- Edwardian Culture, Edwardian Britain, Celtic Revival, Edwardian Society, Singing, Gaelic Song, and 62 moreWomen's suffrage movement in Britain 1866-1928, Victorian Studies, Art Song, Nineteenth Century Studies, Performing Arts, Nineteenth-Century Music, Scottish Studies, Scottish Gaelic Music, Opera, Biography, Giuseppe Verdi, Multinational Corporations during World War II, Cultural Studies, Wagner Studies, Bel Canto, Scottish Literature, Virginia Woolf, Wagner, Richard Wagner, Lieder, Britain and French Revolution, 19th century France, French Revolution, Ethnomusicology, 19th Century Italian Opera, Arts & Crafts Movement, David Kennedy, Granville Bantock, John Duncan, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Scottish music, Songs of the Hebrides, Travelling artists, Opera,Choral And Vocal Music, Scottish Women's History, Nineteenth Century British History and Culture, Nationalism, National Identity, Accompaniment, 19th Century British (Literature), Alexander Carmichael, Andre Raffalovich, Arts and Crafts, Arts and Crafts Movement, Ellen Terry, Fr Allan McDonald, Georgina Colmache, Kennedy-Fraser Collection, Matthay, Patrick Geddes, Phoebe Anna Traquair, School of Scottish Studies Archives, William Butler Yeats, William Sharp, W.M. Thackeray, William Makepeace Thackeray, Richard Cobden, The Little Theatre Movement, Schweiz, Switzerland, Zurich, and 19th Century (History)edit
- A Post-doctoral Fellow in the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, from 2009 until 201... moreA Post-doctoral Fellow in the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, from 2009 until 2014, I am now continuing my work on a number of research and publishing projects as an Independent Scholar.
I read Modern Languages, Musicology, Opera Theatre Studies, History of Art, and Celtic Studies at Stockholm University, and Church Music at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music; subsequently, after graduating from the Stockholm School of Economics and winning an exchange scholarship to the Università Bocconi, Milan, I worked for several years in the finance sector in Switzerland and Scandinavia. In 1998, I was selected to take part in the Top Executive Management Education Programme of the Zurich Group at the Kellogg School of Management Executive Education, Evanston, Illinois, USA. Recent independent consultancy work has included financial administration for the Zurich Group, lecturing in Insurance Business Administration at Vilnius University, Lithuania, and inventory and research projects for the School of Scottish Studies Archives at the Centre for Research Collections (CRC), Edinburgh University Library.
'Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857–1930) and Her Time: A Contextual Study', my PhD thesis at the University of Edinburgh, was completed in 2009. I received the Helen Doig Prize in 2007 for my research in Scottish music, and won the 2010 Ratcliff Prize, awarded 'for an important contribution by an individual to the study of folklore or folk life in Great Britain and Ireland'.
In 2010–11, I was a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH), University of Edinburgh, working on a new research project, 'An interdisciplinary approach to the resurrection of three interlinked music profiles of the late 19th/early 20th century', exploring further a selection of themes and ideas originating from my doctoral research.
In 2011, I wrote an extensive introduction to the reissue of "A Life of Song", Marjory Kennedy-Fraser's autobiography (The Islands Book Trust), and in 2012, I lectured on 'Women in the Shadow of Revolutions: The Case of Georgina Colmache and Pauline Vaneri Filippi' at Summerhall, as part of the Edinburgh Festivals. In 2013, I published 'Celtic Revival and Arts and Crafts around 1900: Edinburgh and Dublin Connected by a Circle of Trendsetting Individuals' in "Romantic Ireland: From Tone to Gonne; Fresh Perspectives on Nineteenth-Century Ireland" (Cambridge Scholars Publishing), 'Taking 'Twa Hours at Hame' to the New World: The Overseas Tours of David Kennedy's Family Music Troupe in 1866–86' in "ROSC – Review of Scottish Culture", no. 25 (John Donald – The European Ethnological Research Centre), and 'Richard Wagner's "Der fliegende Holländer" – A Flying Hebridean in Disguise?' in "Scottish Studies", vol. 36 (School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh). In 2014, I collaborated on 'The Celtic Revival in Scotland (1860-1930)', an interdisciplinary conference organised by the University of Edinburgh's department of Celtic and Scottish Studies and part-hosted by the National Galleries of Scotland.
Over the years, I have given numerous papers and talks at academic conferences and events throughout the United Kingdom, on Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Celtic Revival in Scotland, and nineteenth century music and performers. I regularly give talks on similar subjects and I have published various essays and contributed to exhibitions and to radio and television broadcasts, including work for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG), Saltire Films, BBC Radio nan Gàidheal, and Edinburgh Festivals at Summerhall.
I am a member of the Scottish Society for Art History (SSAH), a member of the Swedish Society for Musicology – Svenska samfundet för musikforskning (SSM), a corresponding member of the Centre for the History of Music in Britain, the Empire and the Commonwealth (CHOMBEC) at the University of Bristol, an associate of the Network in Francophone Music Criticism: 1789-1914, and a member of the Friends of Drottningholms Slottsteater – Drottningholmsteaterns Vänner (DTV).edit
Research Interests: Music History, Ethnomusicology, Scottish Studies, Scottish Gaelic Music, Women's suffrage movement in Britain 1866-1928, and 12 moreArt Song, Gaelic Song, Phoebe Anna Traquair, Arts & Crafts Movement, Celtic Revival, Arts and Crafts Movement, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Patrick Geddes, Songs of the Hebrides, John Duncan, Alexander Carmichael, and University of Edinburgh
While running his own, newly established house-painting business in Perth, David Kennedy (1825-86), the son of a Scottish handloom weaver, studied singing and elocution in Edinburgh and London. He made his professional tenor début in... more
While running his own, newly established house-painting business in Perth, David Kennedy (1825-86), the son of a Scottish handloom weaver, studied singing and elocution in Edinburgh and London. He made his professional tenor début in Liverpool in 1859, and his first London appearances, at the Hanover Square Rooms in 1862, launched a successful singing career; in due course, he would become the foremost Scots songs exponent of the latter part of the nineteenth century, throughout the British Empire and beyond. He had always cherished a dream of bringing the songs of home to those who had had to leave Scotland, and in 1866, his two decades of travelling the world commenced with a three-year tour of Canada and the United States of America. Out of sheer necessity, the touring business soon became a true family concern, and over the years, his travelling concert troupe would consist of different constellations of his eleven children, all musically talented even if some of them had other professional careers in mind. Elizabeth, his second wife, accompanied him mostly, shouldering a variety of practical tasks while abroad. Over the years, the touring musicians would endure a three-month sea voyage without land in sight to Melbourne, be hauled across precipitous gorges in New Zealand, ride on horseback over the South African veldt, and suffer the suffocating heat of India. The Kennedys performed wherever they could – in large urban auditoria, in ramshackle village halls, and on rural general store counters. Managing their affairs carefully, they succeeded in being profitable, remaining in business until the sudden death of David Kennedy in 1886.
Drawing on David Kennedy Junior's three published travelogues, press cuttings, Kennedy family correspondence, and a variety of other sources, including the author's doctoral dissertation on Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, this paper will explore the 'Songs of Scotland' itineraries of David Kennedy and his family during the two decades between 1866 and 1886. More generally, it will provide an example of what life could be like for colonial entertainers in the Victorian era, highlighting in particular the level of determination and stamina that was needed to survive and prosper.
Drawing on David Kennedy Junior's three published travelogues, press cuttings, Kennedy family correspondence, and a variety of other sources, including the author's doctoral dissertation on Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, this paper will explore the 'Songs of Scotland' itineraries of David Kennedy and his family during the two decades between 1866 and 1886. More generally, it will provide an example of what life could be like for colonial entertainers in the Victorian era, highlighting in particular the level of determination and stamina that was needed to survive and prosper.
Research Interests:
Several scholars have drawn attention both to the many Scottish references in Richard Wagner's initial sketches of "The Flying Dutchman" and to the close links between the opera and the composer's own disastrous Nordic Sea journey, but... more
Several scholars have drawn attention both to the many Scottish references in Richard Wagner's initial sketches of "The Flying Dutchman" and to the close links between the opera and the composer's own disastrous Nordic Sea journey, but discussions tend to centre on the opera's libretto. What appear to be musical reminiscences of Hebridean songs in the opera's core thematic material have not been alluded to since Marjory Kennedy-Fraser pointed them out at the beginning of the twentieth century. Having a long-standing interest in Wagner's œuvre, she associated various themes and tunes she had collected in the Outer Hebrides with the German composer, and among her extant field recordings – now at Edinburgh University Library – there are indeed snippets of music that closely resemble Wagnerian leitmotifs and airs, in particular Senta's ballad in "Der fliegende Holländer". Drawing on a paper Kennedy-Fraser read to the Musical Association in London in 1918, various scattered references and letters from Sir Granville Bantock and John Lorne Campbell, my article discusses the potential links between Hebridean songs and, in particular, Senta's ballad.
Research Interests:
Dublin-born Phoebe Anna Traquair's "The Progress of a Soul" is a central work of the Scottish Arts & Crafts movement. William B. Yeats' 'little singing bird', she is but one of many connections between Ireland and Edinburgh around 1900.... more
Dublin-born Phoebe Anna Traquair's "The Progress of a Soul" is a central work of the Scottish Arts & Crafts movement. William B. Yeats' 'little singing bird', she is but one of many connections between Ireland and Edinburgh around 1900. Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, from a family where 'Home Rule' was frequently discussed, worked with the eager Celtic Revivalist Patrick Geddes in the 1890s, and was deeply influenced by Yeats' œuvre – 'Land of Heart's Desire' is a well-known song of hers. William Sharp (Fiona MacLeod) met Yeats in London and raved about his work, but Yeats was less enthusiastic, and, with Oscar Wilde, he made witty comments about Sharp. Nonetheless, in 1905, Yeats cast Sharp's horoscope, at the request of his widow, Elizabeth A. Sharp, "Lyra Celtica"'s editor. Yeats' Dundee-lecture in 1905 was organised by Scottish romantic poet Rachel Annand Taylor and her husband – friends of Kennedy-Fraser and of Symbolist painter John Duncan, instrumental to the Celtic Revival in Scotland. On Eriskay, they had all immersed themselves in things Celtic, meeting Fr Allan McDonald, the priest and Celtic scholar. Together with most Edinburgh literati, they also frequented the salon of André Raffalovich, whose sister married Irish MP William O'Brien – Parnell spoke at their wedding – and whose friend, Fr John Gray, once part of the bohemian circles of Oscar Wilde and Yeats in London, was priest to Irish immigrants in Edinburgh. My paper will focus on the connections between Scotland and Ireland around 1900 by discussing a circle of then well-known and influential individuals.
Book Summary:
The long nineteenth century, arguably the most significant period in Irish history, is marked by a series of events that changed the political landscape of the nation forever and gave rise to art and ideas of international importance. At one end of this tumultuous period, we have Grattan's Parliament, the United Irishmen, the Rebellion of 1798 led by Wolfe Tone, and the Union of 1801, and at the other, the fall of Parnell, the Easter Rising, Civil War and partition. Between times there are the great hinge events of Catholic Emancipation, the Famine, and the Land War. From Wolfe Tone to Maud Gonne, Ireland went through a period of enormous upheaval that carved out the culture and politics of the modern nation. Irish Studies has not yet fully engaged with the range and richness of this material, nor have critics in the various Anglophone literary fields grasped the extent to which Irish and Scottish events and authors contributed decisively to the development of their own areas.
Bringing together an international line-up of established and emerging scholars, Romantic Ireland: "From Tone to Gonne" takes Irish Studies in new directions, in particular in terms of a cross-cultural comparison with Scotland and the distinct phenomenon of Unionism, thus breaking out of the double binds of Anglo-Irish approaches. The Irish-Scottish interface throws up fascinating insights that enhance our awareness of the interaction between colonialism, nationalism and culture. All of the major figures of the period are represented here, from Edgeworth and Moore to Yeats and Synge, but there are other, often less noticed but hugely significant writers, such as Charles Robert Maturin, Dion Boucicault and May Laffan. There are non-Irish commentators on Ireland like Cobbett and Engels, as well as a series of key Scottish figures – including Burns and Scott – in addition to lesser-known or lesser-noticed Scottish writers with strong Irish interests such as R. M. Ballantyne and Robert Tannahill – whose work opens up new and promising avenues into Irish writing.
Book Summary:
The long nineteenth century, arguably the most significant period in Irish history, is marked by a series of events that changed the political landscape of the nation forever and gave rise to art and ideas of international importance. At one end of this tumultuous period, we have Grattan's Parliament, the United Irishmen, the Rebellion of 1798 led by Wolfe Tone, and the Union of 1801, and at the other, the fall of Parnell, the Easter Rising, Civil War and partition. Between times there are the great hinge events of Catholic Emancipation, the Famine, and the Land War. From Wolfe Tone to Maud Gonne, Ireland went through a period of enormous upheaval that carved out the culture and politics of the modern nation. Irish Studies has not yet fully engaged with the range and richness of this material, nor have critics in the various Anglophone literary fields grasped the extent to which Irish and Scottish events and authors contributed decisively to the development of their own areas.
Bringing together an international line-up of established and emerging scholars, Romantic Ireland: "From Tone to Gonne" takes Irish Studies in new directions, in particular in terms of a cross-cultural comparison with Scotland and the distinct phenomenon of Unionism, thus breaking out of the double binds of Anglo-Irish approaches. The Irish-Scottish interface throws up fascinating insights that enhance our awareness of the interaction between colonialism, nationalism and culture. All of the major figures of the period are represented here, from Edgeworth and Moore to Yeats and Synge, but there are other, often less noticed but hugely significant writers, such as Charles Robert Maturin, Dion Boucicault and May Laffan. There are non-Irish commentators on Ireland like Cobbett and Engels, as well as a series of key Scottish figures – including Burns and Scott – in addition to lesser-known or lesser-noticed Scottish writers with strong Irish interests such as R. M. Ballantyne and Robert Tannahill – whose work opens up new and promising avenues into Irish writing.
Research Interests: Irish Studies, Queer Studies, William Butler Yeats, Scottish Studies, Oscar Wilde, and 14 moreArts and Crafts, Phoebe Anna Traquair, William Sharp, Arts & Crafts Movement, Celtic Revival, Dublin, Arts and Crafts Movement, Edinburgh, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Patrick Geddes, John Duncan, William O'Brien, Andre Raffalovich, and Fr Allan McDonald
"A Life of Song": The Autobiography of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser. Marjory Kennedy-Fraser travelled the world in the second half of the 19th century with her father, the famous Scots singer David Kennedy, and then as an outstanding... more
"A Life of Song": The Autobiography of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser.
Marjory Kennedy-Fraser travelled the world in the second half of the 19th century with her father, the famous Scots singer David Kennedy, and then as an outstanding musician in her own right. She was also one of the most important collectors and popularisers of Gaelic song at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from islands such as Barra and Eriskay. Her arrangements of these traditional songs, undertaken with the Rev. Kenneth MacLeod, were however criticised for departing from the authentic settings of the songs, and her reputation has suffered as a result. A re-assessment is long overdue, and this new edition of her remarkable autobiography, first published in 1929, includes additional illustrations and a substantial re-evaluation of her contribution to the recording and preservation of Gaelic song by Dr Per Ahlander, Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.
Marjory Kennedy-Fraser travelled the world in the second half of the 19th century with her father, the famous Scots singer David Kennedy, and then as an outstanding musician in her own right. She was also one of the most important collectors and popularisers of Gaelic song at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from islands such as Barra and Eriskay. Her arrangements of these traditional songs, undertaken with the Rev. Kenneth MacLeod, were however criticised for departing from the authentic settings of the songs, and her reputation has suffered as a result. A re-assessment is long overdue, and this new edition of her remarkable autobiography, first published in 1929, includes additional illustrations and a substantial re-evaluation of her contribution to the recording and preservation of Gaelic song by Dr Per Ahlander, Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Scottish musician Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (née Kennedy, 1857–1930) is known mostly for her "Songs of the Hebrides". From the publication of the first volume in 1909, her popularity and fame grew – in Scotland and England as well as abroad;... more
Scottish musician Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (née Kennedy, 1857–1930) is known mostly for her "Songs of the Hebrides". From the publication of the first volume in 1909, her popularity and fame grew – in Scotland and England as well as abroad; her work received official recognition in the 1920s, when she was awarded both the CBE and an honorary Mus.D. (Edinburgh). After her death in 1930, her songs were still widely performed, but her work was increasingly exposed to criticism. While appreciated as a respected, albeit somewhat unfashionable, arranger of songs among musicians generally, both in Britain and beyond, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser was virulently attacked by trendsetting Scottish intellectuals, who accused her of having misrepresented Gaelic songs, publishing what was by then considered romanticized drawing-room arrangements, lacking in authenticity. Though still frequently maligned, her songs have been subject of a renewed interest in recent years, and have slowly begun to find their place among European art songs of the period, a repertoire which is largely based on, or at least influenced by, vernacular folk-songs from the different nations.
