John Pierre Herman Joubert ( ; 20 March 1927 – 7 January 2019) was a British composer of South African birth, particularly of
choral works. He lived in
Moseley
Moseley is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants. The area also has a number of boutiques and ot ...
, a suburb of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, England, for over 50 years.
[ ; also published as .] A music academic in the universities of
Hull and
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
for 36 years, Joubert took early retirement in 1986 to concentrate on composing and remained active into his eighties. Though perhaps best known for his choral music, particularly the
carols ''Torches'' and ''There is No Rose of Such Virtue'' and the
anthem ''O Lorde, the Maker of Al Thing'', Joubert composed over 160 works including three
symphonies, four
concertos and seven operas.
Early life and education
Joubert was born on 20 March 1927 in
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, South Africa. His ancestors on his father's side were
Huguenots
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
, French
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
s from
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
who settled at the Cape in 1688. His mother's ancestry was Dutch.
[Programme for ]Ex Cathedra
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks '' ex cathedra'' is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the apos ...
's performance of John Joubert's ''Wings of Faith'' at The Oratory, Birmingham, on 22 March 2007. Joubert was educated at
Diocesan College
The Diocesan College (commonly known as Bishops) is a private, English medium, boarding and day high school for boys situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The school was established on ...
in
Rondebosch
Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town.
History
Four years after the first Dutch s ...
, South Africa, which was founded by the
Anglican Church
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
and maintained a high standard of music-making. He originally hoped to become a painter, and did a fair amount of art at school. However, at about the age of 15 years, he gradually became interested in music, though as a composer rather than a performer. "It was always going to be something creative. Oddly enough, the
visual arts
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile art ...
haven't been as great a stimulus as literature. I was also interested in writing. In fact, I was bored by everything at school except writing, art and music!"
In school, he came under the guidance of the musical director Claude Brown, whose teaching he regarded as "an indispensable foundation to my subsequent musical career". According to Joubert, "
rough Brown, I learned all the
Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
choral works even before I heard them properly in full orchestral performance. Not only that idiom, but the idiom of
Anglican church music
Anglican church music is music that is written for Christian worship in Anglican religious services, forming part of the liturgy. It mostly consists of pieces written to be sung by a church choir, which may sing '' a cappella'' or accompanie ...
generally.
Parry and
Stanford, and all the usual blokes."
Through his teacher's encouragement, Joubert was able to participate in choral performances with the
Cape Town Municipal Orchestra under William J. Pickerill, and subsequently to hear his works featured in performance.
After graduating from the
South African College of Music
The South African College of Music, abbreviated as SACM, is a department of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. It is located on the University's Lower Campus in Rondebosch, Cape Town.
Study opportunities
The South African ...
in 1944 he began studying
musical composition privately with
William Henry Bell, an Englishman well known locally as a composer of distinction. Bell exerted the greatest influence on his composition. In 1946 he was awarded a
Performing Right Society
PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...
Scholarship in composition at the
Royal Academy of Music in London. Here, his principal teachers were
Theodore Holland
Theodore Samuel Holland, OBE (25 April 1878 – 29 October 1947), was a British composer and academic. Born in Wimbledon, Holland attended Westminster School and then the Royal College of Music, where his composition teacher was Frederick Corder. ...
,
Howard Ferguson
George Howard Ferguson, PC (June 18, 1870 – February 21, 1946) was the ninth premier of Ontario, from 1923 to 1930. He was a Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1905 to 1930 who represented the eastern provinci ...
and
Alan Bush
Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed pro ...
. During his four years at the Academy he won a number of prizes for composition, notably the
Frederick Corder prize and the 1949
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...
prize.
[.][.]
Professional career
In 1950 Joubert was appointed to a
lectureship in music at the
University of Hull
, mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status
, type = Public
, endowment = £18.8 million (2016)
, budget = £190 million ...
, having graduated in the same year with a
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of pre ...
(B.Mus.) degree from the
University of Durham
Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...
. His works soon began to be performed and to attract favourable attention. His
carol ''Torches'' (
Op. 7a, 1951) (written for his wife Mary's pupils and based on a
Galician (Eastern Europe) carol, it was published in 1961 in the first volume of ''
Carols for Choirs'') and the
anthem ''O Lorde, the Maker of Al Thing'' (Op. 7b, 1952) (which won the 1952
Novello Anthem Competition), achieved almost instant popularity. Concerning ''Torches'', Joubert recalled, "I've even had carol-singers come to the door and singing it, without knowing the composer lives inside."
Together with the carol ''There is No Rose of Such Virtue'' (Op. 14, 1954), the three choral works have become classics of the Anglican repertoire. Works in other genres followed, mostly as the result of commissions from institutions such as the
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall: a B:Music Venue in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its a ...
, the Birmingham Festival Choral Society (named for the
Birmingham Triennial Festival, the
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...
and the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. By the end of his 12 years at Hull Joubert had composed, in addition to choral music, his ''
'' (Op. 13, 1954), ''
No. 1'' (Op. 20, 1955), ''
'' (Op. 25, 1958), the full-length opera ''
'' (Op. 31, 1961) (after the novel by
No. 1 in A-Flat'' (Op. 1, 1950), a ''
'' (Op. 30, 1958) and an ''
'' (Op. 33, 1961).
Joubert moved to
in Music. In 1979 he was a
in New Zealand.
The number and scope of his works increased, and among those composed during the following decades were two further full-length operas, ''
'' (Op. 51, 1968) and ''
'' (Op. 134) (based on the novels by
respectively), ''Symphony No. 2'' (Op. 68, 1970), various large-scale choral works with orchestras including the
'' (Op. 67, 1970) and ''
s'' (Op. 93, 1979), a second and third
(Op. 71, 1972; Op. 157), a second and third string quartet (Op. 91, 1977; Op. 112, 1986),
smaller-scale choral music. On the wide scope of his work, Joubert has commented: "I've never really wanted to be pigeonholed as a composer. I've always wanted to write anything that I was either asked to, or wanted to write. I've never wanted to specialise, although I have to a certain extent been pigeonholed already. I'd rather not be looked upon as sort of limited in that way."
In 1986 Joubert took early retirement from the University to concentrate on composition, although he maintained his ties by becoming an
there in 1997. He was conferred an