She was a lyricist, poet and teacher born Jacqueline Mary Froom in Croydon, England who studied at the Whyteleafe School for Girls but missed out on going to university as the places were taken by returning servicemen after WWII. Instead she took studies at the Central School of Speech and Drama before becoming a secretary at the Radio Times magazine.
She went on to continue her work in publishing when she went t the Brockhampton Press for a few years before becoming an assistant to the Music Editor at Oxford University Press. It was during that time that she began writing translations and texts for Alun Hoddinott and Kenneth Leighton and other composers she had come into contact with there.
Some of her translations and texts were for pieces such as “God’s Blacksmith” by Zoltan Kodaly, “Three Wise Kings” by Arnold Cook, “What Tidings” Opus 38 No. 1 by Alun Hoddinott as well as her work with the composers Terence Greaves and Betty Roe. She also wrote text for the traditional French carol “Il Est Ne, Le Divin Enfant” which was recorded as “Born on Earth”.
She attended singing classes and while there she met the accompanist Jonathan Hinden, who was also a member of the Glyndbourne music staff. They married in 1968 and during that same year she and her friend Murray Gordon, who she had run residential weekends with, founded the Summer Music Summer School for singers and string players. The Summer School became a successful annual event with around 300 students in the 1980s. Murray Gordon retired in the early 1990s, but her husband assisted and it continued annually until 2005.
She earned her Master of Arts degree in creative writing at the University of Sussex when she was 63 years old. She also played bridge and earned a qualification from the Area Community Service Employment and Training Council which allowed her to teach both Creative Writing and Bridge in Brighton for local adult education.
In the 2000s she spent her time on poetry, including publishing her own book of poems and winning a second place winner at the 2008 Keats-Shelly Prize for Poetry.
She died in 2018 when she was 89 years old.
Saint John’s College Choir, Cambridge recordings
Born on Earth (French traditional/words – Jacqueline Froom)
London Records 421-022-2 (Christmas Weekend – 16 Favourite Carols)
Conductor – George Guest
Arranger – John Rutter
Organ – Stephen Cleobury
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Froom
- https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_author_texts.html?AuthorId=15348
- https://www.prestomusic.com/sheet-music/products/7003906–betty-roe-divas-lament
- https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/NonEnglish/il_est_ne_le_divin_enfant.htm
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/4826219-Jacqueline-Froom
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jacqueline-froom-mn0002258880