Daniel Jones (composer)
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Daniel Jenkyn Jones (December 7, 1912 – April 23, 1993) was a Welsh composer of classical music.
Jones was born in Pembroke, Wales. He studied at the University of Wales and the Royal Academy of Music, where his teachers included Sir Henry Wood. A Mendelssohn Travelling Scholarship allowed him to study in Czecholslovakia, France, Holland and Germany, and to develop his skills as a linguist. He later employed these abilities during the Second World War as a cryptographer and decoder at Bletchley Park.
He enjoyed long friendships with several leading Welsh artists, amongst them Vernon Watkins, Ceri Richards and Grace Williams. However, he is probably best remembered as the friend from childhood of Dylan Thomas, and composed the music for the 1954 radio production of Thomas's Under Milk Wood, as well as editing several collections of Thomas's poetry and prose. Jones' fourth symphony is dedicated to Thomas' memory, and he also wrote a biography of the poet, My Friend Dylan Thomas.
Jones wrote twelve numbered symphonies in all, plus a later Symphony in Memory of John Fussell. Among his other works are chamber music, including eight string quartets and a sonata for three timpani, orchestral and choral works, and several operas.
Jones was made an OBE in 1968. He died in Swansea.
[edit] Major works
- Sonata for Three Non-Chromatic Kettledrums
- Symphony no 4 (1954)
- String Quartet 1957
- The Country beyond the Stars (cantata) (1958)
- Orestes (opera) (1967)
- String Trio (1970)
- Symphony No. 9 (1974)
- Dance Fantasy (1976)
- Symphony No. 10 (1981)
- Symphony No. 12 (1985)
- Cello Concerto (1986)
- String Quartet 1993
