Auguste O'Kelly (13 July 1829 – 16 February 1900) was a Franco-Irish music publisher in Paris between 1872 and 1888.
Life
Auguste O'Kelly was born as Louis Auguste Kelly in
Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the C ...
as the second son of the Dublin-born piano teacher Joseph Kelly (1804–1856). His brothers included the composers
Joseph O'Kelly
Joseph O'Kelly (29 January 1828 – 9 January 1885), composer, pianist and choral conductor, was the most prominent member of a family of Irish musicians in 19th- and early 20th-century France. He wrote nine operas, four cantatas, numerous piano ...
(1828–1885) and
George O'Kelly
George Alexandre O'Kelly (12 October 1831 – 2 September 1914) was a Franco-Irish pianist and composer, who spent much of his career in Boulogne-sur-Mer. A member of a family of musicians, he was the only one with several orchestral scores to his ...
(1831–1914). Around 1835 the family moved to Paris, where they lived in the Faubourg Poissonnière area of the
9th arrondissement. Nothing is known of his early education, but it may be presumed that he received piano lessons by his father. His name appears in the membership lists of the ''Association des artistes musiciens'
for four years from 1850and agai
from 1862 to 1864 Like his brothers, he went to Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1859 to have his name officially changed from Kelly to O'Kelly. Th
suggests that he sold pianos for them (or at least acted as an intermediary between the manufacturer and dealers) mainly between 1867 and 1871.
In May 1872 O'Kelly took over the music publishing business ''Magasin de Musique du Conservatoire'' on 11 rue du Faubourg Poissonnière in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. This was active until late 1888 (see below). From 1872 until 1881 he also ran a piano shop at the same premises, where he sold pianos that were branded with the name of his publishing business. Most likely, however, he was not a piano maker but a dealer only.
In October 1872 his son Gustave O'Kelly (1872–1937) was born, the (unmarried) mother being Juliette Patinier, at 25 years of age 18 years younger than Auguste. She died less than two years later (in May 1874). Auguste then married Fanny Vincent (1827–1901) on 3 December 1874.
After O'Kelly closed down his publishing business he was active in various functions at the ''Conservatoire'' in Paris, including as ''Bibliothéquaire-adjoint'' and as secretary of the committee for ''admissions et propaganda''. He retired from these positions in 1892 and appeared forthwith as secretary of the ''Association des artistes musiciens''. He died in Paris, aged 70, on 16 February 1900 in the home of his son in Avenue Trudaine, 9th arrondissement. His funeral service was held in
Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, and he was buried on the
Père Lachaise cemetery, where the grave is still extant (in Division 74).
Magasin de Musique du Conservatoire
Auguste O'Kelly's company was initially founded in 1794 as ''Magasin de musique à l'usage des fêtes nationales'', to which was added ''ou Imprimerie du Conservatoire'' in August 1797. Originally it was the publishing arm of the Conservatory of Music in Paris, publishing works and teaching material by the Conservatory's professors. It was taken over in 1826 by Janet et Cotelle and again in April 1831 by Eugène Troupenas (1798–1850), after whose death it went to Brandus et Cie. Brandus was interested in the published repertory only, not in the premises and the brand name. These were taken up by a new publisher, Madame Célèste Cendrier, who had been publishing music since 1841. The ''Magasin'' again changed hands after Cendrier's death in 1859, now to Edme Saint-Hilaire, further on to Émile Cellerin in late 1868, who had to close down as a consequence of the
Franco-Prussian War in 1871.
O'Kelly came into business on 1 May 1872. Within the next 16 and a half years he published about 1,500 pieces of music. His catalogue consisted mainly of piano music and songs, for which there was a great demand both for professional and home use. It also included some chamber music, didactic works, quite a few vocal scores of operas and operettas, also a limited amount of orchestral music in full score. He started by reprinting some of Cendrier's and most of Saint-Hilaire's and Cellerin's pieces. This is how, for example, one-act operas such as
Victor Massé
Victor Massé (born ''Félix-Marie Massé''; 7 March 1822 – 5 July 1884) was a French composer.