Apart from her memoirs from 1929, "A Life of Song", no biography has so far been published of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser. The aim of this thesis is to provide a detailed survey of Dr Kennedy-Fraser's professional life, and, furthermore, by relating her life and œuvre to her own time, to place her in context. It draws extensively on her own, hitherto unpublished working material, held by Edinburgh University Library, a multitude of newspaper articles and biographical publications, as well as letters from a wide range of sources. It thus offers as complete and nuanced a picture as possible of a long, comprehensive, and indeed impressive, career. Following an introductory overview of the Arts & Crafts movement, the mainly chronological biography explores her family background, international concert tours, and music studies in Milan and Paris. Her rôles as performer, teacher, lecturer, and author are assessed, as is her work as a suffrage activist and a parish councillor. The second phase of her career, when a collector and arranger of Gaelic songs, her publication of the "Songs of the Hebrides", as well as her numerous Hebridean recitals, given both throughout Britain and abroad, are all covered in detail. Her interaction with several important individuals of her time, including Sir Patrick Geddes, Dr Frederick Niecks, Dr Kenneth Macleod, Sir Granville Bantock, and Dame Ellen Terry, is also discussed.
Apart from her memoirs from 1929, "A Life of Song", no biography has so far been published of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser. The aim of this thesis is to provide a detailed survey of Dr Kennedy-Fraser's professional life, and, furthermore, by relating her life and œuvre to her own time, to place her in context. It draws extensively on her own, hitherto unpublished working material, held by Edinburgh University Library, a multitude of newspaper articles and biographical publications, as well as letters from a wide range of sources. It thus offers as complete and nuanced a picture as possible of a long, comprehensive, and indeed impressive, career. Following an introductory overview of the Arts & Crafts movement, the mainly chronological biography explores her family background, international concert tours, and music studies in Milan and Paris. Her rôles as performer, teacher, lecturer, and author are assessed, as is her work as a suffrage activist and a parish councillor. The second phase of her career, when a collector and arranger of Gaelic songs, her publication of the "Songs of the Hebrides", as well as her numerous Hebridean recitals, given both throughout Britain and abroad, are all covered in detail. Her interaction with several important individuals of her time, including Sir Patrick Geddes, Dr Frederick Niecks, Dr Kenneth Macleod, Sir Granville Bantock, and Dame Ellen Terry, is also discussed.
Research Interests: Music Education, Music History, Piano, Performing Arts, Ethnomusicology, and 53 moreWilliam Butler Yeats, Opera, Scottish Studies, Nationalism, Scottish Gaelic Studies, Biography, Great War, Wagner Studies, British Music, Nineteenth Century British History and Culture, National Identity, Scottish music, Scottish Women's History, First World War, Scottish Gaelic Music, Opera,Choral And Vocal Music, Wagner, Travelling artists, Women's suffrage movement in Britain 1866-1928, Art Song, Richard Wagner, Ellen Terry, Arts and Crafts, Gaelic Song, Phoebe Anna Traquair, William Sharp, Scotland, Singing, Arts & Crafts Movement, Harps, Celtic Revival, Piano Technique, Accompaniment, David Kennedy, Lieder, Arts and Crafts Movement, Great War 1914-18, Kennedy-Fraser Collection, Edinburgh University Library, Centre for Research Collections (CRC), School of Scottish Studies Archives, Edinburgh, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Patrick Geddes, Songs of the Hebrides, John Duncan, Granville Bantock, The Little Theatre Movement, Matthay, Andre Raffalovich, Alexander Carmichael, Fr Allan McDonald, and University of Edinburgh
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Music Education, Music History, Performing Arts, Scottish Studies, Biography, and 18 moreGreat War, Scottish music, First World War, Scottish Gaelic Music, Travelling artists, Art Song, Gaelic Song, Singing, Harps, Celtic Revival, Piano Technique, Accompaniment, Great War 1914-18, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Songs of the Hebrides, The Little Theatre Movement, Matthay, and Ethonomusicology
Having heard Marjory Kennedy-Fraser perform Hebridean songs at a house party in 1907, English composer Rutland Boughton brought her work to the attention of his friend Granville Bantock. In 1913, Professor Bantock met Mrs Kennedy-Fraser,... more
Having heard Marjory Kennedy-Fraser perform Hebridean songs at a house party in 1907, English composer Rutland Boughton brought her work to the attention of his friend Granville Bantock. In 1913, Professor Bantock met Mrs Kennedy-Fraser, and from 1917, they worked intermittently on their 'Gaelic Folk-Opera', "The Seal-Woman", which eventually premièred at Barry Jackson's Birmingham Repertory Theatre in September 1924, conducted by Adrian Boult. Despite some hesitant press reviews, the fourteen performances were well attended, and in 1927, the original cast, including Kennedy-Fraser, reunited for a live broadcast of the opera. Since then, there have been but a few revivals, but "The Seal-Woman" is nevertheless frequently mentioned in works dealing with the emergence and development of a British national opera.
Although Granville Bantock is usually regarded as the opera's composer, his letters to Marjory Kennedy-Fraser reveal that her participation in the creative process was not restricted to the libretto. Instead, they discussed every aspect of the opera extensively, often disagreeing about dramaturgical as well as musical details, and innumerable revisions of text and orchestration were required before they were both satisfied.
My paper offers an outline of "The Seal-Woman" and the inaugural Birmingham production, discusses the creative process behind the opera, drawing on the recently unearthed Bantock/Kennedy-Fraser correspondence, and relates it to similar operatic works. Concluding, I speculate upon why "The Seal-Woman" failed to become a repertoire opera, despite its various inherent qualities, suitably illustrated by several sounding excerpts from a fairly recent but unreleased professional recording of the complete opera.
Although Granville Bantock is usually regarded as the opera's composer, his letters to Marjory Kennedy-Fraser reveal that her participation in the creative process was not restricted to the libretto. Instead, they discussed every aspect of the opera extensively, often disagreeing about dramaturgical as well as musical details, and innumerable revisions of text and orchestration were required before they were both satisfied.
My paper offers an outline of "The Seal-Woman" and the inaugural Birmingham production, discusses the creative process behind the opera, drawing on the recently unearthed Bantock/Kennedy-Fraser correspondence, and relates it to similar operatic works. Concluding, I speculate upon why "The Seal-Woman" failed to become a repertoire opera, despite its various inherent qualities, suitably illustrated by several sounding excerpts from a fairly recent but unreleased professional recording of the complete opera.
Research Interests:
Active in both the women's suffrage movement and local politics, musician and Gaelic song-collector Marjory Kennedy-Fraser started promoting Scottish Independence, widely discussed at present but front-page news also a century ago,... more
Active in both the women's suffrage movement and local politics, musician and Gaelic song-collector Marjory Kennedy-Fraser started promoting Scottish Independence, widely discussed at present but front-page news also a century ago, eventually becoming one of its figureheads.
Having begun collecting Hebridean songs in 1905, fired by an ambition both to preserve the musical riches of the Scottish Gaeldom – then considered backward and culturally barren – and to present the material to a wider audience, Kennedy-Fraser gradually evolved from focussing on musical matters to using the music as a means to place the Gaels on the political agenda. Introducing Gaelic songs to fashionable Edwardian audiences, although somewhat provocative, made her efforts socially acceptable and highly esteemed – and thus more usable for propaganda purposes.
Daughter of well-known Scottish tenor David Kennedy, Marjory grew up in Scotland and London when not travelling with her father; later studying music in Milan and Paris. The Kennedys were ardent Liberals and staunch supporters of Irish Home Rule, and she became interested in politics at an early age. A truly British cosmopolitan, she nevertheless always considered herself primarily a Scot.
Her father wished to bring the songs of Scotland to those in the diaspora and toured widely, thus reinforcing the Scots' separate cultural and national identity within the British Empire. Politically aware, the Kennedys appreciated the egalitarian society in Australia and New Zealand, strongly disapproved of the prevalent unequal social conditions in British India, and explicitly refrained from visiting the West Indies where the democracy 'non est'.
My paper will explore how Mrs Kennedy-Fraser used both Scots and Gaelic songs to reinforce a national identity, how she responded to jingoistic currents during the Great War, and how her œuvre began to sink into oblivion in the socially transformed Britain in the years leading up to World War II.
Having begun collecting Hebridean songs in 1905, fired by an ambition both to preserve the musical riches of the Scottish Gaeldom – then considered backward and culturally barren – and to present the material to a wider audience, Kennedy-Fraser gradually evolved from focussing on musical matters to using the music as a means to place the Gaels on the political agenda. Introducing Gaelic songs to fashionable Edwardian audiences, although somewhat provocative, made her efforts socially acceptable and highly esteemed – and thus more usable for propaganda purposes.
