1895-1908

 

When the seven-year-old boy violinist stepped on to the stage in 1903, there would have been many in the audience who resigned themselves to performing their duty.

 

They were prepared to endure a few awkward scrapings of some simple piece and then applaud politely “to encourage the lad.”

 

But what happened next astounded them and had international repercussions.

 

In his young hands the violin began to sing.

 

The Manawatu Times reported later that the playing of “the marvelous boy violinist, Master Victor Harris . . . fairly astonished everyone with its precision, brilliance and accuracy.

 

“The large audience was fairly carried away with enthusiasm over this little wonder of a musician.”

 

That concert in Palmerston North set off ripples of acclaim that spread throughout the country and all the way to the Royal Academy of Music in London.

 

Victor Harris was the only child of David Bowen Harris, a chemist, and his wife Louise, a talented singer.

 

In the months after his appearance in Palmerston North, Victor gave a series of concerts around the country which saw him billed as “The wonder child violinist – New Zealand’s little genius.”

 

During his concerts Victor was often blindfolded and named chords played on a piano by any musician in the audience.

 

One of his appearances was in an “At Home” given in Wellington by Premier Richard Seddon and Mrs Seddon for more than 1000 invited guests.

 

A benefit concert was held in Palmerston North on October 5, 1903, to raise funds for him to go to England for advanced training.

 

The Manawatu Times reported that one of the solos “Master Harris” played at the concert was the allegro maestoso movement from De Beriot’s Ninth Concerto.

 

“The movement fairly bristles with technical difficulties and for a child of [now] eight summers to play such a work must prove beyond doubt that Palmerston North possesses a prodigy of rare ability.”

 

When the Harris family left for England in December of 1903, Victor also took with him a purse of sovereigns from the citizens of Wellington and many letters of introduction.

 

By the time he returned to New Zealand to complete his ordinary schooling in 1905, he had attained the senior advanced grade certificate of the associated board of the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music and won a three-year scholarship to the Academy.

 

In 1907, Victor won the Exhibition Scholarship of the associated board of the RAM and RCM which was open to candidates from all parts of Great Britain under 20 years of age who had taken honours in the senior grade.

 

He was almost 12 years old and his brief, but brilliant life was almost over.

 

On March 12, 1908, Victor wrote a happy letter to his mother about a cycling outing with a friend. Sadly, by the time it was delivered, it had been overtaken by a telegram with the news of his sudden death from meningitis in April, aged only 13 years and two months.

 

The news was received with great shock in New Zealand and attracted messages of condolence from the Governor and Premier of the day. They were followed by scores more from musicians, teachers and fellow students.

 

Extra copies of the Manawatu Times were printed, but these sold out so quickly that the paper had to appeal to readers to return unwanted copies so they could be passed on to the family.

 

Professors at the Royal Academy told his mother that they had taught many talented boys but only one Victor Harris. They said he possessed “the genius to make a great artist” and they did not think they would meet with such another.

 

At the Academy’s prize-giving that year, an elegy for 24 violins, especially composed for the purpose, was presented in his honour.

 

The Manawatu Times summed up his life in an editorial describing him as “one of those whom the gods love.”

 

“They had showered upon him rich gifts – gifts of art, of genius, of affection, and with a sweetness and naturalness of disposition that won him friends wherever he went . . . with but one gift more wanted – health”