Lemmens, Jacques Nicolas (Jaak Nikolaas)
Lemmens, Jacques Nicolas (Jaak Nikolaas)
Lemmens, Jacques Nicolas (Jaak Nikolaas), eminent Belgian organist, pedagogue, and composer; b. Zoerle-Parwijs, Antwerp, Jan. 3, 1823; d. Zemst, near Mechelen, Jan. 30, 1881. He was first trained in music by his father, an organist, then attended the Brussels Cons., where he studied piano, organ (with Christian Girschner), and composition (with Fétis). He subsequently studied with Adolf Hesse in Breslau (1846–47). He became prof, of organ at the Brussels Cons, in 1849. In 1857 he married Helen Lemmens-Sherrington . His distinguished students included Guilmant and Widor. He publ. École d’orgue basée sur le plainchant romain (Brussels, 1862). His Du chant grégorien, sa mélodie, son rhythme, son harmonisation was publ. posth. (Ghent, 1884). A collection of his masses, motets, organ music, and other works appeared as OEuvres inédites (4 vols., Leipzig, 1883-87).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire