Charles A. E. Harriss

Charles Albert Edward Harriss (16 or 17 December 1862 – 31 July 1929) was a British-Canadian composer, impresario, educator, organist-choirmaster and conductor.

[2][3] His most famous composition is his opera Torquil, conceived firstly in 1896 as a piano-vocal score subtitled "a Scandinavian dramatic legend", on a text by Edward Oxenford.

Even though structurally operatic, the composer warned in the score that it "may be sung by choral societies but must be given without custome or action".

[8] He was also in charge or bringing the shining stars of the day to his newly adopted country, such as English baritone Charles Santley in 1891 and soprano Emma Albani in 1896.

In 1897, Harriss married Ella Beatty-Shoenberger, daughter of John Beatty, M.D., Professor of Sciences in Victoria University, Cobourg, Ontario, and Eleanor Armstrong.