Canon Peter Jones, composer of the “Jones Gloria”, dies — updated

Peter Jones died peacefully this morning (Sunday April 10) after a second unsuccessful battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. His first course of treatment two years ago appeared to have worked, but unfortunately the cancer reappeared several months later.

Peter was born in 1951. He taught music at Cotton College, a former minor seminary in the Midlands, now closed, before deciding to try his vocation to the priesthood. He was sent for studies to the Beda College in Rome, where many English late vocations were sent at that time, and was ordained a priest for the archdiocese of Birmingham on his 40th birthday, June 29, 1991. He would have celebrated his 65th birthday and silver jubilee as a priest this summer. After several inner-city parish assignments in the Birmingham area, Peter was delighted to be sent in 2013 as pastor to Holy Redeemer, Pershore, where the distinguished liturgist J.D. Crichton had ministered for many years.

At 6 foot 5 inches with big bones to match, a full beard and moustache, and a way of expressing himself in a forthright manner with a delightful Black Country accent, he could appear somewhat forbidding to those who did not know him. But underneath the exterior was a kind and compassionate man who was a good friend to many and who enjoyed his red wine and his cigarettes. A major heart attack which almost killed him some 20 years ago made him change his lifestyle for a while, but he soon returned to normal.

Peter first came to real prominence with the “Coventry Gloria”, often known as the “Jones Gloria”, which PauI Inwood commissioned him to write for the Papal Mass with John Paul II at Coventry Airport, Pentecost 1982. The bouncy refrain and accessible verses endeared it to many on both sides of the Atlantic. A revision to fit the 2010 text was almost as successful as the original. Other notable pieces included his beautiful, reflective Magnificat setting with an ostinato refrain “The Almighty works marvels for me; holy his name, holy his name” and superimposed verses, and “We praise you, O God”, an energetic, rhythmical, metrical version of the Te Deum which goes “as fast as seems reasonable” !

Peter was a member of the “St Thomas More Group” of composers, founder and chair of the Archdiocese of Birmingham Music Committee, and undertook much formation work with parish musicians all over the diocese during a period of over 20 years. Editor of the Society of St Gregory journal Music and Liturgy from 1981 to 1987, he taught music at the seminary at Oscott College, Birmingham for a number of years, and was Director of Music for the Papal Mass with Benedict XVI at Cofton Park, Birmingham, in September 2010.

May he rest in peace.

Recordings of five of Peter’s pieces including the three mentioned above will be found here.

Paul Inwood

Paul Inwood is an internationally-known liturgist, author, speaker, organist and composer. He was NPM's 2009 Pastoral Musician of the Year, ACP's Distinguished Catholic Composer of the year 2022, and in 2015 won the Vatican competition for the official Hymn for the Holy Year of Mercy, His work is found in journals, blogs and hymnals across the English-speaking world and beyond.

Please leave a reply.

Comments

21 responses to “Canon Peter Jones, composer of the “Jones Gloria”, dies — updated”

  1. Thomas Keesecker

    Thank you for the notification. I loved using his Gloria for many years at my parish.

    Reply
  2. Donna Eschenauer

    Sad news!
    Thank you for this background information. We used his Gloria for many years at the Cathedral in Rockville Centre. It was a favorite!

    Reply
  3. Tony Barr

    Peter ws a long-time friend of mine, who could vaguely understand my Wearside accent and even less vaguely my thoughts. His personality even oumatched his physique and as a fellow-member of the once thriving St Thomas More Center for Pastoral Liturgy, I have many fond memories of a great man of such talent and humility. I’m sad to hear of your passing, Peter, but I know you will find a home in heaven where (in the word of the distinguished Anton Vernooij) Bernard Huijbers, having already preceded you, will already have the ‘whole damned place singing’ so that even God will find no peace. Be at rest, my friend. t

    Reply
  4. Paul H. Colloton, OSFS

    A fine composer, whose music reflected his faith, and even more, the struggles you share in this article, Paul. May he be singing with the angels and may his spirit encourage us to continue giving the best we have to offer to worship.

