Graduate School of Music, Harris was destined for greatness on the world stage. However, exploitation by her mother and then by her husband Roy Harris, coupled with the prejudice shown women during the mid-20th century kept her from achieving that pinnacle.

Johana Harris: A Biography brings to light the life of an unheralded musical genius, as well as providing new information on her husband Roy Harris, about whom very little is known. This revealing look at the lives of two important musicians—who were referred to in the middle years of the last century as "Mr. and Mrs. American Music"—is the first book published about these two people.
Those interested in pianists, American musical culture, women musicians, music in academia, modernist composition, Roy Harris, or gender roles in the twentieth century will enjoy this book immensely.