Harvey was the son of composer and organist George Augustus Lohr. Although he was baptised as 'Richard Harvey Lohr' he eventually dropped his first name and was known as 'Harvey Lohr'. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music under William Henry Holmes, Ebenezer Prout and Sir Arthur Sullivan.
He twice won the Charles Lucas medal in 1877 and 1878 (see below).
He composed five symphonies, two piano concertos, orchestral suites, marches and preludes, two operas and choral works.
Lohr was 45 on completion of his 1st Symphony (1901) and despite his mature age and the year of completion this first symphonic work is still very conservative and harmonically unadventurous - a case of watered down Victorian Mendelssohn. Maybe the influence of Ebeneezer Prout was also a too dominant force ?
SAMPLE: Symphony No 1 - 2nd mov - Poco Lento
The 2nd Symphony (1905) had to wait until 1909 for a first performance under Sir Dan Godfrey in Bournemouth. The Allegretto is a lively 'humorous' scherzo.
SAMPLE: Symphony No 2 - 2nd mov - Allegretto
By 1908, the 3rd Symphony shows signs of growing originality aside from it's rather grandiose subtitle "Life, Death and Resurrection" - There is a distinct French influence present in this music. The sample is longer than normal at nearly 5 mins but it's worth listening to it in its entirety.
SAMPLE: Symphony No 3 - 1st mov - Allegro
The 4th Symphony (1910) continues to show a development to more intricate formal design and orchestration with more adventurous harmonic colour. The 5th symphony is presumed to be lost.
SAMPLE: Symphony No 4 - 1st mov - Allegro con moto
Harvey left most of his manuscripts to the Royal Academy of Music and also bequeathed funds to the academy to create the 'Harvey Lohr Scholarship' for young British composers which is still going to this day.