Biography
Massé was born in Lorient (Morbihan) and studied at the Paris Conservatoire, winning the Prix de Rome in 1844 for his cantata ''Le Rénà ...
's ''Miss Fauvette'' (Mme. Cendrier, 1855),
Louis Deffès's ''Les Bourguignonnes'' (Saint-Hilaire, 1863), or
Léo Delibes
Clément Philibert Léo Delibes (; 21 February 1836 – 16 January 1891) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer, best known for his ballets and French opera, operas. His works include the ballets ''Coppélia'' (1870) and ''Sylvia (ba ...
's ''Les Eaux d'Ems'' (Cellerin, 1872) enter O'Kelly's catalogue.
As for his original publishing activity, O'Kelly mainly published music by young French talents, for which he was awarded a bronze medal at the Paris World Exhibition in 1878. In fact, the vast majority of the composers he published are today forgotten, exceptions being some works by
Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
's teacher
Albert Lavignac
Alexandre Jean Albert Lavignac (21 January 1846 – 28 May 1916) was a French music scholar, known for his essays on theory, and a minor composer.
Biography
Lavignac was born in Paris and studied with Antoine François Marmontel, François Benoi ...
(1846–1916) and some composers who enjoyed some popularity at their time such as
Antoine Marmontel (1816–1898), Henri Duvernoy (1820–1906),
Georges Mathias
Georges Amédée Saint-Clair Mathias (; 14 October 182614 October 1910) was a French composer, pianist and teacher. Alongside his teaching work, Georges Mathias was a very active concert pianist.
Biography
Mathias was born in Paris. He studied a ...
(1826–1910),
Georges Pfeiffer (1835–1908),
Alphonse Hasselmans (1845–1912),
Théodore Lack (1846–1921) or
Marie Jaëll
Marie Jaëll (née Trautmann) (17 August 1846 – 4 February 1925) was a French pianist, composer, and pedagogue. Marie Jaëll composed pieces for piano, concertos, quartets, and others, She dedicated her cello concerto to Jules Delsart, and was ...
(1846–1925).
Among the larger scores published by O'Kelly there are a number of operas (in vocal scores), ranging between 50 and 300 pages of content. Examples are Marc Chautagne's ''La Veuve Malbrough'' (1872),
Ferdinand Poise
Jean Alexandre Ferdinand Poise (3 June 1828 – 13 May 1892) was a French composer, mainly of opéra-comiques, for which he also frequently wrote the librettos.
Career
Born in Nimes, Poise studied at the Conservatoire de Paris under the tut ...
's ''Les Trois souhaits'' (1873),
Delphine Ugalde's ''Seule'' (1875), Adrien Talexy's ''Garçon de cabinet'' (1877),
Joseph O'Kelly
Joseph O'Kelly (29 January 1828 – 9 January 1885), composer, pianist and choral conductor, was the most prominent member of a family of Irish musicians in 19th- and early 20th-century France. He wrote nine operas, four cantatas, numerous piano ...
's ''La Zingarella'' (1878) and ''La Barbière improvisée'' (1884), Avelino Valenti's ''Embrassons-nous, Folleville'' (1879),
Pauline Thys's ''Le Mariage de Tabarin'' (1885) and quite a number of voluminous scores in 1881 by the recently deceased Maurice Bourges who must have left a considerable amount of money behind to have his music published posthumously. Another large-scale vocal composition was the oratorio ''Agar'' (1875) by
Georges Pfeiffer for soli, chorus and orchestra, which was published in full score. Other orchestral scores include a number of works by Anaïs de Perrin de Lange in 1877 and 1880, an 1880 reprint of the ''Fantaisie fantastique'' op. 12 (1856) by Ninette Nicolò, the third piano concerto, Op. 86 (1883) by Georges Pfeiffer and ''Stances'' for violin and orchestra (1887) by
Jules Auguste Wiernsberger
Jean Jules Auguste Wiernsberger (5 July 1857 – 15 December 1925) was a French composer from Alsace.
