Hyacinthe JADIN

Born into a large family of musicians, Hyacinthe Jadin was the son of a bassoonist in ordinary in the King’s Music under Louis XV, and the younger brother of Louis-Emmanuel Jadin, a pianist and composer of many opéras comiques (1768-1853). Surrounded by an artistic environment from his earliest childhood, he received his first lessons from his father before studying under a pupil of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Nicolas-Joseph Hüllmandel. Like his older brother, Hyacinthe was introduced at a very young age to the piano, which was destined to become his instrument of choice. In 1789, he performed one of his first piano concertos at the Concert Spirituel, embarking on a dual career as concert pianist and composer. Two years later, he was second accompanist at the Théâtre de Monsieur, renamed the Théâtre Feydeau in 1791. Here he gradually made a name for himself, his talents gaining him widespread admiration, particularly in the 1796-1797 season. Now at the height of his glory, he completed a large corpus of sonatas, concertos, trios and string quartets. Appointed professor of piano at the Paris Conservatoire when that institution was founded in 1795, he retained this post until his untimely death at 24. Hyacinthe Jadin was unquestionably one of the most original and most visionary figures in French music around the time of early Romanticism, and the author of a body of works which, although reminiscent of Mozart, Beethoven, and even Schubert, stylistically embodied a typically French sensibility.