Kennedy-Fraser, Marjorie (née Kennedy)

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Kennedy-Fraser, Marjorie (née Kennedy)

Kennedy-Fraser, Marjorie (née Kennedy), Scottish singer, pianist, and folk-song collector, daughter of David Kennedy; b. Perth, Oct. 1, 1857; d. Edinburgh, Nov. 22, 1930. From the age of 12 she traveled with her father as his accompanist. She then studied voice with Mathilde Marchesi in Milan and Paris, and also took courses in piano with Matthay and in music history with Niecks. Inspired by the example of her father, she became a dedicated collector of folk songs. In 1905 she went to the Outer Hebrides, after which she made a specialty of research in Celtic music. She publ. the eds. Songs of the Hebrides (with K. Macleod; 3 vols., London, 1909, 1917, 1921), From the Hebrides (Glasgow and London, 1925), and More Songs of the Hebrides (London and N.Y., 1929), as well as the handbook Hebridean Song and the Laws of Interpretation (Glasgow, 1922). She wrote the libretto for and sang the title role in Bantock’s opera The Seal Woman (1924). She also publ. the autobiography A Life of Song (London, 1928).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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