Susi Jeans
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Susi, Lady Jeans (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Susanne Hock; 25 January 1911 – 7 January 1993) was an Austrian-born professional
organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
, teacher and
musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...
.


Personal life and education

Born in Vienna, she was the oldest child of Oskar and Jekaterina Hock. She was of
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
descent through her father and was a direct descendant of the famed medieval rabbi
Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...
. She trained as a ballet dancer by the modernist teacher
Gertrud Bodenwieser Gertrud Bodenwieser (3 February 1890 – 10 November 1959), also known as "Gertrude", was a dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and pioneer of expressionist dance, expressive dance. Early life The daughter of Theodore and Maria Bondi, a wea ...
but growing rather rapidly, switched to the
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
. From 1925 to 1931, she studied piano at the Vienna Conservatory, with organ as a second study. This became her first instrument from about 1928,Yet to be published (as at 2015) interview with musicologist and harpsichordist, Jon Baxendale when she began studies with the composer Franz Schmidt and the organist Franz Schütz. In 1931, she was heard by the organist and composer
Charles-Marie Widor Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the late Romantic era. As a composer he is known for his ten organ symphonies, especially the toccata of his fifth organ sympho ...
. After criticising her pedal technique, which he thought not legato enough, Widor invited her to become a student. She accepted his offer but did not report on his lessons' effects other than to say that he was a very old man at the time. During her 1934-35 tour she met the astronomer and mathematician
Sir James Jeans Sir James Hopwood Jeans (11 September 1877 – 16 September 1946) was an English physicist, mathematician and an astronomer. He served as a secretary of the Royal Society from 1919 to 1929, and was the president of the Royal Astronomical Soci ...
just over 32 years her senior, whom she married, in Vienna, in September 1935. They lived together in a large house (replaced at the end of the century by Cleveland Court) 'Cleveland Lodge' next to
Box Hill & Westhumble railway station Box Hill & Westhumble is a railway station in the village of Westhumble in Surrey, England, approximately north of Dorking town centre. Box Hill, Surrey, Box Hill is located approximately to the east. It is down the line from . Train service ...
in
Westhumble Westhumble is a village in South East England, south east England, approximately north of Dorking, Surrey. The village is not part of a civil parishes in England, civil parish, however the majority of the settlement is in the Parish (Church ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
having three children before his death in 1946. Lady Jeans continued to live at the house until she died in 1993.


Career

Between 1933 and 1935, she studied intermittently at the Leipzig Kirchenmusikalisches Institut with
Karl Straube Montgomery Rufus Karl Siegfried Straube (6 January 1873 – 27 April 1950) was a German church musician, organist, and choral conductor, famous above all for championing the abundant organ music of Max Reger. Career Born in Berlin, Straube stu ...
during which time Jeans acquired knowledge of period instruments, forming her specialisation. Jeans advocated, amongst other theories, that the
trio sonata The trio sonata is a genre, typically consisting of several movements, with two melody instruments and basso continuo. It originated in the early 17th century and was a favorite chamber ensemble combination in the Baroque era. Basic structure T ...
s by J S Bach were conceived with the pedal
harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...
as the larger instrument of the three involved, rather than the organ, Jeans bought a two manual and pedal harpsichord by Maendler-Schramm of Munich. In ensuing years, she was to make many broadcasts from this instrument and the study organ. Before marriage, the enlarged marital home, Cleveland Lodge had assembled a large three-manual Willis II organ in a specially-built concert hall. In 1937 this was supplemented by a new
mechanical action Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...
organ, built into her study by Eule of Bautzen although she later represented it was installed by
Hill, Norman and Beard William Hill & Son & Norman & Beard Limited (commonly known as Hill, Norman and Beard) were a major pipe organ manufacturer originally based in Norfolk. History They were founded in 1916 by the merger of Norman and Beard and William Hill & So ...
It was the first neo-Classical organ built in Britain in the 20th century. Her first concert tour in Britain, in 1934, was a great success and the following year she returned to play at the Handel Festival in Cambridge. Jeans founded the Mickleham and Westhumble Festival in 1954, which was renamed the Boxhill Music Festival in 1966 and subsequently held at Cleveland Lodge until the summer before her death. She also founded and ran an annual summer school for organists. Susi Jeans' concert tours took her throughout Europe, the United States and Western Australia. She adjudicated major international competitions and from 1967 held a post at the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...
. She championed informed performances and authentic restoration and use of harpsichords,
clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance music, Renaissance, Baroque music, Baroque and Classical period (music), Classical eras. Historically, it was most ...
s and
organs In a multicellular organism, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to a ...
. Jeans approved of many modern composers from German-speaking countries including her teacher, Franz Schmidt and played works dedicated to her by such composers as
Augustinus Franz Kropfreiter Augustinus Franz Kropfreiter (9 September 1936 – 26 September 2003) was member of the Austrian , composer and organist. Life Born in Hargelsberg, Kropfreiter spent his school years from 1948 at the Catholic Bischöfliches Gymnasium Petrinum ...
(''Toccata Francese'') and
Hendrik Andriessen Hendrik Franciscus Andriessen (17 September 1892 – 12 April 1981) was a Dutch composer and organist. He is remembered most of all for his improvisation at the organ and for the renewal of Catholic liturgical music in the Netherlands. Andries ...
(''Thema met Varieties'', written at Cleveland Lodge). Jeans was a recreational player and public exponent of the clavichord. She performed early and contemporary works on her favourite clavichord, a single-strung instrument by Thomas Goff and maintained that "clavichord technique is the backbone of all keyboard playing, whether this be organ, piano or harpsichord."


