Ignatius Rumboldt

Rumboldt, Ignatius

Ignatius (Aloysius) Rumboldt. Choir director, organist, educator, administrator, b Curling (now Corner Brook), Nfld, 30 Nov 1916, d St. John's, Nfld, 19 Sep 1994; honorary LLD (Memorial) 1980. Rumboldt studied violin with Catherine ('Kitty') Ryan and voice, piano, and organ with Charles Hutton. He was music director 1936-52 at St Bonaventure's College, Holy Cross School, St Patrick's Hall School, and Mount Cashel Orphanage (all in St John's) and, during the same years, organist-choirmaster at St John the Baptist Cathedral in St John's, where, beginning in the 1940s, he held a series of annual sacred and secular concerts featuring the cathedral choir and instrumentalists. He performed for VONF radio in the 1930s and 1940s as well. A visiting lecturer 1952-60 at the Faculty of Education, Memorial University, he organized the Memorial University Glee Club, which in the 1950s and 1960s became renowned for its renditions of Newfoundland folksongs. He became full-time music specialist at the university in 1960 and consultant to the Extension Service for which, ca 1961, he organized the St John's Extension Choir and Orchestra and co-ordinated choral and orchestral activities throughout the province. In 1962 he helped found the Music Council of the Newfoundland Teachers' Association. He performed and was music director 1953-60 for CJON radio and TV in St John's and conducted the CJON Glee Club for two LPs of Newfoundland folksongs in 1955 and 1956 (Rodeo RLP-83 and 84) and the St John's Extension Choir for another in 1966 (RCA CC-1024). He broadcast frequently on CBC radio in the 1960s, and was awarded the Centennial Medal in 1967. He was music director 1975-7 at New Regional College in Corner Brook and returned in 1977 to Memorial University's Extension Service as director of Glee Clubs. He retired in 1980. He actively lobbied for the creation of a department of music at Memorial University. Rumboldt was a member of the Canada Council 1965-8, was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1975, and received the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1978. He was a lifelong honorary member of the Newfoundland Registered Music Teachers' Association. Memorial University offers a music scholarship in his name. Rumboldt has been recognized as instrumental in building a choral tradition in Newfoundland.