This page is to commemorate the enormous impact Pierre-F. Roberge had on the compilation of discographic material here, and in turn on the EM FAQ as a whole.
I don't remember exactly when Pierre first started contributing here, but we ended up working on this project together for at least fifteen years. I had never intended to create comprehensive discographies, particularly of the older material. That was a passion that Pierre had, and he eventually convinced me to get on board with it. I was mostly interested in commentary & discussion, but the discographies have become some of the most valued materials here. I sincerely doubt they would have been created without Pierre.
As some of you might know, I'm not always the easiest person to work with: I'm moody, and I can be cranky & impatient, etc. Although many people have & do contribute information & material to the FAQ discographies, I know it hasn't always been easy. My prickly reactions never seemed to bother Pierre, and he always worked with me with great patience. I appreciated that a lot. After a time, I learned to just try to support whatever he wanted to do here, as far as new materials. But I was not always easy to convince.
During that 15+ years, we edited each other's material quite a bit. Although we've tried to generally "sign" the pages we've created, there have been various adjustments over the years, from simple format editing by me to details added by Pierre, that mean the author of individual pages isn't always entirely clear-cut. Nonetheless, you will find Pierre's name signed to many of the pages, particularly some of the best composer discographies. So that section of the site is now named after him. My intention is to keep these pages up to date, as I have been helping to do since their inception. I guess we'll see how that goes.
Says Pierre's daughter Catherine: "I know how much my father's contribution to the website was a labour of love for him and is something he never grew tired of."
Thank you for everything, Pierre. I'm sure the users of the discographic information will continue to benefit from your work for many years to come. Hopefully the rest of us can maintain your standard of thoroughness going forward, but it won't be easy.
To Pierre-F. Roberge Memorial composer discographies.
To Early Music FAQ.
Todd M. McComb 11 November 2013