A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Kennedy, David

by William Henderson

KENNEDY, David, Scottish vocalist, born at Perth, April 15, 1825; died Oct. 13, 1886. He received his first lessons in music from his father, an enthusiastic musician, and at the age of eighteen assisted him as precentor of the North United Secession Church, Perth. At the age of twenty he succeeded his uncle as precentor of South Street Church in the same city. At an early age he was apprenticed to a house painter in Perth. During this time, while working at a house ten or twelve miles distant, he resolved to hear Templeton, who was singing at the Perth Theatre. He started after leaving off work, running all the way, and clearing the distance in two hours. Having no money to pay for admission, he stood throughout the whole performance, in the pelting rain, with ear to key-hole, and then took to the road again to be ready for work at six in the morning. He afterwards worked as a journeyman in Edinburgh and London, but returned to Perth to commence business on his own account. He had, however, the never-ceasing desire to become a public singer, and made frequent visits to Edinburgh to receive singing lessons from Mr. Edmund Edmunds. Having secured an appointment as precentor in Nicholson Street United Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh, he struggled hard to support himself and family by occasional concert giving, teaching, etc. in Edinburgh and neighbourhood. In Jan. '59 he received his first important engagement, for the Burns centenary at St. George's Hall, Liverpool. In the autumn he gave twelve concerts in Buccleuch Street Hall, Edinburgh. Every programme being different, he tested about 150 songs. Professor Ayton and Robert and William Chambers were in the habit of attending; they became his personal friends, and gave him many friendly hints, and great encouragement at the outset of his career. In 1860 he made short tours in Scotland, and in 1861 went as far as the Orkneys. In the summer of 1862 he made his first appearance in London, at the Hanover Square Rooms. Four concerts were given, and the programmes contained selections from 'The Gentle Shepherd,' 'Noctes Ambrosianse,' etc., etc. The veteran, John Templeton, was present upon each occasion, and was one of the first to offer his warm congratulations. In December of the same year Kennedy commenced a series of concerts in the Egyptian Hall, which extended to 100 nights, ending in May 1863. After tours in the south of England and in Scotland he returned to London in the winter of 1864–65, to give a series of concerts in Store Street Hall, with fresh programmes, which included selections from 'Waverley,' and an entertainment called 'The Farmer's Ingle.' His eldest daughter, Helen, scarcely in her teens, had now become his accompanist. At one time or another his eleven sons and daughters all assisted in the entertainments. In the summer of 1866 he visited Canada and the United States, and sang in every city of importance North and South. For the next twenty years he toured at home and abroad, travelling through Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India, and revisiting Canada several times. One of his first acts, when at Quebec in 1867, was to visit the grave of Wilson, who died there in 1849. He had photographs taken of the tombstone, and arranged that the grave should be tended and cared for in perpetuity. Mr. Kennedy's last appearance in public was at a 'Burns Night,' in Sarnia, Oct. 4, 1886. The last concert given by the 'Kennedy Family' was at Stratford, Ontario, on the following evening. Mr. Kennedy being too ill to appear, his daughters carried out the programme, the Mayor of Stratford taking the chair. He probably hastened hisend by resolving to revisit the grave of Wilson with the shadow of death almost upon him. He went out of his way to do so, and in a few days breathed his last, at Stratford. The body was embalmed and brought to his native land by his widow; a public funeral took place from his own house in Edinburgh, to the Grange Cemetery. An interesting sketch of his life by his daughter Marjory, has recently been published. It contains also a condensation of three books, previously published, entitled 'Kennedy's Colonial Tour,' 'Kennedy in India,' and 'Kennedy at the Cape.' Much sympathy was felt for him and his family in 1881 when one son and two daughters perished at the burning of the Théâtre des Italiens at Nice. His eldest son, David, died at Natal in 1884. Only a, few years before his death Kennedy was at Milan receiving valuable hints from Lamperti; a true lover of his art, he ever felt the necessity for constant application and study. Mr. Kennedy leaves a successor in his son Robert, who is now successfully giving Scottish entertainments in Australia. A movement is on foot to raise a public monument in Edinburgh to Scotland's three great vocalists, Wilson, Templeton, and Kennedy.

[ W. H. ]