1980 Summer Olympic flag
Part 1 of 2
In 1979 or earlier during a visit to the home of composer Roy Harris and wife, Johana Harris, atop a mountain in Pacific Palisades, Ca. with a striking view of the Pacific Ocean, I asked Roy Harris to write a symphony dedicated to me. After some thought, he told me that he did not know what to write about me (we had only a short friendship) and his age was a factor. He saw my disappointment and offered an alternative. Roy Harris shared that the Soviet Union Olympic Committee had asked him to write a symphony for the opening ceremony of the 1980 Games that would have an international broadcast during the opening ceremony of the 80 Games. Then he asked me, if i would accept/consider the 1980 Olympic Symphony as my symphony. I excitedly agreed and thereafter my attorney drew up a commission contract for a specific sum of money which was signed by Roy Harris and me. Roy Harris subsequently became hospitalized in Santa Monica. I don’t specifically recall the reason but it may have been from a fall. When I visited him in a Santa Monica hospital, he was talkative and the Olympic score was next to his bedside indicating that he was working during hospitalization. A short time thereafter, Roy Harris died.
To be continued…..
