Ivor Christopher Banfield Keys,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(8 March 1919 – 7 July 1995) was a musicologist and academic.

Life

Keys was born on 8 March 1919, the son of Christopher Richard Keys."Keys, Prof. Ivor Christopher Banfield"
''Who Was Who'' (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007). Retrieved 20 December 2018. Described as a "child prodigy",Basil Dean

''The Independent'', 14 July 1995. Retrieved 20 December 2018. In 1934 Keys became the youngest Fellow of the Royal College of Organists while at school at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553 ...

; having already earned an ARCO diploma in 1933."Professor Ivor Keys", ''The Times'' (London), 17 July 1995, p. 21. There he was a pupil of Craig Sellar Lang. From 1936 through 1938 he studied at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

(RCM) with George Thalben-Ball. After attending the RCM, Keys went up to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, in 1938 where he was the

organ scholar An organ scholar is a young musician employed as a part-time assistant organist at a cathedral, church or institution where regular choral services are held. The idea of an organ scholarship is to provide the holder with playing, directing and adm ...

and assistant organist. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, and resumed his education at Christ Church on

demobilisation Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and militar ...

in 1946. In 1947, he was appointed to a lectureship at

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

; he helped to create the

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...

degree programme at Queen's. Promotion to a

readership Readership may refer to: * The group of readers of a particular publication or writer: their target audience * The total number of readers of a particular publication (newspaper, magazine, book), as proxy-measured by web/app views or print circulat ...

followed in 1950, and when the university created the Hamilton Harty Professorship of Music, Keys became the first holder in 1951. He moved to the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

in 1954 to take up its first Chair of Music; while there, he oversaw a period of expansion in its music department and helped to foster links between the university and the people of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, some of whom sang in the Nottingham Bach Society. He moved again, in 1968, to take up the Peyton and Barber Professorship of Music at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

; he worked with the

Birmingham School of Music The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a music school, drama school and concert venue in Birmingham, England. It provides professional education in music, acting, and related disciplines up to postgraduate level. It is a centre for scholarly re ...

to incorporate performance into the university's music degree and established a degree jointly in music, drama and dance. On retirement in 1986, he was appointed to an

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

professorship at Birmingham. In the meantime, he had been president of the

Royal College of Organists The Royal College of Organists (RCO) is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, with members worldwide. Its role is to promote and advance organ playing and choral music, and it offers music education, training and de ...

(1968–70) and was a long-serving member of its council. Appointed a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1976, Keys died on 7 July 1995. In an obituary in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'',

Basil Deane Samuel Basil Deane (27 May 1928 – 23 September 2006), known as Basil Deane, was a musicologist and academic. After studying at Queen's University Belfast and under Étienne Pasquier in Paris, he lectured at the universities of Glasgow, Melbourn ...

wrote that "the bare outline of Key's university career gives little idea of his influence on the musical life of Britain as a whole. His interests and activities were legion". ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' recorded that he "might easily have become an international pianist, organist or conductor ... But he chose a different career ... his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and his compulsive need to share his enthusiasm drew him inevitably into scholarship and teaching at the highest levels."

Selected publications and compositions

Books

* ''The Texture of Music: from Purcell to Brahms'' (Dobson, 1961). * ''Brahms Chamber Music'' (British Broadcasting Corporation, 1974). * ''Mozart: His Music in his Life'' (Holmes and Meier, 1980). * ''Johannes Brahms'' (Christopher Helm, 1989).

Compositions

Keys composed a

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

concerto which won the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

Prize for Composition in 1951. His other compositions included a ''Magnificat'' and a ''Nunc Dimittis''; in his entry in ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

'', he also listed a sonata for the

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

and the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

; his completion of Franz Schubert’s '' Gretchens Bitte''; ''Prayer for Pentecostal Fire''; and ''The Road to the Stable.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keys, Ivor 1919 births 1995 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford British Army personnel of World War II 20th-century British musicologists