James Hook (1746-1827)
- Great Britain Triumphant (1794)
Performers: Caroline Schiller (soprano); Stefanie True (soprano); Mária
Zádori (soprano); Zoltán Megyesi (tenor);
Reid Spencer (baritone);
Capella Savaria; Mary Térey-Smith (conductor)
Further info: Great Britain Triumphant
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English composer and organist. Born with a club foot (later corrected
somewhat by surgery), he showed remarkable musical talent at an early
age, being able to play the harpsichord at the age of four and
performing concertos in public at six. For a time he was taught by
Thomas Garland, the Cathedral organist, and before he was eight he had
composed songs and his first opera. This was considered by connoisseurs
as an ‘extraordinary instance of infantine genius’, but the music is
lost. From 13 November 1756 fairly regular advertisments appeared in the
Norwich Mercury for concerts at which Hook performed concertos, many of
which were benefit concerts. Hook employed his talents in various ways
at this time, including teaching, composing, transcribing music and
tuning keyboard instruments. By 1763 he had moved to London, where his
prowess on the instrument led to employment as a soloist in the
Marylebone Gardens public concerts. On 29 May 1766 he married Elizabeth
Jane Madden (?-1805) at St Pancras Old Church. In May 1767 he had
applied unsuccessfully for the post of organist for the united parishes
of St Matthew Friday Street and St Peter Westcheap, but before 6
September 1772 he had been appointed organist of St Johns Horselydown,
Bermondsey. In 1768 he was appointed organist and composer to Marylebone
Gardens. From 1774 to 1806 he also performed regularly at the Vauxhall
Gardens and participated in the English opera at Covent Garden. On 18
October 1805 Hook’s wife died, and a year later, on 4 November 1806, he
married his second wife, Harriet Horncastle James (?-1873). It is not
known why he suddenly left his position at Vauxhall after almost a half
century of service there. As a composer, he wrote over 2000 songs
(including catches and glees), as well as 52 operas-stage works, 21
concertos, 40 odes (and an oratorio), and a large number of sonatas. His
musical style was at once progressive and reflective of European
continental trends. His son Theodore Edward Hook (1788-1841) was a
writer, intellectual, prankster and civil servant, mainly known for his
practical jokes, particularly the Berners Street hoax in 1810.
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