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“A Significant Impact”The Contribution of Jacob Kappey, Bandmaster of the Chatham Division, 1857-1892by Marcher
Modern military band libraries with their wealth of music are frequently taken for granted. Sheet music can be easily obtained, even within the constraints and bounds of current copyright legislation, but it was not always the way. Military Bandmasters often had to resort to their own devices to maintain the flow of new compositions and arrangements. One person who had a major impact upon this problem, and who received significant appreciation from his peers as a result, was Jacob Kappey the Bandmaster of Chatham Division, Royal Marines, for thirty-five years from 1857 to 1892. He also wrote a book on military music ‘Military Music – A History of Wind-Instrumental Bands’ which was first published in 1894. A reviewer wrote: “Military music has ever had a fascination for the popular ear. To civilians as well as soldiers, Mr Kappey’s elegantly got-up book will be very acceptable. It is pleasantly written in a manner that is neither too simple for the professional reader nor too technical for the layman, and it abounds in illustrations, anecdotes and examples, so that it will prove highly interesting to all. The plates, which are reproductions of photographs, are well executed, and altogether the book is one which is worthy of a prominent place in every ante-room, and the library or drawing rooms of those (and they are the majority) who delight in military music” This book was one of the first, if not the very first, to attempt to describe the development of the military band, including its musicians and its instruments, and to credit the importance, particularly to the public, of the music of the military bands. In 1912 Lt George Miller, Bandmaster of the Portsmouth Division of the Royal Marine Light Infantry, wrote his book ‘The Military Band’ using Kappey’s book as both a reference and a template. George Henry Farmer, in his book ‘Military Music’, wrote about Kappey’s book: “Over half a century ago, a well-known army bandmaster, J A Kappey, pointed out how serious was this flaw in our histories of music” [Having no modern history of the development of the military band and its music]. “While historians”, he [Kappey] wrote, “revelled in descriptions of the grandeur of ecclesiastical compositions, of the music of the princely palaces or the royal playhouses, the music of the people has been passed over with almost contemptuous indifference, and it seems as is they were, so to say, ashamed to mention the poor cousin who found inspiration in the open air, or ‘went a-soldiering’”. Farmer’s first book ‘Memoirs of the Royal Artillery Band,’ published in 1904, was also used as a reference by Miller. Whilst the works of Miller and Farmer were extremely important it is evident that Kappey’s research and writing provided the foundation stone, or perhaps the catalyst, for much of the writing that followed. So who was Kappey? Jacob Adam Kappey was born in 1926 at Bingen in the German Rhineland and, following musical training, he joined the German Army in 1844. During the mid-nineteenth century, following the reformation of the Prussian military bands by Wilhelm Wiepracht, it became common practice for British regiments to have a German bandmaster. Kappey decided to leave Germany to join a British Army regiment as bandmaster and, in 1848, he joined the 89th Regiment (later to become the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers, Princess Victoria’s). He appears to have settled in well and to have brought great enthusiasm to his duties. It is recorded that during a concert in Ireland he encouraged the band to such a crescendo that the reverberations brought a chandelier crashing to the floor – fortunately without injury to anyone! He was with the 89th in Gibraltar when the Crimean War broke out and, although the regiment is known to have served at Sebastapol, Kappey, like many of the bandmasters whose bands went to the Crimea, returned to serve in England and Ireland. In 1857 Mr W Rogers, a civilian conductor, retired as Bandmaster of the Chatham Division of the Royal Marine Light Infantry. Rogers had developed a very fine band that had been asked to provide music for Queen Victoria’s Coronation and other State ceremonial in London. Kappey applied to be Rogers’ successor and, despite tough competition from over a hundred candidates, was honoured with the appointment. There can be no doubt that J A Kappey was a consummate musician and was highly skilled as a composer, arranger, conductor, teacher and, perhaps most importantly, was a learned authority on all musical matters. It has been written that following the move to Chatham, where he remained until his death, he began to live ‘more the