Thomas Reginald Jacques (13 January 1894 – 2 June 1969) was an English choral and orchestral conductor.[1] His legacy includes various choral music arrangements, but he is not primarily remembered as a composer.[2]
Jacques was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire and obtained his first degree from the University of Oxford under Sir Hugh Allen, where he later became organist (1926) and fellow (1933) of Queen's College. Dr Jacques occupied a succession of increasingly prestigious and influential posts in the music world, based mostly in Oxford and London. He conducted the Oxford Harmonic Society between 1923 and 1930 and the Bach Choir for thirty years between 1932 and 1960. He founded the Jacques String Orchestra in 1936. He became music director of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) at its inception in January 1940.[3]
Kathleen Ferrier was frequently a soloist under Jacques during that time, and performed her first London Messiah with him on 17 May 1943, an event which opened up her career.[4] His string orchestra established the morning concert series at the first Edinburgh International Festival in 1947,[5] and (beyond its core repertoire of Baroque music) also performed and premiered contemporary English works by composers such as Arthur Bliss, Arnold Cooke, Gordon Jacob and John Ireland.[6] His string arrangement of Peter Warlock's Adam Lay Ybounden has recently been recorded.[7]
He collaborated with Sir David Willcocks in compiling the popular first volume of Carols for Choirs (1961), which incorporates several of his better known arrangements. He was the first director of CEMA, the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, forerunner of the Arts Council.[5] Jacques suffered from ill health most of his life, a consequence of wounds received in World War One. He retired from conducting in 1960.[8] His address in the 1950s and 1960s was 12, St Mary Abbot's Place, Kensington.[9] He was a guest on Desert Island Discs on 26 August 1963.[10]
^Who's Who. London: Adam and Charles Black. 1964.
^Palmer, Russell. British Music (1947), pp. 136-7
^Jacques, Reginald. 'The Work of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts', in Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 93, No. 4690, April 27th, 1945, pp. 275-284
^Jolly, James. 'Some Impressions of Kathleen Ferrier', in Gramophone, 17 March 2012
^ abJacobs, Arthur. 'Jacques, Reginald' in Grove Music Online, 2001
^Leon Goossens plays Arnold Cooke, Oboe Classics CC2317 (2021)
^Maltworms and Milkmaids – Warlock and the Orchestra, EM Records EMRCD080 (2023)
^Obituary, The Musical Times Vol 110, No 1517, July `1969, p 770
^Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 86th Sess. (1959 - 1960), pp. 109-122
^"BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Dr Reginald Jacques". BBC. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
Thomas ReginaldJacques (13 January 1894 – 2 June 1969) was an English choral and orchestral conductor. His legacy includes various choral music arrangements...
Lillies ReginaldJacques (1894–1969), English choral and orchestral conductor Rémy Jacques (1817–1905), French lawyer and politician. Richard Jacques (born...
in the series of books Carols for Choirs which he edited along with ReginaldJacques and John Rutter. He was also director of the Royal College of Music...
have included Charles Villiers Stanford, Ralph Vaughan Williams and ReginaldJacques. In 2013, John Rutter was appointed president of the choir, following...
Oxford University Press. It was edited by Sir David Willcocks and ReginaldJacques, and is a widely used source of carols in the British Anglican tradition...
used arrangement in Carols for Choirs, Vol. 1 is Pearsall's edited by ReginaldJacques; the first two verses are in four-part harmony, the third and fourth...
melody was subsequently published in Carols for Choirs, arranged by ReginaldJacques. An arrangement by Christopher Erskine combines the two most popular...
Choirs. First published in 1961 and edited by David Willcocks and ReginaldJacques, this bestselling series has since expanded to a five-volume set. Along...
Westminster Abbey, alongside Isobel Baillie and Peter Pears, with ReginaldJacques conducting. According to the critic Neville Cardus, it was through...
government-funded and after the war was renamed the Arts Council of Great Britain. ReginaldJacques was appointed musical director, with Sir Henry Walford Davies and George...
Orchestra 9 November 1946: London. Jacques Orchestra cond. ReginaldJacques Written for 10th anniversary of Jacques String Orchestra Orchestral 1948 Suite...
second violin (1954–69). He also played with the chamber orchestras of ReginaldJacques and Boyd Neel, as well as the London Mozart Players. In 1958 he founded...
arrangement of "In dulci jubilo" was included by Sir David Willcocks and ReginaldJacques in their popular 1961 music-score collection Carols for Choirs. Pearsall...
arias are uncut) St Matthew Passion Bach Soloists; The Jacques Orchestra cond. ReginaldJacques; The Bach Choir; London: Kingsway Hall 30:6:47 and 4:7:47...
translated from Piae Cantiones were arranged by Sir David Willcocks, ReginaldJacques and John Rutter and published in their popular 1961 collection, Carols...
Réginald Charles Gagnon (7 January 1949 – 29 May 2024), known professionally as Cayouche, was a Canadian singer-songwriter of Acadian descent. Born in...
followed by the bestselling Carols for Choirs series (David Willcocks, ReginaldJacques and John Rutter), first published in 1961 and now available in a five...
Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor. Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He made his West End...
Christopher Hogwood Heinrich Hollreiser Robert Irving Herbert von Karajan ReginaldJacques Thomas Jensen Enrique Jordá István Kertész Royalton Kisch Erich Kleiber...
pathologically shy". Jacques, on herself The writer Susan Leckey described Jacques as "one of the best-loved British comedy stars", while Jacques's obituarist in...
"In dulci jubilo" German trad., arr. Robert Lucas de Pearsall, ed. ReginaldJacques 1980 (Philip Ledger) 3:36 7. "Unto us is born a Son" Piae Cantiones...
member of The Bach Choir for most of her adult life and sang under ReginaldJacques and David Willcocks. She also took part in the television programme...
from The Elgar Society. From 1923 to 1930 the choir's conductor was ReginaldJacques, who subsequently went on to conduct The Bach Choir in London for many...
Conservative MP from 1918 to 1924 for Wimbledon Sir James Hunt, judge ReginaldJacques CBE, conductor David Nish, footballer, capped five times for England...
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