Daughter of well-known Scottish tenor David Kennedy, Marjory grew up in Scotland and London when not travelling with her father; later studying music in Milan and Paris. The Kennedys were ardent Liberals and staunch supporters of Irish Home Rule, and she became interested in politics at an early age. A truly British cosmopolitan, she nevertheless always considered herself primarily a Scot.
Her father wished to bring the songs of Scotland to those in the diaspora and toured widely, thus reinforcing the Scots' separate cultural and national identity within the British Empire. Politically aware, the Kennedys appreciated the egalitarian society in Australia and New Zealand, strongly disapproved of the prevalent unequal social conditions in British India, and explicitly refrained from visiting the West Indies where the democracy 'non est'.
My paper will explore how Mrs Kennedy-Fraser used both Scots and Gaelic songs to reinforce a national identity, how she responded to jingoistic currents during the Great War, and how her œuvre began to sink into oblivion in the socially transformed Britain in the years leading up to World War II.
Research Interests:
The Case of Georgina Colmache and Pauline Vaneri Filippi This is the second of two talks presented by The Berlin Review of Books. What was it like for a woman to be artistically productive in the 19th century? This talk follows... more
The Case of Georgina Colmache and Pauline Vaneri Filippi
This is the second of two talks presented by The Berlin Review of Books.
What was it like for a woman to be artistically productive in the 19th century? This talk follows the lives of mother-daughter pair Mme Colmache and Mme Vaneri Filippi, both of whom enjoyed successful careers when professional opportunities for women were scarce and revolutions ravaged Europe. With close links to French statesman Prince de Talleyrand-Périgord and English novelist William Thackeray, Paris-based Georgina Colmache was a prolific journalist and writer. Her daughter, soprano Pauline Vaneri Filippi, studied with Gilbert Duprez in Paris and sang at prestigious venues throughout Europe, before being appointed professor – the first woman ever – at the Milan Conservatoire.
This is the second of two talks presented by The Berlin Review of Books.
What was it like for a woman to be artistically productive in the 19th century? This talk follows the lives of mother-daughter pair Mme Colmache and Mme Vaneri Filippi, both of whom enjoyed successful careers when professional opportunities for women were scarce and revolutions ravaged Europe. With close links to French statesman Prince de Talleyrand-Périgord and English novelist William Thackeray, Paris-based Georgina Colmache was a prolific journalist and writer. Her daughter, soprano Pauline Vaneri Filippi, studied with Gilbert Duprez in Paris and sang at prestigious venues throughout Europe, before being appointed professor – the first woman ever – at the Milan Conservatoire.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Music History, Ethnomusicology, Scottish Studies, Scottish Gaelic Music, Women's suffrage movement in Britain 1866-1928, and 12 moreArt Song, Gaelic Song, Phoebe Anna Traquair, Arts & Crafts Movement, Celtic Revival, Arts and Crafts Movement, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Patrick Geddes, Songs of the Hebrides, John Duncan, Alexander Carmichael, and University of Edinburgh
Granville Bantock initially took notice of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser's work through English composer Rutland Boughton, who had heard her perform some Hebridean songs at a mutual friend's house in 1907. In 1913, Professor Bantock and Mrs... more
Granville Bantock initially took notice of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser's work through English composer Rutland Boughton, who had heard her perform some Hebridean songs at a mutual friend's house in 1907. In 1913, Professor Bantock and Mrs Kennedy-Fraser met for the first time, and in 1917–24, they worked intermittently on their 'Gaelic Folk-Opera', "The Seal-Woman", eventually premiered at Barry Jackson's Birmingham Repertory Theatre in September 1924. Despite some hesitant press reviews, the fourteen performances were well attended. In 1927, the original cast reunited to broadcast the opera, but since then, there have been but few revivals, and no recording is available. Nonetheless, the opera is mentioned frequently in works dealing with the emergence and development of a British national opera and performance material is still available on hire.
Even if Granville Bantock is generally considered the opera's composer, his largely unknown letters to Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, held by Edinburgh University Library, reveal that her rôle in the creative process was by no means restricted to the libretto and that the opera was indeed a true collaboration between the two. Both dramaturgical and musical aspects were extensively discussed, down to the minutest details in text and orchestration.
My paper will give a brief outline of the opera and the inaugural Birmingham production, relate it to similar works, and in some detail discuss the creative process behind it, drawing on the recently unearthed Bantock/Kennedy-Fraser correspondence. I will also speculate about why the opera failed to remain in the repertoire, despite its various inherent qualities.
Even if Granville Bantock is generally considered the opera's composer, his largely unknown letters to Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, held by Edinburgh University Library, reveal that her rôle in the creative process was by no means restricted to the libretto and that the opera was indeed a true collaboration between the two. Both dramaturgical and musical aspects were extensively discussed, down to the minutest details in text and orchestration.
My paper will give a brief outline of the opera and the inaugural Birmingham production, relate it to similar works, and in some detail discuss the creative process behind it, drawing on the recently unearthed Bantock/Kennedy-Fraser correspondence. I will also speculate about why the opera failed to remain in the repertoire, despite its various inherent qualities.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Scottish musician Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (née Kennedy, 1857–1930) is mainly known for the several volumes of "Songs of the Hebrides" she brought out in collaboration with Kenneth MacLeod (1871–1955), based on her years of painstaking work... more
Scottish musician Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (née Kennedy, 1857–1930) is mainly known for the several volumes of "Songs of the Hebrides" she brought out in collaboration with Kenneth MacLeod (1871–1955), based on her years of painstaking work collecting Gaelic songs. Increasingly popular and famous since the publication of the first volume in 1909, her work received official recognition in the 1920s, when she was awarded both the CBE and an honorary Mus.D. (Edinburgh). Gaelic songs were Kennedy-Fraser's second career, however, having previously travelled the world as her father's accompanist, studied music in Milan, in Paris, and – as one of its first women students – at the University of Edinburgh, subsequently building up a flourishing music teaching practice in the Scottish capital. Widowed at an early age, with two small children to support, in the 1890s, the young professional was busy teaching, performing and lecturing in Edinburgh, where she soon became part of the city's artistic avant-garde circles and met with Alexander Carmichael, Patrick Geddes, John Duncan and Phoebe Traquair – leading lights of the Arts & Crafts movement in Scotland. My paper will ask what sparked Dr Kennedy-Fraser's passion for Gaelic music and culture, outline her multifarious undertakings in public life generally, and discuss how her œuvre became increasingly exposed to criticism after her death, particularly in Scotland, where she was virulently attacked by trendsetting intellectuals, who accused her of having misrepresented Gaelic songs. I will conclude by considering the place of the "Songs of the Hebrides" in today's song recital repertoire.
Research Interests: Music History, Ethnomusicology, Scottish Studies, Scottish Gaelic Music, Women's suffrage movement in Britain 1866-1928, and 12 moreArt Song, Gaelic Song, Phoebe Anna Traquair, Arts & Crafts Movement, Celtic Revival, Arts and Crafts Movement, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Patrick Geddes, Songs of the Hebrides, John Duncan, Alexander Carmichael, and University of Edinburgh
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The son of a Scottish handloom weaver, house painter David Kennedy studied singing and elocution in Edinburgh and London. Making his professional tenor début in Liverpool in 1859, his first London appearances, at the Hanover Square Rooms... more
The son of a Scottish handloom weaver, house painter David Kennedy studied singing and elocution in Edinburgh and London. Making his professional tenor début in Liverpool in 1859, his first London appearances, at the Hanover Square Rooms in 1862, launched his successful career as the foremost exponent of Scots songs of the latter part of the nineteenth century. Dreaming of bringing the songs of home to those who had had to leave the British Isles, in 1866, he began his two decades of travelling the world with a three-year tour of Canada and the US. A true family concern, David, his wife, and their eleven musical children – in different constellations – would spend three months on a sailing ship to Melbourne along with their portable baby grand, be hauled across precipitous gorges in New Zealand, ride on horseback over the South African veldt, and suffer the suffocating heat of India. Managing their affairs themselves, the enterprising family, performing in huge urban auditoriums, in ramshackle village halls, and on rural general store counters, succeeded in being profitable, remaining in business until David Kennedy's death in 1886, despite the loss of three of its younger members in a devastating theatre blaze in France.
