Robert Kelly (composer)
American composer, composition teacher, and violinist
J. Robert Kelly (September 26, 1916 in Clarksburg West Virginia – July 4, 2007 in Urbana, Illinois) was an American composer, composition teacher, and violinist. Kelly began studying violin at six with Albert Kember and later majored in violin at the Juilliard School of Music under Samuel Gardner. Kelly earned his Bachelor of Music Degree (1942) from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied composition with Rosario Scalero. After earning his Bachelor's degree and some time teaching junior college, Kelly begin teaching at the University of Illinois (1946-1976). Later on Kelly continued his studies at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Herbert Elwell and earned his Master of Music Degree in Composition (1952).
Robert Kelly Picture
Biography
Early life
Robert Kelly was born in Clarksburg, WV on September 26, 1919; to Dallas D. Kelly and Fannie M. Robinson. While Kelly's parents were not musicians, despite his father playing the saxophone on rare occasions, the town of Clarksburg was filled with professional musicians. Kelly studied violin with Albert Kember at the age of six and clarinet with Frank Migliaccio. It was during Kelly's high school career that he began exploring the world of composing. After the world premiere of The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by Gibson Morrissey in Clarksburg, Kelly began to write his own works.
“Robert Kelly (composer)” enters the record as american composer, composition teacher, and violinist. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Robert, Kelly and composer can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q18631757. VIAF identifies the subject as 24575171. The Library of Congress control number is n83151533. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1916, 2007, 1942 and 1946.
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This entry incorporates text from “Robert Kelly (composer)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.