Albert Ketèlbey

The composer at his desk.

Blue plaque on the Birmingham and Midland Institute commemorating his time as a student of the Birmingham School of Music

Albert William Ketèlbey (9 August 1875 – 26 November 1959), born Ketelbey, was an English composer, conductor and pianist.

Biography

Ketèlbey was born in Alma Street in the Lozells area of Birmingham, England, the son of an engraver, George Henry Ketelbey (written with no accent), and Sarah Ann Aston.^[1] At the age of eleven he wrote a piano sonata that won praise from Edward Elgar. Ketèlbey gained a scholarship to the Trinity College of Music^[2] in London, where he showed his talent for playing various orchestral instruments reflected in the masterfully colourful orchestration, especially of oriental inspiration, that became his trademark. At Trinity he beat Gustav Holst in competition for a musical scholarship. He used the pseudonyms Raoul Clifford and Anton Vodorinski for some of his works^[3] (some reference books mistakenly give Vodorinski as his true name and Ketèlbey as the pseudonym). His name is frequently misspelt Ketelby.

Ketèlbey held a number of positions, including organist at St John's, Wimbledon, before being appointed musical director of London's Vaudeville Theatre, where he met his future wife Charlotte (Lottie) Siegenberg.^[4] Whilst at the Vaudeville he continued writing diverse vocal and instrumental music. Later, he became famous for composing lightweight, popular music, much of which was used as accompaniments to silent films, and as mood music at tea dances. Success enabled him to relinquish his London appointments.

Once, whilst conducting a programme of his own music at a Royal Command Performance, Ketèlbey gave a second rendering of the State Procession movement of his Cockney Suite during the interval, at the request of King George V, who had arrived too late to hear it performed at the beginning of the programme.

He was active in several other fields including being music editor to some well-known publishing houses and for more than twenty years from 1906, served Musical Director of the Columbia Graphophone Company, where over 600 recordings were issued with him conducting the Court Symphony Orchestra, the Silver Stars Band, and other ensembles.^[5]

Although not proven, he is frequently quoted as becoming Britain's first millionaire composer. In 1929, he was proclaimed in the "Performing Right Gazette" as "Britain’s greatest living composer", on the basis of the number of performances of his works.

Ketèlbey had a long and happy marriage to an actress and singer, Charlotte Siegenberg (1871–1947). After her death he married Mabel Maud Pritchett. There were no children by either marriage. He died at his home, Rookstone, Egypt Hill in Cowes, where he had moved in order to concentrate on writing and his hobby of playing billiards. His work fell out of favour after the Second World War and at the time of his death he had slipped into obscurity, with only a handful of mourners at his funeral, held at Golders Green crematorium.^[6]

Ketèlbey's music is frequently heard on radio. In a 2003 poll by the BBC radio programme Your Hundred Best Tunes, "Bells across the Meadows" was voted thirty-sixth most popular tune of all time.

Works

His most famous compositions include:

• The Heart's Awakening (1908)
• In a Monastery Garden (1915) — at age 40, the hit that made his name.
• Phantasy for String Quartet — listed but never found (1915)
• In the Moonlight (1919)
• In a Persian Market (1920)
• Romantic Suite (1922)
• Bank Holiday (Appy 'Ampstead) (1924) — from Cockney Suite
• In a Chinese Temple Garden (1923)
• By the Blue Hawaiian Waters (1927)
• In the Mystic Land of Egypt (1931)
• From a Japanese Screen (1934)
• Italian Twilight (1951)
• Cockney Suite
• Jungle Drums (1926)
• Tangled Tunes
• Bells across the Meadows (1921)
• Dance of the Merry Mascots
• The Clock and the Dresden Figures (1930)
• With Honour Crowned
• Wedgwood Blue (Graceful Dance)
• Sanctuary of the Heart (1924)

Connected individuals

Ketèlbey's nephew, the pianist Sir Clifford Curzon, recalled in his BBC Desert Island Discs broadcast, 'Little Clifford was supposed to be in bed but he never was, he was out sitting on the landing, listening to my uncle playing through the well of the stairway of my father's old house, and so the first [pieces of] music I really heard were these immortal melodies of Ketèlbey.'

