Jerome Lawrence Alexander Roche (22 May 1942 – 2 June 1994) was a British musicologist, with a particular interest in Italian church music of the baroque era.

Early life and education

Roche was born in 1942 in

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, Egypt, the son of an army doctor. He was educated at

Downside School Downside School is a co-educational Catholic independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition for pupils aged 11 to 18. It is located between Bath, Frome, Wells and Bruton, and is attached to Downside Abbey. Original ...

, a Catholic independent school in Somerset, England, before studying music at St John's College, Cambridge, graduating with a BA in 1962. He went on to study for a PhD, under the supervision of

Denis Arnold Denis Midgley Arnold (Sheffield, 15 December 1926 – Budapest, 28 April 1986) was a British musicologist. Biography After being employed in the extramural department of Queen's University, Belfast, he became a Lecturer in Music at the Univ ...

. His dissertation focussed on the development of vocal duets in Italian baroque church music.

Career

In 1967, the year before completing his PhD, Roche was appointed a lecturer at Durham University. He became a

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in 1987. Roche published editions of music by Francesco Cavalli, Giovanni Battista Crivelli and

Alessandro Grandi Alessandro Grandi (1590 – after June 1630, but in that year) was a northern Italian composer of the early Baroque era, writing in the new concertato style. He was one of the most inventive, influential, and popular composers of the time, proba ...

, and rediscovered many works from the period that had become forgotten. He edited ''The Penguin Book of Four-Part Italian Madrigals'' (1974) and ''Masterworks from Venice'' (1994). Roche was a member of the editorial board of the journal ''

The Seventeenth Century ''The Seventeenth Century'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on the 17th century published by Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books an ...

'' from its establishment in 1986. He also regularly contributed articles and book reviews to other journals such as ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...

'', ''

Music & Letters ''Music & Letters'' is an academic journal published quarterly by Oxford University Press with a focus on musicology. The journal sponsors the Music & Letters Trust, twice-yearly cash awards of variable amounts to support research in the music fie ...

'' and '' Early Music'', as well as scholarly publications by the

Royal Musical Association The Royal Musical Association (RMA) is a British scholarly society and charity. Founded in 1874, the Association claims to be the second oldest musicological society in the world, after that of the Netherlands. Activities include organizing and sp ...

Personal life and death

Roche was married to Elizabeth, a fellow musicologist and graduate of Durham University. His interests outside of music included railways and meteorology. He was also a committed

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. Roche died aged 52 at his holiday home in

Vittorio Veneto Vittorio Veneto is a city and ''comune'' situated in the Province of Treviso, in the region of Veneto, Italy, in the northeast of Italy, between the Piave and the Livenza rivers, borders with the following municipalities: Alpago ( BL), Bellun ...

, Italy in June 1994 from a brain tumour. The tumour had been discovered earlier in the year, during a period of hospitalisation following a suspected stroke. He was survived by his wife and one daughter, the latter now also a lecturer at Durham. A concert was held in his honour in Durham Cathedral in October 1994. In 2001, the

created the Jerome Roche Prize, which is awarded annually to a young scholar for a published article on musicology in English.

Selected publications

* ''Palestrina'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971) - Oxford Studies of Composers series * ''The Madrigal'' (New York : C. Scribner's Son, 1972) * ''A Dictionary of Early Music: From the Troubadours to Monteverdi'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981) - edited with Elizabeth Roche * ''Lassus'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982) - Oxford Studies of Composers series * '' North Italian Church Music in the Age of Monteverdi'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Jerome 1942 births 1994 deaths People educated at Downside School Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Deaths from brain tumor Academics of Durham University 20th-century British musicologists