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{{short description|English composer (1895–1984)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}} {{Infobox musical artist |name = Gordon Jacob |honorific_suffix = [[CBE]] |birth_name = Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob |birth_date = {{birth date|1895|7|5|df=y}} |background = non_performing_personnel |birth_place = London, England |occupation = Composer |genre = Orchestral, wind band, classical |instrument = Piano |death_date = {{death date and age|1984|6|8|1895|7|5|df=y}} |death_place = [[Saffron Walden]], England }} '''Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob''' [[CBE]] (5 July 1895{{spaced ndash}}8 June 1984) was an English composer and teacher. He was a professor at the [[Royal College of Music]] in London from 1924 until his retirement in 1966, and published four books and many articles about music. As a composer he was prolific: the list of his works totals more than 700, mostly compositions of his own, but a substantial minority of orchestrations and arrangements of other composers' works. Those whose music he orchestrated range from [[William Byrd]] to [[Edward Elgar]] to [[Noël Coward]]. ==Life and career== Jacob was born in [[Upper Norwood]], London, the seventh son and youngest of ten children of Stephen Jacob, and his wife, Clara Laura, ''née'' Forlong. Stephen Jacob, an official of the Indian Civil Service based in Calcutta, died when Gordon was three.<ref name=dnb>Wetherell, Eric. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-31281 "Jacob, Gordon Percival Septimus (1895–1984), composer"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 30 October 2018 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> One of his older brothers was [[Archibald Jacob (musician)|Archibald Jacob]], choral composer, arranger and author of ''Musical Handwriting'' (OUP, 1937).<ref>Matthew William Fay. ''[https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:254338/datastream/PDF/view Gordon Jacob: A Background and Study of His Works for Wind Octet]'', Florida State University thesis (2010)</ref> Jacob was educated at [[Dulwich College]], and enlisted in the [[Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)]] at the outbreak of the First World War.<ref name=who/><ref name=grove>[[Eric Wetherell|Wetherell, Eric]]. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000014035 "Jacob, Gordon"], Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2001. Retrieved 2 November 2018 {{subscription required}}</ref> He was taken POW in 1917 after being one of 60 survivors from a battalion of 800.<ref>Farcas, Ruth (Webmaster) [http://www.gordonjacob.net/bio_summary.html] "Biographical Summary"</ref> In the prison camp he studied a harmony textbook in the camp library and began composing. He wrote for an orchestra of his fellow prisoners, with assorted instruments. After the war he studied journalism before turning to music. He took a correspondence course, gained an [[ARCM]] diploma and was accepted as a full-time student at the [[Royal College of Music]] (RCM) in 1920. There, he was a pupil of [[Charles Villiers Stanford]] and [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]] (composition), [[Herbert Howells]] (music theory) and [[Adrian Boult]] (conducting), from whom he learned the "economy and decision" of his podium technique.<ref name=dnb/><ref>"Promenade Concerts", ''The Times'', 25 September 1926, p. 12</ref> At the end of his student course in 1924, Gordon became a teacher of music, briefly at [[Birkbeck, University of London|Birkbeck]] and [[Morley College|Morley]] Colleges, and then at the RCM, where he remained until his retirement in 1966.<ref name=bh>[http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main?composerid=2871&ttype=BIOGRAPHY "Gordon Jacob"], Boosey and Hawkes. Retrieved 2 November 2018</ref> He was professor of music theory, composition and orchestration.<ref name=who>[https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U165726 "Jacob, Gordon (Percival Septimus)"], ''Who's Who and Who Was Who'', Oxford University Press, 2007. Retrieved 2 November 2018 {{subscription required}}</ref> Among his students at the RCM were [[Malcolm Arnold]], [[Ruth Gipps]], [[Imogen Holst]], [[Cyril Smith (pianist)|Cyril Smith]], [[Philip Cannon (composer)|Philip Cannon]], [[Pamela Harrison (composer)|Pamela Harrison]], [[Joseph Horovitz]], [[Bernard Stevens]] and [[John Warrack]].