Kent Kennan

From Wind Repertory Project
Kent Kennan

Biography

Kent Wheeler Kennan (18 April 1913, Milwaukee, Wisc. - 1 November 2003, Austin, Tex.) was an internationally known composer, author, music educator, and professor emeritus of music theory and composition at The University of Texas at Austin.

He demonstrated musical talent at an early age, beginning piano lessons at the age of six, and organ and flute studies shortly thereafter. He received his degrees in music from the University of Michigan and the Eastman School of Music in composition and music theory. At the age of 23, he was awarded one of the most coveted prizes in music, the Prix de Rome. This allowed him to study for three years in Europe, primarily at the American Academy in Rome.

Except for a brief teaching stint at Kent State University and two years at The Ohio State University during the 1950s, Professor Kennan’s teaching career was spent at The University of Texas at Austin. He was one of the last surviving members of the original six-member faculty of the College of Fine Arts created in 1940 under the leadership of Dean William F. Doty.

Professor Kennan’s compositions include works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, and solo instrument as well as songs and choral music. One of his best-known works, Night Soliloquy, has been performed by every major orchestra in the country under such distinguished conductors as Toscanini, Ormandy, Stokowski, and Ozawa. It has been recorded on six different labels and is considered a staple of the flute repertory. Several other works, such as his Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, Three Pieces for Orchestra, and Three Piano Preludes, are also widely performed and recorded.

In addition to his original compositions, Professor Kennan made highly-regarded transcriptions of sonatas by both Brahms and Prokofiev. His transcription of the Prokofiev flute sonata for clarinet and orchestra has been performed and commercially recorded by leading clarinetist Richard Stolzman.

In a decision that puzzled friends and admirers, Professor Kennan composed his last major work in 1956 at the age of 43 and opted to abandon composition. From then on, he wrote only occasional small pieces and chose to devote himself to teaching and educational writing. Even so, the strength and expressivity of his early works earned him a deserved status as one of the most important American composers of the first half of the twentieth century. At Kennan’s death, Peter Bay (conductor of the Austin Symphony) said of him, “Kent, like his music, was direct, honest and expressive, and he was overly modest about his numerous accomplishments. His music and dedication to the education of musicians will keep his legacy alive well beyond his earthbound years.”

Professor Kennan’s two books, Counterpoint and The Technique of Orchestration, are widely regarded as the best and most authoritative treatments of these subjects in English. Both have been in continuous use for more than forty-five years and have been the most widely used texts in their fields for decades.


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