Kirby, Percival Robson
Kirby, Percival Robson
Kirby, Percival Robson, Scottish-born South African musicologist, conductor, and composer; b. Aberdeen, April 17, 1887; d. Grahamstown, South Africa, Feb. 7, 1970. He studied with Terry at the Univ. of Aberdeen (degree, 1910) and with Stanford at the Royal Coll. of Music in London. In 1914 he emigrated to South Africa and became music organizer of the Natal Education Dept.; from 1921 to 1952 he was prof, of music at Univ. Coll. in Johannesburg (later the Univ. of the Wit watersrand). He founded and conducted the Johannsburg Sym. Orch. (1927) and the Univ. Orch. (1930). He is best known for his scholarly work on South African music, and much of his field research resulted in The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa (London, 1934). An expedition to the Kalahari Desert in 1936 led to important studies of Bushman music. He composed numerous songs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire