Kelly, Thomas Forrest

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Kelly, Thomas Forrest

PERSONAL:

Education: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A.; Harvard University, Ph.D., 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Music Bldg. 203S, North Yard, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138. E-mail—tkelly@fas.harvard.edu.

CAREER:

Musicologist, educator, and writer. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Harvard College professor, 2000, Morton B. Knafel professor of music, 2001—. Lecturer at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. Previously taught at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA; Smith College, Northhampton, MA; Amherst College, Amherst, MA; and at Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, where he directed the Historical Performance Program and served as acting dean of the Conservatory.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fulbright scholar; Otto Kinkeldey Award, American Musicological Society, for The Beneventan Chant.

WRITINGS:

The Beneventan Chant, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1989.

(Compiler) Early Music in America: A Report on a Survey Conducted by Early Music America, Early Music America (New York, NY), 1989.

(Editor and contributor) Plainsong in the Age of Polyphony, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1992.

The Exultet in Southern Italy, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

(Editor) La Cathédrale De Bénévent, Ludion (Ghent, Belgium), 1999.

First Nights: Five Musical Premieres, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2000.

First Nights at the Opera, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2004.

Chant and Its Origins, Ashgate (Burlington, VT), 2008.

Oral and Written Transmission in Chant, Ashgate (Burlington, VT), 2008.

(Editor, with Sean Gallagher) The Century of Bach and Mozart: Perspectives on Historiography, Composition, Theory, and Performance, Harvard University Department of Music (Cambridge, MA), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Thomas Forrest Kelly is a musicologist and professor whose primary fields of interest are medieval music and original performance practice. He has authored, coauthored, or edited several books focusing on various aspects of music. For example, he is the editor of Plainsong in the Age of Polyphony, a group of essays that discuss the general role of plainsong (traditional songs used in the liturgies of the Roman Catholic Church) in musical culture. According to Notes contributor Jana Novotna, the essays focus on "the relatively little-researched theme of local and regional traditions of monophonic chant performance in the centuries after the proliferation of sacred polyphony." Novotna went on to note in the same review: "On the whole, the appearance of Plainsong in the Age of Polyphony heralds what will undoubtedly be an interdisciplinary era in the evolution of chant studies, and for that it should be welcomed."

In The Exultet in Southern Italy, published in 1996, Kelly discusses the Exultet scrolls of southern Italy, which united music, liturgical text, and image for use in a ceremonial blessing of the great Easter candle. His comprehensive study of this early medieval phenomenon delves into answering some of the mysteries surrounding the scrolls, such as why, in later surviving documents, the pictures were turned upside down in relation to text and why such lavish care and talent were spent on these manuscripts that were used only once a year. Unlike many other writings about these scrolls that focus primarily on the illustrations, the author pays equal attention to many other aspects of the creation, including broad cultural and historical considerations, the painstaking creation of the texts, and even the melodic structure of the songs. "Thanks to Kelly's extraordinary book, the Beneventan Exultet … has been displayed in all its multifaceted splendor," wrote Rosemary Thoonen Dubowchik in Notes.

The author's book First Nights: Five Musical Premieres, published in 2000, discusses "the premieres of five of the most significant musical works of the past four centuries," according to Booklist contributor Alan Hirsch. The works are Claudio Monteverdi's Orfeo, George Frideric Handel's Messiah, Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, and Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. In his book, the author details the efforts it took to stage the performances and also discusses in depth the cultural milieu in which they were performed. In addition, Kelly examines the composers and the reviews that these performances received. The book also features historical writings and illustrations.

"Kelly's primary goal is not to take the reader through each piece, but to provide as thorough and multifaceted a preparation for listening as possible, putting us—to a limited extent, of course—closer to those who lived contemporaneously with this music but had never heard it," Jonathan Bellman wrote in Notes. "This is radically different from the traditional music appreciation approach."

