Robert Talbot (conductor)

Jean Robert Talbot (2 December 1893 – 24 August 1954) was a Canadian conductor, violinist, violist, composer, and music educator. For more than 25 years, he was the conductor of the Société symphonique de Québec (now the Quebec Symphony Orchestra). A member of the Société française de musicologie, the International Musicological Society, the Musical Association of London, and the Diocesan Commission for Sacred Music, he was the author of several books on music theory. He also contributed music articles to a variety of periodicals. His compositional output includes one symphony, a string quartet, several songs, many pieces for solo organ, the oratorio Évangéline, the opera Celle qui voit, and several other orchestral works. Many of his manuscripts, writings, and personal papers are part of the collection at the library of the Université Laval. Life and career Born in Montmagny, Quebec, Talbot initially intended to become a lawyer and earned a law degree from the Université Laval in 1915. He then entered the Académie de musique du Québec, where he was a pupil of J.-Alexandre Gilbert, Berthe Roy, and Joseph Vézina. From the academy, he earned a diplôme supérieur (1917), a lauréat dipl