<ref name=grove/> In addition to his teaching commitments he was a regular examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, and from 1947 to 1957 he was editor of [[Penguin Books|Penguin]] Musical Scores.<ref name=who/> He contributed articles to musical journals and to ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'' and wrote four books: ''Orchestral Technique, a Manual for Students'' (1931); ''How to Read a Score'' (1944); ''The Composer and his Art'' (1955); and ''The Elements of Orchestration'' (1962).<ref name=who/> In 1959 [[Gordon Jacob (film)|a BBC television documentary about Jacob]] was directed by [[Ken Russell]]; in the following years, under its controller of music [[William Glock]], the BBC was seen as increasingly hostile to living composers who wrote [[tonality|tonal]] music. It was always denied that Glock had a blacklist,<ref>Morley, Christopher. [http://www.mvdaily.com/articles/1999/09/boulez.htm "McCabe in Conversation"], Music and Vision, 1999. Retrieved 2 November 2018</ref> but music by non avant-garde composers, including [[Edmund Rubbra]], [[Arnold Bax]], [[John Ireland (composer)|John Ireland]] and even [[William Walton]], was demonstrably out of favour with the BBC during the 1960s.<ref>Kennedy, p. 200</ref> By this decade a large proportion of a composer's income came from royalties for broadcasts, and like others of his generation, Jacob suffered from the BBC's disinclination to play his music. He was fortunate in having a steady stream of commissions from the US, where his music was popular with university [[wind band]]s.<ref name=dnb/> He never retired from composing, and went on writing until shortly before his death.<ref name=web/> Jacob was twice married, first in 1924 to Sydney Gray, elder daughter of the Rev Arthur Gray of Ipswich. She died in 1958, and the following year he married Margaret Sidney Hannah Gray, the niece of his first wife. There were a son and daughter of the second marriage.<ref name=who/> Jacob died at his home in [[Saffron Walden]], Essex, in 1984, aged 88.<ref name=dnb/> ===Awards and honours=== While a student at the RCM Jacob won the [[Arthur Sullivan]] composition prize. He was awarded a doctorate (DMus) by the [[University of London]] in 1935, and the John Collard Fellowship by the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 1943. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1946, and was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music the following year. In 1968 he was appointed [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]].<ref name=who/> ==Music== ===Compositions=== Jacob was a prolific composer. ''Grove'' lists 16 concertos by him for a wide variety of solo instruments, including trombone and timpani. A website dedicated to Jacob lists more than 700 original compositions or arrangements of existing music.<ref>[http://www.gordonjacob.net/browse_works.html "Works"], Gordon Jacob. Retrieved 2 November 2018</ref> His biographer (and former pupil) [[Eric Wetherell]] writes that as a composer, Jacob was influenced more by early 20th-century French and Russian examples rather than the German tradition. Wetherell writes of Jacob's "clarity of structure and instrumental writing that shows a keen awareness of the capabilities and limitations of every instrument".<ref name=grove/> Reviewing a concert of his music given in 1939, ''The Times'' said, "As a general description, 'Good, but a little dry' might be justly applied to Jacob's work".<ref>"Week-end Concerts", ''The Times'', 6 February 1939, p. 8</ref> In the 1920s and 1930s Jacob composed music for choral societies and school choirs, which provided a steady income, in between more ambitious compositions. From his works of the 1920s, Wetherell singles out a viola concerto (1926), a piano concerto followed (1927) and the First Symphony (1929) dedicated to the memory of Jacob's favourite brother who was killed in the First World War. Large-scale works from the 1930s include an oboe concerto for [[Léon Goossens]] (1935) and Variations on an Original Theme (1937) In the 1930s Jacob, along with several other young composers, wrote for the [[Sadler's Wells Ballet Company]] (now [[The Royal Ballet]]). His one original ballet (other than a student work, ''The Jew in the Bush'' (1928)),<ref>"Royal College of Music", ''The Times'', 13 March 1928, p. 14</ref> was ''Uncle Remus'' (1934), written for them. During the [[Second World War]], Jacob wrote music for several propaganda films, and after the war he provided the score for the feature film ''[[Esther Waters (film)|Esther Waters]]'' (1948).