Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens

A carte-de-visite portrait of Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens (1823-1881), who was an organist, music teacher, and composer for his instrument.

Born at Zoerle-Parwijs, near Westerlo in Belgium, in 1847 Lemmens won the Paris Conservatoire's prestigious Prix de Rome with his Le roi Lear [English: King Lear]. One year later he published his first work for organ: Dix improvisations dans le style sévère et chantant. In March 1849, aged only 26, he was appointed organ teacher at the Royal Brussels Conservatoire, where he trained numerous young musicians, including two eminent Frenchmen, Alexandre Guilmant and Charles-Marie Widor.

In 1857 he married the English soprano Helen Sherrington (1834–1906), who in the following decade emerged as a leading English concert and operatic singer.

Lemmens died at Zemst, near Mechelen in Belgium, on 30 January 1881.

Photographed by the English photographer Horatio Nelson King of Bath.