Guillaume-Gommaire Kennis

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Guillaume-Gommaire Kennis (also Willem-Gommaar Kennis; born April 30, 1717 in Lier , † May 10, 1789 in Leuven ) was a Belgian violinist, composer and conductor of the pre-classical period.

Life

Initially he was a choirboy at St. Gummarius Church in Lier, at the age of eleven he became second violinist in the church orchestra. In 1742 he was appointed Kapellmeister. Eight compositions by Kennis are known from his time in Lier.

In 1750 he left his hometown to accept the post of Kapellmeister at St. Pieters Church in the university town of Leuven . During his passage through the English music biographer Charles Burney noted in his diary in 1772: “Kennis is not only the most famous violinist in Leo, but the whole country [...] the solos he writes for his instrument are of such difficulty that nobody dares to perform them ”. Kennis did indeed compose a number of virtuoso works for violin, most of which were published in London and Paris. After the Empress Maria Theresia Kennis heard virtuoso playing, she gave him a valuable violin made by Jakob Stainer , which he had made for the imperial family.

The English edition of his Opus 4 was long regarded as a work by Johann Christian Bach , the last time the sonatas were published in New York in 1949 under his name.

His son Guillaume-Jacques-Joseph Kennis (1768–1845) followed his father to the post of Kapellmeister in Leuven and was on behalf of the French Revolutionary Government from 1803 Kapellmeister at the Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp) to reorganize church music there.

Works (selection)

  • op. 1 Six Sonatas for Violin, Cello and Harpsichord (Liège, 1740)
  • op. 2 Six trio sonatas for 2 violins and bc
  • op. 3a Six sonatas for violin and bc
  • op.3b Be symphony a quatro stromenti
  • op.4 Six sonates à deux violons (Liège, 1761)
  • op. 6 VI Trio da camera (1763)
  • op.7 Six sonates en trio (self-published)
  • op. 8 Be sonata a tre
  • op.9 Sei duetti con violino e violoncello (1767)
  • op.10 Six sonates pour deux violons
  • op. 11 Six string quartets
  • op.12 Six Duos pour deux violons (1781)
  • A collection of four-part motets with organ accompaniment
  • A "Responsoria pro defunctis"
  • A funeral mass "Missa pro defunctis" and other sacred works

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ François-Joseph Fétis: Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique (1867)
personal data
SURNAME Kennis, Guillaume-Gommaire
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kennis, Willem Gommaar (Dutch name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian violinist and pre-classical composer
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1717
PLACE OF BIRTH Lier
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1789
Place of death Lions