Other interests

*
William Herschel Frederick William Herschel ( ; ; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel. Born in the Electorate of Hanover ...
who shared her husband's profession * Skiing and mountaineering: she climbed the
Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...
twice *Natural medicine and performance nutrition. She advocated vitamin pills especially
Vitamin B12 Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. One of eight B vitamins, it serves as a vital cofactor (biochemistry), cofactor in DNA synthesis and both fatty acid metabolism, fatty acid and amino a ...
'for co-ordination' and
Vitamin D Vitamin D is a group of structurally related, fat-soluble compounds responsible for increasing intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium, and phosphate, along with numerous other biological functions. In humans, the most important compo ...
'for nerves'.


Publications

She published many articles in scholarly journals, as well as editions of scores.


Pupils and influences

Her range of musician pupils included: *
George Guest George Guest CBE FRCO (9 February 1924 – 20 November 2002) was a Welsh organist and choral conductor. Birth and early life George Guest was born in Bangor, Gwynedd. His father was an organist and Guest assisted him by acting as organ blow ...
*
Peter Hurford Peter John Hurford OBE (22 November 1930 – 3 March 2019) was a British organist and composer. Life Hurford was born in Minehead, Somerset, to Gladys Hurford (née James) and Hubert Hurford, a solicitor. He was educated at Blundell's School ...
* David Lumsden *
Ralph Cupper Ralph Cupper (born 9 August 1954) is an organist, director and composer who was born and raised in Norwich, within the county of Norfolk, England. History Ralph Cupper began to play the piano with Edna Watering when he was 6 years old. Later he ...
* Tim Rishton * David Sanger Those on whom she had a direct influence included harpsichordists
Ruth Dyson Ruth Suzanne Dyson (born 11 August 1957) is a former New Zealand politician. She was a Labour Party Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2020. She represented the electorate from the election to 2020. She also held a number of senior offices i ...
and
Davitt Moroney Davitt Moroney (born 23 December 1950) is a British-born and educated musicologist, harpsichordist and organist. His parents were of Irish and Italian extraction – his father was an executive with the Anglo-Dutch Unilever conglomerate. F ...
and, as a clavichord and harpsichordist, Jon Baxendale. Jeans bequeathed her house to the
Royal School of Church Music The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) is a Christian music education organisation dedicated to the promotion of music in Christian worship, in particular the repertoire and traditions of Anglican church music, largely through publications, tr ...
for a centre for musicians and it was itself restored and modified using National Lottery money. However the Royal School of Church Music relocated and concentrated its site on
Sarum College Sarum College is a centre of theological learning in Salisbury, England. The college was established in 1995 and sits within the cathedral close on the north side of Salisbury Cathedral. The Sarum College education programme ranges from shor ...
and it was sold to property developers to raise further charitable funds.Planning Application Details
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References


Further reading

* Cecil Clutton (1992) "The influence of Susi Jeans", ''Aspects of Keyboard Music: Essays in honour of Susi Jeans'', Oxford, 10–12. * "Lady Jeans at 70: a Conversation with Gillian Weir", ''Organists' Review'' 67/2 (1982), 9–14. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeans, Susi Austrian classical organists Austrian women organists 1911 births 1993 deaths 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century organists 20th-century women musicians Austrian emigrants to the United Kingdom Austrian emigrants to England Wives of knights