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Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/62

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KELLY.
KENT.

Times' and 'Pizarro,' 1799; 'Of age to-morrow,' 'De Montfort,' and 'The Indians,' 1800; 'Deaf and Dumb,' 'Adelmorn the Outlaw,' and 'The Gipsy Prince,' 1801; 'Urania,' 'Algonah,' and 'A House to be sold,' 1802; 'The Hero of the North,' 'The Marriage Promise,' and 'Love laughs at locksmiths,' 1803; 'Cinderella,' 'The Counterfeit,' 'The Hunter of the Alps,' 'The Gay Deceivers,' 'The Blind Bargain,' and 'The land we live in,' 1804; 'The Honey Moon,' 'A Prior Claim,' and 'Youth, Love, and Folly,' 1805; 'We fly by night,' 'The Forty Thieves,' and 'Adrian and Orilla,' 1806; 'The Young Hussar,' 'Town and Country,' 'The Wood Demon (with M. P. King), ' The House of Morville', 'Adelgitha,' and 'Time's a tell- tale,' 1807; 'The Jew of Mogadore,' 'The Africans,' and 'Venoni,' 1808; 'The Foundling of the Forest' and 'The Jubilee,' 1809; 'Gustavus Vasa' and a Ballet, 1810; 'The Peasant Boy,' 'The Royal Oak,' and 'One o'clock,' 1811; 'The Absent Apothecary,' 'The Russians, 'Polly', 'The Illusion,' and 'Harlequin Harper,' 1813; 'The Remorse,' 1814; 'The Unknown Guest, 1815; 'The Fall of Taranto,' 1817; 'The Bride of Abydos,' 1818; 'Abudah,' 1819; and 'The Lady Devil,' 1820.

[ W. H. H. ]

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. ]

KEMBLE, Adelaide, younger daughter of Charles Kemble, the eminent actor, was born in 1814 and educated for a concert singer. She appeared first in London and afterwards at the York Festival in 1835, but with little success. She then went to Paris for improvement, and from thence in 1836 to Germany, and early in 1839 to Italy. In that year she made her appearance at La Fenice, Venice, as Norma with decided success. In 1840 she sang at Trieste, Milan, Padua, Bologna, and Mantua with increasing reputation. In 1841 she returned to England and appeared in an English version of 'Norma' with marked success. In 1842 she sang in English versions of 'Le Nozze di Figaro,' 'La Sonnambula,' 'Semiramide,' and 'Il Matrimonio Segreto.' In 1843 she was married to Mr. Frederick U. Sartoris and retired from the profession. In 1867 she published 'A Week in a French Country House.' [App. p.689 "add date of death, Aug. 4, 1879."]

[ W. H. H. ]

KEMP, Joseph, Mus. Doc., was born in Exeter in 1778, and was placed as a chorister in the cathedral under William Jackson, with whom he continued as a pupil after quitting the choir. In 1802 he removed to Bristol on being appointed organist of the cathedral. In 1809 he resigned his appointment and settled in London. In 1808 he took the degree of Mus. Bac. at Cambridge, his exercise being a 'War Anthem, A sound of battle is in the land.' In 1809 he was by special dispensation permitted to proceed Doctor of Music; his exercise being an anthem entitled 'The Crucifixion.' On Oct. 25, 1809, 'The Jubilee,' an occasional piece by him, was produced at the Haymarket Theatre. In 1810 a melodrama called 'The Siege of Isca [Exeter], or, The Battles in the West,' written by Dr. Kemp, with music by himself and Domenico Corri, was produced at the theatre in Tottenham Street. In the same year he lectured on his 'New System of Musical Education,' probably the first method propounded in England for teaching music to numbers simultaneously. In 1814 he returned to Exeter, resided there till 1818, then went to France, remained until 1821, and again returned to Exeter. He died in London, May 22, 1824. Dr. Kemp published an anthem, 'I am Alpha and Omega'; 'Twelve Psalmodical Melodies'; 'Twelve Songs'; 'Twenty Double Chants'; 'Musical Illustrations of the Beauties of Shakspeare'; 'Musical Illustrations of The Lady of the Lake'; 'The Vocal Magazine'; 'The New System of Musical Education, Part I.'; and numerous single glees, songs, duets, and trios.

[ W. H. H. ]

KENDALL, John, organist of the church of St. Marylebone, published in 1780 a book of organ pieces.

[ W. H. H. ]

KENT, James, born at Winchester, March 13, 1700, became a chorister of the cathedral there under Vaughan Richardson [App. p.690 "add that he was chorister of the cathedral from 1711 to 1714"], but was shortly afterwards removed to London and entered as a chorister of the Chapel Royal under Dr. Croft. There he attracted the attention of the sub-dean, Rev. John Dolben, through whose influence he obtained, on leaving the choir, the post of organist of the parish church of Finedon, Northamptonshire, the seat of the Dolbens. He resigned his office at Finedon on obtaining the organistship of Trinity College, Cambridge, which he held till 1737 [App. p.690 "Jan. 13"], when he succeeded John Bishop as organist of the Cathedral and College of Winchester. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Freeman, a singer at the theatre in the time of Purcell, afterwards a member of the choirs of the Chapel Royal, St. Paul's and Westminster, and who died Dec. 10, 1736. It was not until the decline of life that Kent could be induced to publish; he then printed a volume containing 12 anthems. In 1774 ne resigned his appointments in favour of Peter Fussell, and died at Winchester, May 6, 1776. [App. p.690 "He died in October, not May, 1776, if his monument at Winchester may be trusted."] After his death a volume containing a Morning and Evening Service and 8 Anthems by him was published under the editorship of Joseph Corfe. Kent assisted Dr. Boyce in the compilation of his 'Cathedral Music.' His anthems have been extravagantly extolled by some, and decried by others; in both cases unjustly. They are smooth and even productions, generally pleas-