    Reply
  5. Chris McDonnell

    During the years prior to his composition of the Coventry Gloria, Peter was a member of our small Parish in the Midlands, St John the Baptist in Great Haywood. We greatly valued his music and felt honoured that a fellow parishioner should have made such an important contribution to Liturgical music in the UK and beyond.
    When he finally left the parish to begin his studies for the priesthood he made a donation that allowed the installation of a new pipe for our organ. I won’t say how he described it but his comment reflected the good humour of the man. May he rest in the peace of Lord he served so well.

    Reply
  6. Paul Inwood

    I have added a link to five recorded pieces at the end of the original post: the Coventry Gloria; Magnificat; Reproaches; We praise you, O God; Holy People

    Reply
  7. Alan Smith

    Even at the time, Peter’s appointment as our parish priest at Holy Redeemer, Pershore, in 2013 seemed to have a certain divine inevitability about it: certainly James Crichton, his illustrious predecessor, would have approved. For me too, having worked with him in various Birmingham parishes and in the Archdiocese for over twenty years, it was an especial privilege. Though so much of his short time with us was marred by serious illness, his impact on the parish was profound, often in unexpected ways. The people readily took up his well-crafted and singable music and sang it as if they had known it for ever, and they did so again this morning.

    Reply
  8. Andrew Keegan Mackriell

    Sorry to hear this sad news. I remember Peter well from SSG in the late 1970s.

    The Coventry Mass music (all of it) is alive and well in London, ON!

    Reply
  9. Cathy Wattebot

    As applies also in our small parish, commenters above referred to the Coventry Gloria in the past tense. I’m glad others can use the newer revised version with appreciation – we sung the original a couple of times in the last few years on a high day or holiday. Could the hoped-for moderation in the matter of divorce also be accompanied by a softening of the “letter of the law” attitude to the precise (and not always very idiomatic) wording introduced in the UK in 2011, which probably inspires worry and stress among some clergy?

    Our small music group met Peter some years before the axe fell on the relative freedom of the previous liturgical dispensation, and I remember him indicating that unpleasant things were coming along in this connection. Around the time of the UK papal visit of 2010, I had the opportunity for a quick word with Peter during the interval of a rehearsal. By that time, we knew what was in store around liturgy, words and music. I asked him what was going to happen if all our known settings became illicit… He said, we’ll write some more! The composers were as good as their word – as well as competent rewrites, we have had a great blossoming of new settings. If we can’t usually sing the original Coventry Gloria, then the Pershore Gloria is a favourite for days when we’ve got enough singers to make it work!

    Reply
  10. Jim Pauwels

    Sorry to hear of his death. I’ve admired his compositions for many years. And it’s nice to see Tony Barr commenting here 🙂

    Reply
  11. Annette Bloor

    It has already been mentioned that Peter Jones was once a member of the Parish of St John the Baptist, Great Haywood. Peter arrived in our village community at a time of great change in our parish. Our recently appointed new Parish Priest had just commenced on a programme of refurbishing our beautiful listed building and his aim was to bring not only the fabric of the church up to date but also ourselves as Catholics still needing to fully appreciate Vatican II. The role that Peter Jones played in this process along with our resident organist was phenomenal. Peter himself was just commencing on a career in music, teaching first at a local prep school and then at Cotton College, later going on to enter the priesthood. He wrote music for us (much of which has probably never been published) with a psalm for whatever occasion we may require in addition to his wonderful Coventry Gloria and the Good Friday Reproaches.To be party to this was both an experience and a privilege. I well recall during the writing of the Gloria that Peter would turn up very late in the evening at one house or another and sit down at the piano to sound out the next bit on us. The final work was a masterpiece and it is sad that with the revised text of the Mass we are no longer able to sing it in its original form. St John’s became known in those days as the Parish of the living liturgy and we are still singing what he composed for us. Thankyou, Peter, for helping to take us there.

    Reply
  12. Dominic Weston

    Peter was my music teacher at Cotton when I started in 1980. He wrote the Coventry Gloria during my piano lessons. Somehow he coaxed me through to an A level. He was a great friend and mentor over the years, and I have fond memories of him directing me in Oliver and My Fair Lady – how on earth he had the guts and skill to produce and direct full blown musicals in a school with only 150 students to choose from is a continuing source of wonder – I played in the band with him when he produced Godspell, and attended 3 SSG summer schools with him in the ’80s. I last visited him in January and he finally allowed me to play his out of tune piano ( he had been too ill to get it tuned). He was a lovely but irritable man and an astounding musician, that I will miss greatly.

