Joseph Pierre Henri O'Kelly (23 June 1859 – 15 March 1938) was a Franco-Irish composer, pianist, organist and choir director, based in Paris. A minor composer in the

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

school, as a conductor he made outstanding contributions to French church music.

Biography

Henri O'Kelly was the second child (first son) of

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 (1828–1885) first marriage (1856). He was born in Paris and grew up in Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière in the 9th arrondissement. After initial piano studies with his father, he enrolled at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

(1874–79) studying

solfège In music, solfège (, ) or solfeggio (; ), also called sol-fa, solfa, solfeo, among many names, is a music education method used to teach aural skills, Pitch (music), pitch and sight-reading of Western classical music, Western music. Solfège is ...

with

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 ...

(1874–76) and piano with

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 ...

(1876–79). O'Kelly was an exceptional student, winning awards every year, always sharing them with his fellow students

Claude 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 ...

and

Gabriel Pierné Henri Constant Gabriel Pierné (16 August 1863 – 17 July 1937) was a French composer, conductor, pianist and organist. Biography Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz. His family moved to Paris, after Metz and part of Lorraine were annexed to Germ ...

. While Debussy never won a "premier prix" in piano, O'Kelly did in his final year, 1879. The somewhat unexpected birth of a son in 1881 forced him to abandon a promising pianistic career and seek financial safety as a church organist and choir master, holding such positions at

Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois The Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois is a Roman Catholic church in the First Arrondissement of Paris, situated at 2 Place du Louvre, directly across from the Louvre Palace. It was named for Germanus of Auxerre, the Bishop of Auxerre (378-4 ...

in central Paris (1881–1900) and

Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Saint-Vincent-de-Paul (named after Saint Vincent de Paul) may refer to: * Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Gironde, France * Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Landes, France * Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris, 10th arrondissement of Paris, France *Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Que ...

in the 10th arrondissement (1900–1918). O'Kelly also taught music at the École Rocroy (10th arrondissement) from at least 1906 into the 1930s, having previously obtained the titles of "Officier d'Académie" (Silver Palm) in 1899 and "Officier de l'Instruction Publique" (Golden Palm) in 1901. Finally, from at least 1888 through the mid-1920s, O'Kelly was involved with the well-known piano manufacturer

Pleyel Ignace Joseph Pleyel (; ; 18 June 1757 – 14 November 1831) was an Austrian-born French composer, music publisher and piano builder of the Classical period. Life Early years He was born in in Lower Austria, the son of a schoolmaster named Ma ...

where from c.1907, he was one of the pianists recording pianola rolls (see below). O'Kelly married the pianist Clotilde Vacher-Gras in 1881; their son Henri O'Kelly jr. (1881–1922) became a notable double bass player in the orchestras of the Opéra Comique and the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, and the editor of a volume of studies for bass clef instruments (''Polyorgane'', Paris: M. Sénart, 1920). For his services to French church music, Henri sr. became a Chevalier of the

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

in 1931, having been proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as he had always remained Irish. Later he also became a Knight of the Papal

Order of St. Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great ( la, Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; it, Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of ...

. Henri O'Kelly died, aged 78, in unclear circumstances, on 15 March 1938 at the Villa Montmorency (demolished in 1974) in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

. He was buried on the

Cimetière de Passy Passy Cemetery (french: Cimetière de Passy) is a small cemetery in Passy, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. History The current cemetery replaced the old cemetery (''l'ancien cimetière communal de Passy'', located on Rue Lekain), w ...

in Paris.

Music

Henri O'Kelly did not study composition, therefore he never made a name for himself in this respect. His few extant publications date from the 1890s and early 1900s and mainly include music for piano and harp. Technically, they are much easier than his pianistic talents would suggest. Their harmonic language reveal an attractive Impressionist approach. "Played with sensitivity, they would still be a worthwhile repertory for a pianist interested in typical turn-of-the-century French music." This is particularly true for ''Mélancolie'' (1897) for cello and piano and some of the piano music published after 1900 (see 'Selected works'). Apparently, he also wrote a number of motets and other church music, but of these only a setting of ''Tu es Petrus'' (c.1903) has survived in manuscript.

Church music director

Maitrise-de-St-Vincent-de-Paul Henri-O'Kelly Musica-Jan-1904

In his 38 years as organist and choir master at prominent Paris churches, O'Kelly made a name for himself as a promoter of large-scale church music by contemporary French composers. He particularly championed music by Adolphe Deslandres (1840–1911),

Théodore Dubois Clément François Théodore Dubois (24 August 1837 – 11 June 1924) was a French Romantic composer, organist, and music teacher. After study at the Paris Conservatoire, Dubois won France's premier musical prize, the Prix de Rome in 1861. He bec ...

(1837–1924),

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was p ...

(1845–1924), and

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...

(1835–1921), besides several younger composers. It is for this work that he was honoured by the

in 1931.

Pianola rolls

From about 1907 until the mid-1920s, O'Kelly recorded numerous pianola rolls for the "Pleyela" brand of

player piano A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern i ...

s by Pleyel, Wolff, Lyon & Cie. Some 50 such rolls were documented in Sitsky (1991)Larry Sitsky: ''The Classical Reproducing Piano Roll. A Catalogue Index'', vol. 2 ''Pianists'', p. 1098–1102. and Klein (2014), but this list has in the meantime grown to over 120. He has recorded European classical composers such as

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

and

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...

as well as French composers such as Charles Gounod and Gabriel Fauré, also including some of his contemporaries such as Ernest Gillet and

. He also recorded three works by his father

and one by himself, the ''Impressions de voyages'' (1903).

Selected works

Piano *''Douchinka''. Valse lente (1887), Paris: Richault. *''Rêverie pastorale'' (1900), Paris: A. Noël (also for harp). *''Valse berçante'' (1900), Paris: A. Noël. *''Valse rêveuse'' (1901), Paris: A. Noël. *''Impressions de voyages'' (1903), Brussels: Schott frères. Contains: ''Causerie'', ''Sous bois'', ''Eau courante''. Harp *''Rêverie pastorale'' (1900), Paris: A. Noël (also for piano). *''Prélude pour harpe chromatique'' (1900), Paris: A. Leduc. Chamber *''Mélancolie'' (1897) for violin or cello and piano. Published in ''Le Monde moderne'', 5 June 1897. *''Méditation'' (before 1904) for oboe, horn, harp, organ (unpublished) Songs *''Deux Chants patriotiques'' (1890), Paris: Mackar & Noël. Contains: ''Rendez-nous, l'Alsace et la Lorraine'' and ''À Jeanne la Lorraine''. Vocal church music *''Tu es Petrus'' (c.1903) for boy soprano, 2 tenors, 2 basses, male choir, organ *''Ave Maria'' (before 1904) *''Pie Jesu'' (before 1904) *and more motets etc.

Bibliography

*Axel Klein: ''O'Kelly. An Irish Musical Family in Nineteenth-Century France'' (Norderstedt: BoD, 2014), .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OKelly, Henri 1859 births 1938 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century French composers Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Composers for harp Composers for piano Conservatoire de Paris alumni French classical composers French classical organists French male classical composers French male organists French people of Irish descent Irish classical composers Irish expatriates in France Irish male classical composers Irish organists Knights of St. Gregory the Great Male classical organists Pupils of Georges Mathias Recipients of the Legion of Honour