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MMD > Archives > February 2001 > 2001.02.20 > 10Prev  Next


Albert W. Ketelbey and "Tangled Tunes"
By Frank Himpsl

In response to Larry Norman's question about Albert Ketelby and
the "Tangled Tunes" medley:  I believe Albert Ketelby was of
British nationality, and worked as a roll arranger for the Aeolian
Company in London in the early 1900s.

The earliest roll of "Tangled Tunes" which I've seen is British
Aeolian No. 8140 (65-note roll), which is undoubtedly the master
from which the 88-note Angelus roll Larry refers to originated.
It is an arranged roll (not hand played), with no acknowledgement
of tune ID's or arranger; only crediting Ketelby as composer.

However, Ketelby's name as roll arranger does frequently appear on
other similar British 65-note rolls of the period, which leads me
to believe that the "Tangled Tunes" might well have been a special
issue created for Aeolian by Ketelby, in this case, the composer and
arranger being the same person.  I've never seen sheet music for
"Tangled Tunes," whereas other Ketelby tunes were well distributed.
"In A Persian Market" was undoubtedly his most popular number, being
published by Boosey, Ltd., and probably still in print.

Ketelby's music was a staple in the silent movie era, and I believe
he composed with that media very much in mind as did others long
forgotten such as Gaston Borch, John Zamecnik, Robert Hood Bowers
and many others.   None of the ASCAP directories I checked have any
information about Ketelby, so I doubt that he ever joined that
association.

It would take quite a bit of research work indeed to name all the
tunes which appear on this odd medley roll, which usually only states
a few thematic measures of each tune!

Frank Himpsl


(Message sent Tue 20 Feb 2001, 04:42:04 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.)

Key Words in Subject:  Albert, Ketelbey, Tangled, Tunes, W

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