Ketèlbey's sister was the historian and author C.D.M Ketelbey. Works included "A History of Modern Times", 1929, "History Stories to Tell", 1931, "Scottish History" 1938, and "The Growth of the British Empire", 1941.

Graham Ovenden, an English painter, fine art photographer, writer and architect, was taught music privately by Albert Ketèlbey.

Ketèlbey was related to Mrs. Maria Eliza Ketelbey Rundell, author of "A New System of Domestic Cookery", the most popular English cookbook of the first half of the nineteenth century.

Legacy

Ronnie Ronalde made In a Monastery Garden famous again in 1958. In his early television appearances, the comedian Ben Blue used In a Persian Market as his entrance music when in his guise as a swami. In 2006, a syncopated arrangement of In a Persian Market was used in a TV commercial for TomTom automotive navigation systems — this tune was also adapted for one of the songs (Persian Cat) by Taiwanese girl band S.H.E. Under the title Persian Cat, this tune was given a new lease of life in the '60s by Jamaican producer Duke Reid and saxophonist Tommy McCook. They recorded two versions, one credited to The Skatalites, the other to Tommy McCook and the Supersonics. Serge Gainsbourg used the theme for his song "My Lady Héroïne". American fingerstyle guitarist John Fahey recorded it on his 1975 album, Old Fashioned Love. Della Reese recorded a vocal version called "Take my Heart" on her album The Classic Della. James Last made a recording arranged in his typical style.

Sources and references

• Albert Ketelbey — From the Sanctuary of his Heart, John Sant 2001, ISBN 0-9538058-0-8
• The Recordings of the Music of Albert W. Ketèlbey, a critical and historical discography complied by Tom McCanna
• The Music of Albert W. Ketèlbey a Catalogue, complied by Tom McCanna
• A Forum for all admirers of the Music of Albert W. Ketèlbey, on blogspot.com (2009)
• Brian Jones in the booklet with the Philips Digital Classics CD 400011-2 (1981 recording)
• The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, Phil Hardy 2001, ISBN 978-0-571-19608-1
• Chambers Biographical Dictionary, Edinburgh 1990, ISBN 978-0-550-16040-9
• The Times, London 1908, 1915, 1922
• The works of Duke Reid and Tommy McCook can be found via Trojan Records

References

1. ^ McCanna, Tom. "Ketèlbey, Albert William (1875–1959), composer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34306. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 
2. ^ McCanna, Tom. "Ketèlbey, Albert William (1875–1959), composer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34306. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 
3. ^ McCanna, Tom. "Ketèlbey, Albert William (1875–1959), composer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34306. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 
4. ^ McCanna, Tom. "Ketèlbey, Albert William (1875–1959), composer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34306. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 
5. ^ McCanna, Tom. "Ketèlbey, Albert William (1875–1959), composer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34306. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 
6. ^ McCanna, Tom. "Ketèlbey, Albert William (1875–1959), composer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34306. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 

External links

• Website dedicated to Albert W.Ketèlbey
• Discography compiled by Tom McCanna
• Music Catalogue compiled by Tom McCanna
• Albert W. Ketèlbey on facebook
• Forum for all admirers of the Music of Albert W. Ketèlbey
• BBC news clip
• Birmingham City Council page about Ketèlbey
• Downloadable and streaming recordings of In a Monastery Garden performed by the Peerless Orchestra and male chorus. From an Edison Phonograph recorded in 1921.
• Free scores by Albert Ketèlbey at the International Music Score Library Project

Persondata
Name	Ketèlbey, Albert William
Alternative names	Ketelbey, Albert William; Clifford, Raoul; Vodorinski, Anton
Short description	English composer, conductor and pianist
Date of birth	9 August 1875
Place of birth	Lozells area of Birmingham, England
Date of death	26 November 1959
Place of death