life of a musical scholar and literary recluse than that of a public entertainer’. He chose to mark his appointment by writing a waltz that he called ‘The Royal Marines’, then he embarked upon his first task which was to increase the strength of the band and bring it to its complemented size of forty musicians. He was also determined to have a very good string orchestra – a target that he achieved by about 1860. It was during this year that HRH The Duke of Cambridge, the Commander-in-Chief Army, visited the Chatham Garrison and, during the visit, he inspected the Royal Marine Division with its Colours, a Guard of Honour and the Band under, presumably, Mr Kappey. During this period military band music was in short supply mainly due to the difficulties in reproducing manuscript originals. This limited band repertoires, a situation that bandmasters tried to overcome by lending each other their own compositions and arrangements. This, in turn, created the need for long and laborious hand copying of score and parts. In an effort to overcome this problem the Dutch Bandmaster Mr Boose began to produce what became ‘Boosey’s Military Journal’, a collection of military music including arrangements and transcriptions that was published monthly. Following the death of Mr Boose, J A Kappey was asked to become the journal’s editor and arranger, a task that he began in 1869. This was in addition to his duties as a Royal Marines Bandmaster. He spent the next forty years composing and arranging music for this purpose and there can be no doubt that military musicians everywhere owe him a great debt of gratitude for assuming this responsibility. It is no wonder that he earned the reputation of having more of ‘the life of a musical scholar and literary recluse than that of a public entertainer’ although there is no evidence to suggest that he did not fulfil his responsibilities to his Royal Marines Band. Quite the opposite in fact since in the same year, which was ten years after he had assumed his appointment, the Officers of the Chatham Division, Royal Marine Light Infantry, presented him with a gold decorated ivory baton as a mark of their esteem.
Two years later, in response to a request from the Officers, Kappey wrote a light opera that he called ‘The Wager’. Encouraged by the success of this he wrote a cantata, ‘Per Mare, Per Terram’, the motto of the Royal Marines. This was completed in 1878 and was performed by the Rochester, Strood and Chatham Choral Society with an orchestra comprised of leading instrumentalists from the London Opera Houses and the combined orchestras of the Royal Marines and the Royal Engineers. Sir Julius Benedict, a prominent and respected figure in the London opera scene, described it as “the work of a thorough musician”. Kappey became Musical Director of the Rochester, Strood and Chatham Choral Society in 1882.
By the 1870s the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall was successfully training Army musicians as Bandmasters. This generated a strong official reaction to the employment of German civilian bandmasters. Whilst the cause of much of the Army criticism of German bandmasters was the temporary nature of their employment, this was never the case with Kappey or the other two German bandmasters employed by the Royal Marine Divisions who collectively served for 72 years. In 1881 the rank of Warrant Officer was introduced into the Royal Marines and amongst the thirty-one men who received Warrants were the four Royal Marine Bandmasters, three of whom were German. Both Kappey and Karl Froehnert (Plymouth Division) were known to dislike wearing uniform, but the Warrant Officer status meant that uniform became obligatory and so, when the Chatham and Plymouth Divisional Bands appeared together in 1883, Kappey and Froehnert both appeared in uniform for the first time. Kappey continued to compose, arrange and edit the Boosey journal, to the benefit of all, and in 1882, a challenge was issued by the Deputy Adjutant General that suited Kappey’s vast experience. Up until 1855 the Royal Marines had used ‘British Grenadiers’ as the unofficial Regimental March but, since that date, it had become the custom for each of the Commandants to choose a march for their own Division. It had been decided that the Corps needed an official march to be used by all Divisions and, since the selection of an existing composition had proved impossible, the four Bandmasters were each asked to submit an arrangement based, if possible, upon a Naval song. Kappey had already arranged Russell’s tune ‘A Life on the Ocean Wave’ as a march and so he now added a segment from the Naval song ‘The Sea’ as a trio and submitted it for consideration. His submission was chosen and, in 1882, a War Office publication confirmed it as the official march of the Royal