George Jackson Lambert (16 November 1794 – 24 January 1880) was an English organist and composer, for many years organist of

Beverley Minster Beverley Minster, otherwise known as the Parish Church of Saint John and Saint Martin, in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, is a parish church in the Church of England. It is one of the largest parish churches in the UK, larger than one-third ...

Life

Lambert was born in

Beverley Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...

, son of George Lambert, organist of

. He had his first lessons from his father; afterwards he studied in London under Samuel T. Lyon and

William Crotch William Crotch (5 July 177529 December 1847) was an English composer and organist. According to the American musicologist Nicholas Temperley, Crotchwas "a child prodigy without parallel in the history of music", and was certainly the most disti ...

. He played violin, viola and cello; in his early career he played at the

Chapel Royal The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also applie ...

and at

St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the Gar ...

, and was said to be a favourite of the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

. In 1818 he succeeded his father as organist at Beverley, and held the post until 1874, when ill health and deafness compelled him to retire. He died in Beverley on 24 January 1880, in the house in which he was born, and was interred in the private burial-ground in North-Bar Street Within. His wife and two sons (George, who took holy orders, and Henry William, a musician) predeceased him. His father, who died on 15 July 1818, was organist for forty-one years, according to the epitaph on his tombstone in the graveyard, so that the office of organist at Beverley was held by father and son for ninety-seven years.

Compositions

His published compositions include overtures, instrumental chamber music, organ fugues and piano pieces. Some quartets and a septet were played at the meetings of the

Society of British Musicians The Society of British Musicians was a Society founded in 1834, dedicated to promoting the composition and performance of British music. It gave concerts of works by leading British composers of the day. The Society was dissolved in 1865. Founding ...

; they were well received but were never published.

References

Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, George Jackson 1794 births 1880 deaths English classical organists British male organists 19th-century organists English classical composers 19th-century classical composers 19th-century British male musicians People from Beverley Male classical organists