Life and music
Wiernsberger was born in Mulhouse. He received his first music lessons from his father Jean Wiernsberger (1833–1890) and left Al ...
.
Like some other Paris publishers, O'Kelly brought out several series of music edited by prominent music teachers. The best-known and longest running was the ''École du Piano: Choix de Concertos des Maîtres. Premiers Solos'', edited by
Émile Decombes
Émile Decombes (9 August 18295 May 1912) (also seen as Descombes) was a French pianist and teacher.
Decombes was born in Nîmes. Little is known about his life other than that he was one of the last pupils of Frédéric Chopin in Paris. He taught ...
, a teacher at the
Conservatoire
A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...
, which reached 50 volumes between 1875 and 1888. Another was a series of works for trombone and piano, edited by Paul Delisse, and he took over a series called ''Les Maîtres Classiques du Violon'', edited by
Delphin Alard, that had previously appeared elsewhere.
On occasion, O'Kelly bought complete or partial catalogues from publishers who closed down. Thus he took over the publisher Fernand Schoen in 1877 and parts of Gambogi (1877), Aulagnier (1880) and
Escudier (1882, including the piano music by
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (May 8, 1829 – December 18, 1869) was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works. He spent most of his working career outside the United States.
Life and ca ...
). He also had short-time partnerships with Ikelmer (1874 only), Rouget in Toulouse (1874–84), Lissarrague in Versailles (1877 only) and Naus in Paris (1880-1).
Plate numbers
As it was usual among French music publishers in the 19th century, printed publications are not dated. Therefore, the plate numbers at the bottom of printed pages are a reliable hint at dating compositions. As a reference library, the
Bibliothèque nationale de France operates a ''dépôt legal'' which obliged all French publishers to submit their works, and the library dated them.
O'Kelly's plate numbers begin with his initials, either "A.O.K." or "A. O'K.", in the early years sometimes "O'K" only. For the purpose of simplicity these are all generalised below as A.O.K.
[See Klein (2014), p. 223-4, which supersedes the listing in Devriés & Lesure (1988)]
1872: A.O.K. 1–94
1873: A.O.K. 95–133
1874: A.O.K. 134–160
1875: A.O.K. 161–267
1876: A.O.K. 268–337
1877: A.O.K. 338–701
1878: A.O.K. 702–753
1879: A.O.K. 754–819
1880: A.O.K. 820–879
1881: A.O.K. 880–941
1882: A.O.K. 942–1074
1883: A.O.K. 1075–1121
1884: A.O.K. 1122–1179
1885: A.O.K. 1180–1278
1886: A.O.K. 1279–1327
1887: A.O.K. 1328–1404
1888: A.O.K. 1405–1428
In a number of cases O'Kelly used other plate numbers than A.O.K. ones. Most refer to the initials of a composer's name, indicating that these are prints which were paid for by the composer and published at the composer's financial risk. Together with these prints O'Kelly's catalogue exceeded the number of 1,428 pieces suggested above, but amount to some 1,500.
Bibliography
* Anik Devriès &
François Lesure
François Lesure (23 May 1923 in Paris – 21 June 2001) was a French librarian and musicologist.
Biography
François Lesure studied at the Sorbonne, the École nationale des chartes (graduated in 1950), the École pratique des hautes étude ...
: ''Dictionnaire des éditeurs de musique français'', vol. 2: ''De 1820 à 1914'' (Geneva: Minkoff, 1988).
* Axel Klein: ''O'Kelly. An Irish Musical Family in Nineteenth-Century France'' (Norderstedt: BoD, 2014), chapter 4 (pages 215–234); .
References
External links
A. O'Kelly works at IMSLP
{{DEFAULTSORT:OKelly, Auguste
1829 births
1900 deaths
19th-century French businesspeople
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
French music publishers (people)
French people of Irish descent
Irish expatriates in France
Music publishers (people)