Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/40

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28
JACKSON.
JACQUIN.

wind and string, taught himself harmony and counterpoint from books, until at length, in 1832, when he had reached the mature age of 16, the lord of the manor of Masham having presented a finger organ to the church, Jackson was appointed organist with a stipend of £30. Through the circulating library in Leeds, he was able to study the scores of Haydn, Mozart, Spohr and Mendelssohn. In 1839 he went into business at Masham as a tallow-chandler, and in the same year published an anthem, 'For joy let fertile valleys ring.' In 1840 the Huddersfield Glee Club awarded him their first prize for his glee, 'The sisters of the sea'; and in 1841 he composed for the Huddersfield Choral Society the 103rd Psalm for solo voices, chorus and orchestra. In 1845 he wrote an oratorio, 'The Deliverance of Israel from Babylon,' and soon afterwards another entitled 'Isaiah.' In 1852 he made music his profession and settled in Bradford, where, in partnership with William Winn, the bass singer, he entered into business as a music-seller, and became organist, first, of St. John's Church, and afterwards (in 1856) of Horton Lane Chapel. On Winn's quitting Bradford, Jackson succeeded him as conductor of the Choral Union (male voices only). He was chorus-master at the Bradford festivals in 1853, 56 and 59, and became conductor of the Festival Choral Society on its establishment in 56. For the festival of 56 he again set the 103rd Psalm, and for that of 59 composed 'The Year,' a cantata, the words selected by himself from various poets. He compiled and partly composed a set of psalm tunes, and harmonised 'The Bradford Tune Book,' compiled by Samuel Smith. Besides the works already mentioned, he composed a mass, a church service, anthems, glees, part-songs and songs, and wrote a Manual of Singing, which passed through many editions. His last work was a cantata entitled 'The Praise of Music.' He died April 15th, 1866. His son, William, born 1853, was bred to the profession of music, became organist of Morningside Church, Edinburgh, and died at Ripon, Sept. 10, 1877.

[ W. H. H. ]

JACOB, Benjamin, born in London in 1778, was at a very early age taught the rudiments of music by his father, an amateur violinist. When 7 years old he received lessons in singing from Robert Willoughby, a well-known chorus-singer, and became a chorister at Portland Chapel. At 8 years of age he learned to play on the harpsichord, and afterwards studied that instrument and the organ under William Shrubsole, organist of Spa Fields Chapel, and Matthew Cooke, organist of St. George, Bloomsbury. At 10 years of age he became organist of Salem Chapel, Soho, and little more than a year afterwards was appointed organist of Carlisle Chapel, Kennington Lane. Towards the latter end of 1790 he removed to Bentinck Chapel, Lisson Green, where he remained until Dec. 1794, when the Rev. Rowland Hill invited him to assume the place of organist at Surrey Chapel. In 1796 he studied harmony under Dr. Arnold. In 1800 he conducted a series of oratorios, given under the direction of Bartleman in Cross Street, Hatton Garden. As he advanced in years he became more and more distinguished as one of the best organists of his time, and in 1808 began a series of performances at Surrey Chapel, of airs, choruses, and fugues played upon the organ alone, without any interspersion of vocal pieces. In that and the following year Samuel Wesley addressed to him, as to a kindred spirit, a remarkable series of letters on the works and genius of John Sebastian Bach. These letters were published in 1875 by Miss Eliza Wesley, the writer's daughter; the originals are now in the library of the Sacred Harmonic Society. In 1809 Jacob gave an organ performance at Surrey Chapel in conjunction with Wesley, the two playing alternately the fugues of Bach and Handel and other pieces. In 1811, 1812 and 1814 Jacob repeated the performances in conjunction with Dr. Crotch. As a consequence of his high reputation he was frequently engaged to open new organs and to act as judge on trials for vacant organists' seats.

In Nov. 1823 he quitted Surrey Chapel for the newly-erected church of St. John, Waterloo Road. This led to a dispute between him and the Rev. Rowland Hill, resulting in a paper war, in which the musician triumphed over the divine. The excitement of the controversy, however, proved too much for Jacob; he was attacked by disease, which developed into pulmonary consumption, and terminated his existence Aug. 24, 1829. His compositions were not numerous, consisting principally of psalm tunes and a few glees. The collection of tunes, with appropriate symphonies, set to a course of psalms, and published under the title of 'National Psalmody,' which he edited, is well known.

[ W. H. H. ]

JACQUARD, Léon Jean, eminent violoncellist, born at Paris Nov. 3, 1826; studied at the Conservatoire, where he obtained the 2nd prize for cello in 1842, and the 1st prize in 1844. In 1876 he married Mlle. Laure Bedel, a pianist of distinction, and at the end of 1877 succeeded Chevillard as professor of his instrument at the Conservatoire. Jacquard is eminently a classical player—a pure and noble style, good intonation, and great correctness: if he has a fault it is that he is somewhat cold, but his taste is always irreproachable, and his séances of chamber music are well attended by the best class of amateurs. He has composed some Fantasias for the cello, but it is as a virtuoso and a professor that he will be remembered.

[ G. C. ]

JACQUIN, VON. A Viennese family with which Mozart was on the most intimate and affectionate terms. The father, Johann Franz Freiherr von Jacquin, was a celebrated botanist, whose house in the botanical garden was the great resort of the most intellectual and artistic society of Vienna; the son Gottfried, an accomplished amateur with a fine bass voice, was a very intimate friend of Mozart's, and the recipient of some of his cleverest letters; and the daughter Franziska was one of his best pupils (Letter, Jan. 14, 1787). For Gottfried he wrote the air