Robert Talbot

Talbot, Robert

Talbot, (Jean) Robert. Violinist, violist, educator, administrator, composer, b Montmagny, near Quebec City, 2 Dec 1893, d Quebec City 24 Aug 1954; diplôme supérieur (AMQ) 1917, lauréat (AMQ) 1918, D MUS and honorary D MUS (Laval) 1933. After taking law at Laval University, he began music studies with J.-A. Gilbert (violin), Berthe Roy, and Joseph Vézina. He obtained a teaching certificate from the AMQ in 1919, probably the first violinist ever to do so. That September he went to New York to study at the Institute of Musical Art under Franz Kneisel, Albert Stoessel, and Louis Svečenski. Returning to Canada in 1922, he gave a series of concerts in western Canada. Talbot served 1922-35 as secretary and 1932-54 as director (the positions concurrent 1932-5) of the School of Music at Laval University. He also taught harmony and violin at Laval; his pupils included Maurice Blackburn, François Brassard, Gilbert Darisse, Marthe Lapointe, and Henri Mercure (Prix d'Europe for composition, 1927). He founded the Schubert String Quartet in 1921 and the Talbot String Quartet ca 1924 and was the conductor 1924-41 of Quebec City's Société symphonique (Quebec Symphony Orchestra).

The author of articles for various periodicals and of books on music theory, Talbot was a member of the Société française de musicologie (Paris), the International Musicological Society (Basel), the Musical Association of London, and the Diocesan Commission for Sacred Music in Quebec. His compositions, none of which were published, include the oratorio Évangéline; the opera Celle qui voit; a symphony, a Poème for violin and orchestra; a string quartet; orchestral pieces; organ pieces; and several songs. His papers have been deposited at Laval University.