A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Lemmens, Nicolas

LEMMENS, Nicolas Jacques, was born Jan. 3, 1823, at Zoerle-Parwys, Westerloo, Belgium, where his father was echevin and organist. His career was attached to the organ from the first. At 11 years of age he was put under Van der Broeck, organist at Dieste. In 1839 he entered the Conservatoire at Brussels, but soon left it owing to the illness of his father, and was absent for a couple of years. In the interval he succeeded his former master at Dieste, but fortunately gave this up and returned to the Conservatoire at the end of 41. There he became the pupil of Fétis and was noted for the ardour and devotion with which he worked. He took the 2nd prize for composition in 44 and the first in 45, as well as the first for organ playing. In 46 he went at the government expense to Breslau, and remained there a year studying the organ under A. Hesse, who sent him back at the end of that time, with a testimonial to the effect that 'he played Bach as well as he himself did.' In 1849 he became professor of his instrument at the Conservatoire, and M. Fétis, as the head of the establishment, bears strong testimony to the vast improvement which followed this appointment, and the new spirit which it infused through the country; and gives a list of his pupils too long to be quoted here. Though distinguished as a pianist, it is with the organ that his name will remain connected. In 1857 M. Lemmens married Miss Sherrington, and since that time has resided much in England. His great work is his Ecole d'orgue, which has been adopted by the Conservatoires at Paris, Brussels, Madrid, etc. He has also published Sonatas, Offertoires etc. for the organ, and has been engaged for twenty years on a Method for accompanying Gregorian Chants, which is now on the eve of publication [App. p.699 "edited by J. Duclos, after the author's death and published at Ghent in 1886"]. On Jan. 1, 1879, he opened a college at Malines, under the patronage of the Belgian clergy, for training Catholic organists and choirmasters, which is already largely attended. [App. p.699 "date of death, Jan. 30, 1881. Four volumes of 'Œuvres inédites' have lately been published by Breitkopf & Härtel."] Madame Lemmens, née Sherrington, was born at Preston, where her family had resided for several generations, Oct. 4, 1834. Her mother was a musician. In 1838 they migrated to Rotterdam, and there Miss Sherrington studied under Verhulst. In 5 2 she entered the Brussels Conservatoire, and took first prizes for singing and declamation. On April 7, 1856, she made her first appearance in London, and soon rose to the position of leading English soprano, both in sacred and secular music, a position which she has maintained ever since. In 1865 [App. p.699 "1860"] she appeared on the English and in 1867 [App. p.699 "1866"] on the Italian operatic stage, and her operas embrace Robin Hood, Amber Witch, Helvellyn, Africaine, Norma, Huguenots, Roberto, Don Giovanni, Domino Noir, Fra Diavolo, Marta, etc., etc. [See Sherrington.]

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