a Kempis, Joannes Florentius

Hendrik Vanden Abeele (translation Hendrik Vanden Abeele)

Jean-Florent (Joannes Florentius, Florent, Joanne-Florentio) a Kempis (baptised 1 August 1635) was a Flemish organist and composer, the fifth son of Nicolaes a Kempis. He was probably appointed organist of the Church of Our Lady of the Chapel (Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-ter-Kapellekerk) in Brussels in 1657. Between 1670 and 1672 he succeeded his father as organist of the collegiate church of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula in Brussels, although the sources show some confusion on this point. He retired on 5 August 1690; his son Guillaume then took over the position of organist.

Only a limited corpus of his works appears to have survived. In 1657 the collection Cantiones natalitiae tam vocibus quam instrumentis accomodatae was published in Antwerp by Petrus Phalesius, a set of five-part Christmas songs of which only fragments remain. Other extant compositions include the sequence Victimae paschalis (1691, Brussels, Royal Library) and a double-choir Benedictus (c. 1695, fragmentary; possibly by his son Guillaume; Brussels, Conservatory Library). An eight-part Missa pro defunctis is mentioned by Fétis as being preserved in the archives of the Brussels royal chapel, dated 21 August 1666 and compiled under chapel master Jean Tison (Tichon). In addition, a now-lost collection of twelve sonatas for violin, bass viol and basso continuo is attributed to him.

The transmission and attribution of his works are problematic. Fétis (according to Eitner) wrongly attributed to him a series of prints from the years 1644–1649, which in fact belong to his father Nicolaes. A Mass and several motets from the 1650s are also sometimes tentatively ascribed to him. Nevertheless, the surviving works attest to his significant role in Brussels musical life in the second half of the seventeenth century. Meyer notes that “a Kempis” introduced many innovations, but does not substantiate this claim.