A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Kelway, Joseph
KELWAY, Joseph, a pupil of Geminiani, was organist of St. Michael's, Cornhill, which he resigned in 1736 on being appointed organist of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields vice Weldon deceased. Upon the arrival of Queen Charlotte in England Kelway was appointed her instructor on the harpsichord. As a harpsichord player he was remarkable for neatness of touch and rapidity of execution, and for his ability in performing Scarlatti's pieces. As an organist he excelled in extemporaneous performance, of which he was such a master as to attract the most eminent musicians in London (amongst them Handel) to the church in order to hear him. Burney (iv. 665) characterises his playing as full of a 'masterly wildness … bold, rapid, and fanciful.' His published harpsichord sonatas are very inferior to his extemporaneous effusions. He died in 1782.
His elder brother, Thomas, was educated as a chorister in Chichester Cathedral, and succeeded John Reading as organist there in 1720. Seven services and nine anthems by him are contained in a MS. volume in the library of Chichester Cathedral. His Evening Service in B minor is printed in Rimbault's 'Cathedral Music,' and two others in A minor and G minor are published by Novello. He died May 21, 1749.[ W. H. H. ]