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20191010235549/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba07cb851 "Gordon Jacob"], British Film Institute. Retrieved 2 November 2018</ref> A more personal take on the war is evident in the austere ''Symphony for Strings'' (1943), written for the [[Boyd Neel|Boyd Neel Orchestra]].<ref>[http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2021/Jan/British-strings-v1-5553822.htm 'British Music for Strings, Volume 1', CPO 555 382-2 (2020), reviewed by ''MusicWeb International'']</ref> Jacob's Second Symphony, premiered on 1 May 1946 at a BBC studio recording,<ref>[https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/LY0315.pdf Wetherell, Eric. Notes to Lyrita CD LYO315 (2007)]</ref> was considered by one reviewer to be "perhaps the most stimulating work that has yet come from this composer". The reviewer remarked on the work's intensity of feeling, ranging from romantic excitement in the first movement, through poignancy and fury in the two middle movements to a mood of heroism in the final [[passacaglia]].<ref>Dr Gordon Jacob: Second Symphony", ''The Times'', 1 July 1948, p. 6</ref> Four new works appeared in 1951, the year of the [[Festival of Britain]]: ''Music for a Festival'' (for brass and military bands), concertos for flute and for horn, and the cantata ''A Goodly Heritage''.<ref name=web>Ogram, Geoff. [http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/feb04/gordon_jacob.htm "Gordon Jacob (1895–1984)]", Music Web. Retrieved 2 November 2018</ref> Among the original compositions from Jacob's later years was incidental music to a dramatised adaptation of the biblical [[Book of Job]], first performed at the Festival of the Arts, Saffron Walden, and later broadcast by the BBC.<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?adv=0&q=Gordon+Jacob&media=all&yf=1923&yt=2009&mf=1&mt=12&tf=00%3A00&tt=00%3A00#search "Gordon Jacob"], BBC Genome. Retrieved 2 November 2018</ref> ===Arrangements=== Jacob's first major success was written during his student years: the ''William Byrd Suite'' for orchestra based on the [[Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]]. Boult conducted the first performance in February 1923. ''The Times'' called it "a brilliant piece of adaptation", and expressed the hope that it would be heard again.<ref>"Week-end Concerts", ''The Times'', 19 February 1923, p. 7</ref> The music critic for ''The Times'' commented in 1932 that there was "something magical" about the way in which Jacob's arrangements transformed the original music into scores that might make the listener think that the new version was what the composer really intended.<ref>"Arranging for Orchestra", ''The Times'', 30 January 1932, p. 8</ref> Most of Jacob's ballet scores were arrangements of existing works, such as ''[[Les Sylphides]]'' (1932, using music by [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]]), ''Carnival'' (1932, [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]]), ''Apparitions'' (1936, [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]]), and ''[[Mam'zelle Angot]]'', (1947, [[Charles Lecocq|Lecocq]]). In 1958 [[Noël Coward]] composed a one-act work ''London Morning'' for the [[English National Ballet|London Festival Ballet]], which Jacob orchestrated. In 1968, Jacob re-orchestrated the score of [[Frederick Ashton]]'s ballet ''[[Marguerite and Armand]]'', replacing a previous orchestration by [[Humphrey Searle]] of music by Liszt.<ref>[http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/work.aspx?work=395&row=14&letter=M& "Marguerite and Armand"], Royal Opera House performance database. Retrieved 2 November 2018</ref> During the Second World War Jacob was one of several composers who contributed arrangements of popular tunes to the [[BBC]] comedy show ''[[ITMA]]''. Shortly after the war, on Boult's recommendation, Jacob was commissioned by a music publishing firm to orchestrate [[Organ Sonata (Elgar)|Elgar's Organ Sonata]] (1946). After a single performance in 1947 this version remained unplayed until 1988, when the [[Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra]] conducted by [[Vernon Handley]] recorded it for CD. Reviewing the recording, [[Edward Greenfield]] commented that dubbing the orchestrated version "Elgar's Symphony No. 0" was amply justified.