[a] Born Donald Lee Hersh in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Don Harrán did his undergraduate work at Yale University, majoring in French literature (B.A.
magna cum laude, 1957), and pursued graduate studies in musicology, mainly under Edward Lowinsky and, as dissertation advisor, Joseph Kerman, at the University of California at Berkeley (M.A., 1959; Ph.D., 1963).
He received various fellowships and grants, among them the American Council of Learned Societies (1974–75), the Memorial Foundation of Jewish Culture (1980–81, 1992–93, 2001–02), Newberry Library (Chicago; 1993), Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington D.C.; 1998), the American Philosophical Society (1975), the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation (1978), the Israel National Academy of Sciences (1976–1977, 1982–1984, 1985–1987, 1988–1989), and the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, New Jersey; 2001–2002, 2004).
[2] Don Harrán was married to Aya, granddaughter of the biblical commentator Samuel Leib Gordon, and a music therapist; they had two children.
Harrán had numerous articles published in musicological and interdisciplinary journals as well as in dedicatory volumes and anthologies; see § External links).