Jerome Roche

Jerome Lawrence Alexander Roche(22 May 1942 – 2 June 1994) was a British musicologist, who specialized in the Italian church music of thebaroqueera. Among his publications areNorth Italian Church Music in the Age of Monteverdi(1984), as well as surveys on the life and works of bothGiovanni Pierluigi da PalestrinaandOrlando di Lasso.

Early life and education

Roche was born in 1942 inCairo,Egypt, the son of an army doctor.He was educated atDownside School,a Catholic independent school in Somerset, England, before studying music atSt John's College, Cambridge,graduating with aBAin 1962. He went on to study for aPhD,under the supervision ofDenis Arnold.His dissertation focussed on the development of vocal duets in Italianbaroquechurch music.

Career

In 1967, the year before completing his PhD, Roche was appointed a lecturer atDurham University.He became areaderin 1987.

Roche published editions of music byFrancesco Cavalli,Giovanni Battista CrivelliandAlessandro Grandi,and rediscovered many works from the period that had become forgotten. He editedThe Penguin Book of Four-Part Italian Madrigals(1974) andMasterworks from Venice(1994).

Roche was a member of the editorial board of the journalThe Seventeenth Centuryfrom its establishment in 1986.He also regularly contributed articles and book reviews to other journals such asThe Musical Times,Music & LettersandEarly Music,as well as scholarly publications by theRoyal Musical Association.

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 committedCatholic.

Roche died aged 52 at his holiday home inVittorio Veneto,Italy in June 1994 from abrain tumour.The tumour had been discovered earlier in the year, during a period of hospitalisation following a suspectedstroke.He was survived by his wife and one daughter, the latter now also a lecturer at Durham.

A concert was held in his honour inDurham Cathedralin October 1994.

In 2001, theRoyal Musical Associationcreated 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)