Newly found manuscript by Gordon Jacob

Following the recent discovery of a manuscript by the English composer Gordon Jacob (1895-1984), a new anthem for harvest, O praise the Lord, has been published in the UK. For years Jacob’s lively choral work has been hidden away in bookshop selling rare and second-hand music. In 2014, John Turner, who is a virtuoso recorder player, purchased a brown paper folder of music containing the composer’s original manuscript and other scores of his piece, when a dealer offered it for sale in their closing down lists. ‘The anthem is an early work by Gordon Jacob,’ said John Turner, ‘written in the year after he won the Arthur Sullivan Prize for Composition at the RCM, and with a few glimpses of his mature style. No doubt his teacher Stanford would have approved of the celebratory and almost Handelian character of the work.’

Tim Rogers, Head of Publishing at Encore Publications, also commented that ‘it’s rare to discover an unpublished piece of music by such an important composer. The anthem is direct and approachable, and adds to the output of a highly trusted British composer, who wrote relatively little church music. We are very grateful of the composer’s widow, Margaret Jacob Hyatt, for permission to publish this exciting anthem.’