<ref>Greenfield, Edward. "Elgar's lost symphony", ''The Guardian'', 12 October 1989, p. 31</ref> Jacob's trumpet-heavy fanfare arrangement of the [[God Save the Queen|national anthem]] was used for the [[coronation of Queen Elizabeth II]] in 1953, in 2022 for [[Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II|her funeral]], and again in 2023 for the [[coronation of Charles III and Camilla]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 September 2022 |title=Order of Service for the State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen |url=https://www.royal.uk/order-service-state-funeral-her-majesty-queen |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230827231826/https://www.royal.uk/order-service-state-funeral-her-majesty-queen |archive-date=27 August 2023 |access-date=27 August 2023 |website=royal.uk}}</ref><ref name=web/><ref>{{cite news |title=Coronation order of service in full |work=BBC News |date=5 May 2023 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65503950 |access-date=6 May 2023}}</ref> It was also used in Norway in 2016 for the 25th anniversary of King [[Harald V]]'s accession in 1991 due to the fact that [[Kongesangen|the nation's royal anthem]] shares the same melody as the [[God Save the King|national anthem]] of the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&v=Q8onzXA9ruo |title=Kongesangen - Norway Royal Anthem at Nidarosdomen - Gud, Sign Vår Konge God |date=2021-05-13 |last=Ola Nordmann |access-date=2024-10-22 |via=YouTube}}</ref> ===Recordings=== The discography at the Gordon Jacob website lists more than eighty recordings of his works, some of them arrangements of other composers' music, such as the Elgar Organ Sonata and Vaughan Williams's ''English Folk Song Suite'', but mostly original works by Jacob. They include: orchestral pieces such as the First and Second Symphonies, the Little Symphony and ''The Barber of Seville Goes to the Devil''; the two Viola Concertos as well as concertante works for bassoon, clarinet, flute, horn, piano (two concertos), oboe, trombone and trumpet; and chamber works for many different combinations of instruments.<ref>[http://www.gordonjacob.net/recordings.html "Recordings"], Gordon Jacob. Retrieved 2 November 2018</ref> ==Partial list of works== * ''William Byrd Suite'' (composed 1922, published 1924) * Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (1925) * Concerto for Piano and Strings (1927) * ''An Original Suite for Military Band'' (1928) * String Quartet No. 1 (1928) * Symphony No. 1 (1928–9) * ''Variations on an Air by Purcell'' (1930), string orchestra * ''Passacaglia on a Well-Known Theme (Oranges and Lemons)'' (1931) * String Quartet No. 2 (1931) * Concerto for Oboe and Strings (1933) * ''Uncle Remus'' (1934), ballet * ''Variations on an Original Theme'' (1936); * Suite No. 1 in F (1939) * Clarinet Quintet (1940) * ''Symphony for Strings'' (1943) * Symphony No. 2 (1945) * Sonatina for clarinet (or viola) and piano (1946) * Concerto for Bassoon, Strings, and Percussion (1947) * Suite No. 2 (1948–9); * Suite No. 3 (1949) * ''Fantasia on the Alleluia Hymn'' (1949) * ''Serenade'' (1950), woodwind octet * ''The Nun's Priest's Tale'' (1951), chorus and orchestra * ''Music for a Festival'' (1951), concert band * [[Horn Concerto (Jacob)|Concerto for Horn and Strings]] (1951) * Concerto for Flute and Strings (1952) * Scherzo for Two Trumpets, Horn, and Trombone (1952) * Sextet for piano and winds, "In memoriam [[Aubrey Brain]]" * Concerto for Violin and Strings (1954) * Concerto for Cello and Strings (1955) * ''Prelude and Toccata'' (1955), orchestra * Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra (1955) * Piano Trio (1956) * Divertimento for harmonica and string quartet (1956) * Oboe Concerto No. 2 (1956) * Piano Concerto No. 2 (1957) * ''Five Pieces (In the form of a Suite) for Harmonica and Piano'' (1957) * ''Old Wine in New Bottles'' (1958), For wind ensemble: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets * ''Prelude, Meditation and Fanfare'' (1958), organ * ''The Pied Piper'', 2 unaccompanied pieces for solo flute/piccolo: The Spell (solo flute) and March to the River Weser (solo piccolo) (1958) * Overture ''Fun Fare'' (1960) * ''The Barber of Seville Goes to the Devil'' (1960), full orchestra ([[burlesque]] of [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]]'s overture to ''[[The Barber of Seville]]'') * ''Overture for Strings'' (1964) * Divertimento (1968), 8 winds * Suite for Bassoon and String Quartet (1968) for [[William Waterhouse (bassoonist)|William Waterhouse]] * Suite for Four Trombones (1968) * Concerto for Piano Duet (3 hands) and Orchestra (1969) * ''York Symphony'' (1970), for brass band * Concerto for Band (1970), concert band * Partita for Bassoon (1970) for [[William Waterhouse (bassoonist)|William Waterhouse]] * Introduction and Rondo (1972), clarinet choir * ''Suite for Tuba and Strings'' (1972) * ''Variations on a Dorian Theme'' (1972) * Five Pieces for Clarinet (Unaccompanied) (1973) * ''Swansea Town'', variations for wind ensemble (1973) * Fantasia for Euphonium and Wind Band (1974) * Double Concerto for Clarinet and Trumpet (1975) * Suite for 8 violas (1975), premiered in 1976, in honor of [[Lionel Tertis]]' 100th birthday. * ''Pro Corda Suite'' (1977), string quartet and string orchestra * Concertino for Trombone and Wind Orchestra (1977) * ''Symphony AD 78'' (1978), concert band * ''Fantasia on an English folk song (Dashing away with a smoothing iron)'' (published c. 1984), concert band * Sonata for Viola and Piano (1978) * ''Cameos'' for bass trombone (1978) * Sonata for trombone and piano (1979) * Viola Concerto No. 2 (1979) ([https://web.archive.org/web/20091026193155/http://geocities.com/Vienna/Studio/3147/]) * Mini-Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra (1980), dedicated to and first performed by Thea King. * ''Fanfare, Pavan and Fughetta'' for alto, tenor and bass trombones (1980) * Trombone Octet (1981) * Cello Serenade (published 1984) commissioned by [[Ross Pople]], funded by the Eastern Arts Association * Concerto for Timpani and Wind Band (1984) * ''Denbigh Suite'' for String Orchestra (or String Quartet) (1929), ''for Howell's School, Denbigh'' * Clarinet Concertino (arranged from two violin sonatas of [[Giuseppe Tartini]]) * Two Madrigals for Trombone Choir (manuscript) ===Books=== * ''Orchestral Technique'' (1931) * ''How to Read a Score'' (1944) * ''The Composer and his Art'' (1955) * ''The Elements of Orchestration'' (1962) ==See also== * [[Gordon Jacob (film)|Gordon Jacob]], a 1959 short British biopic film about Gordon Jacob by [[Ken Russell]] ==References and sources== ===References=== {{Reflist}} ===Sources=== * {{cite book | last=Kennedy | first=Michael | author-link=Michael Kennedy (music critic) | title=Portrait of Walton | url=https://archive.org/details/portraitofwalton00kenn | url-access=registration | location=Oxford | publisher=OUP | year=1989 | isbn=978-0-90-521084-1}} * {{cite book | last=Wetherell | first=Eric | title=Gordon Jacob: A Centenary Biography | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8h3KswEACAAJ | location=London | publisher=Thames Publishing | year=1995 | isbn=978-0-19-816705-1}} ==External links== *Official site: [http://www.gordonjacob.net gordonjacob.net] *{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026193155/http://geocities.com/Vienna/Studio/3147/ |date=26 October 2009 |title=Gordon Jacob, British Composer }} *[https://soundcloud.com/slogan621/cradle-song Cradle Song from Five Pieces (in the form of a Suite) For Harmonica and Piano] * {{IMDb name|id=0414202}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Gordon}} [[Category:1895 births]] [[Category:1984 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century English classical composers]] [[Category:20th-century English male musicians]] [[Category:Academics of the Royal College of Music]] [[Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music]] [[Category:Brass band composers]] [[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]] [[Category:British World War I prisoners of war]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Composers from London]] [[Category:Concert band composers]] [[Category:English light music composers]] [[Category:English male classical composers]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal College of Music]] [[Category:People educated at Dulwich College]] [[Category:Pupils of Charles Villiers Stanford]] [[Category:World War I prisoners of war held by Germany]] [[Category:English music arrangers]]
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