Maurice Jacobson

English composer, arranger, pianist, conductor, music publisher, editor, broadcaster, lecturer and adjudicator Maurice Jacobson was born in London on 1 January 1896. He studied piano at the Modern School of Music (winning a scholarship which enabled him to have lessons with Busoni), and at the Royal College of Music in London: composition with Charles Stanford and Gustav Holst and conducting with Adrian Boult. He worked at music publishers J Curwen and Sons, initially as a music reader, and later as the company's director and then chairman. Honours include an OBE for services to music (1971).

Compositions include the ballet David (1935), cantatas The Lady of Shalott (1940) and The Hound of Heaven (1953), and Carousal (1946) for solo piano. In collaboration with Vaughan Williams, he adapted that composer's opera Hugh the Drover to form a concert version: A Cotswold Romance, and also made a piano solo arrangement of Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite.

Maurice Jacobson died in Brighton on 2 February 1976, aged eighty. His younger son is the composer, pianist and M&V contributor Julian Jacobson.

A selection of articles about Maurice Jacobson

CD Spotlight. Admirable Craftsmanship - Music by Maurice Jacobson, reviewed by Howard Smith. '... I'd recommend this Naxos release wholeheartedly.'

CD Spotlight. Serving the Memory - Vaughan Williams conducted by Hickox, heard by Paul Sarcich. '... this series will undoubtedly please British music aficionados.'