David Harries Music Manuscripts

The music manuscripts of the composer David Harries, 1952-1995, comprising mainly drafts and scores of chamber and instrumental music, orchestral music, choral and organ, and voice and piano arrangements.

David Harries (1933-2002), composer, was born in Portsmouth to Welsh parents on the 24th March, 1933 and spent most of his life in Wales, attending Pembroke Grammar School. In 1952 his Introduction and Allegro Scherzoso for String Quintet was awarded a prize at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, Aberystwyth, and he successfully gained a Robert Bryan Music Scholarship to study Music at University College Wales, Aberystwyth, graduating in 1954. He then taught at Ounsdale School, Staffordshire, and at Milford Haven Grammar School before being appointed Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in Music at Aberystwyth until 1975, following which he joined the staff of the Welsh College of Music and Drama as Head of the Performer's Course and then as Head of Composition from 1985. He continued to compose until the 1990s. He died on 25th December, 2002. Several of his compositions were published, including commissions for national platforms such as his Opus 25 No.2, Capriccio For Piano Duet (Llys Yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, 1976), commissioned for the Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales, 1968; and his Opus 27, 'Neithiwr', in 'Songs from Wales volume I = Caneuon o Gymru cyfrol 1' (Cardiff: Welsh Music Information Centre, 1990), originally commissioned by the BBC, 1967.

Arranged into five groups: Chamber and Instrumental, Voice and Piano, Orchestral, Choral and Organ, and Princes of Gwynedd: Symphonic Impressions.

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Mrs Alwena Harries, Penarth, donated May 2017 and August 2021.

David Harries (1933-2002), composer, was born in Portsmouth to Welsh parents on the 24th March, 1933 and spent most of his life in Wales, attending Pembroke Grammar School. In 1952 his Introduction and Allegro Scherzoso for String Quintet was awarded a prize at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, Aberystwyth, and he successfully gained a Robert Bryan Music Scholarship to study Music at University College Wales, Aberystwyth, graduating in 1954. He then taught at Ounsdale School, Staffordshire, and at Milford Haven Grammar School before being appointed Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in Music at Aberystwyth until 1975, following which he joined the staff of the Welsh College of Music and Drama as Head of the Performer's Course and then as Head of Composition from 1985. He continued to compose until the 1990s. He died on 25th December, 2002. Several of his compositions were published, including commissions for national platforms such as his Opus 25 No.2, Capriccio For Piano Duet (Llys Yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, 1976), commissioned for the Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales, 1968; and his Opus 27, 'Neithiwr', in 'Songs from Wales volume I = Caneuon o Gymru cyfrol 1' (Cardiff: Welsh Music Information Centre, 1990), originally commissioned by the BBC, 1967.

Title based on contents of archive.

November 2020. Revised March 2021.

Description compiled by Lucie Hobson. The following sources were used in the compilation of this record: contents of archive; Oxford Music Online; Alwena Harries.

Usual copyright laws apply. Any reproduction of any part of the collection to be authorised by Mrs Alwena Harries (donor).

All records have been retained with the exception of some duplicate material which has been removed. 18 sound-tape reels and 2 sound discs have been transferred to the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales as the David Harries Archive.

The collection was in the possession of the Harries family prior to deposits being made at NLW by Mrs Alwena Harries in 2017 and 2021.

Accruals are expected.

See also: National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, ref. David Harries Archive 33/6222, RM 18131, RM 18134, RM 18137, and RM 18150.

Details of published works are given at the appropriate level of description.

Published

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales