Killed on the Somme at 35, ‘Australia’s Chopin’ is finally getting his due

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Before he was killed in France, Septimus Kelly feared he would die with his greatest works still in his head. Musicians are finally bringing his surviving scores to life.

A century after his death on the battlefields of France, the lost masterpieces of one of Australia’s most gifted composers will be brought back to life at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance in a major effort to reclaim a forgotten figure in the nation’s musical history.

Frederick Septimus Kelly, hailed as Australia’s answer to Chopin, was killed at the Battle of the Somme in November 1916, aged just 35, leaving behind a remarkable body of compositions and ambitious unfinished works that have remained largely unknown for generations.

A new biography of the Sydney-born composer will be launched at the Shrine on Sunday, alongside performances of his long-neglected piano music and a screening of an award-winning documentary examining his extraordinary life.

The Australian War Memorial’s first musical artist-in-residence, Chris Latham, has spent almost two decades recovering Kelly’s compositions and believes his death represented one of the greatest cultural losses suffered by Australia during World War I.

“Sep, in order of his talents, was an Olympic gold medal-winning rower, a great pianist and an even greater composer,” Latham said. “It’s time for our long-lost son to come home.”

Born in Sydney in 1881, Kelly grew up in a musical household before travelling to England, where he attended Eton College and subsequently studied piano and composition in Frankfurt alongside fellow Australian musician Percy Grainger.

His talent was evident from childhood. At 14, he performed for Antoine Marmontel, one of Chopin’s last surviving pupils, who enthusiastically endorsed his musical ambitions.

Kelly went on to perform with major orchestras and collaborate with some of Europe’s most accomplished musicians, including cellist Pablo Casals and violinist Jelly d’Aranyi.

He was also an exceptional athlete, winning a rowing gold medal at the 1908 London Olympics before pursuing a professional music career that took him across Europe and Australia.

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