JONES, Daniel

views updated May 17 2018

JONES, Daniel [1881–1967]. English phonetician, born in London and educated at Radley and University College Schools. He graduated in mathematics from King's College, Cambridge, in 1903, and received his MA in 1907, the year he was called to the Bar (Lincoln's Inn). However, he never practised law and, even during his legal training, spent time in Paris (part of 1905–6) studying PHONETICS under Paul Passy, whose niece he married in 1911. He gained an appointment in 1907 at U. College London, the year in which its Department of Phonetics was set up, and worked there for most of his life: as lecturer (1907–14), Reader (1914–21), Professor (1921–49), and Emeritus Professor (1949–67). He was the leading British phonetician during the first half of the 20c and had a profound effect on the study of pronunciation (for example, as a member of the BBC Advisory Committee on Spoken English from its formation in 1926) and was in part responsible for the selection of RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION or RP (which he named in the 1920s) as the norm for radio announcers. The works for which he is best known are An ENGLISH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY (1917) and An Outline of English Phonetics (1918), both of which continue in revised editions. Jones spent most of his life working on PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION. His views are summed up in The PHONEME (1950) and in his papers for the INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ASSOCIATION (of which he was secretary, 1928–49, and President from 1950), especially The Principles of the International Phonetic Association (1949). See BBC ENGLISH, ENGLISH IN ENGLAND, LANGUAGE TEACHING, ORTHOEPY, PUBLIC SCHOOL PRONUNCIATION, SIMPLIFIED SPELLING SOCIETY, SPEECH, SPELLING REFORM.

Jones, Daniel (Jenkyn)

views updated Jun 27 2018

Jones, Daniel (Jenkyn)

Jones, Daniel (Jenkyn), remarkable Welsh composer; b. Pembroke, Dec. 7, 1912; d. Swansea, April 23, 1993. Both his parents were musicians, and he absorbed the natural rudiments of music instinctively at home. He studied English literature at Univ. Coll. of Wales, Swansea (B.A., 1934; M.A., 1939), and also attended the Royal Academy of Music in London (1935–38), where he studied composition with Farjeon, conducting with Wood, viola with Lockyear, and horn with Aubrey Brain. He later completed his education at Univ. Coll. of Wales (D.Mus., 1951). He retained interest in literature, and was editor of the collected poems of Dylan Thomas (1971) and the author of My Friend Dylan Thomas (1973). He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (1968). In 1936 he promulgated a system of “complex metres,” in which the numerator in the time signature indicates the succession of changing meters in a clear numerical progression, e.g. 32-322-3222-322-32, followed by 332-3332-332, etc. His other innovation is a category of “continuous modes,” with the final note of the mode (non-octaval) serving as the initial note of a transposed mode. He authored numerous articles expounding his philosophy of music, some of which were incorporated in the book Music and Esthetic (1954).

Works

dramatic:Operate Knife (1961; London, Dec. 2, 1963); Orestes (1967). ORCH.: The Flute Player (1942); Comedy Overture (1942); 12 syms.: No. 1 (1944; Liverpool, Aug. 6, 1948), No. 2 (1950), No. 3 (1951), No. 4, In memoriam Dylan Thomas (1954), No. 5 (1958), No. 6 (1964), No. 7 (1971), No. 8 (1972), No. 9 (1974), No. 10 (1981), No. 11 (1983), and No. 12 (1985); Cloud Messenger (1945); Miscellany (1946); Dobra Niva, suite (1956); Ieuenctid (Youth), overture (1956); Salute to Dylan Thomas (1956); Capriccio for Flute, Harp, and Strings (1965); Violin Concerto (1966); Investiture Processional Music for the Prince of Wales (1969); 2 sinfoniettas (1972, 1991); Oboe Concerto (1982); Cello Concerto (Swansea, Oct. 4, 1986); Orpheus and Bacchus, overture (Guildford, Surrey, Sept. 24, 1989). CHAMBER: 2 string trios (1946, 1970); 7 string quartets (1948, 1957, 1975, 1978,1980, 1982,1988); Cello Sonata (1973); Suite for Flute and Harpsichord (1979); Divertimento for Wind Quintet (1990). VOCAL: Kyrie for Chorus (1949); The 3 Hermits for Chorus and Piano or Organ (1969); Triptych for Chorus and Piano (1969); The Witnesses for Men’s Chorus and Orch. (1971); Hear the Voice of the Ancient Bard for Chorus and Orch. (1977); To Night for Chorus and Piano (1978); Come My Way, My Truth, My Life for Tenor, Chorus, and Orch. (1987); songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

Jones, Daniel (Jenkyn)

views updated May 18 2018

Jones, Daniel (Jenkyn) (b Pembroke, 1912; d Swansea, 1993). Welsh composer and conductor. Works incl. 12 syms;, vn. conc.; operas The Knife and Orestes; oratorio St Peter; cantata The Country Beyond the Stars; incidental mus. for Under Milk Wood ( Dylan Thomas); 8 str. qts.; str. trio; sonata for 3 kettledrums. Friend since schooldays of Dylan Thomas, whose complete poems he ed. 1971. OBE 1968.

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