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English soprano and composer Liza Lehmann studied with Jenny Lind and Hamish MacCunn before embarking on a successful ten-year singing career. From 1894, she devoted herself to composing; in 1896, "In a Persian Garden", set to words from... more
English soprano and composer Liza Lehmann studied with Jenny Lind and Hamish MacCunn before embarking on a successful ten-year singing career. From 1894, she devoted herself to composing; in 1896, "In a Persian Garden", set to words from FitzGerald's "Rubāiyāt of Omar Khayyām" and premièred with renowned soprano Emma Albani, was an immediate hit. A highly respected composer during her lifetime – the first president of the Society of Women Musicians (1911–12), professor of singing at the Guildhall School of Music – Lehmann's extensive œuvre consists mainly of serious vocal works, both orchestral and with piano. Nowadays, however, she is mostly remembered for her lighter songs, like 'There are Fairies at the Bottom of Our Garden'.
Madame Lehmann's mother, Amelia (A.L.), was Scottish, the daughter of Dr Robert Chambers of Edinburgh, co-founder of "Chambers's Edinburgh Journal" and author of the anonymously published "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation". In 1909, befitting her Scottish connections, was published her cantata "Leaves from Ossian: Fragments from the Poems of the Ancient Gaelic Bard", for four solo voices, chorus and orchestra, set to her own selection of texts from James Macpherson's "Ossian" – she was one of the few who by then still believed in the authenticity of Macpherson's publications. Much to her own disappointment, the cantata was unsuccessful and was never produced in London; despite its musical qualities, it was soon forgotten. My paper will analyse the music, trace the text fragments, and also provide a sounding excerpt from this obscure and unrecorded work.
Madame Lehmann's mother, Amelia (A.L.), was Scottish, the daughter of Dr Robert Chambers of Edinburgh, co-founder of "Chambers's Edinburgh Journal" and author of the anonymously published "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation". In 1909, befitting her Scottish connections, was published her cantata "Leaves from Ossian: Fragments from the Poems of the Ancient Gaelic Bard", for four solo voices, chorus and orchestra, set to her own selection of texts from James Macpherson's "Ossian" – she was one of the few who by then still believed in the authenticity of Macpherson's publications. Much to her own disappointment, the cantata was unsuccessful and was never produced in London; despite its musical qualities, it was soon forgotten. My paper will analyse the music, trace the text fragments, and also provide a sounding excerpt from this obscure and unrecorded work.
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Research Interests:
Madame Vaneri Filippi enjoyed a long and successful professional life in a period when career opportunities for women were scarce. Professor of singing at the 'Giuseppe Verdi' Conservatory 1878–1908 – a proper pioneer in her field, she... more
Madame Vaneri Filippi enjoyed a long and successful professional life in a period when career opportunities for women were scarce. Professor of singing at the 'Giuseppe Verdi' Conservatory 1878–1908 – a proper pioneer in her field, she was the Milan institution's first woman teacher. In 1858, when she made her operatic début in London, music critics took her for an Englishwoman, despite her Italian name. In Glasgow, 'her pronunciation and knowledge of the English and Scotch songs, for a Frenchwoman, were perfectly marvellous'; in Bologna, however, Verdi's producer thought it could be heard she was English. Having 'dipped deep into the peculiarities of the Scottish vernacular' until she had 'perfected herself as a singer of Scotch songs', she was a well-known vocalist in Scotland for twenty years, regularly engaged by organisations like the Edinburgh Choral Union, the Glasgow Abstainers' Union, and the Glasgow Freemasons' lodges. Her operatic career, meanwhile, took her to theatres in Antwerp, Barcelona, and throughout Italy. Brought up in literary London circles by her widowed grandmother, Pauline's daughter Rosina became a successful actress, author, and teacher of stagecraft and English elocution.
With intriguing roots in the French Revolution, Vaneri Filippi was a true European and her attachment to Scotland might not have been a coincidence, but by altering her name, she has effectively eluded the biographers. Drawing on press material, publications, and continental archives and institutions, my paper will outline Pauline Vaneri Filippi's hitherto largely unknown life and career, with a particular focus on her Scottish achievements.
With intriguing roots in the French Revolution, Vaneri Filippi was a true European and her attachment to Scotland might not have been a coincidence, but by altering her name, she has effectively eluded the biographers. Drawing on press material, publications, and continental archives and institutions, my paper will outline Pauline Vaneri Filippi's hitherto largely unknown life and career, with a particular focus on her Scottish achievements.
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Research Interests:
Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857–1930) – pianist and singer – was inspired by the multilingual atmosphere she experienced as a music student in Paris to look for her own Gaelic roots. Deeply involved in Patrick Geddes' Edinburgh Social Union... more
Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857–1930) – pianist and singer – was inspired by the multilingual atmosphere she experienced as a music student in Paris to look for her own Gaelic roots. Deeply involved in Patrick Geddes' Edinburgh Social Union and Summer Meetings, an active suffragist, one of Edinburgh University's first women students, and a busy music teacher and critic, she began collecting Gaelic songs in the Outer Hebrides in 1905 – the first collector in Scotland to use recording techniques – and arranged them with piano accompaniments. Her publications, "Songs of the Hebrides", and frequent performances throughout Britain, including yearly recitals in London, and appearances in North America, Paris, Berlin, Prague, and Vienna, made the songs internationally famous. An ardent nationalist with an international perspective, it was her ambition to show the world the musical wealth extant in Scotland and she fought extensively for a music college in Scotland, to make higher music education available for talented Scots from all strata of society. CBE and Mus.D. (Edinburgh), but unlike Vaughan Williams and Percy Grainger, Dvořák, Grieg, and Sibelius, she was mainly forgotten after World War II.
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Dublin-born Phoebe Anna Traquair's "The Progress of a Soul" is a central work of the Scottish Arts & Crafts movement. William B. Yeats' 'little singing bird', she is but one of many connections between Ireland and Edinburgh around 1900.... more
Dublin-born Phoebe Anna Traquair's "The Progress of a Soul" is a central work of the Scottish Arts & Crafts movement. William B. Yeats' 'little singing bird', she is but one of many connections between Ireland and Edinburgh around 1900. Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, from a family where 'Home Rule' was frequently discussed, worked with the eager Celtic Revivalist Patrick Geddes in the 1890s, and was deeply influenced by Yeats' œuvre – 'Land of Heart's Desire' is a well-known song of hers. William Sharp (Fiona MacLeod) met Yeats in London and raved about his work, but Yeats was less enthusiastic, and, with Oscar Wilde, he made witty comments about Sharp. Nonetheless, in 1905, Yeats cast Sharp's horoscope, at the request of his widow, Elizabeth A. Sharp, "Lyra Celtica"'s editor. Yeats' Dundee-lecture in 1905 was organised by Scottish romantic poet Rachel Annand Taylor and her husband – friends of Kennedy-Fraser and of Symbolist painter John Duncan, instrumental to the Celtic Revival in Scotland. On Eriskay, they had all immersed themselves in things Celtic, meeting Fr Allan McDonald, the priest and Celtic scholar. Together with most Edinburgh literati, they also frequented the salon of André Raffalovich, whose sister married Irish MP William O'Brien – Parnell spoke at their wedding – and whose friend, Fr John Gray, once part of the bohemian circles of Oscar Wilde and Yeats in London, was priest to Irish immigrants in Edinburgh. My paper will focus on the connections between Scotland and Ireland around 1900 by discussing a circle of then well-known and influential individuals.
Research Interests: Irish Studies, Queer Studies, William Butler Yeats, Scottish Studies, Oscar Wilde, and 14 moreArts and Crafts, Phoebe Anna Traquair, William Sharp, Arts & Crafts Movement, Celtic Revival, Dublin, Arts and Crafts Movement, Edinburgh, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Patrick Geddes, John Duncan, William O'Brien, Andre Raffalovich, and Fr Allan McDonald
In 'Scotland's Image for Romantic Composers',* Professor Hugh Macdonald touches on the Scottish connections of Wagner's "Der fliegende Holländer" (1843). Even if the legend itself always concerned a Dutchman, the traces of Scottish... more
In 'Scotland's Image for Romantic Composers',* Professor Hugh Macdonald touches on the Scottish connections of Wagner's "Der fliegende Holländer" (1843). Even if the legend itself always concerned a Dutchman, the traces of Scottish musical influence in the opera are intriguing. In the 1890s, when Richard Wagner had become a cult figure, members of the British avant-garde circles made their pilgrimage to Bayreuth, mainly for performances of "Parsifal". Marjory Kennedy-Fraser was one of them, but to her, Wagner's music was already well-known, and she frequently discussed it in her lectures on art songs. Later, working with the Hebridean material, she came across tunes and themes that she associated with Wagner, and among her field recordings, there are indeed a few snippets of songs that bear a close resemblance to leitmotifs and airs from Wagner's œuvre, in particular to Senta's ballad in "Der fliegende Holländer". Kennedy-Fraser certainly noticed the similarities, and so did her collaborator on musical projects, Professor Granville Bantock, which is evident from their correspondence. Some of these Wagner-like themes found their way into Kennedy-Fraser's published music, but, possibly, to avoid being accused of plagiarizing, she pointed out the similarities herself. Fifty odd years later, when John Lorne Campbell came across her references, he peculiarly discarded them as 'rubbish'. Juxtaposing wax cylinder field recordings, published and unpublished references by Mrs Kennedy-Fraser, and motifs included in her songs and piano music, my paper will discuss the points of similarity between, in particular, Hebridean songs and Senta's ballad.
