Talk:James Kent (composer)

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Sources

In reply to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Classical music#James Kent:

I don't have the time at the moment to do a proper write-up, but here are the sources I found:

Kent, James (1700–1776), organist and composer, was born at Winchester on 13 March 1700, the son of a glazier. He was a chorister at Winchester Cathedral (1711–14) and then at the Chapel Royal (1714–18) under Dr William Croft. Through the influence of the subdean, John Dolben, he was appointed organist to the parish church of Finedon, Northamptonshire, in 1718. He resigned in 1731 on being elected organist of Trinity College, Cambridge, remaining there until he succeeded John Bishop as organist of Winchester Cathedral and Winchester College. He was married to Elizabeth, daughter of John Freeman, a singer in the theatre and in the choirs of the Chapel Royal, St Paul's, and Westminster Abbey. He resigned in 1774 and died in Winchester on 6 May 1776.
Kent published Twelve Anthems (1773), and after his death A Morning and Evening Service with Eight Anthems (c.1777) was edited by Joseph Corfe. He had assisted William Boyce in the preparation of his Cathedral Music (1760). His anthem ‘Hear my prayer’, for two solo trebles, may be taken as representative of his work, which was both extravagantly praised and excoriated: his work drew so heavily from G. B. Bassani and others as to open him to charges of unscrupulous plagiarism.

R. F. Sharp: "Kent, James", revised K. D. Reynolds, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15417. (subscription required)

Kent, James
(b Winchester, 13 March 1700; d Winchester, 6 May 1776). English organist, composer and music copyist. He was successively a chorister of Winchester Cathedral and of the Chapel Royal under Croft. By the patronage of Sir John Dolben he was appointed organist of Finedon, Northamptonshire, on the installation of an organ there in 1717, and in 1731 he became organist of Trinity College, Cambridge. In January 1738 he succeeded John Bishop as organist of both the cathedral and college of Winchester, which posts he resigned in 1774: his work at Winchester was notable for his diligence in teaching the choristers. He assisted Boyce in the compilation of his Cathedral Music (1760–73).
Like Nares, Kent wrote church music in a post-Croft style without the distinction of Greene, mildly florid or mellifluously charming, of which his best-known anthem, Hear my prayer, for two solo trebles, is representative. Some of his anthems use musical ideas from other composers: he certainly borrowed from G.B. Bassani in Hearken unto this, O man, and a manuscript volume of Bassani’s music once belonging to Kent is extant (GB-Ob). His indebtedness to music by Croft was recognized in the 18th century. In addition to copying undertaken as part of his regular duties, Kent seems to have created his own collection of manuscript full scores, though the extent of it cannot be reconstructed from the sale catalogue claiming to include his library (Watson, 22 May 1835). (H.W. Shaw: The Succession of Organists of the Chapel Royal and the Cathedrals of England and Wales from c.1538 (Oxford, 1991))

Watkins Shaw and Donald Burrows: "Kent, James", Grove Music Online (subscription required)

Michael Bednarek (talk) 07:12, 21 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]