Obituary: Dr Kenneth Elliott, tireless explorer, curator and restorer of Scotland’s often unsung musical heritage

Born: 28 November, 1929, in Dundee: Died. 9 September, 2011, in Glasgow, aged 81

KENNETH Elliott had a profound influence on various aspects of music making in Scotland. He was a distinguished senior lecturer at Glasgow University, a musicologist and an authority on early Scottish music.

Elliott did much to restore the music of past generations and pioneered concerts by those early composers – many virtually unknown. His ability to find and interpret old manuscripts was unending and after retiring from Glasgow University’s music department in 1995, Elliott embarked on the publication by Musica Scotica of much of his rediscovered music.

One of Elliott’s passions was the music of the 16th-century composer Robert Carver. Elliott researched his scores and produced performing editions for the Saltire Society.

Elliott, a modest and quiet man, avoided the limelight of public events. He preferred to let his writings and the music speak for him but his genial and authoritative influence on both professional and amateur musicians in Scotland was considerable. His enthusiasm and scholarship were always wholehearted and genuine.

Kenneth James Elliott was the son of an electrical engineer and attended Dundee High School. He was a chorister in St Paul’s Scottish Episcopal Cathedral – a `“wonderful training in choral singing’’, he once recalled.

He took a degree in classics at St Andrews but was much involved in the musical life of the university: playing the continuo, piano and organ. His interest in early music was encouraged by his discovery of Monteverdi through the professor of music, Cedric Thorpe Davie.

Thorpe Davie made several arrangements of Scottish songs, Elliott often accompanying at St Andrews’ concerts – and assisted in the music Thorpe Davie wrote for the Edinburgh Festival productions of Allan Ramsay’s The Gentle Shepherd, and the incidental music for The Thrie Estates. Elliott sang in the off-stage chorus of the 1951 production of the play.

Elliott wrote his PhD at St John’s College, Cambridge and was much influenced by Professor Robin Orr. In 1956, Orr was appointed professor of music at Glasgow University and he invited Elliott to join his department. It proved a most fruitful appointment not only for Elliott’s diligent research of Scottish music but his influence on generations of music students in Scotland.

Elliott had a gift for teaching with a conscientious enthusiasm: he encouraged students to explore their own musical talents and develop new ones.

He also published widely and one of his anthologies, Early Scottish Music 1500 – 1700, was widely praised for its insights and revelations. It was followed by substantive works on early Scottish keyboard music, church hymnary and the consort of William Byrd. Elliott contributed to various learned musical publications – including Grove’s Dictionary. “I’ve always liked to strike a balance,” he said in an interview, “between teaching, performance, and research.”

It was Elliott’s research into the composer Carver which brought him special academic renown. Carver spent much of his adult life at Scone Abbey and was renowned for his sacred and choral music.

Elliott compiled an anthology of his music from the archives in the National Library of Scotland. One of Elliott’s favoured vocal groups, Cappella Nova, gave a concert of Carver’s motets and masses in Glasgow Cathedral.

Elliott was much involved with chamber music concerts at the university and at the Edinburgh Festival.

In 1972, he played the harpsichord with the Scottish Baroque Ensemble in a morning concert at the Freemasons’ Hall. There were concerts by the Saltire Singers (on occasions accompanied by Thea Musgrave) for which Elliott prepared the music and accompanied. These were in various venues but often at the society’s base at Gladstone’s Land, on the High Street.

His love of music making was central to his life – and it was no means restricted to early music. Elliott gave piano recitals – showing a keen ability with later composers – and conducted with much warmth the university chorus in concerts ranging from Purcell’s Fairy Queen to more popular music.

Elliott was also widely acknowledged as an authoritative broadcaster; with his colleague at Glasgow university, Professor Fred Rimmer, he did a series of programmes on Scottish music for Radio Scotland. In 1996, Elliott published two volumes of the exhaustive research he had done on Scottish music.

The books were principally devoted to the complete works of Carver and other 16th-century Scottish songs.

Later publications included research into Sir John Clerk of Penicuik and other 17th-century Scots composers.

On his 75th birthday, as a reflection of the esteem in which he was held by colleagues and former students, Elliott was presented with a book honouring his academic achievements with acknowledgements to the tremendous contribution he had made to Scottish music and research throughout his distinguished career.

Dr Kenneth Elliott was unmarried. ALASDAIR STEVEN