Edgar Stillman Kelley

Edgar Stillman Kelley (April 14, 1857 – November 12, 1944) was an American composer, conductor, teacher, and writer on music. He is sometimes associated with the Indianist movement in American music.

Life Kelley was of New England stock, his ancestors having come to America from England before 1650. He himself was born in Sparta, Wisconsin. His friendship with Edward MacDowell began in Stuttgart, and later Kelley worked at the MacDowell Colony.

Kelley graduated from the conservatory in Stuttgart in 1880, and performed around Europe for a time with a number of orchestras. Upon his return to the United States, he came west to San Francisco, where he worked as a church organist and was a music critic for the Examiner. He also became active as a composer, writing incidental music for a production of Macbeth that garnered him much attention. An interest in theater drew him to New York City in 1886, and there he married Jessie Gregg on July 23, 1891; the two then returned to California for four more years, during which time Kelley composed, conducted, lectured, and taught. In 1896 the couple returned to New York, where Edgar was hired to conduct an operetta company. He also taught, at the New York College of Music and New York University,

Kelley and his wife divided their time between the Western College and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music; Kelley taught composition there, and later served as dean of the Department of Composition and Orchestration. Among his pupils was C. Hugo Grimm, who would himself later lead the department. ), as well as American Indian and Puritan music. For incidental music to a New York production of Ben-Hur in 1899, he based his composition on Greek modes. This music was to go on to become his most popular work; it is said to have been performed some five thousand times in English-speaking countries by 1930.

A good deal of Kelley's music was published by Arthur Farwell's Wa-Wan Press in the early years of the twentieth century.

Other work In addition to his work as a composer, Kelley was active as a writer on music, continuing after his early experience with the Examiner in San Francisco. Included in his output were a number of books, including Chopin the Composer and a work on Beethoven.

Miami University maintains an archive devoted to Kelley and his wife; it contains correspondence, music manuscripts, books, and other material related to the composer's life and career.

Recordings Little of Kelley's music has been committed to disc. The Aladdin fantasy for orchestra has been recorded as part of an anthology of American orchestral music, and pianist Brian Kovach has recorded his complete output of piano music; both recordings were released by Albany Records.

Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra recorded The Red Queen's Banquet from Kelley's 'Alice in Wonderland' Suite on an acoustic 78 rpm disc in 1924. It was unissued at the time but has finally been released on a CD along with other Stokowski acoustic 78s by 'Pristine Audio' (PASC 471).

Legacy Plaque in the lobby of current day Presser Hall marking Kelley's namesake of the former auditorium. The former auditorium in Presser Hall at Western College for Women was named in honor of Kelley and his wife.