* Macdonald, Hugh, 'Scotland's Image for Romantic Composers' in "Notis musycall: Essays on Music and Scottish Culture in Honour of Kenneth Elliot", ed. by Gordon Munro et al., pp. 269-79 (Glasgow: Musica Scotica Trust, 2005).
* Macdonald, Hugh, 'Scotland's Image for Romantic Composers' in "Notis musycall: Essays on Music and Scottish Culture in Honour of Kenneth Elliot", ed. by Gordon Munro et al., pp. 269-79 (Glasgow: Musica Scotica Trust, 2005).
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Research Interests:
Late Victorian and Edwardian Scotland may have been somewhat removed from the rest of Europe, but some individuals acquainted themselves with the continental European scene. Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857–1930) began her musical career at... more
Late Victorian and Edwardian Scotland may have been somewhat removed from the rest of Europe, but some individuals acquainted themselves with the continental European scene. Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857–1930) began her musical career at the age of thirteen as her father's professional accompanist. They toured the English-speaking world with the Songs of Scotland, travelling through Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and the US. To develop further as a musician, however, Marjory moved to Italy, to study with both Madame Gambardella, a former pupil of Rossini's, and renowned Francesco Lamperti. Living in Milan, she experienced the Old Italian world of opera, vividly described in hers and her brothers' letters to family members in Edinburgh and India. Some years later, Marjory enrolled in Mathilde Marchesi's famous singing class in Paris.
In Scotland, Mrs Kennedy-Fraser read music for Professor Niecks at the University of Edinburgh, as one of the university's first female students. A busy teacher in Edinburgh and Glasgow, she taught according to Lamperti's and Marchesi's singing methods. She presided over the musical section of Patrick Geddes's Edinburgh Summer Meetings, covering a wide range of musical subjects. With her experiences from continental Europe, she also became a popular lecturer on Art Song, introducing the songs of Richard Strauß and others to the Scottish audience.
As Marjory Kennedy-Fraser's Hebridean work is already well-known, my paper will focus on her musical training and career, before she landed at Eriskay in 1905, and also give some insights into the world of singing of the period.
In Scotland, Mrs Kennedy-Fraser read music for Professor Niecks at the University of Edinburgh, as one of the university's first female students. A busy teacher in Edinburgh and Glasgow, she taught according to Lamperti's and Marchesi's singing methods. She presided over the musical section of Patrick Geddes's Edinburgh Summer Meetings, covering a wide range of musical subjects. With her experiences from continental Europe, she also became a popular lecturer on Art Song, introducing the songs of Richard Strauß and others to the Scottish audience.
As Marjory Kennedy-Fraser's Hebridean work is already well-known, my paper will focus on her musical training and career, before she landed at Eriskay in 1905, and also give some insights into the world of singing of the period.
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Research Interests:
In the late nineteenth century, a wave of nationalism and interest in vernacular arts and languages swept over Europe. Architects, painters, writers, and composers - all looked for inspiration among surviving folk traditions in remoter... more
In the late nineteenth century, a wave of nationalism and interest in vernacular arts and languages swept over Europe. Architects, painters, writers, and composers - all looked for inspiration among surviving folk traditions in remoter areas of their countries. In music, the treasures of songs and melodies that still existed were discovered, a heritage that seemed threatened, however, due to changing ways of life. Studies and documentation projects were initiated in the Czech and Hungarian areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in Imperial Russia, and in the Scandinavian countries. The Celtic areas of Europe were no exception, and Brittany, Wales, and Gaelic Scotland and Ireland all attracted numerous researchers and musicologists.
It might seem a contradiction that the interest in the past was so pronounced in the late Victorian period, an era when everything seemed to be oriented towards the bright future. But, at least in certain circles, there was the feeling that something important was being lost, that the quality of life had deteriorated, and that it was important to search for ancient traditions, revive old techniques, and return to the roots. William Morris, John Duncan, and the Arts and Crafts movement are well-known examples within the fields of architecture and fine and applied arts. The same tendencies are equally evident in literature, where old myths and sagas fascinated both the writers and the readers of the period. Authentic material was generally used rather freely, the results often being an amalgamation of facts and fiction, ranging from scholarly adherence to actual observations to sheer imaginary follies.
Less well-known is perhaps the rather similar development in music. In the same way as painters and architects looked for inspiration in a distant past, composers made use of surviving folk material from remoter parts Europe. Brahms, Grieg, and Sibelius all built upon traditional material in various ways. Wagner's operas are based on German mythology. Vaughan Williams and others found inspiration in the English folk songs. In Scotland, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser became interested in the Gaelic folk song tradition of the Western Isles, where she would note down and record traditional songs, many of which became internationally well-known, both through her published arrangements and her concert tours in Britain, the US and Canada, and on the Continent. Successful in her lifetime, but later ridiculed for publishing 'parlour songs', most of her work seems to have sunk into oblivion after WWII.
In my PhD research on Mrs Kennedy-Fraser and the Celtic Revival in Scotland, I have often asked myself if some individuals possibly have a more obvious right to traditional material than others. There is a marked difference between reactions in Scotland and other parts of Europe, e.g. the Scandinavian countries, where classical compositions based on folk material have remained popular. My paper will discuss how Celtic material has influenced classical music, focusing in particular on the Scottish Gaelic influence, and draw parallels to other parts of Europe, e.g. Scandinavia, Germany, and Russia.
It might seem a contradiction that the interest in the past was so pronounced in the late Victorian period, an era when everything seemed to be oriented towards the bright future. But, at least in certain circles, there was the feeling that something important was being lost, that the quality of life had deteriorated, and that it was important to search for ancient traditions, revive old techniques, and return to the roots. William Morris, John Duncan, and the Arts and Crafts movement are well-known examples within the fields of architecture and fine and applied arts. The same tendencies are equally evident in literature, where old myths and sagas fascinated both the writers and the readers of the period. Authentic material was generally used rather freely, the results often being an amalgamation of facts and fiction, ranging from scholarly adherence to actual observations to sheer imaginary follies.
Less well-known is perhaps the rather similar development in music. In the same way as painters and architects looked for inspiration in a distant past, composers made use of surviving folk material from remoter parts Europe. Brahms, Grieg, and Sibelius all built upon traditional material in various ways. Wagner's operas are based on German mythology. Vaughan Williams and others found inspiration in the English folk songs. In Scotland, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser became interested in the Gaelic folk song tradition of the Western Isles, where she would note down and record traditional songs, many of which became internationally well-known, both through her published arrangements and her concert tours in Britain, the US and Canada, and on the Continent. Successful in her lifetime, but later ridiculed for publishing 'parlour songs', most of her work seems to have sunk into oblivion after WWII.
In my PhD research on Mrs Kennedy-Fraser and the Celtic Revival in Scotland, I have often asked myself if some individuals possibly have a more obvious right to traditional material than others. There is a marked difference between reactions in Scotland and other parts of Europe, e.g. the Scandinavian countries, where classical compositions based on folk material have remained popular. My paper will discuss how Celtic material has influenced classical music, focusing in particular on the Scottish Gaelic influence, and draw parallels to other parts of Europe, e.g. Scandinavia, Germany, and Russia.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a wave of nationalism and interest in vernacular arts and languages swept over Europe. Architects, painters, writers, and composers – all looked for inspiration among surviving folk traditions in... more
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a wave of nationalism and interest in vernacular arts and languages swept over Europe. Architects, painters, writers, and composers – all looked for inspiration among surviving folk traditions in remoter areas of their countries. In music, the treasures of songs and melodies that still existed were discovered, a heritage that seemed threatened, however, due to changing ways of life. Studies and documentation projects were initiated in the Czech and Hungarian areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the Finnish part of Imperial Russia, and in the Scandinavian countries. The Celtic areas of Europe were no exception, and Brittany, Wales, and Gaelic Scotland and Ireland all attracted numerous researchers and musicologists. One of them was Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, who became interested in the Gaelic folk song tradition of the Western Isles, where she would note down and record traditional songs, many of which became well-known through her concert tours and published arrangements.
The results of these new sources of inspiration were generally an amalgamation of facts and fiction; ranging from scholarly adherence to actual observations to sheer imaginary follies. But what is then art? Who is right – who is wrong? Reactions were different in different parts of Europe, but in Scotland, these artistic œuvres seem to have been particularly harshly judged. My paper will describe how Gaelic culture influenced classical art, make comparisons with other European countries, and discuss possible benefits and drawbacks of this influence.
The results of these new sources of inspiration were generally an amalgamation of facts and fiction; ranging from scholarly adherence to actual observations to sheer imaginary follies. But what is then art? Who is right – who is wrong? Reactions were different in different parts of Europe, but in Scotland, these artistic œuvres seem to have been particularly harshly judged. My paper will describe how Gaelic culture influenced classical art, make comparisons with other European countries, and discuss possible benefits and drawbacks of this influence.
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Does a 'native' have easier access to traditional material than an 'outsider'? A more obvious right to the material as well? But who is a 'native' – how is home defined? A question of nationality, a geographical issue, or perhaps a more... more
Does a 'native' have easier access to traditional material than an 'outsider'? A more obvious right to the material as well? But who is a 'native' – how is home defined? A question of nationality, a geographical issue, or perhaps a more intricate social and class oriented issue? Do some individuals have a more obvious right to traditional material than others? In my research on Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, well-known for her arrangements of Hebridean songs but simultaneously ridiculed for publishing 'parlour songs', these questions constantly keep coming back. Kennedy-Fraser was an early music collector in Britain; the first one in Scotland to use recording equipment in the field. She embarked on her Hebridean project in 1905, and over a period of two decades, she collected and published a vast amount of songs. Successful in her lifetime, most of her work seems to have sunk into oblivion after her death in 1930. Not all of her songs, but certainly her more scholarly work, and her endeavours are still somewhat put to scorn. Why? Was she less qualified than her contemporaries? Probably not. Did she lack connections? No, as part of a circle of like-minded people in Edinburgh, including Patrick Geddes and John Duncan, she was a well-known authority on her subject, and officially acknowledged – Honorary Doctor of Music and C.B.E.. Could it be a gender issue? Not really, professional women were not unheard of in Edwardian Britain, and the Suffrage movement was rapidly gaining momentum. But did she not commit the unpardonable faux pas of crossing social boundaries? Perhaps the sheer fact that a professional middle-class woman from a larger city ventured a project in a remote and rural area of the Gàidhealtachd was too difficult to digest? My paper will address these issues, and reflect upon possible rationales.
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Different aspects of Celtic folk culture have been investigated, documented and researched by many individuals and institutions over the years. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a wave of nationalism and interest in... more
Different aspects of Celtic folk culture have been investigated, documented and researched by many individuals and institutions over the years.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a wave of nationalism and interest in vernacular arts and languages swept over Europe. In the folk music area, this interest brought the attention to the treasures of songs and melodies that still existed at the time, but seemed threatened, due to changing ways of life, partially brought about by the industrial development in the western world. Studies and documentation projects were initiated in the Czech and Hungarian areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the Finnish part of Russia, and in the Scandinavian countries, just to mention some examples. The Celtic areas of Europe were no exception, and Brittany, Wales, and Gaelic Scotland and Ireland all attracted numerous researchers and musicologists. One of them was Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, who became interested in the Gaelic folk song tradition of the Western Isles and came to spend many summers recording traditional songs, mainly in the Outer Hebrides.
The main focus of this work is to take a close look on Marjory Kennedy-Fraser's musical life and career, and to analyse the material she recorded and later edited, including her opera project together with Granville Bantock. This is, however, not possible without knowledge of Celtic history and traditions, Scottish history, and of the Gaelic world itself. Certain aspects of musical theory are also crucial for the analysis, most certainly the different types of scales represented in Gaelic folk music. My thesis starts with these background factors, continues with a biographical section on Kennedy-Fraser, mainly based on archive material in Edinburgh, and the last part is a musical analysis of her collected material and a short orientation on her position on the Scottish musical scene today.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a wave of nationalism and interest in vernacular arts and languages swept over Europe. In the folk music area, this interest brought the attention to the treasures of songs and melodies that still existed at the time, but seemed threatened, due to changing ways of life, partially brought about by the industrial development in the western world. Studies and documentation projects were initiated in the Czech and Hungarian areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the Finnish part of Russia, and in the Scandinavian countries, just to mention some examples. The Celtic areas of Europe were no exception, and Brittany, Wales, and Gaelic Scotland and Ireland all attracted numerous researchers and musicologists. One of them was Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, who became interested in the Gaelic folk song tradition of the Western Isles and came to spend many summers recording traditional songs, mainly in the Outer Hebrides.
The main focus of this work is to take a close look on Marjory Kennedy-Fraser's musical life and career, and to analyse the material she recorded and later edited, including her opera project together with Granville Bantock. This is, however, not possible without knowledge of Celtic history and traditions, Scottish history, and of the Gaelic world itself. Certain aspects of musical theory are also crucial for the analysis, most certainly the different types of scales represented in Gaelic folk music. My thesis starts with these background factors, continues with a biographical section on Kennedy-Fraser, mainly based on archive material in Edinburgh, and the last part is a musical analysis of her collected material and a short orientation on her position on the Scottish musical scene today.
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Research Interests: Music Education, Music History, Piano, Performing Arts, Ethnomusicology, and 21 moreOpera, Scottish Studies, Biography, Wagner Studies, Nineteenth Century British History and Culture, Scottish music, Scottish Gaelic Music, Wagner, Travelling artists, Art Song, Richard Wagner, Gaelic Song, Singing, Celtic Revival, Accompaniment, David Kennedy, Lieder, Edinburgh, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Songs of the Hebrides, and University of Edinburgh
Research contribution, see note 24, page 485.
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Research contribution, see page 10.
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Research contribution.
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This recently acquired collection of archival material relating to the Kennedy-Fraser family emanates from the estate of the late Mrs Patuffa Kennedy-Fraser Hood, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser's daughter. It is a most valuable addition to... more
This recently acquired collection of archival material relating to the Kennedy-Fraser family emanates from the estate of the late Mrs Patuffa Kennedy-Fraser Hood, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser's daughter. It is a most valuable addition to Edinburgh University Library's extensive Kennedy-Fraser Collection, since it complements the already existing collection by filling in various gaps and, furthermore, by adding a more personal dimension to the understanding of this talented Scottish family of musicians.
The collection consists mainly of private correspondence between members of the extended Kennedy-Fraser family, but there are also several press cuttings, a small collection of photographs, several recital programmes, some publications, a few music books, and various engagement calendars, contact lists and visiting cards.
The funding gratefully received from the Eric Cregeen Fund has enabled me to make an inventory of the entire collection, peruse all the 790 letters, and transcribe sections of particular interest, for future research and publication purposes.
The collection consists mainly of private correspondence between members of the extended Kennedy-Fraser family, but there are also several press cuttings, a small collection of photographs, several recital programmes, some publications, a few music books, and various engagement calendars, contact lists and visiting cards.
The funding gratefully received from the Eric Cregeen Fund has enabled me to make an inventory of the entire collection, peruse all the 790 letters, and transcribe sections of particular interest, for future research and publication purposes.
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In 2010, I was commissioned by the School of Scottish Studies Archives, University of Edinburgh, and the Centre for Research Collections (CRC), Edinburgh University Library, to carry out a risk assessment and to produce a detailed... more
In 2010, I was commissioned by the School of Scottish Studies Archives, University of Edinburgh, and the Centre for Research Collections (CRC), Edinburgh University Library, to carry out a risk assessment and to produce a detailed Inventory of the non-sounding sections of the Kennedy-Fraser Collection. The Inventory, completed in September 2011, is now available online as 'Handlist H1036', listed under 'Supporting documents' on the Kennedy-Fraser Collection's main catalogue entry page (see web link below).
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Recorded interview.
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Filmed interview.
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The recent upsurge of interest in early twentieth-century cultural nationalisms has raised the profile of the Scottish rôle in the cultural and nationalist revival movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Especially during the... more
The recent upsurge of interest in early twentieth-century cultural nationalisms has raised the profile of the Scottish rôle in the cultural and nationalist revival movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Especially during the key period between the 1890s and the First World War, the Scottish Celtic Revival movement witnessed a flowering of artistic, literary, and cultural activities that helped to shape incipient political and cultural nationalisms, both Scottish and pan-Celtic.
This interdisciplinary conference (1-3 May 2014) will be organised by the University of Edinburgh's department of Celtic and Scottish Studies and part-hosted by the National Galleries of Scotland. It will be supported by the Modern Humanities Research Fund and co-sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH), and the Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI), University of Edinburgh. The conference will bring together scholars working on the art, music, folklore collection, literary production, scholarship, politics, Gaelic linguistic revival, architecture, and material culture of the period, in order to reassess the role played by the Celtic Revival in the creation of modern Scottish identities. Through an examination of the roots, rise, and withering of the Celtic Revival in Scotland, the conference will reassess the successes - and failures - of the movement in its widest context.