    Reply
  13. Steve Woodland

    God grant him rest. He was a good composer. User friendly, but still “serious” sounding.

    Reply
  14. Nick Basehore

    Both the Gloria and the Reproaches were standards in our repertoire. Memory Eternal!

    Reply
  15. Jim Pauwels

    The descriptions here of his parish assignments seem to be those that in the US would be associate pastor and then pastor. Yet I see that the term of address used for him in the headline of this post is “Canon”. Did he actually belong to a cathedral chapter in Birmingham?

    Reply
    1. Tim Sharrock

      @Jim Pauwels:
      http://www.ssg.org.uk/canon-peter-jones/ includes
      Peter was embarrassed but gratified to be appointed an honorary member of the Chapter of Canons of St Chads Cathedral and Minor Basilica at Holy Redeemer on 12 March this year. He had hoped to be well enough eventually to be installed in the Chapter at St Chads.

      Reply
    2. Paul Inwood

      @Jim Pauwels:

      Yes, in the British Isles the terms are parish priest for pastor, and assistant priest for associate pastor. Until recently, “pastor” was only used to describe Protestant clergymen, especially those of an evangelical persuasion, which is why some Brits view the Catholic Church in the US with suspicion!

      Reply
  16. Martin Barry

    No need to speak about Peter’s Glory to God in the past tense, I think. To my mind the revision is wholly successful, in particular because he had the confidence and good sense to recast the melody in significant places rather than try to shoe-horn the new text into the old music. It’s our musical setting of choice for big Diocesan occasions.

    Reply
  17. Fr. Jim Chepponis

    I never met Peter Jones, but admired his compositional craft. The “Peter Jones Gloria” was used at our diocesan liturgies for many years here in Pittsburgh.

    But there’s another Peter Jones Pittsburgh connection. In 1991, I served on the core committee for the NPM national convention, chaired by my predecessor, John Romeri. The theme of the convention was “Singing a New Church.” We commissioned Delores Dufner, OSB to write a new text for the occasion. She wrote the now-famous text “Sing a New Church,” which most often now appears with the hymn tune NETTLETON.

    But we also commissioned Peter Jones to write a new tune and hymn concertato for Dufner’s text. The musical setting was well-crafted, rhythmic, and fun to sing! The piece was used three times during the convention: as the closing song for the opening event, as the opening song for the Eucharistic liturgy, and as the final song for the convention closing celebration.

    The 1991 NPM convention program book states that the piece was “Commissioned for this Convention by the Pittsburgh Chapter NPM and the Office of Worship.” The composition was published by OCP (edition #7231), and bears the dedication “for John Romeri and the diocese of Pittsburgh, Easter 1991.” However, I have a feeling that the piece may now be out of print, as I couldn’t find it on OCP’s website.

    We used the Jones/Dufner composition again here in Pittsburgh at the 1999 NPM Convention as the opening song for the closing event.

    Thank you, Peter. Rest in peace.

    Reply
  18. Nick Baty

    My earliest memories of Peter are the days when we sat smoking at the back of Society of Saint Gregory seminars and thought it odd that folk were beginning to object.

    More recently, we shared our love of red wine over many late-night phonecalls, each with a glass (and ciggie) in hand. Peter’s sense of humour was outrageous – more so during those long, late, conversations as we each downed a bottle.

    Sometimes, he would take the phone to the piano, play a piece of mine (yes, down the phone) and ask if that’s really what I meant to write. He would analyse and criticise and then tell me he rather liked it as it was.

    Peter, I’m raising a glass of grenache. May God be good to you.

    Reply
  19. Chris McDonnell

    The archdiocese of Birmingham have just released details of the funeral arrangements for Peter Jones.
    Requiem Mass on Tuesday May 3rd at St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham at 12 noon

    Reply

Posted

in

,

by

Paul Inwood

Tags:

, ,

Discover more from Home

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading