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The Classical period composer, James Hook, is known to students of the piano for his charming keyboard Sonatinas, which for many young pianists are the first pieces to be studied in Classical style, as prerequisites to the works of Kuhlau, Clementi, and Beethoven. Unfortunately, apart from these small gems, his compositions remain relatively obscure. However, Hook was a prolific composer of songs (more than 2000), several operas, an oratorio, a large quantity of chamber music, keyboard sonatas, and concertos for various instruments. Some of his compositions, conceived as light-hearted works for public entertainment, are now gaining greater attention through revived performances and recordings, and a new appreciation for his practical, but only occasionally profound, style is gaining a wider audience.
He was born June 3, 1746 in the Norwich parish of Saint John, Maddermarket, as the son of James Hook, a razor-grinder and cutlery maker. Although he was born with a club foot, early surgical procedures improved this condition to the point that he was able to walk, albeit in a limping manner throughout his life. Hook showed remarkable musical talent at an early age, playing the harpsichord at four years old and performing concertos in public by the time he was six. Among his teachers was Thomas Garland, the Norwich Cathedral organist, and before he was eight, James Hook had composed songs and his first opera (now lost). Hook’s father died in 1758, and his mother carried on the cutlery business. From November 1756, fairly regular advertisements appeared in the Norwich Mercury for concerts at which Hook performed concertos, many of which were benefit concerts. Hook employed his talents in various ways, including teaching, composing, transcribing music, and tuning keyboard instruments.
Although the exact date is unknown, it is certain that by February 1764 Hook had moved to London. His first position was that of organist at White Conduit House, Pentonville, one of the many tea gardens that abounded in 18th Century London. He began to make a name for himself as an organist, teacher, and composer of light, attractive music, particularly songs. In 1765 his catch, “I wish you all good night,” was awarded the Catch Club’s gold medal; and on September 9, 1765 some of his songs, published later as Opus 1, were performed in the New Theatre, Richmond, at a benefit concert for John Fawcett, with Hook performing his newly composed Harpsichord Concerto. During the following July, Thomas Arne’s opera The Sacrifice of Iphigenia (the overture of which was composed by Hook) was performed at the same theatre. On May 29, 1766 Hook married Elizabeth Jane Madden at Saint Pancras Old Church. His wife was both talented and artistic. She was a painter, provided the libretto for Hook’s opera The Double Disguise (1784), the verses for some Vauxhall songs, and produced the designs and floral decorations for the pillars in the orchestra at Vauxhall’s Jubilee celebrations in 1786.
Hook’s songs began to be regularly performed at the main London pleasure gardens, and the first of his many song collections for the gardens at Marylebone and Vauxhall was published in 1767. In 1768 he was appointed organist and composer to Marylebone Gardens. In addition to his performances on the organ and occasionally on the harpsichord, he was now invited to perform concertos between the main works in the theatres. On August 28, 1772, at Hook’s Annual Festival at Marylebone Gardens, he performed a concerto on the pianoforte, the first occasion this instrument had been played at Marylebone, though earlier, on 12 April 1771, at a benefit concert for the soprano Frederica Weichsell at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket, Hook had used the pianoforte to accompany one of his new songs. 1769 saw the beginning of Hook’s many short musical entertainments for the pleasure gardens, and on July 24, 1771 his first comic opera Dido was performed as an afterpiece at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket, followed a year later, on July 27, 1772, by Cupid’s Revenge. On May 11, 1772, the Society of Artists gave their first exhibition in their new Exhibition Rooms, near the Exeter Exchange in the Strand. Hook set to music an ode specially written for the occasion.
In May 1767, he had applied unsuccessfully for the post of organist for the united parishes of Saint Matthew, Friday Street and Saint Peter, Westcheap, but by the following September, he had been appointed organist of Saint John’s, Horselydown, Bermondsey. He was also in demand to open new organs, both in London and in nearby counties. Contemporary Norwich newspapers show him to have been still performing in concerts around Norwich, frequently playing many of his own compositions. He continued his keyboard teaching and it is said that his income from this source alone amounted to over £600 per annum. Hook remained at Marylebone Gardens until the end of the 1773 season, and in 1774 he was engaged in a similar capacity at Vauxhall Gardens, a position he retained until 1820. Throughout this time he composed operas, the majority of which were produced at Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatres. His son James (1772-1828) provided the librettos for Jack of Newbury in 1795 and Diamond Cut Diamond in 1797.
On March 20, 1776, Hook’s only oratorio, The Ascension, was performed at Covent Garden. His second son, Theodore Edward (1788-1841), wrote the words for many of Hook’s songs, and between 1805 and 1809 he provided the librettos for eight of Hook’s operas. Hook later became the ghost writer for Michael Kelly’s Reminiscences in 1826. On October 18, 1805, Hook’s wife died, and a year later on November 4, 1806, he married his second wife, Harriet Horncastle James. It is not known why Hook left his position at Vauxhall after almost a half century of service there. His departure was sudden and surprising: “so little was his abrupt retirement expected or understood, that the proprietor of the [gardens] kept his station in the band open for him, during one entire season.” James Hook died in Boulogne, France in 1827, and his music library was sold at auction at Puttick & Simpson’s, London, on January 30, 1874.
The largest portion of his creative output consisted of more than 2000 songs, most of which were composed for specific singers at the London pleasure gardens, most notably Vauxhall. Their catchy melodies would have been immediately appealing to the Vauxhall crowds. Annual collections and single copies were published. The collections tend to contain the simpler songs, frequently strophic ballads. The songs contained on single copies are far more operatic in style, with coloratura passages, clearly written for more experienced singers. The autograph manuscripts contain many Vauxhall songs and show the meticulous care which Hook displayed in writing the name of the singer for whom the song was intended, the place of performance, and the date of composition. From about 1808, the day and month are included, and these give some indication of how quickly Hook composed. The autographs are also invaluable in providing the orchestral accompaniments. Most of the printed editions have a keyboard reduction.
The Vauxhall concerts concluded with an ensemble musical number, often a short dramatic piece, in which all the soloists participated, sometimes with additional singers. It was for these finales, and for similar occasions at Marylebone Gardens, that many of Hook’s musical entertainments and serenatas were written: the stage at Marylebone was large enough to allow for some dramatic interpretation. Although Hook was active in the theatre, contributing music to the dramatic works of contemporary composers in addition to composing his own, this was not an area in which he was particularly successful. Despite much of the music being appealing, these works have not stood the test of time. His theatre and Vauxhall music became intermixed. The opera overtures became standard items in the Vauxhall concerts. Vauxhall songs and musical entertainments were sometimes performed between the main works in the theatres, and some of his popular Vauxhall songs were introduced into the dramatic works of contemporary authors.
James Hook was conversant with the musical styles of his day and successfully exploited the style galant. His first overture of 1766, written in the Mannheim style, is indicative of the orchestral music that was to follow. Six years of Vauxhall programs are known, and these identify some instrumental music that is now lost; the works cannot be accurately dated since they may have been in the Vauxhall repertory for some years, but much of his printed music can be accurately dated from the Entry Book of Copies at Stationer’s Hall, London.
The concerto was an important form for Hook since it was part of his duties to perform an organ concerto each evening at the Vauxhall concert. Despite the number that were performed, relatively few were published. Chamber music, sonatas for keyboard instruments, with or without accompaniment, are included in Hook’s vast output. Two-movement works give way to three-movement structures with the usual fast-slow-fast order of movements; first movements in embryonic sonata form emerge as fully-fledged sonata form movements before the end of the 18th Century. Much of his keyboard music was written for his pupils, which possibly accounts for the wide range of difficulty encountered. His Guida di musica was also a probable outcome of his teaching. With such an enormous output, it is inevitable that Hook’s works are of variable quality. Many of his compositions, particularly the keyboard works, are quite worthy of being revived in new printed editions and recordings.