Henri O'Kelly

Joseph Pierre Henri O'Kelly (23 June 1859 – 15 March 1938) was a Franco-Irish composer, pianist, organist and choir director, based in Paris.

[1] The somewhat unexpected birth of a son in 1881 forced him to abandon a promising pianistic career[2] and seek financial safety as a church organist and choir master, holding such positions at Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois in central Paris (1881–1900) and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul in the 10th arrondissement (1900–1918).

For his services to French church music, Henri sr. became a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1931,[4] having been proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as he had always remained Irish.

Apparently, he also wrote a number of motets and other church music,[6] but of these only a setting of Tu es Petrus (c.1903) has survived in manuscript.

[8] He particularly championed music by Adolphe Deslandres (1840–1911), Théodore Dubois (1837–1924), César Franck (1845–1924), and Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921), besides several younger composers.

From about 1907 until the mid-1920s, O'Kelly recorded numerous pianola rolls for the "Pleyela"[9] brand of player pianos by Pleyel, Wolff, Lyon & Cie.