In his next book, First Nights at the Opera, the author continues his investigation of musical performances by describing what it was like at the premieres of five important operatic works: Giulio Cesare, London, 1724; Don Giovanni, Prague, 1787; Les Huguenots, Paris, 1836; Otello, Milan, 1887; and the premiere of Das Rheingold, Bayreuth, 1876. Commenting on the years when High Baroque opera was the rave, the author writes in his book: "What attracted the audience to the opera house? Part of the appeal was social standing: everybody who was anybody was there—the whole town, all the world. The main attractions were the singers: the most famous stars of the day performing feats of virtuosity or touching the heart with their expressive singing. Plot, acting, costume, and scenery were important but secondary. It was a brilliant and exclusive entertainment."

First Nights at the Opera delves into what it was like to be in the audience at these premieres. Kelly also discusses the business side of the performances, the artistic preparations, and the layout of the theaters. He delves into the reaction to the operas and also provides a general history of opera from the times of the ancient Greeks. "Kelly … has written a well-organized, highly readable volume that is difficult to put down," wrote a contributor to the American Record Guide. "He is no stuffy publish-or-perish academic." Opera News contributor William R. Braun commented that "each chapter is rich in context."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Kelly, Thomas Forrest, First Nights at the Opera, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2004.

PERIODICALS

American Record Guide, January-February, 2005, review of First Nights at the Opera, p. 268.

Biography, September 22, 2000, Jonathan Keates, "Musicians," p. 835.

Booklist, May 1, 2000, Alan Hirsch, review of First Nights: Five Musical Premieres, p. 1637.

Catholic Historical Review, July, 1998, Ruth Steiner, review of The Exultet in Southern Italy, p. 531.

Choice, November, 2000, E. Gaub, review of First Nights, p. 545; February, 2005, R. Pitts, review of First Nights at the Opera, p. 1031.

Chronicle of Higher Education, June 16, 2000, review of First Nights, p. 23.

Church History, September, 1997, David Paul Hester, review of The Exultet in Southern Italy, p. 568.

Early Music, November, 1990, Keith Falconer, review of The Beneventan Chant, p. 645.

Historian, spring, 2006, Jacqueline Letzter, review of First Nights at the Opera, p. 187.

Journal of the American Musicological Society, fall, 1991, Paul Evans, review of The Beneventan Chant, p. 494.

Library Journal, May 1, 2000, Timothy J. McGee, review of First Nights, p. 115; November 1, 2004, Timothy J. McGee, review of First Nights at the Opera, p. 87.

Music & Letters, August, 1991, David Hiley, review of The Beneventan Chant, p. 408; August, 1993, David Hiley, review of Plainsong in the Age of Polyphony, p. 414.

Music Educators Journal, November, 2000, review of First Nights, p. 54.

New Republic, November 27, 2000, Jeremy Eichler, "The Aural Tradition," p. 35.

New York Times Book Review, June 4, 2000, Jonathan Keates, "The Shock of the New: Visits to Musical Premieres from Monteverdi to Stravinsky, Back When It Was All Modern Music," p. 23; December 3, 2000, review of First Nights, p. 78; December 23, 2001, Scott Veale, review of First Nights, p. 16.

Notes, December, 1992, John Boe, review of The Beneventan Chant, p. 511; December, 1993, Jana Novotna, review of Plainsong in the Age of Polyphony, p. 557; September, 1997, Rosemary Thoonen Dubowchik, review of The Exultet in Southern Italy, p. 64; March, 2001, Jonathan Bellman, review of First Nights, p. 596.

Opera, September 1, 2005, Richard Law, review of First Nights at the Opera, p. 1144.

Opera News, January, 2005, William R. Braun, review of First Nights at the Opera, p. 75.

Opera Quarterly, spring, 2005, Christopher Hatch, review of First Nights at the Opera, p. 374.

Publishers Weekly, April 10, 2000, "Classical Notes," p. 89.

Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, October, 1991, Richard L. Crocker, review of The Beneventan Chant, p. 905; January, 1999, Joseph Dyer, review of The Exultet in Southern Italy, p. 199.

Times Literary Supplement, November 17, 2000, Judith Weir, review of First Nights, p. 9.