François Jacqmin was born in Rouen, France, on July 27th, 1793. As a child, he received his musical education in his hometown, where he also learned to play the horn. On October 18th, 1814, he entered the Paris Conservatoire and studied horn under Louis-François Dauprat. The lessons must have been highly successful, as Jacqmin won the 1st prize in horn at this institution in 1818. After completing his studies, he became 1st horn at the Théâtre Italien in Paris. In 1826 he moved to the same position at the Opéra Comique. In 1829 Jacqmin was additionally appointed music director of the Parisian Garde municipale. Jacqmin died on January 6th, 1847.
Several of Jacqmin's works for horn survive in print; in 1832 his method "Méthode complète de premier et de second cor" was published in Paris. The Grands Duos op. 12 presented here were published around 1830 by the Parisian publisher Petit. They demonstrate a great familiarity with the natural horn. In one movement of this work, Jacqmin even employed a rarely encountered use of horns pitched differently, in F (1st horn) and E-flat (2nd horn).