Marines. It is now one of the most famous Regimental Marches in the world and, when heard, is instantly associated with the Royal Marines. In 1886 Kappey took his band to the Edinburgh International Exhibition, a showcase for military bands that also featured the Band of the Portsmouth Division, Royal Marine Light Infantry, under Bandmaster George Miller. Amongst the ninety-one pieces of music that the Chatham Band took with them were six fantasias, a gavotte, a waltz, a redowa and two marches composed by Kappey. During the following years Kappey was not only guiding his very popular Royal Marine Band and editing the Boosey Journal but also spent a great deal of time researching and writing his book. In addition to all of this he took on the appointment, in 1889, of external examiner of student Army bandmasters at Kneller Hall. In 1888, following a Court of Enquiry, it was decided that Kneller Hall should have two examiners. One would be a Graduate of Music from either Oxford or Cambridge whilst the other should have a thorough knowledge of military band instrumentation. Mr James Lawson, formerly Director of Music, Royal Artillery was offered the latter position but, when he declined, it was immediately offered to Jacob Kappey who thereby became the first External Examiner at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall. Following the first examination set by Kappey he made the following observations. Firstly Bandmasters being examined should play an operatic solo on their own instrument to show that they understand the nuances, phrasing, etc. in classical works and therefore be able to explain and instruct others. Secondly, he advocated the demise of the conducting of a piece of music ‘at sight’ deeming this worthless and suggesting that the score be given to the student an hour before the test. Finally, he stated that a viva voce examination should be included. In 1892 he retired as Bandmaster of the Chatham Division, Royal Marines, being succeeded by John Wright who, within twelve months, had taken the band to London for several important Royal engagements. It was also noted that in the same year “Ten of the most accomplished performers of the band under Bandmaster Wright made several visits to the establishment of Mr Edison in London in order to make phonographic recordings of martial airs” Bandmaster Kappey’s retirement, and the esteem in which he was held, was marked by the presentation to him of the sword that he had worn ever since he had first been induced to wear a uniform in 1883! This sword was a very special one; Tsar Nicholas I of Russia had presented it to the Bandmaster of the Chatham Division Band in 1826. The occasion was the Tsar’s Coronation – the first time that a British military band had attended a ceremony beyond the shores of Great Britain. This sword was obtained by the Royal Marines Museum a few years ago, although it is only in the past few weeks that research has shown that the Russian presentation sword of 1826 was the very sword that was presented to Kappey. Shortly before his retirement Mr Charles Godfrey, Bandmaster of the Royal Horse Guards at the time, represented the leading Bandmasters of the Army when he presented Kappey with an embossed inkstand, blotter and envelope case.
J A Kappey continued his composing and arranging into his retirement and, when he died, his collection was passed to the British Museum and then to the British Library where it is now catalogued and held. Over one hundred and seventy items are listed and they include his military band arrangements of works by many classical composers. Verdi, Sir Arthur Sullivan (who, very soon after Kappey’s retirement, told Bandmaster Wright that the Chatham Band was the finest military band that he had ever heard), Gounod, Donizetti, Meyerbeer, Schumann, Wagner, Offenbach, Mendelssohn and Beethoven all feature and, amongst his last works, are arrangements of two compositions by Sir Edward Elgar – ‘Coronation Ode’ and ‘Sursum Corda’. He composed many marches, waltzes, polkas, solos for various instruments and selections. Amongst his arrangements that are often played by bands of the British forces are those traditional items that often mean so much to Regiments, to musicians and to the British public. These include ‘British Grenadiers’, ‘Highland Laddie’, ‘Rising of the Lark’ and ‘Dumbarton’s Drums’. Jacob Adam Kappey died in Chatham on the 6th December 1908 aged 83. Two sons served with the Royal Marines, Lt Col F G Kappey and Major M A B Kappey; both saw a great deal of active service. Over the very long term of his career with the Band of the Chatham Division, Royal Marines, he did indeed make a significant impact upon military music in terms of its availability, its performance and its standards.
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