This interdisciplinary conference (1-3 May 2014) will be organised by the University of Edinburgh's department of Celtic and Scottish Studies and part-hosted by the National Galleries of Scotland. It will be supported by the Modern Humanities Research Fund and co-sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH), and the Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI), University of Edinburgh. The conference will bring together scholars working on the art, music, folklore collection, literary production, scholarship, politics, Gaelic linguistic revival, architecture, and material culture of the period, in order to reassess the role played by the Celtic Revival in the creation of modern Scottish identities. Through an examination of the roots, rise, and withering of the Celtic Revival in Scotland, the conference will reassess the successes - and failures - of the movement in its widest context.
Research Interests: Scottish Literature, Irish Studies, Irish Literature, William Butler Yeats, Scottish Studies, and 29 moreScottish History, Nationalism, Scottish Culture, Nineteenth Century British History and Culture, National Identity, Irish History, Scottish music, British and Irish History, Celtic Art, Arts and Crafts, Gaelic Song, Phoebe Anna Traquair, Carmina Gadelica, William Sharp, Scotland, Arts & Crafts Movement, Celtic Revival, Dublin, Arts and Crafts Movement, Edinburgh University Library, Edinburgh, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Ossian, Patrick Geddes, Songs of the Hebrides, John Duncan, Granville Bantock, Alexander Carmichael, and University of Edinburgh
Dr Per G. L. Ahlander completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2009, his doctoral thesis, 'Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857-1930) and Her Time: A Contextual Study', being a biographical study, largely based on the Kennedy-Fraser... more
Dr Per G. L. Ahlander completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2009, his doctoral thesis, 'Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857-1930) and Her Time: A Contextual Study', being a biographical study, largely based on the Kennedy-Fraser Collection held by Edinburgh University Library. Currently a Post-doctoral Fellow at Celtic & Scottish Studies, he is the winner of the Ratcliffe Prize 2010, awarded by the Michaelis-Jena Ratcliff Prize Trust for an important contribution by an individual to the study of folklore or folklife in Great Britain and Ireland.
Before coming to Scotland, Per Ahlander read languages and musicology at Stockholm University, and music at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. A graduate of the Stockholm School of Economics, including a scholarship to Università Bocconi in Milan, he worked for several years in the banking and finance industry in Switzerland and Sweden, most recently as Chief Financial Officer, responsible for a multinational insurance provider's financial operations in Sweden and Finland.
While a Fellow at IASH, Per Ahlander will be working on his project 'An interdisciplinary approach to the resurrection of three interlinked music profiles of the late 19th/early 20th century':
"When considering personalities of the past, it may often seem arbitrary who remains part of history and who sinks into oblivion. Even when remembered, however, the images of particular individuals are often distorted, based on incomplete and vague bits of information. My three sub-projects all deal with the reconstruction and resurrection of important music profiles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, albeit on three different levels and in three different ways.
Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, truly well-known in her lifetime, is one of the many both talented and capable women who have vanished almost entirely from public memory; if she is remembered at all - often with a sneer - it is for having ironed out Gaelic songs to suit the taste of the Edinburgh drawing rooms. Not entirely true, certainly, but in itself an example of the dilemmas of translation and adaptation. But what about the pianist, the suffragette, the politician, the academic? With close links to the University of Edinburgh, Kennedy-Fraser brought her experience as one of its first women students to the Edinburgh Summer Meetings, Patrick Geddes' visionary and innovative experiment in bridging the gap between the Academic and the Civic. The years that followed saw her joining the suffragettes, becoming involved in local politics, working for the equal citizenship movement, and supporting Scottish nationalism. Considering that there is so far no Kennedy-Fraser biography, turning my PhD into a monograph will make Dr Kennedy-Fraser's fascinating life story available to a wider audience, and furthermore, it will give readers a possibility to reassess her rôle in respect of Gaelic song.
Pauline Vaneri-Filippi, equally, forged strong links to the academic world when appointed professor at one of Italy's most prestigious conservatories, after an international career in opera. There are indeed many parallels between Kennedy-Fraser and Vaneri-Filippi - irrespective of the fact that they knew each other - when considering their rôles as women professionals in music, single mothers, travellers of the world, and well-established teachers. Madame Vaneri-Filippi, however, is totally forgotten, but with links to both Prince de Talleyrand and William Thackeray, the story of this multicultural Franco-English musician's life and career merits to be told in full.
Sir Granville Bantock, finally, different from the two women discussed above, is both well-known and the subject of many publications and dissertations. However, through my discovery of a hitherto unknown sequence of about one hundred unpublished letters, I hope to add some facts to the already existing large corpus of knowledge, thereby possibly shedding new light on this enigmatic composer's work in Celtic music and the creative process that culminated in the Celtic folk-opera "The Seal-Woman"."
Before coming to Scotland, Per Ahlander read languages and musicology at Stockholm University, and music at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. A graduate of the Stockholm School of Economics, including a scholarship to Università Bocconi in Milan, he worked for several years in the banking and finance industry in Switzerland and Sweden, most recently as Chief Financial Officer, responsible for a multinational insurance provider's financial operations in Sweden and Finland.
While a Fellow at IASH, Per Ahlander will be working on his project 'An interdisciplinary approach to the resurrection of three interlinked music profiles of the late 19th/early 20th century':
"When considering personalities of the past, it may often seem arbitrary who remains part of history and who sinks into oblivion. Even when remembered, however, the images of particular individuals are often distorted, based on incomplete and vague bits of information. My three sub-projects all deal with the reconstruction and resurrection of important music profiles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, albeit on three different levels and in three different ways.
Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, truly well-known in her lifetime, is one of the many both talented and capable women who have vanished almost entirely from public memory; if she is remembered at all - often with a sneer - it is for having ironed out Gaelic songs to suit the taste of the Edinburgh drawing rooms. Not entirely true, certainly, but in itself an example of the dilemmas of translation and adaptation. But what about the pianist, the suffragette, the politician, the academic? With close links to the University of Edinburgh, Kennedy-Fraser brought her experience as one of its first women students to the Edinburgh Summer Meetings, Patrick Geddes' visionary and innovative experiment in bridging the gap between the Academic and the Civic. The years that followed saw her joining the suffragettes, becoming involved in local politics, working for the equal citizenship movement, and supporting Scottish nationalism. Considering that there is so far no Kennedy-Fraser biography, turning my PhD into a monograph will make Dr Kennedy-Fraser's fascinating life story available to a wider audience, and furthermore, it will give readers a possibility to reassess her rôle in respect of Gaelic song.
Pauline Vaneri-Filippi, equally, forged strong links to the academic world when appointed professor at one of Italy's most prestigious conservatories, after an international career in opera. There are indeed many parallels between Kennedy-Fraser and Vaneri-Filippi - irrespective of the fact that they knew each other - when considering their rôles as women professionals in music, single mothers, travellers of the world, and well-established teachers. Madame Vaneri-Filippi, however, is totally forgotten, but with links to both Prince de Talleyrand and William Thackeray, the story of this multicultural Franco-English musician's life and career merits to be told in full.
Sir Granville Bantock, finally, different from the two women discussed above, is both well-known and the subject of many publications and dissertations. However, through my discovery of a hitherto unknown sequence of about one hundred unpublished letters, I hope to add some facts to the already existing large corpus of knowledge, thereby possibly shedding new light on this enigmatic composer's work in Celtic music and the creative process that culminated in the Celtic folk-opera "The Seal-Woman"."
Several scholars have drawn attention both to the many Scottish references in Richard Wagner’s initial sketches of The Flying Dutchman and to the close links between the opera and the composer’s own disastrous Nordic sea journey, but... more
Several scholars have drawn attention both to the many Scottish references in Richard Wagner’s initial sketches of The Flying Dutchman and to the close links between the opera and the composer’s own disastrous Nordic sea journey, but discussions tend to centre on the opera’s libretto. What appear to be musical reminiscences of Hebridean songs in the opera’s core thematic material have not been alluded to since Marjory Kennedy-Fraser pointed them out at the beginning of the twentieth century. Having a long-standing interest in Wagner’s oeuvre, she associated various themes and tunes she had collected in the Outer Hebrides with the German composer, and among her extant field recordings – now at Edinburgh University Library – there are indeed snippets of music that closely resemble Wagnerian leitmotifs and airs, in particular Senta’s ballad in Der fliegende Holländer. Drawing on a paper Kennedy-Fraser read to the Musical Association in London in 1918, various scattered references, and ...