AustLit

New Zealand-born music director, composer, publishing representative, businessman

The nephew of New Zealand newspaper publisher and politician George Jones, Frederick Wynne Jones moved to Australia in the late 1890s, becoming a representative of publisher William Brooks and Co. It was with that company that he likely became acquainted with D. H. Souter, who was manager of the firm's art department during the the 1890s. The pair later collaborated on several operas. Wynne Jones's original compositions had also begun to attract the attention of Australasian music publishers, which led to him pursuing a career in music and theatre. As one of the region's most versatile and accomplished music directors and composers, Wynne Jones' worked in pantomime, musical comedy, opera, drama and film.

Wynne Jones's theatre career saw him associated with Clarke, Meynell and Gunn, George Willoughby, Oscar Asche and J. C. Williamson's Ltd. His production credits include such productions as A Miner's Trust (1909), Count Hannibal (1910), Kismet (1912), Aladdin (1913) and Babes in the Wood (1914).

Among Wynne Jone's original works are the operas: The Grey Kimona (1902) and Australia First (1914). Another opera, reportedly completed in 1904 but possibly never produced was The Cardinal (about Cardinal Richelieu). His published songs include: 'Lul-Lullaby' (1898), 'Barn Dance' (ca. 1898), 'Ma Honet Sweetheart' (1899), 'Mammy's Lil' Coon' (n. yr.) 'Queen of Sheba' (1902, oriental intermezzo), 'The Lily Brayton Valse' (1909), 'Me and Me Little Boomerang' (1909), 'Pete Waltz' (1910) and 'The Song of Songs' (1918).

In 1917 and 1918 Wynne Jones was largely connected with film exhibitions, touring as music director for several prominent American films, including D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1917, with a 20 piece orchestra). The following year he and an orchestra performed William Furst's synchronised operatic score to the film Joan the Woman.