Robert Jones
It was with profound sadness that the College learned of the passing of longtime professor and veritable Vanier music icon, Robert Jones on April 3, 2012.
A composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher, Robert had also taught at McGill and Mount Allison Universities. With an MFA and PhD from Brandeis University, Jones studied with many noted composers and music theorists, including Elliott Carter, Roger Sessions, and Robert Cogan. His extensive catalogue of compositions features more that sixty works for a wide variety of instruments, voices and styles.
Robert had been battling cancer during most of the time he was working steadfastly on composing his last monumental work, La Terra Promessa, which premiered here on May 6, 2011. This symphony for soloists, chorus and orchestra was commissioned to celebrate Vanier College’s 40th Anniversary.
Robert Jones taught music at Vanier College since 1976. His compositions have been performed in North and South America, Asia and Europe in such places as Westminster Abbey and Salisbury Cathedral. He once said that his work was influenced by the colours, moods, and austere landscape of the Arizona desert where he grew up.
Robert left his indelible mark onto an entire generation of Vanier music students with his profound knowledge, his phenomenal creativity and his superb virtuosity both as a performer and, of course, as a composer. His students will miss him greatly as will all of us at Vanier who knew him. His loss will be keenly felt by the Vanier music faculty members who best knew and loved him.
A consummate performer, a prodigious composer, and an inspirational teacher, Robert will be greatly missed.
Robert Jones’ funeral was held on Saturday, April 21st at 1:00PM at Christ Church Cathedral, 635 Saint Catherine Street West, and was followed by a reception at Fulford Hall adjacent to the church. This unforgettable service featured music almost wholly written by Dr. Jones. One of the pieces performed, The Lamb, written as part of his symphony La Terra Promessa, was beautifully rendered by a group featuring members of the Vanier College Choir, supplemented by colleagues, friends and former students. To hear this piece, click here. Many more musical performances during the funeral served to continually remind us of the enormity both of his talent and of his loss. The eulogy, delivered by long-time friend and colleague Ron Headland, was a moving tribute to Robert’s life as a friend and family man and also a testimony to his musical contributions as a composer, performer and teacher.
Obituary
The composer Dr. Robert Frederick Jones died peacefully on 3 April after a nearly 3 year battle with cancer. Robert took an almost child-like joy in music; neither illness nor growing older nor any ups and downs of life could diminish his pleasure in composing and performing. Making music was as natural to him as a river flowing to the sea.
During his childhood in Arizona, the intense stillness, colours, and moods of the surrounding deserts made a lasting impression. We hear and feel their aura in such chamber works as THE SOLACE OF FIERCE LANDSCAPES (2000), beati (2001), and DANCES OF THE ETERNAL DREAMTIME (2006).
Perhaps his best known work was his MASS (1987) which he composed for a festival in which 450 children from across Canada premiered the work. Since then it has been performed at Westminster Abbey, Salisbury Cathedral, St. Roch in Paris, and Cathedrale de Notre Dame in Nantes as well as across Canada.
Robert worked as a teacher of composition, piano, and music history at Cégep Vanier College for 35 years. But he is best remembered by the students for his legendary skills as an improviser and accompanist: when they were filled with terror at a recital because of some ghastly mistake or memory lapse, Robert, without blinking an eye, would improvise an elegant accompaniment that would save the day.
Robert had serious skills but he was not always a serious person. It was not uncommon for Robert to break the tension by playing an amusing musical doodle that would crack everyone up. For example, during a dress rehearsal where everyone was frantically trying to find their places, slowly some music would fade in on the piano. Could that be the Muppet Show theme? Or if the conductor was getting angry, maybe he’d improvise some Vaudeville. He was a peacemaker in his own way.
In the closing years of his life, with an ever weakening body but a soaring spirit, he composed his ecstatic 12 movement choral symphony, LA TERRA PROMESSA. Each movement is based on a different aspect of nature but, as the composer said: “Although on the surface the piece may appear to be about rocks, plants, animals, and people; at a deeper level it is about the divine energy that permeates these creations.” No matter how ill he became, even while in the ICU at the Jewish General Hospital, he continued to compose this work day by day. What has resulted is an extraordinary masterpiece whose soaring beauty seems to emanate from a thin place where the distance between heaven and earth is very close.
Robert was a loving husband to Pamela, father to Andrew, father-in-law to Shannon, and a friend to all who knew him.
There was a long standing custom at Vanier begun by the students that when Robert arrived to accompany the choir, they would stand and applaud him. Taking a cue from the students, let us applaud a life well lived.
All are invited to celebrate Robert’s life at an ecumenical funeral service held on Saturday, 21 April, at Christ Church Cathedral at 1pm. More information on the funeral and Robert’s music can be found online at http://rfjones.ca.
Published in The Gazette on April 14, 2012.
RELATED LINKS
Read the obituary that appeared in the Montreal Gazette of April 14, 2012. Click here.
Recordings of some of Robert Jones’ music can be found by clicking here.
Much more information is available from Robert Jones’ website. Click here.
Immediately following the announcement of his death, Robert was the subject of an article in the Montreal Gazette written by music critic Bernard Perusse. To read it in its entirety, click here. Robert was also the subject of a Gazette article published just prior to the world premiere of his symphony La Terra Promessa.
There was also a wonderfully glowing review of La Terra Promessa written by noted classical guitarist Patrick Kearney. To read it, click here. Mr. Kearney also published a bio of Robert Jones.
In the event that a member of the Vanier community learns about the passing of either a current or a former employee, please contact Isabelle Moncion, Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs, directly at extension 7543 or via email so that we can communicate the information/funeral details to you as quickly as possible.Thank you for your collaboration.
Stacey Emmert:
Remarkable! My mother used to speak of her genius cousin who preformed for River Falls University staff and students when he was only 8 years old. She spoke of his brilliance. I would love to learn more about him and this memoir is beautifully done in his honor. I appreciate these insights to his brilliant mind. Thank you.
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