Albert William Ketèlbey, born Ketelbey, was an English composer, conductor and pianist.
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 [1] 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[1] (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.[1] Whilst at the Vaudeville he continued writing diverse vocal and instrumental music. Later, he became famous for composing popular light 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.[1]
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.[1] In 1999, Roger Scruton wrote, "Ketèlbey's music is trying to do what music cannot do and should not attempt to do—it is telling me what it means, while meaning nothing. Here is heavenly peace, it says; just fit your mood to these easy contours, and peace will be yours. But the disparity between the emotion claimed by the music and the technique used to suggest it shows the self-advertisement to be a lie".[2] On the other hand, such criticism, arguably misjudging his programme music by the principles of absolute music, has failed to extinguish the enduring popularity of his compositions. In the 21st century, Ketèlbey's music is still 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.