Kemp, Joseph

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Kemp, Joseph

Kemp, Joseph, English organist, teacher, and composer; b. Exeter, 1778; d. London, May 22, 1824. He studied organ with William Jackson at Exeter Cathedral, and was organist of Bristol Cathedral (1802–07). He then taught in London, and later in Exeter (1814-18; from 1821). As one of the earliest promoters of music instruction by classes, he publ. The New System of Musical Education, Being a Self-instructor and Serviceable Companion to Music Masters (London, c. 1810-19). He composed The Jubilee, an entertainment (Haymarket, London, Oct. 25, 1809), The Siege of Isca, or The Battles of the West, a melodrama (London, May 10, 1810), Musical Illustrations of The Lady of the Lake (c. 1810), Musical Illustrations of the Beauties of Shakespeare (c. 1820), Psalms, anthems, songs, etc.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire